8:42
Everything derives from the Father, so if we truly belong to Him then we will love the Son. By the way, this knocks on the head notions that all religions are the same. A follower of Islam or Hinduism may claim to respect Jesus, but unless they love Him, unless they recognise Him as the Son of God they are not of the Father.
Jesus did not come on His own authority, but because the Father sent Him. The Jews were assessing Jesus on the presupposition that Jesus had come on His own authority, and so were unable to realise who He was. Most people adopt the same approach.
8:43
Jesus had spoken clearly, yet the Jews were unable to hear. This is crucial to understanding how salvation works. Fallen man is unable to hear what Jesus says. Not in the sense of being unaware of that Jesus is saying something, but unable to comprehend what He is saying. Proclaiming the gospel is a partnership between us and the Holy Spirit. Elsewhere Jesus tells us that we must testify, but the Holy Spirit must work as well. For someone to believe it requires us to declare and teach, and for the Holy Spirit to work in a person’s heart and mind.
8:44
Jesus not tells them plainly that their father is the devil. See how Jesus does not mince His words. There is no need to be needlessly offensive in debate or discussion, but there are times to stop beating about the bush.
The fact that their father was the devil is shown by their actions, namely plotting to kill the Son of God.
The devil is a murderer and a liar, and has been so from the beginning. Notice how modern (im)morality loves death. It demands the right to abort babies. Now their demands to be allowed to kill old people. It is dressed up as euthanasia, or mercy killing, but it leads us down an exceedingly dangerous road. With all the demands for LGBT rights it claims to be helping to set people free, but is in fact only enslaving people. Jesus is the only one who can set us free.
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