Let's go back to John 8. I know what the bulletin says,
but we're going to look at John 8. God's Word is the only thing
written that's absolute. It doesn't change. John chapter 8, I've been thinking
about this for a long time. Someone came to visit me one
day, and this verse, as we were talking, this verse of Scripture
came to mind, and we discussed it briefly, and it's been on
my mind ever since. Verse 32. John 8, verse 32. Our Lord says, You shall know
the truth. and the truth shall make you free. Let's begin up in verse 30. If
you heard the radio broadcast, this is where it was from, and
this morning I thought, you know, I may not live to finish the
rest of this. We need to hear the rest of this. Verse 30, the Lord says, As he
spake these words, many believed on him. as he spake these words. He said many things, many things
right in this immediate time. Many things. And quite often
it says that folks believed on him. Go back to chapter 2, John
chapter 2. Many times throughout the scriptures
it says that They believed on him, the Jews believed on him,
and the people believed on him. You know that. Look here in John
2, verse 23 through 25. Now, when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name
when they saw the miracles which he did. See that? When they saw the miracles, they
believed in him. Other times it says they believed
in him or on him because he provided food for them, fed the 5,000
and so on and so forth. And he said that. He said, you
follow me because you got your bellies filled or because you
saw the miracle. Look at verse 24. But Jesus did
not commit himself unto them because he knew all. He knew
them. He knew their hearts. He knows
our hearts. Boy, we need him to commit to
us, don't we? Verse 25, and it says he needed
not that any should testify of man. He knew what was in man. So that's the sense here in John
8 where it says many believed on him. They just, well, we believed. But did they? Now, look at the
next verse. Our Lord said in verse 31, Then
said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. If ye continue in my
word, then you really believe me. A disciple is someone who follows
and believes and studies under a master, a teacher, someone
they admire greatly, someone who they believe every word he
says. A real disciple is someone who
believes every single thing that their teacher, their master,
which they're a disciple of, believes every word he says.
and follows him closely. A disciple, we get the word discipline
from that, don't we? A disciple disciplines or gets
under the discipline of whoever it is they're following. So he said, if you continue in
my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Now I looked up the word
continue, and it means what you think it
means, but it means so much more. You know, words that we have.
Barnard used to say, you just need two books, a Bible and a
dictionary. That's good advice. We just look up plain old words
that we use and take for granted. They have great meaning quite
often. They really open it up to you.
He said, if you continue. Now, the word continue means
to stay. Listen to him. The word continue
means to stay in a given place. This is a dictionary, but Concord
said this. To stay where you're told to
stay. Are you with me? If you stay
where you're told to stay, then you're my disciple. If you don't leave, if you don't
move away, if you don't, if you stay where you're told to stay.
And you may have heard this illustration on the radio. A dog. I love these illustrations. Maybe
you're getting tired of them, but people who have dogs don't. Henry, you like these illustrations
about dogs? Okay, I'm going to keep telling
them. Henry's been around here longer than anybody, so I get
it. John's all right? Okay. A dog, some of the first
things you teach a dog, elementary commands, what you need to teach
it. But you need to teach it for
its safety, for its welfare, to keep it from killing itself.
Not just to show what a good dog trainer you are, but to keep
that dog from killing itself. You need to teach it to stay. Don't you? Abner, my good and dear, devoted
friend, Abner. Every dog I've ever owned got
hit by a car. Every cat, every animal. We've
always lived near Busy Street, and all of them got killed, except
for the ones we had to put to sleep. When we first moved where we
are, we would go for walks on that road and go all the way
down to Route 40. on our road. You know where we'd
walk all the way down to Route 40. Well, Abner wanted to follow
Annie. He wanted to go with us. And we just knew that if he got
anywhere near this road, you know. So when we'd get to the
top of the hill, we'd tell him to stay. We taught him to stay
right there. Don't go near that road. You
stay right there. And he would. And to this day,
he does, doesn't he, And she doesn't have to tell him. You
walk along, I quit walking, I got tired of that. A man that keeps
walking, and I say I got other things to do, you know. She keeps
walking, and when she gets right to that point, he stops. She goes away. Doesn't have to
tell him. Either two, he goes, and no further. If you continue in my word, If
you stay where you're told to stay, and go no further. You
know, the religious world is running after rabbits. They're
running in every direction, looking for this and looking for that.
That's the reason they follow all these crooks. They hear some
fellow over here, some fellow saying, hey, I'm the man. Our
Lord said, let a man come in his own name and you'll follow
him. I mean, he can actually say,
it's me. I put his name all over something,
you know. And they'll follow him like dogs.
Chasing rabbits, looking for this, looking for that, looking
for answers, looking for that. And our Lord said, my word. It's my word. If he's ever caused
you to Like his daughter. Made you sit.
Taught you to sit. Like that wild man, that crazy
man. Nobody could tame him. But the Lord did. The Lord came
and revealed himself to him and made him sit. And clothed him
in his right mind. Don't go, there's nothing out
there. You need to sit right here and listen to me. Sit. Clothed him in his right mind.
Now stand. You remember, after it was over,
another man, after it was over, the Lord said, who was it? A leper? He cleansed somebody.
He cleansed more than one. He cleansed and said, well, now
go your way. You're healed. Go your way. And the Lord started
walking, and what did the fellow do? Followed him. I'm staying with you from here
on. That's my way. That's where I want to be. Stay. stay in my
word, then are you my disciples indeed." My word. This is his
voice. This is the shepherd's voice.
And this is how you know a true disciple. They won't hear a stranger's
voice. They won't hear a stranger's
voice. If you continue, the word continue means to abide, to live there. You abide somewhere. in my home with this family. There's one woman there. I live in that home. You live
in your home with your husband. You live with your wife and children. And that's where you abide. That's where you resort to. If you abide, that's where you
live. Well, if you continue in my Word,
if you abide, if this is where you live, In other words, the
family, you're married, that's your life. Your children, your
life. If Christ is in you, and you're
in Christ, he's your life. Not a part of it. Not a part of it. Nobody ever
in scriptures ever said that. You won't find that anywhere.
But people say it all the time today, don't they? It's a very
common thing. Christ is a big part of my life.
then he's not your life. God is a big part of my life.
They put things in order like this. Family, baseball, you know, and God. That's not the way it is. That's
not the way it is, truly. If you continue to abide in me
and I in you, Christ said, like a vine and branches. Didn't he
say that? like a vine and branch. Stay with me now. This is life.
If you abide in me, if you live in me, continue in my word, abide
in my word, and Christ, this is how Christ speaks to his people.
This is how Christ deals with his people. Do you understand
that? He doesn't speak out loud. He doesn't come in person. Are
you hearing me? He doesn't come in person. He
doesn't come and say, now listen, John, listen, John, I want to
teach you something here. You're doing this wrong, and
I need to show you how And then come to it and say, listen, Sarah,
you need to go over so and so. He doesn't do that. Well, yes, he does. Yes, he does. Right here. This
is how he does that. This is how he speaks. This is
how he speaks. He said we have not because we
We ask him, he'll send us to this, or recall this to us, and
teach us. Listen, John, he does speak to his people.
And the reason he doesn't speak out loud, we want him, everybody
in here does that, don't we? Everybody in here thinks at times,
God just tell me, just show me, he hurts! But what's the problem? Me. I'm not looking. I'm not seeking. He has a reason God doesn't speak
out loud now. He doesn't speak out loud anymore.
He used to in time past, spoken to the fathers by the prophet
before the word was completed. The reason he does it now is
he has said all that needs to be said. It's all right here.
It's all right here. It's not left us in doubt about
anything. There's a principle for everything. And he's spoken
of. If you continue, in my word,
abide, live there, dwell there, listen to my voice. If you abide
there, my words abide in you. The word continue means to stand. We use the term take a stand.
Take a stand. Stand right there. I'm not moving.
This is it. I'm not moving. Oh, come on,
go. No. Yeah, but look over. No. This
is what I must do. Take a stand. This is what this
is like. This is the one thing that it
means to Terry. You see, this is just an English
word. Continue. If you tarry. Ever tarried? Let's put it this way. Has your
wife ever tarried? I told somebody, the only people
that really know patients are married men. What are you shaking
your head at, Roberta? Oh, you wait on him, is it? He's
the only one I've run into. I'm just kidding. They're all
worth waiting on, aren't they, men? Y'all better than not, you
hear? They're worth waiting on, every
minute of it. All that getting ready, man,
is it worth it. The word tarry means to wait,
to ponder, to linger. If you continue my word, you
tarry there, linger, ponder, consider, meditate. Think about
it. What are you going to do? This
is what it says. You see the wisdom in that? Meditate
on it. Tarry there a little while. Don't impulsively. Like a fellow said, I don't know
what to do. I don't know what to do. I'm just going to turn
in the scriptures and it will tell me what to do. And he put
his finger down. And it said, Judas went out and hanged himself. Oh, he said, oh no, no, no. He
turned over and he pointed down and he said, what thou doest,
do it quickly. Because you don't do that. You
don't do that. You tarry, you ponder, you consider,
you count the cost and so forth. And you ponder what the scripture
said and the wisdom of it. and the need of it and all that. Count the cost. Well, he said,
if you continue in my word, my word, not man's interpretation
of it, my word, my word. Now, I know all these
fellas, and some ladies even, say various things. They're all different. Well,
no, most of them agree. But, and here's a way you know
the difference. It's so different. It's like
night and day. The truth and error differ so
greatly. It's like black and white. Night
and day. Isn't it, Matt? There's no gray
area. Like the people, when they heard
Paul, when Paul came to Antioch. of Mars Hill. And the people
heard him preaching the God of the Bible to God, reigns and
rules, as he pleases with whom he pleases. Man doesn't control
him, but he doesn't do what man lets him do. He doesn't—that
man's not the free one, God is. That man's not in control of
anything, God is. It's not up to man. And on and
on he preached. the only way. Not man's works,
not man's religion, not man's whatever man thinks is wrong.
And he began preaching that, and the people said, this is
strange doctrine. Didn't it? You know the story.
Strange doctrine. He's preaching a strange God. His God is strange. Nobody believes like that. Who
ever heard of such a thing? They said. It's in Acts 17. Who
ever heard of such a thing? A God that doesn't love everybody.
What are you talking about? Nobody believes that. God who
actually pours out His wrath on people and punishes sin. What? Nobody's telling that anymore.
Modern man doesn't... Our modern society doesn't believe
that, Mr. Paul, Apostle. What is this strange
doctrine? The truth is so different. than
ever. There's no middle ground. And
Christ, when he came, look at John 16. Go over to John 16. I want you to look at it with
your eye. Something to be said for, I'm sorry, John 14. There's something to be said
for looking up the scriptures. Number one, you need to look
them up yourself and not just trust the man that he's reading
them. Right? Don't just trust somebody. It was a fellow years ago, it's
a true story. Let's see if I can get it exactly
how it was said. Some preacher was telling the
man what he thought the Word of God was saying. And he was
talking about the Word of God as the milk of God's Word. And
the fellow said, well, I want to get my Bible and see if what
you're saying is so. And the fellow was trying to
tell him, no, you can trust me with it. You can trust me. And
the fellow said, no, if I'm going to get milk, I'm going to get
my own cow. I want my own cow. Something to that effect. We
need to have our own scriptures, or else you've got to trust somebody.
And that's not good. And there is something to be
said for looking at it with your eyes, hearing it with your ears,
or saying it out loud with your own voice. All these things help. I strongly urge you to do that
every now and then. Take your Bible and read it out
loud. Our Lord said in John 14.6, Jesus saith unto him, the Thomas,
his disciple, he said, I am the way, the truth. and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. He that continueth in my word,
and Christ said, I am the way. He did not say, and I'm not interpreting
this. I'm telling you exactly what
he said. He did not say, I will show you
the way. He said, I am the way. In other words, I am the way.
When you, when you go to Roanoke, what highway you get on, if you
live in Rocky Mountain, you get on 220. That's the way. If you're on that highway, You
get it? Corona. That's the way. It is the way you're going to
get there. You understand? That's so simple.
It is the way you're getting there. You're in a car. That
car is the way that's getting you there. Christ said, I am
the way. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I'm the way you get there. Come unto me. Oh, there's a way that seems
right. Well, that sounds good. I'm going to try this way. The
way. The way. There's no other way. The way. You know, if we could
get a hold of this, it'd set us free. free from looking other
ways. He said that down here, you'll
know the truth. What truth? Doctrine? Yeah, but I am the
way. The truth that Christ is the
way. The way. The truth. The truth. You know
the truth? Look down at verse 32. He said
you'll know the truth in our text. John 8. You'll know the
truth and the truth shall make you free. The truth. The truth
of who God is. Christ said, No man knows the
Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son reveals him. Let
me tell you about the Father, and he did. And the truth of
who the Father is, and we think of God. Now, I love to preach
God high and lifted up. You love to hear it, don't you?
Those that really love God's glory can never get enough of
hearing God exalted. You can't preach God too sovereign
for His people. I mean, those that are really
interested in God's glory, God's honor, God's people, in heaven,
that's all they're doing is singing about His glory and loving every
minute of it and don't want to stop. That's the way it is down
here. That's the way it begins down
here. They see something of His glory, and that's what they love
to hear and who they love to hear declared. Because that really
gives them peace, when they find out He really is God, and I'm
in His hands, and everything's in His hands. My soul's in His
hands, and that's all right, because I made it. I can't do
anything. He's my God. God, God, and Reina. And here I am. I didn't want
to stay right there, but I love it, don't you? This world full
of chaos and confusion and everybody's saying, well, you know, worry
about Bin Laden or worry about whoever. Worry about Satan. Say
unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Nobody and nothing. Satan can't
move a finger unless God allows him to do it. And it's in his
purpose. Are you like that? That will set you free. Look with me at 2 Corinthians
4. It will set you free from absolute
despair. It will set you free from absolute
worry. It will set you free. You will know
the truth of who God really is. You will know the truth. And
I hope I can think of what I was getting ready to say. But here
in 2 Corinthians 4, he said in verse 8, we're troubled on every
side. And we are. You're much through
much tribulation, trouble. Enter the kingdom of heaven,
but not distressed. Why? Our God reigns. We're perplexed. We can't figure it out. I don't
understand why that happened. But not in despair. We're not without hope. We're
not going to kill ourselves. No, because God reigns. We're persecuted. We've got all kinds of enemies.
We've got all kinds of people against us. It seems like everything
and everybody is against us. Persecuted. We're not forsaken. If God be for us, what does it
matter if the whole world against us? If your father and mother
forsake you, he said. I've taken it. I've forsaken. You know, we forget that, don't
we? At times. You just remembered it. It just gave you a little peace.
How? I just read it to you. You just read it yourself. You
see? You see where there's peace?
You know the truth. They go hand in hand. This is the written
truth. See that? This is our only place to turn.
And it's not just the Bible, though. It's not just turning
to the Bible. I want to read the scriptures. Lord, speak to me. This is how
you speak. Speak, thy servant here. You with me? And set you free. You'll know this. You know this,
and you forget it all week, and you forget to turn to it. I'm
telling you, turn to it. And I asked, turn to him first.
Turn to him first. Pray without ceasing. Lord, I'm
not getting anything. I'm not getting to speak to me.
Old Brother Tom, that's what he kept stressing, wasn't it,
Henry? Mindy. He kept saying, Henry,
Mindy. He preached from Psalm 62, pour
out your heart to him. Pour out your heart to him. Here's
the point I wanted to make. I remember it. I love to preach
God's sovereign on the throne. It gives us great peace. But
I'll tell you what else gives you peace about God. It sets
you free from worry and all that. He's your Father. Steve, He's
your Dad. May I say that? Our Lord said
that. You can call Him Abba. That was
a very affectionate, close, not a flippant, not a careless, not
an irreverent term. No, no, no. But nevertheless,
a close term, a term of affection that meant something to you.
That word means something to you, doesn't it, Steve? When you think of
dad, oh, God, our Lord said that to his
disciples. I go to my father and your father. He said, the father loveth you
like he loveth me. Your father! Boy, what does that
mean to you? Dad's not going to hurt you.
Dad never did anything to hurt you. Your dad. A true dad. A
true father now. There's some men on this earth
who have been monsters and not fathers. But a true father now. And there's some real fathers
on this earth. And your Heavenly Father is a true father. He would
never do anything ever to hurt his children. And if your earthly
father is a monster, you've got a heavenly father. You hear me? You've got a heavenly father. And somehow in that purpose of
your heavenly father, that earthly father you're stuck with, he'll
be with him. Man is sets you free. I've got
to quit. I didn't know I was really going
to preach from this until this morning, but you know the truth about man.
It sets you free. You know the truth about this
world. It sets you free from trying to impress it. You know
the truth about people. Our Lord said that. He knew what
was in man. Don't commit to him. God's people now that have the
love of God in their hearts and Christ in them, they're just
like their Father. There are people you can resort
to in time, but Christ principally, he's chief one. He's the one
you turn to. You know, the truth about man,
it'll keep you from man bothering you. Paul said that. And everybody
was against him. Everybody. He said that at one
time. He said, nobody's with me. Nobody. But Timothy. And finally, but his thing I
love is, he reached the point, he said, from henceforth let
no man bother me. Let no man bother me. I'm not
worried about it. I'm just not worried about it.
Who cares? Because I know what's in there. Something
wrong with it, bad wrong with it. And, oh, if you know Christ,
you know the truth, set you free. The truth of who Christ is. Who
is he? A friend of sinners. I mean, a friend of sinners.
Now, really, he's the only one that is, he and his people. I
know people like to say that. you sin, it won't have anything
to do with you. He will, just like that woman
called Mac. They all came in, threw her at
his feet. Nobody wanted anything to do
with her. She made them look good. When
it all ended, it was just him and her. They all skedaddled,
guilty as She's the only one justifying it. He's a friend of sinners, and
eateth with them. You know that story. He's the Savior of sinners. He's
the Savior of sinners. Call his name Jesus. He shall
say, that's why I came here. That's what he delights to do.
You know, I could keep going with this. You know the truth.
The truth of his mercy. He's merciful. Whatever you're
full of is what comes out. And I'll not comment on that
too much. But our Lord is merciful. Full of mercy. And it says He
delights to show it. Somebody's got a lot of money,
you know, and got a lot to give. Our Lord is merciful. He delights
to show it. How long will He show it? I'm going to say that. Keep saying that. Why does the
Word of God keep saying, His mercy endures forever? And that
one psalm says it how many times, John? Twenty-six times? In twenty-six
verses? Why does it keep saying that?
Why do you keep telling your children something? Over and
over and over and over and over. Why do you keep telling them
that? You're going to tell it until they get it. He's merciful.
His mercy endures. Oh, he's done with me now. Are
you going to just, are you finally going to Be done with your children?
Never. They may leave you, but you're
not going to leave them. Mercyful. Gracious. Full of grace. Grace pours from His lips. What
do you need? A word in season? It just pours
from His lips. The rebuke is good. We need it.
Need some harsh rebuke, but he doesn't just keep railing. Keep
railing. No, no, no, no. Grace. I'd love to keep going with this
another hour. Know the truth of who he is.
I'm worried about my soul. How come? He's got it. Worried about losing my salvation.
You never had it. Oh, man, I can relax, can't I? That's precisely what he tells
us to do. Rest. Come unto me and rest,
all you that are laboring heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Freedom. Freedom. And we could go on and
on. Free from the penalty of sin. Free from the law. Oh, happy
condition. Ask some people out in religion
who are under the law, are you happy? Yeah. Yeah. I got to go, got to go. Somebody might see me. Got to
go get the TV out of my house or something. Yeah, happy. Set you free from
these deliverance fellows. To set free means to deliver.
That's the word you hear all over the world now. Deliverance.
Deliverance. We promise you deliverance. Deliverance. Oh, man, there's
a lot of people in bondage to this deliverance. It sets you
free from them. And I keep saying, I'm going
to say it and say it and say it until we hear it. Jesus Christ
is all the religion anybody needs. It sets you free. It sets you
free. Nothing like it. Okay, let's
sing a closing hymn, Brother Gabe. What number? 216. Thank you very much. Okay. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. you you