Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to John chapter 8, the chapter
that we read, and reading from our text, verse 31 and 32. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are
ye my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. John chapter 8 and verses
31 and 32. Disciples in deed. And this evening with the Lord's
help, I desire to speak on what the Lord says here is the path
to being a true disciple, a true follower of Jesus. In John chapter 10, our Lord
says that, My sheep, they hear my voice, and they follow me. And when he putteth forth his
sheep as the good shepherd, he goeth before them. The Apostle
Paul, he says, let us run the race that is set before us, looking
unto Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
first begotten from the dead. He is our forerunner. He has
gone before. He is the firstfruits. And he
is the one that said that I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. So it is a vital thing that we
be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here these words
are very, very important to us, that we be disciples indeed,
really disciples. Now, there are five things applied
to our Lord, that are spoken at this time, and five things
that point to what a true disciple really is. We must go back for
the first one, we introduce them as we go, to those that believed
on him. Obviously this must be the first
thing concerning a disciple. We read in verse 30, as he spoke
these words, many believed on him. So what did they believe? What does it mean, believed on
him? Our Lord was here testifying
that his father was in heaven. He was testifying that he was
the Christ that should come into the world. He was the Son of
Man. It is the belief that those here
that heard him came to the same as the Ethiopian eunuch who,
when reading Isaiah 53, said to Philip, when Philip asked
him, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How
can I except some man guide me? who is the prophet's mother,
Christ, had the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And at the end, Philip baptized
him. But before that, the eunuch desired
to be baptized, and he gave a testimony. Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he said, I believe that Jesus
is the Son of God. And the testimony, was that Jesus
of Nazareth, viewed in this chapter, where we are, viewed by the Jews
as being a mere man, viewed as one, and they testified, they
said that he had a devil. That's a solemn word, saying
concerning the Lord. But even though there were those
saying this, there were some that believed that this Jesus,
a real man, was also really and truly God. How clearly our Lord
speaks at the end of this chapter, when the Jews were finding occasion
that he was not yet 50 years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? And our Lord said unto them,
verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. And we know the great I am's
of the word of God. and the I am that I am that appeared
unto Moses. If Jesus is not truly God, he
should not be worshipped, nor would there be any virtue in
his sacrifice, nor would the scriptures be true which prophesied
that God himself would provide a lamb and that it should be
Emmanuel, God with us. Solomon says that will God in
very deed dwell upon the earth. Many, many cults, many stumble
at the idea of a trinity, three persons, three distinct persons
in one Godhead. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul, he says, great
is the mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh. And if
the inspired Word of God tells us that the incarnate God is
a great mystery, then what a solemn thing to be reasoning it out
and trying to understand it by our poor finite minds. May we rather believe it as testified
in the Word of God, and as testified in this passage here. John, when
he writes his epistles, make it very clear in his second epistle
about the vital necessity of the doctrine of Christ. And if there are those that come
into our house that come to us without that doctrine, we are
not to receive them. into our houses. It is vital
that we do not just believe in Jesus, but we believe who Jesus
really is according to the scriptures, that we hold a right view of
him, his divinity, his manhood, truly who he is, and all what
he testifies of himself is true. So this is the first thing of
being a true disciple. There are those that say we are
Jehovah's Witnesses, there are those that say that we love God,
but they have completely unscriptural views of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ and also of the Holy Spirit. And so to be a follower
of the Lord is to be a follower who believes Him and believes
what He testifies of Himself. And remember, the reason why
the Jews condemned Him, crucified Him, in their words, was that,
being a man, thou makest thyself God. In reality, it is God making
Himself man, condescending to be man, that they viewed rightly
that he was claiming to be God. Not just sent from God, but to
be God. I and my Father are one. If you
have seen me, you've seen my Father also. But then secondly, there is to be
a believing what is his word. In our text, Jesus said to those
Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed. But before we come to the continuing
part, there must be a believing in what is the Word, what is
referred to here by our Lord as My Word, that must be known
first before we can continue in it. Now those that would say,
well this only applies to what the Lord Jesus Christ uttered
on earth, Hence, many translations of the Word, or many copies of
the Word of God, have the words of Christ in red, as if they
implying they are the words that are to be continued in. But the
Scriptures make no distinction in that at all. Our Lord says
that heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass
away. In Deuteronomy and in Revelation,
we are forbidden to add or subtract from the Word of God. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. It is God's Word, not just part
of it, but all of it is God's Word, and if we believe, that
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is truly God, then every Word
of God is pure. All Scripture is the Word of
God. So that is a vital point, how
we esteem the Word of God, what we view as the Word, what we
view as infallible, what we view as inspired, what we view is
the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ being truly God. The Lord gave
the Word. Great was the company of them
that published it. And remember, those that published
it, they published that Word in the Old Testament. They published
the Word preaching in the New Testament on the Old Testament. The Word of God is the Word of
our Lord. John, he begins in thee, a gospel
here with those well-known words, in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. So that is the second mark of
a true disciple in what we esteem as being the Word of God. Now then thirdly, the mark of
a true follower is not only to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
not only to believe in the Word of God and esteem every Word
of God as pure, but to continue in My Word. And this is what
the Lord said to those that believed on Him, if ye continue in my
word." Very often a believer does not
know much of the doctrines or the truths that underlie that
belief, and many of them here didn't. And you think of even
the disciples, before our Lord was taken up into heaven, will
thou at this time restore the kingdom unto Israel? Yet the Lord had said, My kingdom
is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants find. And so they had many misconceptions,
many things. The Lord said, I have many things
to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. They shall all
be taught of God. Great shall be the peace of thy
children. And so it is through that continuance
in the Word that there is to be a following of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a solemn thing where there
are those that say, well, we are a believer, we believe, but
they never read the Word of God. They don't read the Word of God
regularly. They don't read it throughout
the day. They don't even attend the means
of grace, continuing in the Word as walking in it. assembling
together, worshipping together, hearing the Word preached, hearing
it set forth. We please God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. We have the Bereans
who heard the Apostle Paul preached. Preach once, preach on the Lord's
Day, the day the Lord rose from the dead. And then they went
away and they searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were
so, therefore many of them believed. And so there was a continuing
in the Word for them, searching the Scriptures daily, continuing
in the Word. There's a continuing in it as
well in the sense of the obedience to The Word. Thy Word is a lamp
unto my feet, a light unto my path. Thy statutes are right
in keeping of them. There is great reward. The Word of God is our divine
instructor to the law, to the testimony. If they speak not
according to these things, it is because there is no light
in them. The Word of God is our only guide,
not tradition, not man's thoughts, not man's feelings, but every
word of God that is pure. And that is a vital, vital truth,
and it is to continue in that. One great mark of a follower
is not just a beginner, it's not just those that begin. But
to follow, we read in John 6 that those that had begun, they had
received the miracles of the bread, the broken loaves and
the fishes. They'd heard his ministry for
a long while until he came to insisting, except you eat the
flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life
in you. And then many of them walked
back and went no more with him. they didn't follow him anymore. He's not just a receiving like
the stony ground hearers, not just like the wayside hearers,
or like the hearers that are amongst thorns and the things
of the world choke the word and become unprofitable, but those
that bring forth fruit, those that continue In the Word, those
that look to the Word of God for their food, man shall not
live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. Those who rely upon the Word
of God as to instruct them and teach them in the way which they
should go, thou shalt hear a word behind thee, saying, This is
the way, walk ye in it. When ye turn to the right hand,
and when he turned to the left. It is continuing in the word
as that which is our daily bread and that which is the word that
we so depend upon, so rely upon for our food, for our manna. When we think of the Jews through
the wilderness, they didn't just have manna one day. It wasn't
even taken from them when they sinned against the Lord. He withheld
not the manna from their mouths. They had that right through their
journey. And so this is to be a mark. If we are following the Lord
Jesus Christ, if we are a true disciple, then we are following
close to Him, close upon His Word. Not deceiving ourselves,
saying that we are born again, we are saved, we are going to
heaven, we are a disciple, and yet we are strangers to the Word
of God. We have no use for it. We have
no need of it. There are parts of it we're offended
at. There are parts of it we'll disarm. That will never be the case with
a true disciple. A true disciple will have a very
high regard of Scripture And in all things, we'll go back
to the Scriptures to know how to act and how to walk. If we
are to follow the Lord and not follow man, then it is only by
following the Word of God. It is the only revelation from
God to man, the only way that we will place our feet in the
footsteps of the flock and in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Apostle Paul said, be ye
followers of me as I also am of Christ. Now may we then be
a true disciple of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in continuing
in his word. Well now the Lord gives a couple
of promises that also are clear marks of being a true disciple,
a disciple indeed. And the first is this, ye shall
know the truth. In Ephesians, we have the statement,
the truth is in Jesus. In John 14, our Lord says, I
am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto me,
cometh unto the Father, but by me." And Pilate, he asked, what
is truth? What is truth? And many have
asked that question. Well, we would define truth as
an absolute truth as perceived by God, not perceived by us. So often, the way we look at
something does not show what the truth really is. We might
be standing upon the shore of the sea, looking out over the
sea, and you see two ships. One is going one way, one is
going the other. They're getting closer and closer,
and you think, surely they're going to hit. And they merge
into one. but there's no explosion. There's
no hitting at all. They suddenly appear, and they're
separate again, both going in their own ways. If we were to
look from above, we'd probably see that there were several miles
between them. But from our vantage point, it
looked as if they were being hit. Sometimes, on the other
day, I saw someone having their photograph taken and they were
holding out their hand, as if they were holding something up.
And I looked in the distance and I saw this old house. And
I thought, yes, what you're doing, from the perspective of the person
behind the camera, it looks like you are holding that house up. Because of the perspective, the
house in the distance looked very small, just to fit in the
palm of the hand. But that wasn't the truth. They
weren't holding up that house at all. It was just as viewed
from that position. And so it's vital for us to realize
that the truth is not determined by our vantage point, but by
God's. And so there are three things
that define the truth and will make it to be, as the Lord said,
ye shall know the truth in Continuing in his word, the first is knowing
the truth by the word of God. The word of God is the truth. And that is vital for us to realize
and not look for the truth in something else. You might have
those with archaeology or some other things, science, and they'll
say, well, this is this, and this is how this happened. And
it contradicts the Word of God. What do you believe? Well, you
believe the Word of God first, and all other things must be
subjected to that. Though some do say, well, we
are proving the Word of God to be true by excavations or by
things that are found out, and it's all very well, and maybe
it would be a help to some who were sceptical. But we do not
need. to have such proofs. We should not look upon such,
because in one way it's saying if you cannot find that truth,
or if it finds that evidence seems to go against the word
of God, are we then going to disprove the word of God? Are
we gonna not believe it? And so, I remember reading a
little book with a dear old lady, and she said, well, she said,
If the Bible said that Jonah swallowed the whale, she said,
I would believe it. And the thing is that we believe
the word of God to be true primarily by faith. Yes, it is a history
book. It speaks of real nations. It speaks of real people, real
history. But it testifies of itself that
it is the word of God and thus saith The Lord comes some 500
times through it, and the uniformity right the way through, the prophecies
and those things that have come to pass, that have been prophesied
thousands of years before they did come to pass, these all point
to the Word of God being the infallible, inerrant Word of
God. So we know the truth by the Word
of God. We know it by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the author of the Word of God. Holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And so it
is the Holy Ghost that takes the things of Jesus and blesses
them to us. He is the divine instructor. There are some cults that completely despise the Holy Spirit, they
say He's just an emanation, He's just a power from God, He's not
a person. But how can an emanation be grieved? Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. And our Lord says,
when He, the Spirit of truth, hath come, He will guide you
into all truth. How can we know the truth? except
we have that infallible guide, the guide of the Holy Spirit. And if we do not even believe
in the existence of the Spirit, it is the Spirit that quickeneth
the flesh, profiteth nothing. Those that are born, they are
born. Again, they're born of the Spirit. Our Lord testifies that in John
3. The third way that we know the
truth is by faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. We read of those that the word
did not profit them, being not mixed with faith in them that
heard it. All men have not faith, but our
Lord is the author and finisher of faith in those that are his
children, and he gives them faith. By faith we understand that the
worlds were made of that which does not appear. Without faith
it is impossible to please God. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. So if you and I are to be a true
disciple and follower of the Lord, and continue in the word
of God, we have this assurance, this promise given of the Lord,
that we shall know the truth. We shall not be deceived by man. We shall not be deceived by those
that bring another doctrine, another teaching. We test everything
by the word of God. Our Lord, when Satan tempted
him in the wilderness, all was answered by the word of God.
When Satan took it out of context, the Lord answered him, it is
written again. And so may we know the realization
of this precious truth, ye shall know the truth. You shall actually
have your understanding opened and understand the scriptures.
That's what the Lord did when he rose from the dead, appeared
to the dear disciples, then opened their understanding that they
might understand the scriptures. The only way of knowing the truth
is to continue in the Word, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, believing
that the Bible is the Word of God. Well, there's a fifth mark. And the Lord says this, the truth
shall make you free. It shall not just be something
in the head that does not profoundly affect our lives. Now you might
say free from what? Well for some of the Jews here
it would make them free from the traditions of men and the
false teaching of the rabbis, the scribes, the pharisees, make
them free from that. But primarily what the Lord is
speaking of is a freedom from sin and this is very clear when
the Lord says in verse 34, when they had said in verse 33, we
be Abraham's seed were never in bondage to any man. How sayest
thou, ye shall be made free? And our Lord then makes it very
clear what he means by being made free. Jesus answered them,
verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin, is the
servant of sin. The servant abideth not in the
house for ever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. So, if we go back to
the illustration, a real life illustration, at the beginning
of this chapter. We read in the beginning, John
chapter 8, of the case where the Jews brought a woman to our
Lord taken in adultery and they said in verse 5, Moses in the
law commanded us that such should be stoned but what sayest thou? So there's two things with this
woman. First, she has been the servant
of sin. She has walked in the ways of
sin, in adultery. Second, She is actually now in
bondage under the law, under the sentence of death, under
condemnation. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And the Jews rightly say that
under the law of Moses, she should be stoned. They came tempting
the law. They were trying to find somewhat
to accuse him. But our Lord used it. and he used it to convince them
also of their own sin. Jesus, he stooped down with his
finger, wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So
when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said
unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first
cast a stone at her. And then he stooped down again,
writes on the ground, And those that heard it, they were convinced
in their own, or convicted in their own conscience. They went
out one by one, beginning at the eldest. And then the woman
is left alone. And our Lord said, where are
thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. Jesus said unto her, neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. She was set
free. There's two things. She was not
condemned by the Lord. She was forgiven. She was set
free from that condemnation. Neither do I condemn thee. And
also, she was cleansed. Go and sin no more. We have in
John's epistle, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What the Lord is speaking of
here, through Him, through His Word, through following Him,
we shall be free from the power and dominion of sin. Not sinning that grace might
abound, not walking in a way inconsistent with the holy perfect
law of God, but walking in a way that God is glorified, justified,
we are not sinless, we shall sin, we do sin, but we have this
promise, sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under
the law, you're under grace. Paul, he says, the good that
I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that
I do, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this
body of death? He says, if I do that which I
would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. His answer, who shall deliver
me? He says, I thank God through
Jesus Christ my Lord. So with the flesh, The flesh
serves sin, but with the mind I serve the Lord Jesus Christ. If ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live. And the work of our Lord
Jesus Christ is to sanctify, separate from sin, make us to
hate sin, resist sin. Hebrews 12, ye have not yet resisted
unto blood, striving against sin. Those, if we truly know
the Lord and follow Him, Him who laid down His life, suffered,
bled and died to put away our sin, endured the wrath of God
on Calvary's tree, if we truly believe and understand that He
is the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head,
He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, that
it was sin that wounded Him. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have gone everyone our own way, and He has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. The beautiful words of Isaiah
53, setting forth the sufferings of our Lord, bearing the sin
of His people. And so we have this further test
of being a real follower of the Lord, that those truths that
we know, they have a practical effect in our lives. It makes
us to desire a holy walk, to resist sin, to fight against
it, to confess it, to mourn over our sins, to pray like Jabez
did, O that thou hast blessed me indeed, that thou hast enlarged
my coast, that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it do not
grieve me. Now often we need renewing unto
this. Sin has a hardening effect, but
the Lord has said that he chastens every son whom he receiveth. He lovingly corrects them through
the Word, when they don't hearken to the Word. Then He brings the
rod in some way, in providence, in sickness, or something that
happens, brings us under the rod, and then brings us back
again, just like a good father would his children. If ye be
without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then are ye
bastards and not sons. No, the Lord chastens every one
of his children, and it is so that they are made free from
condemnation, free from sin, free from its having dominion
in their lives, free from its effect upon their heart as overcoming
them, and free from a conscience that accuses them before God. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. It is the work of God, it is
the work of our Lord to truly make us free and to give us those
sweet exceptions to the rage of sin and the rage of hell and
those are sweet sacred times when the conflict is Still the
winds, the waves, the billows of temptation are stilled, and
the sweet peace and blessing of God comes in the soul, and
that is the Lord's work to do that. And so may we have these
five marks of a disciple indeed, one that believes that Jesus
of Nazareth is the eternal Son of God, truly God and truly man,
God manifest in the flesh, that we be those that believe that
the whole Bible, the words, the Word of God, from Genesis to
Revelation, that every Word of God is pure, and those then that
continue in that Word, and that it is their meat and their drink
daily, and it is a lamp unto their feet, their manna for their
songs. And they're those that the Lord
fulfils his promise that causes them to know the truth, and that
truth has such a sanctifying effect. It sets them free from
condemnation, from the power and dominion of sin. You might
say also, sets free from the traditions of man, sets free
from Satan's snares, sets free from the spirit of this world,
and sets free to truly follow after the Lord Jesus Christ. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are
ye my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. May we truly be disciples
indeed. Amen.