Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of John, the Gospel of John. John chapter
8. John chapter 8. I've entitled this message, A
Believer Hears God's Word. And when I say hears God's Word,
I mean this, hears with the ears of faith. I want us to continue with a
conversation between our blessed Lord, in a group that had made
claim and boasted to believe him. But our Lord, as he continues
to talk with them and tell them things that are so, will find
out what they truly believed. Now when our Lord began to expose
their hypocrisy, they began to verbalize the very
character of the one that was their father, Satan. Evidence of life. True life, evidence of life,
spiritual life, eternal life, evidence of life imparted, placed
in, is when a sinner sees God's Word and by faith,
he believes it. And he takes God's side. against
everything else that he's ever heard before. If anything that
he's heard before contradicts what God has to say, he believes
God. Now, I'm going to say that he
may not completely understand it. I can't enter in with understanding
to the tri-unity of God. One God manifested in scriptures
in three persons. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And one God manifested in three
persons in the scriptures is set forth and known in the Messiah,
the Christ. In Him is the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. Now, I believe that. I believe that. I believe the one God, the Father,
chose His people. I believe one God, the Son, regained
them, and one God, the Holy Spirit, regenerated them, sealed them,
teaches them, keeps them, draws them, and brings them to God. One God. Now, the Lord had been
speaking to them. John 8, verse We ended last week. This is what our Lord said. He
that is of God. John 8.47. He that is of God,
heareth God's words. Ye therefore, hear them not. Because you're not of God. You know, the truth said that himself. The truth said that. Our Lord set forth that which
absolutely should just buckle a man. Man, hear that? God Almighty I'm speaking. Man, what else are you going
to do but cry out, Lord, have mercy. God, please have mercy
on me. Lord, don't leave me. Lord, don't
leave me. Lord, help me. Help me. Well, what did they do? 48, Then
answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well that thou
art a Samaritan and hast a devil? They're speaking to God Almighty. They're speaking to the One before
whom they're going to stand. They're speaking to the One who
is the Judge. And spoke to Him and said, don't
we say the right thing when we say that you're nothing more
than a half-breed? You're just a heathen. You're a Samaritan. You've got
a devil. You're mad. You're talking out
your head. Don't you know who we are? Don't
you realize where we've come from? Don't you realize whose
lineage we're out of? Calling him a Samaritan. Saying
that he was mad. Don't be surprised when men,
because for the stand that you take for the gospel of God's
sovereign grace, don't be surprised when men are mad at you about
that. Speak ill of you. The Scripture
says in Matthew 10.22, and you should be hated of all men for
my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end
shall be saved. Let me ask you this. Is he not
worthy? Is he not worthy to be believed? To come to? To call upon? To cling to? Our Lord said in
verse 49, He said, I have not a devil. I'm not mad, but I honor
my Father, and ye do dishonor me. Listen, the Father is honored. And here we are this morning,
and I know this. I'm absolutely convinced. I believe this. I believe we're
here this morning preaching the gospel of this Bible. I believe
we are. I believe that we're adhering
to the truth that's set forth in these Scriptures. I believe
that, Mark. I believe it. I do not believe that we're inconsistent
with these Scriptures. Therefore, believing that we're
consistent with these Scriptures, I believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ is here with us. I believe He is. I believe that
when He said, when two or three are gathered together in My name,
I am in the midst of you. I believe He's here. And He knows my heart and He
knows your heart. And He sees, He knows, even right
now, He knows the inconsistencies. He knows the things that go through
my mind. He knows what's going through
you. He knows. He knows that we are dust. For that, I'm thankful. I thank You, Lord, for Your mercy. Thank You that You will not charge
Your people with iniquity. Thank You. But I know this. I know that even in the frailty
of our flesh, I know, based on this word right here, concerning
thus saith the Lord, I believe that the Father is being honored
in the setting forth of the glorious gospel of His Son. God is honored. He said, I honor
my Father. I believe that as we honor the
Son, we honor the Father. The Father was the one that says,
this is my beloved Son, hear Him. I'm well pleased with Him. To not believe God, to not believe
His gospel, to not believe His Son, is to dishonor Christ and to
dishonor the Father. The Lord said in verse 50, and
I seek not mine own glory. There's one that seeketh and
judgeth. The Lord Jesus, when He said,
I'm not seeking my own glory, this is what He meant. I'm not
seeking your honor. I appreciate, I really do. I
appreciate kind words. It's always an encouragement. If the Word is a blessing, I
do, I do. That's a blessing to me. Coming
from God's people, that is a blessing. But I'm not concerned with trying
to please somebody that doesn't know Him. I'm not concerned about
it. I'm concerned concerning their
souls. I want people to hear. People
that are driving by here, I wish unto the Lord that they were
here. I wish they were. I wish they were sitting and
listening to the gospel of God's grace. I want them. I want God. I desire God to honor Himself
in the salvation of sinners that don't know Him. I want Him to.
I want God to save your kids, your grandkids. I do. But I'll
tell you this, seeking men's honor as being opposed to the
honor of Almighty God by the grace of God, we're not going
to do it. Just not going to do it. By God's
grace. I seek not mine own honor, the
Lord said. That is, in trying to bow to
you. There's one that seeketh, that
seeks his honor, that seeks Christ's honor. The Lord said, I'm not
seeking my own honor. There's one that seeks my honor. It's the Father. And He's going to judge this
world by me. According to the servant of Jehovah. The Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
the question. Here's the ultimate question
right now. What think ye of Christ right now? What do you think
of Him? Based on that message we just preached a moment ago.
Do you think that He's trying to do something or do you think
He's doing it? What think ye of Christ? Verse 51, verily,
verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never
see death. Here is the settling answer to
any sinner's question concerning eternal life. Here's the question. What is his saying? If he keeps
my saying, well, what has he said concerning himself? He said,
I came down from the Father. The Father sent me. I am the
Father of one. I have a people. He told them
over in chapter 6, he said, no man can come to me except it
were given to me of my Father. What did he say? Man keeps my
sayings, he'll never see death. Lord, give me a heart. Lord, would You give me faith
right now, to believe You right now. Faith cometh by hearing. While you hear, while I hear,
God Almighty gives faith right then to believe Him right then. Lord, that I might hear You,
that I might hide Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin
against You. Lord, according to Your Word,
You said, a man keeps your saying, Lord, keep me. to keep your saying. Lord, help me to hear what You
have to say. Lord, I've seen others. It's
evidence that they had never truly heard, and they went away. Men and women that I know that
I had confidence and I fought. I fought. Lord, if You don't
keep me, I'm not going to stay. I don't want to be presumptuous
on God. I know this. I know if He keeps
me, I'll be kept. But I know this. If He doesn't
keep me, I know what I'll do. Lord, help me. Help me. He that keeps my sin, never see
death in the Jews. Verse 52. said unto him, Now
we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham's dead, and the prophets,
and thou sayest, If a man keep my say, and he'll never taste
of death, art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is
dead? And the prophets are dead? Whom makest thou thyself? What
they're saying is, Who do you think you are? Who do you think
you are? I want you to notice how the
unregenerate heart cannot, will not receive the things of God. They just kept arguing with Him. They just kept questioning Him
and accusing Him of making outlandish statements that He could not
possibly make good on. You're telling me, you said,
you just said, if a man keep my saying, he'll never see death.
They said, Abraham's dead? And the prophets? They were talking
about physical death. Then they started telling him,
well, what you're saying is that these guys weren't truly saved. All the prophets? Unless the Spirit of God gives
a man, a woman, a heart to hear and believe. All they're going
to do is resist. Resist and resist. Oh, the beauty, the wonder, the
mercy of God when you see Almighty God break a heart. Break a man. Break a woman. Draw unto Himself. And they say, Lord, as You say,
You are. You are. Lord, as You say, I am. I am.
Here I am. Without one plea. Let thy blood
be shed for me. Lord, I come. I come. Just a
helpless sinner and glad that it's like that. Glad that it's
so. Who do you think you are? The
Lord said in verse 54, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father that honoreth
me, of whom ye say that he is your God. If I bring honor to
myself and bow to you, if I'm seeking your glory, if I'm seeking
your acceptance, my honor then is worthless. It is my Father that honoreth
me, of whom you say that He is your God. The One that bestowed
honor on Christ commissioned Him to say, if a man keep my
sayings, he shall never see death. And
I'll tell you this, based on His Word, bowing to His truth,
to His Word, His sayings, you're not going to see eternal death.
You won't. Now, this is what we've got.
This is what we've got on that. We've got God's Word on that.
That's what we've got. We've got God's Word. You say, well, I'm going to die. That's
right. That's right. Unless the Lord
comes back and we're on this earth, when He comes back, I'm
telling you, we're going to die. It's appointed unto man once
to die. But based on His Word, keeping His sayings, that by
the grace of God, that by the mercy of God, you won't perish. You will not perish. Lord, give
me faith to believe that. Help me. Our Lord is careful,
even right here, to take upon Himself as our federal head No
glory, no honor for men. He said, the Father has honored
me. My glory is in Him and His is in me. All the honor that
He possesses as the God-man mediator was given Him by the Father. And I'll tell you this, all that
we have is in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other safety. There's no other hope. There's
no other salvation. Verse 55, Yet ye have not known
Him, but I know Him. And if I should say I know Him
not, I should be a liar like unto you, but I know Him, and
I keep His saying. Men and women who know the Father
in truth, here's how they know Him. I do know that they see
through a glass darkly. No one is going to admit, no
believer is going to say, I know Him perfectly. No, you don't. No, you don't. We know in part,
we prophesy in part, we see through a glass darkly. By faith, we
believe. By faith, we believe God. But we don't know Him. Christ
knows him. I know him. Ye have not known
him, I know him. If I should say I know him not,
I'll be a liar like unto you. Here's how we do know him though.
We do know that he's sovereign. We do know that Almighty God
does show mercy in Christ. We know that. We know that God's
Lamb God's salvation is our hope of glory. We do know that. But what do we do? Cast ourselves
upon Him. He's revealed in Scripture. We
know Him as He says He is. The Lord says, yet ye have not
known Him in that way. You say you do, but you don't. Men know that God exists, but
only in regenerating grace do they know something about His
character, about His sovereignty, about His eternal purpose to
show mercy. But the Lord says, I know Him. I know His thoughts. I know His
will. I know His choice of Christ,
and I know His choice of His people. I know Him. I was sent by Him. Brought up
with Him. And if I should say I know Him
not, if I should deny Him for your approval, I'd be a liar
just like you are. But I do know Him. We don't bow to a false god. We know Him. We know him. Verse 56 says, Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. These ignorant
Jews have made great claims to be sons of Abraham. The Lord
sets forth here that by faith, Abraham saw in type, in shadows,
in pictures, But especially, we can say this, he knew by revelation,
the Lord's day. And I believe here that the Lord's
day encompasses everything, totality of His incarnation, of His absolute
obedience to God's law, His dying upon the cross for the elect,
and His being exalted into heaven as our great high priest. There's
the day of the Lord. By faith, Abraham saw my day. The accomplishment is finished.
All of it was finished. And he was glad. And we are too. It took the same faith, God's
power, God's grace for Abraham to see it as it does for us today. Verse 57 to 59, in closing, says,
Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years
old. And hast thou seen Abraham? And
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before
Abraham was, I am God. I am God. I am. Then took they up stones
to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple,
going through the midst of them, and so passed by. Though they were completely ignorant
of his words. Though they tried to twist his
words and tried to make him say that he was naturally, physically,
right there together with Abraham, which he didn't say that. He
said, Abraham saw my day, my faith. He saw it. He was glad. Hear him say, before Abraham
was in time, before Abraham was born back in Ur of the Chaldees,
back when Abraham was coming up and worshiping these little
idols with his daddy and his family's brothers, before Abraham
ever came into being in time, I am God Almighty. I am the eternal God. I am the one who never changes. I am He who is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He told them, the God you claim
to worship and don't know is Me. You don't know me. You don't
know me. And buddy, when they heard him
say that, they did just exactly what every person in heart wants
to do. I want to be rid of you. I want
to kill you. I'll be so glad when you don't
bother me anymore. I wish you were dead. If you were gone, I'd be okay. If I didn't have to listen to
you anymore, I would be at peace. I was doing real good until you
crossed my path. And I hate you. I hate you. And the Scripture says that the
Lord hid Himself from them. Lord, don't hide Yourself from
me. Lord, reveal Yourself to me afresh. Lord, don't let me perish. Lord, give me a heart to believe
You, trust You. And I'm going to tell you, the
Lord in that day, Paul says, oh, that I might be found in
Him. That I might know Him. I've said before, don't you think
Paul knew the Lord in regenerating grace when he said those words?
Sure he did. What do you say right now? You
that know Him. What do you say? Oh, that I might
know Him and be found in Him. Lord have mercy on me for Christ's
sake.