days I'm gonna bring a message
on the gospel in 30 minutes if I can do that you should be
able to tell the gospel in less time than that John chapter 8 John chapter 8 truth revealed
truth revealed now our Lord continues to set
forth his divine nature. And as he set it forth, clearly,
in no uncertain terms, he set it forth. It was a stumbling
block to the Jewish leaders. They did not expect the Messiah
to look like this. He's not their idea of the Messiah. He's not their idea of God when
they looked at him. Poor carpenter, very common man,
very common looking. He dressed very common, just
in that one robe. There was nothing about him that
stood out that said, this is God. His face didn't shine, you
know, like Moses, when he came off the mount, he had to put
a veil over it because his face had shown, you know, so bright.
His face didn't. His glory was all within, and
they couldn't see it. You know, the glory of a true
person, you know, your true glory is who you are. You know, I know
some people that are very attractive but are very ugly on the inside,
and their spirits are very ugly. though they may be very attractive
on the outside. The problem is if you marry that,
eventually they both come ugly. I'm not trying to be mean, but
it's true. You end up matching your spirit.
You end up matching your attitude. You do. But he was a stumbling block
to them because he just didn't fit their mold. You know, when it comes to knowing
and believing God, we must lay aside all preconceived ideas
and bow to divine revelation, the Word of God. We've got to
put away all preconceived notions and ideas and bow to the divine
revelation of God of Himself and His Word. God has revealed
Himself in this book. You'd think we would wear this
book out. It's amazing, and I'm talking
about myself, it's amazing how few scriptures I can quote. You'd
think we'd eat, breathe, and live it. Because God's revealed
in this book, our salvation's revealed in this book, our redemption's
revealed in this book, and yet, how little we make of it. That's
amazing. God's revealed himself in his book. I told someone some
time ago, I said, you want to know God, it was talking about
knowing God, talking about salvation, being saved, I said, you want
to know him, get in his book and read it, and ask him to make
himself known to you, and he will, he said he would. God's
revealed himself in his word. CHRIST HAS REVEALED HIMSELF IN
HIS TEACHINGS, AND HE'S REVEALED THE FATHER IN HIS TEACHINGS.
THAT'S WHY WE'RE GOING THROUGH JOHN, VERSE BY VERSE. I LIKE
DOING THAT, ESPECIALLY FOR THE CHURCH. I THINK IT'S VERY HEALTHY
FOR YOU. AND THE HOLY SPIRIT REVEALS HIM IN THE HEART. HE
REVEALS HIM IN THE PAGES OF THIS BOOK, BUT HE ALSO REVEALS HIM
IN THE HEART. CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY. NOW, I THOUGHT
OF THESE THREE QUESTIONS HERE, OR TWO God revealed as sovereign
in all things in the scriptures You can't read the Word of God
and not see the sovereignty of God Then that's how we receive
him as the sovereign God of heaven and earth is God revealed as
holy in the scriptures Absolutely, and that's how we receive him
as as holy He's revealed as holy. He's real as just he's rebuilt
as merciful and gracious and As love, this is how we receive
him. We must receive him as he is,
is what I'm saying, as he is revealed, not how we want him
to be, not how we think he is, but how he has revealed himself,
because that's how he is. And if we don't receive him as
he has revealed himself, we haven't received him at all. We've not
received him at all. Now our Lord makes a very bold
statement here, but very strong and true. He said to them, those
religious leaders, ye are from beneath. You're of this world
of darkness. That's where you're from. I'm
from above. I'm from another world. This
is why the conflict, this is the conflict. He says here, ye
are from beneath, I'm from above, ye are of this world, it's principles. These religious leaders, he's
saying, you're of the world, you belong to the world, the
principles of the world, the darkness of the world, the spirit
of the world, which is a spirit of darkness, you belong to, you
belong to that. I'm not of this world in any
way, shape or form. Nothing of this world entered
into Jesus Christ. nothing our lord clearly sets
forth the difference between himself and then themselves he
points out that they are from two different spheres two different
worlds that's why they couldn't understand
him it's like it's like somebody coming over here from uh italy
and speaking greek to me I don't understand a word they're saying. Cole sent me a thing here the
other day. Every now and then, I'll send
him something in Spanish. I try to learn a little bit of
Spanish, and I mean it a little bit. But I was saying goodnight. I can't even remember what I
sent him. That's how much I know of. But I sent it to him. He
sent me one back in Italian. And I said, you got to interpret
that for me. I don't know what you're saying. It's two different worlds. It's
two different languages. He's speaking a language they
know nothing of. It's spiritual language. And
we don't know it until God gives us a spirit that was born of
the Spirit of the Spirit. Nicodemus came to Him. And he
tried to understand what the Lord was saying. The Lord was
saying, unless you're born again, you can't, I'm gonna paraphrase
it. Unless you're born again, you can't get what I'm saying.
You can't understand it, what he's saying. You can't see the
kingdom of God, you can't understand it. Unless you're born again,
unless you're, that was you're born of the spirit of spirit.
Now, if you're born of the spirit of God, you're born again, you
can understand the gospel. You can understand the word of
God. You can understand. But until
then, it's a foreign language. And our Lord said, I'm from above,
you're from beneath, you're of this world. That's the problem,
that's why you don't understand. There's a great divide between
the two worlds. Remember when that rich man spoke
to Abraham, that rich man was in hell, and he said, send Lazarus,
he said, there's a great gulf between us. He can't come to
you and you can't come to him. There's gotta be a change, there's
gotta be a change made. Because there's a great divide
between the two worlds. The one we know about naturally
because we live in this world, and the other comes by revelation.
God has to reveal it to us. And there's a world of difference.
There's a world of difference between being in the world and
of the world. I'll show you this here in a
little bit. Well, let me show it to you now, over in John 17. Turn over to John chapter 17.
I don't want to forget this. He told those Pharisees, you
are of the world. And that being so, you're of
the principles of it, you're of the darkness of it, you're
of the spirit of it. You wonder, you say, why do kids
act like they do? Why do men and women act like
they do? Why? Talk about the things that go on, the wrong
and all that that's done, it's because they're under the spirit
of darkness. You know that everyone in this world, everyone in this
room is under one of two spirits. You're either under the spirit
of God or the spirit of darkness, the spirit of Satan. There's
no middle ground. There's no ground where you're,
you know, Trying to think of the word,
but you can't be indifferent. Neutral ground, that's what I'm
trying to think of. There's no neutral ground, you're one or
the other. That's just a truth, one or the other. John 17, let
me see where I'm, pick up in verse five. And now, O Father,
glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I
had with Thee before the world was. I have manifested Thy name
unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were from all eternity. Don't ask me to explain that.
They were. Thine they were. You chose them. Just like you
did the elect angels I talked about earlier. You chose them.
Thine they were, and thou gavest them to me in that covenant of
grace, to be their surety, their mediator, their high priest,
their prophet, priest, and king. You gave them to me, and they
have kept thy word, they believe it. Now they have known that
all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have
received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee.
And they have believed that thou didst send me. They believe this.
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. All mine
are thine. Thine are mine, and I am glorified
in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in
the world. I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own
name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as
we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name, those that thou gavest me I have
kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition. that
the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee, and these
things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not, because they are
not of the world. In it, yes. Of it, no. Even as
I am not of the world. As He is, so are we in this world,
sons of God. We are not of the world, we're
in it, but we're not of it no more. It says over Colossians
that the Father has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. And it says He has translated
us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His dear Son.
He's taken us out of this world and put us into His Son. You're not of the world. Christ
said, I'm not of the world, but you are of the work. You are
of it. I said, therefore, in verse 24,
I said, therefore, unto you that you shall die in your sins. He ought to know. He's telling them what's going
to happen. He's telling them what's going to happen. You're
going to die in your sins. Here's the reason. Now, listen, for
if you believe not that I am, they did not believe he's the
son of God. They didn't believe. They wouldn't
do it. They wouldn't do it. If you believe not that I am,
you shall die in your sins. Do we hear what he's saying? Christ is saying to those religious
leaders, and they're the ones who taught the people. Listen,
these are the ones who were the teachers. It's very serious who
your teacher is, you know that. It's very, very serious who you
listen to. You know, if you listen to a teacher that's very prejudiced,
how you think you're going to turn out? You grew up in a home
like that, how you think you're going to turn out? We are our
teachers. We really are. We become our
teachers if we sit and listen to them long enough. But listen, there were many,
or there are many, there are many who die daily in their sins. Because they refuse to believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. They refuse to believe
it. Now somebody's gonna say this.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that.
I grew up believing that. Well, the devil believes that
too. The devil believes that too. Here's the difference. Here's the difference. It's over
in 2 Thessalonians 2.10. I'm just gonna quote a portion
of it. BECAUSE THEY RECEIVE NOT THE
LOVE OF THE TRUTH THEY ARE DECEIVED THEY BELIEVE A LIE AND THEY ARE
DAMNED AND HERE'S WHY YOU DON'T LOVE THE TRUTH YOU MAY BELIEVE
THESE SAYINGS ARE TRUE BUT THERE'S A DIFFERENCE IN LOVING THE TRUTH
YOU LOVE IT IN LOVING THE TRUTH YOU LOVE JESUS CHRIST PETER DO
YOU LOVE ME LORD YOU KNOW ALL THINGS YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU YOU
KNOW I LOVE YOU It's a big difference in that. Then said they unto
him in verse 25, who are thou? Who are you? I think they're kind of saying,
who are you to talk like this? It's probably a snide remark.
Probably a slap on the face. Who are you to talk like this?
That you're from above and we're from beneath. Don't you talk
down to us like that. We're the ones that get to talk
down to people. They're not supposed to talk down to us. Who do you
think you are? Who art thou? And Jesus said
to them, even the same that I said to you from the beginning. You see, this is how prejudice
blinds men's eyes. They did not want him to be who
he was, who he is. They didn't want him to be there.
You don't fit the mold. You don't fit the way we think.
You don't fit our idea. Well, he said, if you don't believe
that I am, you're going to die in your sins. You don't want
to hear that. But I'm even the same that I
said to you from the beginning, I haven't, the message hasn't
changed. From the beginning of his ministry
or from the beginning of this discourse, he said, I'm the,
I too, I am, I am. I'm God. I'm the son of God. A.W. Pink said, he's saying this,
I am essentially and absolutely that which I have declared myself
to be. That's who I am. Who is he? Who art thou? He said, I'm the light of the
world, didn't he? He said, I'm the light of the world. He said,
I'm the bread from heaven. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. That's who I am. I am that I am, and I am these
things. I am. And I have many things
to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true. And
I speak to the world, I speak into the world. That's why you
and I believe the gospel. He has spoken into this world,
not to the Jews only, but to us Gentiles. And he has created
faith in the heart of many. He's done that. I tell you this,
I tell you this, if the Lord speaks into your heart this morning,
you'll live. You'll believe because you won't
be able to help. I tell you, when somebody turns the light
on, you can't keep from seeing what's in the room. If you, unless
you're blind. Well, when the lights turned
on, you see, you understand. And he's saying this, I have
many things to say and judge of you, but not now. You know,
it's another word. We'll pick this up later, but
I have work to do. I have a people to redeem. I
have blood to shed. I have a righteousness to produce.
We'll talk about this later. Christ didn't come to judge the
world or destroy man's life at that time. He came to redeem.
He said, I didn't come to destroy man's life. Man's lives are already
destroyed. Adam did that and we've helped
him all along the way. He came to produce, he came to
redeem and to produce a righteousness for those for whom he died. He, our Lord has a particular
work to finish and he's going to finish it. He's not going
to get sidetracked by those Pharisees. Peter, feed my sheep. Don't get
sidetracked. And our Lord did not get sidetracked
by these religious leaders coming at him. He didn't get sidetracked
by Satan. He was fixed. Our Lord was fixed
for Calvary. And I mean he didn't step to
the left or to the right. He was going straight to Calvary.
And on his way to Calvary, he kept every jot and tittle of
the law. On his way to Calvary, he kept the law of the home.
He kept the civil law. He kept the laws that God gave. He kept them all. First, in his
heart. In his heart. Oh, how I love
thy law. Didn't we see that Thursday night?
How I love thy law. Christ kept the law. He loved
it. You don't love it, you can't
keep it. You already broke it. Forget it. You know how many
you go through read through the Old Testament. There's 600 and
some laws given. And I guarantee you going to
read one of those laws and you're going to like, Hmm, because I
know what human nature is. I know what human nature is.
You're going to, you're going to look at that law and just
go, Hmm. Our Lord looked at everyone and
loved him, loved him. And that's our righteousness.
They understood not that he spake to them of the father, You see,
this reveals how dead sinners are until God gives them life.
You understand this morning he's speaking of the Father, don't
you? He's speaking of their oneness in person. He's speaking of their
oneness in purpose. He's speaking of their oneness
in their character, and they're speaking of their oneness in
aim. He's speaking of the Father,
our Father, which is in heaven. That's who he's speaking of.
They thought he was talking about somebody else, not God the Father. They didn't think he was speaking
about him. They didn't understand that. They had no ears to hear. And then said Jesus unto them,
verse 28, when you have lifted up the son of man, and he's telling
them here what they're going to do. They have no clue right
now that he's going to be crucified. They don't know that. They're
just standing there talking to him. They hate him. They want him to be crucified.
They want to kill him. They don't whether it's crucifying him or
stoning him or throwing him off a cliff. It doesn't matter, just
as long as he dies. But the Lord is telling them, you're going
to die in your sins. You don't want to hear that.
You're going to die in your sins. But before you do, You're going
to lift me up on a cross. I'm going to die. I'm going to
die. I'm going to lay down my life.
You're not going to take it from me. No man takes my life from me. I
lay it down on myself. I lay it down and I take it up.
This commandment have I received of my father. I'm going to die.
And this is how I'm going to do it. And you're going to do
it. The son of man is going to be lifted up. He's going to be
lifted up on a cross. And when that happens, When that
happens, then shall you know that I am. What does Centurion
say standing there when that earth shook? He says, surely,
surely this is the Son of God. He said, when you lift me up
on a cross and I'm crucified, you're going to know that I am. Not all of you, not all of you. But a multitude of you are gonna
know that I am. And the words that I'm speaking,
I'm gonna be vindicated of them. I'm gonna be vindicated. And
a large part of that happened at Pentecost. You know that a
large, that crowd, that whole crowd said, crucify him, crucify
him. None of them said, no, wait a
minute, wait a minute. All of them said, Crucify Him.
I assure you that on the day of Pentecost, several of them
who said, Crucify Him, were saved. They came to know this is the
Son of God. This is God's Son. And they believed
on Him, followed Him, loved Him. And His words were vindicated.
His words are vindicated this morning in you who believe. You
say, Lord, yea, Lord, that's so. We know when the Lord said
to that woman, it's not right to give the children's bread
to the dog. She said, yea, Lord, true, true, Lord, you're right. I'm a dog and it's not right
to give the children's bread to the dog. But I'm your dog. I'm your dog. His words are vindicated by those
who believe. We say, yes, Lord, there is none
good, no, not one, especially me. Yes, I ought to go to hell. I believe that. I ought to. You know, everyone whom God saved,
they put the noose around their neck themselves and say, guilty,
guilty. We put the noose around our neck
and say, you're right, Lord, I'm guilty. If you kick the bottom
out from under me and hang me and drop me into hell, you're
right. But I beg for your mercy, just
like that woman did. But Lord, I'm your dog. No sinner
ever went to hell seeking the Lord. No sinner ever perished
seeking mercy. It never happened. It cannot
happen. God cannot be God if that ever
happened. No sinner ever perished seeking mercy. When you've lifted
up the Son of Man, then you'll know that I am. You'll know that
I am. And I don't do anything of myself.
We know that Jesus Christ is not a self-proclaimed Messiah,
don't we? He's a son of God. The Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. And the Son came to redeem. We
know that. The eunuch, what did that eunuch
say? After Philip had gone over Isaiah 53 and he preached Jesus
unto him, that's what it says, he preached Jesus Christ unto
him. And he said, what hinders me from being baptized? And Philip
said, if you believe with all your heart, Jesus is the Christ. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. I believe that. And they stopped
that chariot and went down and was baptized. He wanted to confess
Christ. You know, you don't have to talk,
you don't have to talk someone whom God saves into being baptized.
You don't have to talk them into it. They want to. They want to identify with Christ. They are not of the world. They're
in it, but they're not of the world. They're of another world.
They're of the world. They're of the kingdom of God,
the kingdom of light, the kingdom of righteousness. And they want
to identify with Christ. A person who won't identify with
Christ is of the spirit of darkness. That's the truth. They're of
another world. It's another world. It's a world
they don't want to live in that world. They don't want to live
in it. And in verse 29, He that sent
me is with me. The Father is with me. You reject
me, you reject Him. He's not left me alone. I'm not
doing this by myself. For I do always those things
that please Him continually. I continually do those things
that He's pleased with. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. Always doing the Father's will,
as he said here in John 6, 38-40, For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. This
is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which He
hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believes on
Him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at the
last day. Have you seen the Son? Have you seen God's Christ? And as he spake these words,
many believed on him. Many of those Jews believed on
him as he spake these words. Powerful words. Powerful words. That doesn't mean they were all
saved. Now listen to me. It doesn't mean they were all
saved. They believed what he was saying was true. That's what
it means. They believed what he was saying
was true. The next verse proves who really believed. The next
verse, that's the important one. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples of need. Remember there, whenever he was
talking about his eat his flesh and drink his blood. And it was
many disciples that said, went away and walked no more with
him. They said, this is a hard saying who can receive it. And
they left him. They were called his disciples.
They believed what he was saying was true until he told them to
eat his flesh and drink his blood. See, they had no spiritual discernment,
no spiritual understanding. They thought he was talking about
cannibalism. And they're like, we're not into that. And they
left. And that's why he's saying here.
He says to those Jews, a bunch of them believed on him. What
he's saying is true. He said, well, I'll tell you
this. Those who continue my words are the ones who truly believe.
Through all the heartaches and all the trials, all the ups and
downs, they don't leave. They don't leave. They are the ones who are totally
committed. They are the ones who are sold out lock, stock,
and barrel to the gospel. They are sold out lock, stock,
and barrel to Christ. Everybody else will leave. Faith
is tried and revealed in its perseverance. As Paul said, we
are not of them which draw back unto perdition, but of them which
believe to the saving of the soul. And that faith that believes
to the saving of the soul is revealed in perseverance. We
don't run up against a trial and say, well, why did God do
this? If he's a God of mercy and God
of grace, then why all this? To prove you don't have it. Or you do have it, one or the
other. It's one or the other. Our Lord spoke to those who indicated
that they believed on Him and He says, here's the evidence
that you believe is that you continue in the faith. They would
be excommunicated out of their home for believing on Christ.
You know, it's easy to believe on Him here in America. You can
believe anything in America. I mean, you can just believe
any old garbage. But over there, if you believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, you were kicked out. You were put
out in the street. as if you died. You had to be
really committed to Christ and to the gospel if you're going
to confess Him in that place. It's easy confessing Christ here,
but now the Lord's going to send trials. He's going to send trials
that's going to prove our faith. Now, if we have it, we will persevere. We will. Because trials always
run the child of God to Christ and not away from Him. They'll
run you to the Lord and not away from Him. If a man or woman continues throughout
the life, his life or her life on this earth, believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ, it's evident God has saved them. It's not
the cause of their sin. God doesn't save me because I
continue. I continue because God saved me. That's why I continue. The one who truly loves the Lord
Jesus Christ will not depart from Him. You don't leave someone
you love. I'm telling you, you don't do
it. You don't leave someone you love. Love, it says, is stronger
than death. It's stronger than death. You'll
die before you leave. Like those martyrs burned, that's
a stake. You know, I can't imagine that. I can't imagine being strapped
to a stake and all those woods stacked around you. And I've
read some of these martyrs and singing songs of praise while
they light the fire. Love won't let you leave. Love beareth all things, believeth
all things. Go over and read 1 Corinthians
13. That's love. That's love. That's the definition of love.
And those who truly love him won't depart. And what really
sets a sinner free, and I close, and you shall know the truth.
You that continue in the faith, that's what he's talking about.
You who continue, you who persevere, you'll know the truth. You will
know the truth and the truth will make you free. And that's
a message all in itself. You'll know the truth of the
gospel. You'll know the truth about God. You'll know the truth
about Jesus Christ. You'll know the truth about sin.
You'll know the truth about man. You'll know the truth about,
you'll know the truth. Listen, you'll know the truth
about the law and your inability to keep it. Truth sets men free. Christ said, I'm the truth. You'll
know me and I'll set you free. I'll set you free. All right.