Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of John 8. I'm going to consider, Lord willing, verses
33 to 43 this morning. So what we'll do is I'll deal
with the verses as we come to them. But before we begin, let's
ask our Lord's blessing. Father, we are here this morning
calling upon you, asking you for mercy for Christ's sake. Lord, we thank you for this time
that we have to be together. Lord, would you bless the Word,
bless it to the comfort of your people. I pray that you'd bless
it to the salvation. of your elect sinners, made so
by your grace and power. For it is in Christ's name we
ask these things. Amen. A group of people had heard the
Lord Jesus Christ speak. They were listening to
his discourse. And the scripture says in John
8 and verse 30, as he spake these words, many believed on him. Now, the Lord qualified their
belief with these words in verse 31 that we looked at Last time
it says, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If
ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. 2 John verse 9 says this, Whosoever
transgresseth That means goes contrary to, whosoever violates,
whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ. When I speak of the doctrine
of Christ, I do not mean that he actually came into this world,
that he was actually a man that was here, that people saw him.
I'm talking about what he preached concerning why he came, what
he did. where he is now. I'm talking
about the gospel of God's sovereign grace. That's what I'm talking
about when it says the doctrine of Christ. Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. will continue, they will abide
in his word truthfully only to this extent that the Lord God
himself by his Holy Spirit has made them, number one, to be
sick of the presence of sin. They abide in the doctrine of
Christ. That truth that sets forth that
salvation is all of grace, that man has no hope in himself, that
man by nature is a rebel against God and must be freed from the
bondage of sin. When a man realizes that he is
incapable in himself, And that the presence of sin is still
with him. That's when he'll abide. He'll
abide when he knows that the Lord Jesus Christ is the author,
the beginner, the source of, and the finisher of faith. That he's kept by the power of
God through faith. That faith that was not of himself.
That it was the gift of God. And thirdly, He'll abide when
he has absolutely no confidence in his flesh. I know this. Almighty God must say, or I'm
going to perish. Now, many will profess to believe
him, and they'll follow him for a season. But soon, if the Lord
has not done something for them, If God has not given them a new
heart, they will quit. They'll leave. They'll be offended. Continuance in the doctrine of
Christ is the touchstone. That's the touchstone. That's the proof of salvation
that is by grace. exposes true faith, continuance,
hope, life. The thing that exposes that is
the Word of God. And in our passage today, the
Lord of glory exposes those that professed to believe Him. Here's the question. Let me tell
you where I got this question. Here is the question that concerns
those that say they believe Christ. Our Lord said in John 6, verse
61. Here was the last part of that
verse. Here is what He said. Does this offend you? Does the
Word of God, does the glory of Almighty God set forth in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, His grace, sovereign grace, God's
choice, God's will, God's purpose. Does that offend you? In verse
32 of John 8, the Lord said, And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. The truth Himself. He who is the way, the truth,
the life. He who is the truth, the speech
truth. That truth will set a man free. Now that statement that he made,
that struck a chord of contention with those that the Lord spoke
to. And here's where we'll begin
today. When the Lord said, The truth, you'll know the truth,
the truth will make you free. And they answered Him, We be
Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest
thou, ye shall be made free? You know, when someone makes
a statement and says never, we were never in bondage, I heard
Brother Henry say this one time, he said, that's just a little
bit too long. Never in bondage to any man, not even myself,
not even in myself. Here is the first thing that
is revealed to a lost sinner. He's in bondage. And when he
realizes he's in bondage, God's already opened his eyes. He's
already given him light to know it. Man by nature does not believe
that he's in bondage to sin, to Satan, to self, to this world,
to the cares of... He doesn't believe that. Man by nature thinks that he's
free. They said in verse 33, we're
Abraham's seed. What they were telling the Lord
Jesus Christ is as soon as we were born, we were born liberated. We're coming from the loins of
Abraham. But here, the Lord Jesus Christ
was speaking of the bondage of the will. Bondage. Slavery. Spiritual slavery. Bound in trespasses and sin. What he was telling them right
here, he said, you're born with no righteousness. No goodness. No wisdom. No strength. No hope.
Under the curse of the law. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. How being made a curse for us,
It's only by grace that God doesn't leave a man. Why does a man go
to hell? Because he wants to. He wants
to go to hell. He wants to rebel against God.
He wants to spit in the face of the God of all grace. He wants
to. Why? He's in bondage. Bondage. We're not in bondage, they said.
The Lord Jesus Christ said in verse 34, Christ answered them
verily, verily, truthfully, truthfully, I say unto you, whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin. Whosoever continually, continually,
continually, committeth sin. Who is that? All have sinned. and come short of the glory of
God. Whosoever committed sin is the
servant of sin, in bondage to sin. And there's not a person
in this congregation this morning that does not in themselves continually
commit sin in that old man. If we say we have no sin, You
say, well, I'm not sinning all the time. Yes, you are. Yes,
you are. In our old man, in that old self,
that one that Paul said, O wretched man that I am, Job said, I loathe
myself. I hate what I see. I despise serving sin. I've said before, I cannot in
my old man, in that old man that I'm in, I'm in this world, and
I'm in this body, this body that hasn't changed. This old body,
this is the body I'm born in. And I'm telling you, according
to these Scriptures, that which is flesh is flesh. There's a
new man there. A new man that loves God, longs
after God, thankful he hears God's Word, follows Christ, loves
Christ. And boy, that old man and that
new man are striving one to the other. All are servants in themselves. And they have no ability to change
that state. You don't have any ability. I was listening to the radio
coming over this morning. Listening to a man just lie to
people. Lying. Lying. He made this statement. He said, salvation is up to you. Salvation is up to you. If salvation is up to a man,
then I'm telling you, everybody's lost. Because men are dead. They're dead spiritually. God's law has been violated.
And the justice of Almighty God demands death. I could just start
right here and we'd go straight to the cross. What Christ was
made. The soul that sinneth is going
to die. Christ was made what we are. And I'm telling you, when He
died, He died what we deserve. He got what we deserve in Himself. Perfect. Made what we are. God's just. Ezekiel 18.20 says, "...the soul
that sinneth, it shall die." The Son shall not bear the iniquity
of the Father, neither shall the Father bear the iniquity
of the Son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon
Him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon Him." Men
are going to receive exactly what they are. In Adam, Mary,
Christ, mercy, condemnation, life, death, Blame it on society all you want.
Well, I just raised in a bad home. I just didn't have the
chances. No, it's your fault. It's my
fault. For a sinner to have any hope,
Christ is going to have to make that man free. Christ freed him. At Calvary, Psalm 40, verse 12,
here's the Lord Himself speaking through the prophet. Through
King David, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I
am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me." You know what a
sinner needs? A sinner needs a faithful, pure,
personally innocent substitute. Verse 35 says back in John 8,
And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son
abideth ever. The servant, that is the servant
of sin, the servant abideth not in the house forever in fellowship
with Almighty God. When Adam sinned against God,
what happened? Fellowship was broken. Adam died. He died. The servant. The servant of sin. That's who
he was talking about. He just said in verse 34, Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant, the
servant of sin abideth not. An unfaithful servant abideth
not because of disobedience. Let me ask you something. If
you had someone that worked for you, somebody that in your house,
in your business, whatever. Unfaithful. Unfaithful. A thief. They talk behind your
back, show discord among the other workers. You notice, let
me ask you, how long are you going to keep them? How long
are you going to keep them? You're not going to keep them.
You're not going to keep them. Unfaithful servant abideth not,
but the Son. the faithful son, the heir, the
rightful heir, the obedient heir, the son, he abideth ever. We must have what we do not naturally
possess to abide in the house, in the presence, in the kingdom
of Almighty God. We need what we cannot produce. I need my debt paid. I need for sin to be put away. The charge of it, the debt of
it. I need for Almighty God to look
upon me and will not charge me with guilt. He will not. Christ must pay my debt. And
then I need a righteousness that will stand before God Almighty,
His law, and the law look at my obedience. Mine, given to me by grace, the
robe of Christ's righteousness, robed in Him, That they will
stand before God, robed in Christ, accepted in the Beloved? That's
how that righteousness is procured. It's given. Verse 36 says, If
the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. He said, I pay your debt. If I put away your sin, if I
answer to my own law, if I lay down my life, if your debt is
made to be mine, if it's mine iniquities that have taken hold
upon me, if I put away your sin, if iniquity will not be charged
to you, If you stand before the Father
Himself, uncondemned, holy, holy in Me, if I make you free, you're free indeed. You try to
earn it. You try on your own to obey God. You try to come before God Almighty. Stand before Him and plead your
own work. We cast out devils in Your name.
We prophesied in Your name. I gave You my heart. I walked
down the aisle. I was baptized. I joined Katie
Baptist Church. I give of all that I earn. I'm free. I treat everybody like
I want to be treated. I never knew You. I never knew You. Depart from
me, You workers of iniquity. standing before God Almighty
and trying to answer for myself. I don't want to answer for myself.
I need a substitute. I need the one who alone is accepted. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. You hear Him! If Almighty God
says, I chose you from before the foundation of the world,
my answer is, Lord, thank you for choosing me. If Almighty
God says, I will not, for the sake of my Son, charge you, my
answer is, Lord, thank you for the sake of Christ. Lord, you
accepted me. Verse 37, the Lord told me, He
said, I know that you are Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill Me,
because My Word has no place in you. John 7.1, it said He
didn't walk among them anymore because they sought to kill Him.
He knew it. He knew it. They didn't have
to outwardly say it. They didn't have to outwardly
do anything. He just had to stand there. He knew. He is omniscient
God. I know you're Abraham Seed. I
know you're a Jew outwardly, but you're not a true Jew inwardly,
because my word hath no place in you." He said, you despise
my doctrine. You despise my word. You despise
my truth. Now, those words can only be
spoken by the Lord Himself. I don't know. I can't see a man's
heart. I don't know. I don't know. Like
I said before, I might have a pretty good idea, but I don't know. I don't know. I wonder, when
Demas traveled with Paul and preached with Paul, Paul's friend,
and I mean right there toward the end, he says, Demas had forsaken
me. having loved this present world. Let me tell you what determines
how a man dies, how a woman dies. They that continue to the end
shall be saved. My Word has no place in you. That means that my Word is not
giving any room in you. You give no place because you
despise the truth. Here's the Lord speaking to them.
He told them in verse 38, I speak that which I've seen with my
Father, and you do that which you've seen with your Father.
Here the Lord reveals the source of all actions in men. All men, everybody, is going
to believe one of two things. They're either going to believe
that salvation is by them, or they're going to believe that
salvation is by grace. It's going to be one of the two.
One of the two. I've said before, you can take
all of the different religions, you can put them all in one big
lump, give them a little bit different name. But it all comes
down to this. It's either grace or works. One
of the two. I speak that which I've seen
with my Father. I was there. I've always been
there. I was ever before Him. You do that which you've seen
with your Father. Our Lord obediently declared
the mind and the purpose and the will of His Father. who believe him not. Now, this
is just the way it is. They do not exhibit the mind
of the Father. They do not exhibit the mind
of Christ. They do not exhibit the mind
of life. Verse 39, they answered and said
unto him, Abraham is our father. And the Lord said, If ye were
Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. If you were Abraham, I know you're
Abraham's seed. I know that you can trace your
lineage all the way back to Abraham. I know that. But if you were
Abraham's spiritual children, if you were of faith, Like Abraham. If I had given you faith, if
I had given you a heart to believe Me, if you were Abraham's spiritual
children, you would do the works of Abraham. You'd believe Me. You would believe Me. You would. You would do just exactly what
Abraham did. Abraham had a little boy, his
name was Isaac. God had told him, in Isaac, in
Isaac, through Isaac, God ishmael, Isaac, shall the seed of Christ
come. Isaac's, Isaac, the lineage,
by grace, by God's power, not by man's power, through Hagar,
through Sarah, By the power of God, grace of God, Ishmael, Isaac,
now I want you to take that boy. I want you to take that boy. You go to a place and I'm going
to show you and I want you to sacrifice him to me for a burnt
offering. A burnt offering. A burnt offering
was that sweet-smelling offering. It spoke of the obedience of
Christ. That was the burnt offering.
A sweet smell of obedience when the Lord laid down His life,
gave His life willingly. Laid down His life for the sheep.
Burnt offering. I want you to offer up Isaac
for a burnt offering. Abraham took that boy. You know
that. Three days later, came to the
place. He saw the place. Spirit of God,
I know, told him this is it. This is it. Told those men that
were with him, he said, you guys, y'all stay right here. He said,
the lad and I are going to go up and we're going to worship
God. We're going to worship God. Dad, here's the wood. Here's the fire. Where's the
lamb? My son God will provide himself
a lamb. He tied that boy down. God stopped him. There's a ram
caught in the thicket. You take that ram. You take this
boy off. You take that ram. You put that
ram there. That boy in Abraham's mind was dead. But the Scripture
says in Hebrews, he knew that God was able to raise him up.
He believed God. If God said that the seed is
coming through Isaac and God told me to sacrifice Isaac, I'm
going to sacrifice Isaac and I'm going to trust God that the
seed will come through the lineage right here, just like God said.
He said, if you were Abraham's seed children, you would do the
works of Abraham. You would. But now you seek to
kill me. A man that has told you the truth,
which I've heard of God, this did not Abraham. You're mad because
I've told you the truth. The truth. Oh, how we behold again the depravity
of an unregenerate heart. Truth set forth. without the
effectual working of God's Spirit raises up hatred. I hate what
you say. Don't tell me that God has the
right. Don't! Are you mad because I told you
what God had to say? I told someone, I said, show
me in the Scriptures what I've said in myself. Show me in God's
Word that I'm lying to you. Are you mad? Do you hate
me? Do you want to kill me because
I've told you the truth? Oh, the desperate need of a new
heart. Verse 41 to 43 in closing, You
do the deeds of your Father. Then said they to Him, We be
not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God.
And Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would
love Me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not
understand My speech? Even because you cannot. Hear
my word. Lord, open our ears. Lord, give us eyes to see. Lord, have mercy today. Lord, we are helpless creatures. I don't want to do but that which
is obedient unto Him. I don't know who the Lord's people
are. I don't. But I can tell you this,
and I can say this according to Scripture. Paul says, My heart's
desire for Israel is that they might be saved. I pray the Lord
save your kids. I pray God have mercy on you,
me. I want the Lord to save my grandchildren.
I want the Lord to save your wife, your husband. Lord, have
mercy. Lord, we need you. I know this,
the only message that God's going to honor is this gospel. I know
it. I have God's Word on that. May
the Lord bless these words to the salvation of His people,
the comfort of His people for Christ's sake.