John 8:42-47 NKJV

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

On Paper, Not in Practice

Many people profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips but their hearts are far from God. They do not obey God, but they obey the flesh, instead, because they do not love God. Actually, the Scriptures teach our relationship with Jesus Christ, by faith in him, as a marriage relationship. Yet on paper a couple may be married to each other, but if one or the other of them is not faithful to their spouse, but they cheat on their spouse, instead, then that is not a marriage, and that says, “I don’t love you, but I love myself, instead.”

Well, that is how many people treat God, too. They profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips, but it is in form only, and not in practice. For they do not follow the Lord where he leads them. They do not go with God but they remain trapped in their sin still living to please the flesh and not God. So they are not listening to the Lord, for they shut him out. For listening should be followed by obeying if we are truly listening to our Lord (John 10:27-30). But they ignore the call of our Lord to repent and to obey God in practice.

The Deity of Jesus Christ

The Scriptures teach us that God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is not only the only Begotten Son of God, birthed of woman, and conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born without sin, but he was and is God, our creator God who always was God and with God. And when he lived on the earth as man, he was fully human and he was fully God (God-incarnate), in the flesh. So to reject Jesus was and is to reject the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only true God.

Deity of Jesus Christ: [John 1:1-36; John 8:24,58; John 10:30-33; John 20:28-29; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8-9; 1 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Peter 1:1]

Reject Jesus? Reject God!

So, this is why Jesus said to the Jews that if God truly was their Father, that they would love Jesus, because Jesus is God. So what this also means is that all Jews who claim to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if they do not believe in Jesus, they do not believe in the God they claim as their God. So the Jews (the Israel of the Old Covenant) who reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Lord also reject the God of their fathers. So they do not believe in the same God as Christians do, as many proclaim that they do.

But what this is also teaching is that all who do not believe in Jesus, and therefore do not believe in the one true God, they are not of God, but they are of the devil. But this also applies to many who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who do not obey God, in practice, because they don’t truly love God, and so they are not of God, but are of the devil (see 1 John 3:4-10). They may give lip service to the Lord, as the Jews did to God, but they are still living to please the flesh, and not God, still obeying sin and not God.

Of the Devil, Not of God

So, to all who profess to believe in Jesus Christ, but who deliberately and habitually continue in sinful practices, and who do not obey God in practice, for you have never surrendered your life to Jesus, but you remained lord of your own life (for you still have not denied self, died to sin, and obeyed God in life practice), to you the Bible teaches that you are antichrist and of the devil, and not of God. And you do not and cannot love God because you love your flesh more, and so you do not obey God. And he is not Lord of your life.

But so many people who are in this place will fake it. They will speak lies and pretend that they are in a right relationship with the Lord, and that they are in communion with him, and that God hears their prayers. Although they largely ignore God and his commandments, and they chart their own life course, instead, they are convinced that heaven is their destiny. But it isn’t God they are listening to, because they reject his commands, and sin is their practice. For it is the desires of the devil that they are obeying, instead.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6,22; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Give Me Jesus

Oh, What Gladness!
An Original Work / December 2, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Give me Jesus. He’s my Savior.
I’ll walk with Him in His favor.
I’ll abide in His love always;
Follow His ways to the end.

Jesus is the Son of God.
He died upon a cruel cross.
He’s forgiven all my failures
By His mercy and His love.

Give me Jesus – His compassion,
And His mercy; loving kindness.
Let Him teach me how to love Him,
And to please Him. He’s my friend.

Jesus died for all our sin
So we could have eternal life.
He will free you from your bondage
If you trust Him with your life.

Give me Jesus. Let me trust Him.
May I listen to His teachings.
May I follow where He leads me
In His service. He’s my Lord.

Jesus Christ will come again
To take His bride to be with Him.
Oh, what gladness; free from sadness
When I meet Him in the air.

If I Tell You The Truth
An Original Work / May 18, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love