If you noticed as he read through these verses, there is several times that the very short expression, the truth, is mentioned. It's used in verse 32, and ye shall know the truth. There's a definite article there, so there is only one truth. that is only one spiritual truth, only one truth concerning the gospel, only one truth concerning how sinners are saved. So he says, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Down in verse 40, he says to these Pharisees, now you seek to kill me, a man which hath told you You know the Lord Jesus couldn't lie. He never would tell a non-truth. That which came forth from him had to be the truth, for he is the truth. He said to his disciples in John 14, and I quoted this verse this morning, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Look in verse 44. He says to these people, ye are of your father the devil. Those are very offensive words. Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth. And the reason is because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he's a liar and the father of it.

Verse 45, and because I tell you the truth, you believe not. Verse 46, which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, if I say the truth, why don't you believe me? If I tell you the truth, he says, why don't you believe me?

Anytime you look at a passage of scripture, you'd need to be asking a few questions. And one of the questions is, who's the speaker? Well, the speaker is our Lord Jesus. It was said of him, never a man speak like this man. This man had the word of God. More than that, this man is the Word of God.

So the speaker is Christ our Savior. Another question that needs to be asked and answered whenever you're studying a passage of Scripture is, who's he speaking to? Well, he's in the temple and he's speaking to the Pharisees. These were the most religious people, most folks consider to be the holiest people on earth, the Pharisees. Now they thought they had a corner on the truth. They felt like they were the children of God and all the Gentiles were like dogs.

So the speaker is the Savior. Those to whom he directs these remarks are the Pharisees. who, after he had finished speaking these words in John 8, they took up stones in order to stone him. They were so mad. Now remember, these are the religious leaders of Israel. This is the highest-ranking religious judicial body in all of Israel, and these Pharisees took up stones in order to stone our Savior to death.

Now, they couldn't do that because it had been ordained of God that He would die on a cross. In fact, you go back in the Old Testament, He would be hung upon a tree. That is the cross of Calvary. And He wouldn't die until His hour was come. You remember He said, no man takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. Our Savior would only die according to His own willingness to die. Nobody had authority over Him. Not then, not now. The only one who has the absolute authority is the Savior. He's the Son of God. He's the King of kings, and He is the Lord of lords.

So He's speaking to these Pharisees, and He's speaking to them concerning the truth. This morning, I brought you a message from Jeremiah 5 and verse 1, seeking the truth. And the Lord says to Jeremiah, seek amongst all the people. Is there anybody seeking the truth? Is there anybody who wants to know the truth? Is there anybody who wants to be instructed in the truth? And I would ask all of you, do you want to know the truth? Do you want to be instructed in the truth?

Well, what is the truth? First of all, Christ is the truth. He is the summation of all spiritual truth. It's found in him. You'll notice what he says in verse 23. He says to these Pharisees, you're from beneath. I am from above. What a vast distance. What a vast difference. You're from beneath. your headquarters is sin. You live in this anti-God, anti-Christ world. But I'm from above." He says, you're of this world. I'm not of this world. He came from heaven's glory. He's the Son of God. He stooped to come down here. He was born of a virgin because that's what God ordained. He had to be made flesh and blood. He had to have a real body and a real soul in order to suffer the wrath of men, but mainly the wrath of God. He said, I'm from above. I'm from above.

And he says to them in verse 24, I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins if you believe not that I am he. The word he is italicized. If you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. And they did not believe that he was the great I am. And you'll remember that originated back in the book of Exodus when the Lord appointed Moses to go to meet with the Israelites and tell them that he was appointed of the Lord to lead them out of captivity in Egypt. And Moses said, well, Lord, when they asked me, who sent you? Why should we believe you? Tell them I am that I am that sent you. And now our Lord takes that expression, I am, and he applies it to himself. He is saying, I am divine. I am God. He's equal with the father. John 10 verse 30, I and my father are one. And he said, if you believe not that I am, if you don't believe I'm God, If you don't believe I'm the Son of God, if you don't believe that I'm divine, if you don't believe that I was sent of God, then you will die in your sins.

Nobody is a true believer who denies the absolute authority of Jesus Christ as God Almighty. If He's not God, He can't save anybody. If he's not God, he can't forgive you your sins. You remember when our Lord Jesus forgave the sins of a man who was lame? And he said, which is easier to say, your sins be forgiven you or rise, take up your bed and walk? And the Pharisees said, who does this man think he is? Nobody can forgive sins but God. Well, he did. He forgave sins because he's the son of God.

That's why they said in verse 25, look at this. Then said they unto him, who are you? Who are you? And Jesus said to them, even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I've told you who I am, but you don't believe me. I've told you I'm the son of God. I've told you I'm the Son of Man. I've told you I'm the bread come down from heaven. And no doubt many of these Pharisees ate of the bread that He Himself multiplied and the fishes in John chapter 6. He said, I've told you who I am. I'm the bread come down from heaven. I'm the bread of life. Whoever eats of Christ will live forever. That's a spiritual eating. Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood. What's that? That's faith in him, that's believing him, that's receiving him.

Look at verse 26. He says, I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true. And I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. He came as Jehovah's voluntary servant. He's the faithful servant of God. Isaiah 42, behold my servant, God says, mine elect in whom my soul delights. He sent me. And the things that I say are the things that He told me to say.

And verse 27, and here's the problem with the natural man. Here's the problem with the unconverted. Here's the problem with the unregenerated. They understood not. They understood not that He spake to them of the Father. And let me tell you something. You'll never understand spiritual things unless God's pleased to teach you.

I can teach your mind. I can give forth the truth in words, which is the only way I can communicate my thoughts to you. I can tell you the truth. I can tell you who God is. I can tell you what you are. I can tell you who Christ is. I can tell you why He died on the cross, that God might be just and justify. I can tell you He's the only Savior. I can tell you of the necessity of His blood redemption and His righteousness. I can tell you all of these truths, but you will not understand unless the Spirit of God gives you understanding.

He has to reveal truth to us. You see, nobody naturally receives spiritual truth. And the reason is because we're carnal. We're dead in trespassings and sins. We have no spiritual abilities naturally. Repentance is a spiritual act. You cannot repent unless God gives you life. Faith is a spiritual act. You cannot believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unless the Spirit of God gives you life. Our Savior said you must be born again.

Religion today has got it backwards. Religion today says believe and get born again. That's absolutely false. The new birth precedes repentance and faith. Unless God is pleased to give you spiritual life, and He must give it, and He has the right to give it to whoever He wants to. Unless He gives you spiritual life, you have no ability nor desire to repent, to forsake your false religion, to forsake your gods that you've imagined and created. You have no ability to believe on Christ. These things are foreign to the natural man. They have always been and they always will be.

reason anybody ever embraces the truth of Christ and His work of redemption is because the Spirit of God gives them life within. I can't give it to you. You can walk the aisle in every church in Boyd County. It won't help you at all. You can make all the decisions you want. You can raise your hand as many times as you want to. You can ask for prayer all that you want to. I'll tell you this, unless God does a work in your heart, nothing of any lasting value is going to happen.

One of the things wrong with modern religion today, we put everything on the center. Preachers say, well, you know, the Lord has done all he can do, and now the rest is up to you. No, it's not up to you. It's up to God. In Romans 9, the Lord said, I'll be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. The Lord is not in your hands to do with as you please. You are in His almighty sovereign hands to do with as He pleases.

And now that's a totally different situation there. They didn't understand. They didn't understand. They're naturally blinded. They're like those people that Jeremiah wrote about in his prophecy. And the Lord finally told Jeremiah, don't even pray for them anymore. Don't pray for them. I'm not gonna do anything for them.

Jesus said, verse 28, when you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you shall know that I am. You're gonna see some things. You're gonna experience some things when I'm lifted up on the cross. And they did. They heard an ungodly, wretched thief change his tune and say to the Savior, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Remember me. If you just remember me. And then something happened. Darkness fell from noon till three o'clock. I saw that. Hey, who can shield the sun? Who can cause total darkness? Only God. He's a God of light and darkness.

And then the veil of the temple rent from top to bottom. Who could do that? It wasn't rent from bottom to top. Man didn't do it. You see, our Lord Jesus, by His substitutionary sacrifice, He opened the way unto God. There's the way. Christ is the way to the Lord. Only one. It's not the Baptist way or the Catholic way or the Presbyterian way or the Church of God way or name any kind of religion you want to. The way is Christ. There's somebody. He's the new and living way. He said, that's when you'll know that I am. And he says, Look at verse 29, he that sent me is with me, the father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. And as he spake these words, many believed on him.

Take a concordance, like Strong's concordance, and look up the word believed, and you'll be amazed, I suspect, in the Gospel of John, how many times it says, many believed on him. Many believed on him. Many professed faith in Him. But you know, when He was crucified, what happened to all these people? What happened? Where are they? They forsook Him. Many believed on a profession of faith. There have been a lot of people profess faith in Christ. You see Crusades on television, from Billy Graham's Crusades to Franklin Graham's Crusades and a bunch of other Crusades, and they give all these altar calls no matter where you are in this great football stadium or baseball stadium, you know, we'll wait, just come on down here and all these hundreds, thousands of people, where are they? They surely haven't had an effect upon society. We're worse off now. We got more churches today than we've ever had, and our country and the world's in worse shape than it's ever been in.

What's wrong with religion today? I can tell you what's wrong with religion today. It's man's religion and not God's religion. It's not of the Lord. It's not of the Lord.

Many believed on him, professed faith. And I wonder if I'm talking to somebody tonight that's professed faith in Christ. Maybe it's somebody who's watching. You profess faith in Christ? Been a bunch of empty professions made. I made one when I was six years old. I remember, I wasn't sitting in this building, but I was sitting about second pew where Joe's sitting there. And the preacher said, you want to go to hell? And in my mind, I thought, I sure don't want to go to hell. You want to go to heaven? Yeah, I want to go to heaven. He said, come down here and talk with me. And I did. I was scared to death. I've said before, he preached on hell, and it scared the hell out of me. I'll tell you that. I was afraid. And he said, you believe on Jesus? And I said, I do. He said, I never doubted and lived for him. And I tried to do that for a number of years.

And then I found out it was not my decision to come to him. The Lord had to come to me and teach me the truth. See, I thought it was all up to me. I thought there's my contribution to my salvation, which is my faith. And I found out some years later, that's wrong. My only contribution in this salvation thing is my sin. That's my contribution. I learned what Jonah learned, and I'm thankful I didn't have to learn it in the belly of a great fish, the salvations of the Lord. He ordained salvation. He chose me to salvation. He bought me for salvation. He keeps me saved. He preserves me. And one day I'll go to glory and I'll lay aside sin.

And then in the last day, my body that is destined for the grave is going to be raised. a pure body, fashioned like unto his own glorious body. This is all of the Lord. It's all of the Lord.

So he says to these people, look at verse 31, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if, oh, that's a big word. He said, well, Jim, it's only two letters, I know, but it hovers over all of these who said they believed on him. He said, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. If you abide, if you remain believing. Now, know this, continuing in faith is not a condition of salvation. That is not a condition of salvation. It's evidence of. It's evidence of salvation. And he says to all these people, many believed on him, and he said, well, if you stick with me, then you're my disciples indeed.

We've seen over the years, and I've only been here 11 years, by 11 and a half now, but those of you who've been here a long, there's a charter member over here and a bunch of y'all have been here a long time. You've seen a lot of people come in here and a lot of people go. Make a profession of faith and you think, well, they gonna set the church on fire. Boy, oh man, woo! We sure are excited about their zeal. And as quickly as they come in, they leave. You like those people that Jude spoke about, like a shooting star. Ooh, isn't that something? That's what you said when they came in. Boy, I sure am glad they came in. And they just set the church ablaze for a little bit, and then they're gone. That's what a lot of these people were.

So the Savior says, Let me tell you something, true faith doesn't quit. You hear me? True God-given faith never quits because the God who gave the faith will maintain the faith. And he says in the 32nd verse, and ye shall know the truth. and the truth shall make you free. Free from what? Free from condemnation. Free from judgment. Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus who walked not after the flesh but after the spirit. Free from what? If the Son shall make you free, you're free indeed. Free from what? Free from the law. We're not under law. We're under grace. You do a little investigation, you'll find that the law of the Old Testament was given to the Jews. Paul said, you're not under law, you're under grace. Grace up here, grace down here, grace on that side, grace that surrounds us.

Let me tell you something, God has always dealt graciously with His chosen people who were chosen under salvation and grace. We were redeemed by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ who paid the debt of sins that His chosen people owed. We were regenerated by the grace of the Holy Spirit who gave us spiritual life. In our deadness, He came to us through the preaching of the gospel. And we live by the Word of truth. You remember the book of James? James says, and you hath he quickened, who's the he God? And you hath he quickened who were dead and trespassed in sins. I should say that's in Ephesians, Ephesians chapter two. And you hath he begotten. He begat you, he gave you life through the word of truth. What did Peter say in 1 Peter 1? Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. By what? The truth. The Word of truth, the Word of life, the Word of God. What does God use in quickening, in regenerating, in birthing a sinner into the kingdom of God? He uses His gospel.

That's why the Lord Jesus said in His high priestly prayer in John 17, sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth. Truth. You see, I don't think our Lord is ever so desperate that he uses religious error to bring his people into the kingdom of God. I just refuse to believe that. He doesn't use error. He uses the truth. Don't you believe that? He uses the truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. It will make you free. It will liberate you. liberate you.

And then they began to bicker with him. Oh, beware of people who bicker with the word of God. I just don't have much time for them, really. I'm not going to argue with anybody. And I'm not a debater. The truth is not up for debate. You see, when you hear the truth, when you meet the truth of God, of who God is in his absolute authority, in his sovereignty, in his holiness, in his justice, when you meet the truth of God that tells us what we are, we're sinful people. We don't have any spiritual abilities. We're without any spiritual life. When we hear the truth about Christ Jesus, who is he? He's the great I am. What did he do? He died on a cross to save his people from their sins. He didn't die to make salvation a possibility. He didn't die to give people a chance to be saved.

What's his name? What did Gabriel say to Joseph? Thou shalt call his name, what? Jesus. Well, why should we name him Jesus? What about naming him Joseph II or something? Why don't we call him Jesus? Because he shall save his people. Well, who are his people? Those that God gave him in electing grace. And he saved him when he went to the cross. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was not an effort to save, it was salvation. He redeemed us. Peter said, you were redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit, well, he comes to us and he opens our minds. He gives us life. And then we see salvation's only in Christ, not in the church. Your faith is not salvation. Your repentance is not salvation. Your decision is not salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is God's salvation. That's what Simeon said. Know what he said? When Mary and Joseph brought the Lord Jesus, brought him into the temple, he said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. There's God's salvation. God's salvation is not in the church, it's not in a building, it's not in your decision. God's salvation is in somebody. And until you understand that, you don't know anything about salvation. And you'll never know anything about salvation unless God teaches you. Oh Lord, teach me the truth. Teach me the truth as it is. in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me close this message by asking you three questions. See if I can answer them for you. Maybe you're thinking, Jim, how can I identify the truth? How can I know I'm hearing the truth from you or from any preacher? Well, I'll tell you this, the truth of God exalts God Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. That's what David said. Truth exalts God. Doesn't make you feel sorry for God. Makes you fall down before him. Secondly, how do I know if I'm hearing the truth? Truth abases us. It puts us down. If a person is not convinced in their heart of their sinful, depraved, ungodly condition, they don't know the truth. The truth puts us in our place.

Thirdly, truth shuts men and women up to the sovereign mercy of God. That's one of the things that so aggravated David Brainard. missionary to the Native Americans in northern New England. He got angry before he was happy about the truth. A preacher told him, God can either show you mercy or leave you dead in your trespasses and sins. Made him angry. You can go ahead and get angry with God if you want to, and a lot of people do. They're angry with God. Best thing you can do, best thing I can do is bow before God, bow before the truth as it is in our God, and sue for mercy.

You see, the truth backs us in a corner, And it lets us know this, this business of salvation, it's not in your hands at all. God's got to do something for you, and He doesn't have to do anything for you. Isn't that something? He doesn't have to do anything for you. It's His mercy, isn't it? It's His salvation. It's His grace. And then truth, fourthly, always directs men and women and young people to lay hold of Christ Jesus for salvation. That's what the truth does.

So the first question is, how can I identify the truth in that way? Truth exalts God, truth abases man, truth shuts men and women up to sovereign mercy, and truth always directs men, women, and young people to the Lord Jesus Christ. The second question is, did you come here tonight in search of the truth and longing to hear the truth? I hope you did. And when you meet the truth in the middle of the road, one of two things is going to happen. You're going to bow to the truth or you're going to rebel and go back the other way. That's all you can do. And the only hope we've got, any of us, is that God will make us bow. That God will humble us.

question I'll close with is this, are you concerned that the truth of God doesn't seem to be conquering hearts? Well, if you're concerned about the truth of God not conquering a lot of hearts, be encouraged in the certain success of the gospel. Because Psalm 57 verse 3 says, God shall send forth His mercy and His truth. Don't you be discouraged over what God's doing. I don't know, I probably would put it this way, God doesn't have a timetable, but since we think in terms of time, everything is moving exactly on schedule with regard to the purpose of God. Huh? That'll help you. That'll help you in your life. Ain't no accidents. Things are moving along on purpose, right on schedule.

You see, the Lord says in Isaiah 55, I'll send forth my word and it shall accomplish my purpose in the thing where to I send it. In the heart to which I sin, in the person to whom I sin, he says, in the thing to which I, I don't mind God calling me a thing. Does that offend you? It doesn't bother me that God calls me a sinner. He's sending his word forth. Don't be discouraged. Everything's right on schedule. Our God governs and rules over all.

I want to sing a closing song.