John 8:35

John 8:35. And the slave abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. The Jews believed that they were free, the sons of God; and that, as such, they were permanent possessors of His house, and thus permanent recipients of His favour and love, inheritors of eternal life. Not so. In all this they deceive themselves. They are not God's sons, but slaves of sin. As such they have no more real hold of the house of God, with its present and eternal privileges, than a slave has of the privileges of the house in which he is a slave. A son only can claim a place in the house and the possession of what belongs to the house, as a right permanent, uninterrupted, as long as he is a son. In all this, no doubt, there lies a reference to their own his-tory. As the son of the bondwoman Hagar in the house of Abraham, so were they in the house of God : as Ishmael (though Abraham's seed) was driven forth, having no place beside the son who was free, so must they who claimed to be Abraham's seed be cast out, if they are slaves of sin.