Who's your daddy? Part III

We hear this phrase nowadays: "It is what it is."
These leaders in our studies this week were being who they were. They would not respond to the truth, no matter if it was something they were hearing, or if it was the real person, Jesus, standing in their midst.
They were believing the devil's lies, instead.

[45] “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. [46] Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? [47] Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” 

So Jesus asked them if they had a specific, legitimate charge against Him. Again, He was hearkening back to the law, where if an accusation was made, and had witnesses to shore it up, it had a leg to stand on.

"You accuse me of sin . . . then name it!"
"Whom have I cheated?"
"Whom have I stolen from?"
"Have I lied to anyone?"
"Have I deceived anyone?"

In today's parlance, you could hear the crickets chirping.
Silence.
He has revealed to everyone within earshot that they cannot point to any sin at all in Him. They are not the good and decent men that they profess to be. In fact, it is quite the opposite situation -- they are slaves to sin.  Since Jesus was speaking the truth, they should have believed His words. But they don't have the right relationship with the Father, and so they didn't take in what God was saying. It went in one ear and right out the other -- and fast!

This whole passage should be making one thing abundantly clear to us. We have two alternatives. Two "dads."  We either are going to claim Jesus, or we'll claim the devil. We will either follow the Christ, or we will follow Satan. There's not any middle ground there. Our choice is to either be led by the Spirit, or led by the flesh. As Jesus told these men, we will either love God, or we won't. Who does that leave us loving?
Yep.
You got it.
If we don't choose God, we are choosing the alternative: the devil. And the evidence will be there in our lives. Are we deceiving ourselves about our hearts, and about our lives? Are we deceiving ourselves about the way of salvation? Then our minds will be darkened, and our lives will be disobedient.

It's so different when we live in obedience to Him! The truth sets us free.
What kind of evidence is there about our beliefs? Are we consistently living according to the words of Jesus? When we do that, we are leaving evidence behind us that we belong to Him. We make it clear that we are heirs of God the Father. We give no evidence that someone could use to accuse us. We are living the truth of the will of God for our lives.

For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. (I Peter 2:15)

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)