Proceeding to the 8th chapter
of the book of John. John chapter 8. 8th chapter of the book of John. Let us begin reading there at
verse 21. of John 8. Then said Jesus unto them, I
go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin. Whither I go ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill
himself? Because he saith, Whither I go
ye cannot come. And he said unto them, Ye are
beneath, that is, you're earthly. I am from above. I'm heavenly.
You are of this world. I'm not of this world. You don't
understand. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
My ways are higher than your ways. I said therefore unto you
that ye shall die in your sins for if you believe not that I
am he, ye shall die in your sins. Remember I told you this morning,
if you die in your sins, you'll be resurrected in your sins.
You'll stand in your sins and judgment and you'll bear your
sins throughout the eternity to come if you die in your sins. And it would be better to die
any other death than that if there isn't another death that
a man can die apart from dying in his sins. It would certainly
be far better. It would be far better if he would die at birth.
It would be far better if he would never make one single solitary
cry in this world than to die in his sins because sin will
be punished. punished by God. Endless punishment. There is no end to the punishment
of our sins. What our Lord bore on Calvary
in those few hours was equivalent to all eternity. Then said they
unto him, Who art thou? That is something we need to
know. And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto
you from the I am the Word. Look what he said over here in
this first chapter. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made. That was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth
in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth not." That's who
He was. He said, I'm just the same. I
haven't changed. Even the same that I said unto
you from the beginning. 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. That is,
I don't do anything in secret. They understood not. that he
spake to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When
ye have lifted up the Son of Man, that is, when lifted him
up on a pole, fixed him up on a pole, like the brazen serpent
was fixed on the pole over in the book of Numbers, when I am
lifted up and crucified, then shall ye know that I am he, and
I do nothing of myself. But as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things. perfect unity, perfect harmony
with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He that sent me is
with me, and the Father has not left me alone. But there was
a time He did leave him alone. You remember? My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me? God who is true to His own nature
in regard to His hatred towards sin. must abandon the Lord Jesus
Christ on the cross as He pays my debt, the debt that I owe. As He stood there as my substitute,
God must abandon Him and leave Him alone. He's alone, entirely
alone. No one to help Him, no one to
assist Him. He must bear the penalty that's
due Me alone. But here He says, I do nothing
of Myself, and He that sent Me is with Me. And the Father hath
not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him."
I'm so glad, aren't you, that there's one that always does
that which pleases Him, in perfect union with the Father. And He
spake these words, and many believed on Him. Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on Him, if you continue in My word, then
Are you my disciples indeed? And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. Let me talk to you for
just a little bit here this evening, not long, on about true faith,
saving faith. These folks here said, it says
of them, and he spake these words, many
believed on him. Then said Jesus to the Jews which
believed on him, to these Jews that said they believed on him.
He said unto them, If ye continue in my word, the proof of our
regeneration is our following the Lord Jesus. That's the proof
of it. That's the proof of it. Our regeneration is not in following,
it merely proves that something took place in our lives. And
we have been delivered from our old master, and we have come
under new rule and new government and new management, and we continue
after him. You remember over here he says
later on to these folks in John chapter 10, he said, When He
put forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow
Him. And the sheep follow Him, for
they know His voice. And the continuance in His Word
is the evidence and the proof that we know Him. His sheep will
not follow a false shepherd. They know His voice. There is
a certain ring to His voice. And they detect the truth in
His voice. A stranger will they not follow?
They will flee from Him, for they know, for they know not
the voice of strangers. And then he goes on down and
he said in verse 26, But you believe
not, because you are not of my sheep. You don't believe. As
I said unto you, My sheep hear My voice. They hear My voice
and I know them. I know My sheep. And they follow
Me. And they follow Me. It's not
that they start out, but He said they follow. There's a continuance. That's what He tells these people.
He spake these words and many believed on Him. Many believed
on Him. They said, We believe on You.
They gave an intellectual assent to Him. And Jesus turned to them and
said, If you continue then in My Word, if you continue in My
Word, then are you My disciples indeed. And as you continue,
as you continue and make progress, you see, ye shall know the truth. You'll know the whole truth here.
And this truth that you know will make you free to believe on Him. To believe
on Him is to take Him as the ground of our hopes. That's what
it means to believe on the Lord Jesus. To receive Him, to bow
to Him, to take Him as the ground of our hopes, as our salvation,
whom we depend upon for our salvation. We take Him as our Savior. We
receive Him as God sets Him forth in the Scriptures. Remember I
told you that scripture there in the book of Hebrews that says
if a man would come to God, he must believe that he is. He must
believe that he is what he is. That's what I'm saying when I
say that we must receive him as God set him forth in the Scriptures. Not as we desire him to be or
not as we entertain some thoughts in our intellect as he is, or
should be, or we would want Him to be. No, when we believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, we receive Him as God sets Him forth in
the Bible. Well, does not this same book
say, as many as received Him, gave He them power or authority
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name?
It means to give yourself to Him, lock, stock, and barrel. It means give yourself up to
Him as your Master. It means follow Him as the way,
as the truth, and as the life. And it means when we believe
on Him to the saving of our souls, it means that What he says is
true to us on the sole evidence that he says it. We don't have
to have any other proof. We don't have to... I was with
some brethren there recently, down in Arkansas there, and some
of them were talking one afternoon there about how the true scientific
evidence coincided with what the Bible teaches. And I think
that the statement was made that they didn't necessarily have
to have the scientific evidence. Well, I haven't even thought
about the scientific evidence. I just believe the Word of God
on the sole evidence that Jesus spake it, and that's enough.
I don't need to read another book here written by some Christian
scientist proving that what Jesus said is true. I don't have to
have that, and I don't think any. other true believer has
to have it, he takes and receives what the Lord Jesus Christ said
solely on the evidence that he said it. And that's it. No argument
about it. A fellow told me one time, he
said, well, maybe you need to go to school and take a course
in how to deal with infidels and skeptics and atheists. And
I said, what for? Well, he said, to combat their
argument. I don't have to combat their
argument. I know what I believe. They don't know what they believe.
I know what I believe. I don't have to combat their
argument. I don't have to prove that there is a God. That's exactly
what Paul was getting into when he was going into Corinth, this
town of wisdom, this city of wisdom and culture, the philosophers
and so forth. Some of them standing on the
corner debating as to whether there was a God or not. I read one time where it said
Socrates said he hoped there was a hereafter because he wanted
to converse some more with Plato. Paul said about all of these
cultured philosophers in the society of that day in the city
of Corinth. He said, I just passed them by.
As I come into town, I just passed them by. I was determined to
know nothing among you save Christ and Him crucified. I haven't
got any time to debate whether the Bible is true or whether
God exists or not. I haven't got time for that.
That's what I'm talking about. When he says, in truth to us,
on the sole evidence that he says it is enough for the individual
that has true faith. That's true faith. Now, here
in the Scriptures, there's another kind of faith. There is another
kind of faith produced by our Savior's testimony, and I want
you to see it here. That's what I want to talk to
you about. There's another kind of faith produced by the truth
here, by the truth of our Savior's testimony, which never amounts
to anything, which never fully develops into anything. It is a false faith. It is a spurious faith. It is
not the faith of God's elect. Now notice, he says, And he spake
these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed. Now this faith which is produced
by the testimony of our Lord Jesus here, which is a false
faith, not a true faith, it is not saving faith, it does not
lead one to commit his entire reliance upon the Lord Jesus
Christ as his Lord and as his Savior and Substitute. This faith
believes about the Lord Jesus, and this is what a whole lot
of people have today. They have a faith that believes
about Jesus Christ. They believe that he was undoubtedly
sent from God. Now, you can't talk to too many
people in too many churches that don't believe those two statements
there. They believe about the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe
that certainly He was sent from God. They believe that He was
a great prophet. And they go so far as to believe
what He says to a degree. They say what He says is reasonable
and what He says is right. This faith, this false faith,
this faith which does not lead to the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ, this faith which is not a saving faith, this faith believes
everything that commends itself to the individual's own judgment. What I mean by that is this,
these Jews here, they were willing to accept the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Messiah, but He must be the kind of a Messiah that they
have always had pictured in their minds. They would accept Him
if He fit their description. That is, they were looking for
a leader, a leader who would defeat the Romans. a leader who
would deliver them from the oppression of the foreign yoke, to take
that yoke off of their neck and give them some freedom like they
had, I told you there this morning, 18 years of oppression by Eglon,
the king of the Moabites. And when Ehud come in, as God's
deliverer, bearing death, You see, Ehud was a Savior unto death
to one, and a Savior unto life to others. He bore death to Eglon,
but he bore life. He was the emancipator to the
children of Israel. And after the battle was fought
and 12,000 lusty men were killed, well, then the Jews were at liberty. The oppressor was killed and
they were at liberty and they were free and they were having
a real good time for a number of years until they went whoring
after strange gods again. Now the Jews here that believed
on him, they would accept him and take him and bow to him if
he met their description, if he was They pictured in their
minds from their leaders and rulers that the Messiah would
come, He'd deliver them. Deliver them from oppression,
from the foreign yoke. He would rebuild their temple.
He would not only rebuild their temple, but He would glorify
the Jewish race. Now, if He'd do all that, well,
they would be more than glad to accept Him, see? What I'm
saying is, this faith, this spurious faith, believes everything that
commends itself to its own judgment. That is, if it squares up to
what I picture this to be, well, then all right, I'll accept it,
I'll agree with it, if it squares up. But if it doesn't, if it
doesn't, although it sounds reasonable and sounds right, well, it'll
not capture my heart. It might capture my mind for
a while, but it'll not capture my heart. You need to, all of
us, needs to be, well we need to beware of a faith which is
just an intellectual movement which does not control the heart
and the life. Any faith that does not control
a man's heart and control his life is not genuine faith. Any time that you can live with
a man for 20 years or 40 years, and he professes to be a disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the only way you know it is that
he tells you that, then he's just got a head knowledge. He's just got a faith like these
Jews here. It's not a saving faith. It will
not save. Multiplied millions, right tonight.
All over the United States have this kind of a faith. It's a
spurious faith. They believe on Jesus. Yeah,
we believe on Him. We believe that He was born of
a virgin. They believe that. We believe
that the Scriptures are inerrant. We believe that they are inspired. We believe that. We believe in
the Apostles' Creed. We believe all these things.
But yet they're faithful. so-called has not captured their
heart and has not captured their life and controlled them. The
faith that saves, captures a man's heart, that's all they are to
us. We want a faith that will lead
us to an absolute, entire reliance upon the person of Jesus Christ. That's the kind of faith we need to believe that He, the Lord
Jesus, now listen to this now, I heard a fella, I heard a fella
just recently, this is what he said, I heard him on the radio,
this is what he said. He was talking about this thing we call salvage. He
said, now invariably when I talk to people, he said, they tell
me Well, if so-and-so goes to heaven, then I think I'll make
it. Well, the first thing I detect
in that is this. When people is always talking
about heaven, you can be sure they ain't going to go there.
When they're always talking about heaven, you can be sure they
ain't going there because true Christian and true faith talks
about seeing Christ, not so much about heaven. They're concerned
about Christ and His glory. Their heart pants after Him. When you hear people always talking
about heaven, they're trying to escape. They're trying to
get out from underneath this thing. They're trying to get
over there where the golden streets and walk on glass and drink of
the pure water. That's what they're trying. They're
wanting to benefit. They don't care about Christ.
If they could get to heaven without Christ, it would be alright with
them. It would be fine. They'd be willing to go to heaven
without Christ. They're not concerned about Christ.
But he said, the fellow invariably tells me as I counsel them, he
said, well, if that soul goes to heaven, if that man goes to
heaven, he said, I think I'll make it. And he said, I said
to him, no, no, no, no, no, a thousand times no. And he said, if I go
to heaven, this is what he said, he said, if I go to heaven, It'll
be on what I've done and by the grace of God. That's naughty. I want to tell you this, if there's
anybody that ever makes it beyond time into the mysterious world
of the unexplored to be with God, it'll be because God hung
somebody on a tree and paid for his sin. That's how come they'll
get there. It won't be, if I go to heaven,
if I go to heaven when I die, it'll be because of something
I did. I believe. I confess. I was at
salvation by works through and through. And that same fellow
said he was a preacher of the grace of God. He's a liar and
there's no truth in him. No truth in him. Anybody make
a statement like that is not a preacher of the free, sovereign,
unmerited, undeserved grace of God. Can't be. No way. No way. A man who says he believes the
gospel and yet remains worldly, unrepentant, and prayerless? Well, there is no proof to that. You see, they are not infidels
in name. They are not infidels in name,
but they are atheists in practice. Atheist in life. They say they
have a name. They say we are disciples. We
believe in Christ. So you can't say they're infidels.
But they are, by evidence of their own life, they are atheists. Out and out atheists in practice. A man says he's a disciple, but
you'd never know it if he didn't tell you he's a mongrel and he's
not a thoroughbred. Well, look at this down here. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on his name, 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. Now what's their response? Did they say, Yes, Lord, we believe
Teach us thy truth, that thy truth might make us free. Is that what they said? That's
what true faith said. True faith says, Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. Teach us the
truth. Teach us the truth that we might
be free. But an intellectual movement
that's crossed our minds, that's agreeable to our description
of what we desire to hear and say that which is Christ. We
give assent to it temporarily, temporarily. But when the truth
is driven home to us, if you continue in my word, if, little
word if, little word if, You have continued My Word, then. If, if. You know, we've said
this all our lives, and you've said it. It's not the starters,
it's the finishers. It's the finishers. It's the
continuants. And that's the reason my heart
gets so heavy at times, so heavy, that a preacher all of these
years, and see people that say, yes, preacher, Yeah, I'm a disciple. I'm a disciple. But I see no
evidence. I don't see this continuance
here. I don't see the continuance. What am I led to believe? What
are you led to believe? I've come to the place that I
believe that a whole lot of people have been deceived in this matter.
They've been deceived. They think because they have
accepted Jesus. I've accepted Jesus. That fixed
everything up. I accepted Jesus and I've got
things fixed up now. Everything's fixed up. Whether I come to church, or
whether I learn more of the truth, or whether I be a witness of
His, that's insignificant. I've got this thing fixed up.
Preacher said I've got it fixed up. Preacher said if you believe
on Jesus, and I believed on Jesus, and I've got this thing fixed
up. Well, maybe I forgot to tell them. I don't know. Maybe I forgot
to tell them in years gone by that if you continue in my Word,
the continuance is the proof of the regeneration. The continuance,
day in and day out, nothing spectacular, nothing spectacular, no recognition,
just in their plotting, day in and day out, day in and day out.
Faithful unto God. Faithful in prayer. Faithful
in your conduct. Faithful in your conversation.
Faithful in your life. Faithful, faithful, faithful.
You can depend on Him. Set your clock by Him. That's
what I'm talking about if you continue in my Word. Well, you
see, they didn't say, Lord, we believe. Teach us thy truth and
make us free. No. What did they say? He touched
upon their pride. Their pride! He hit their pride. Oh, be sparked! And you'll find
out every religious man, whether it's man, woman, or a child,
if all they've got is religion and they haven't got Christ,
you touch them and you touch their pride. You tell them anything. If you indicate in any way that
they got to come the same way that the harlots got to come.
They got to bow to Jesus. They got to bow and give evidence
of their bowing by their continuing. Why? You touched their pride.
Listen, I don't need that. It may be alright for you, but
I don't need it. This is what they said. They
answered Him and they said, Wee! Wee! Hey! You're talking to me! You're
not talking to some fella come riding in town in the back of
a horse or a pickup truck, you're talking to me! Wait a minute! You're talking to me tonight!
We be Abraham Seeds! You talk about being made free? Why, we're Abraham Seeds. That's
who we are. Didn't you know who we were?
We be Abraham Seeds. Touch their pride. He said, We
be Abraham's seed, and we were never in bondage to any man. I just read to you this morning,
didn't I, where they was in bondage 18 years to King Agalon, the
king of the Moabites. That's just one little incident.
They were in bondage all of their lives. The Jewish race. That's what they're saying here. We be Abraham. We're the Jewish
race. We're the Jewish race. Watch
out for them Jews. Watch out for them Jews. Oh,
they're out for the Jews. We'll be Abraham's seed. That's who we are. That's who
we are. We've never been in bondage to
anybody. You stirred something up with me. You hit a sore spot
with me. My pride. Who do you think I
am? They were in bondage right now.
Caesar was their ruler. And eventually, when they crucified
our Lord Jesus Christ, they said, we have no other king but Caesar.
Isn't that what they said? We have no other king. Caesar
is our king. We don't want this man. Take
him and crucify him. We will not. Bow to him. And here are these fellows when
our Lord confronts them face to face. Spurious faith. Not true faith, see. Not true
faith. But they said they believed,
Preacher. I know they said they believed. But our Lord took the
wind out of their sails real quick. He said, I'm going to
try you out here a little bit now, fellas. I'm going to try
you out. He said, if you continue in My Word, then you're My disciples
indeed, and you'll know the truth. The truth will make you free.
And they said, Lord, we be Abraham's seed, never in bondage to any
man. How sayest thou, you shall be
made free? Why, we're free now. We're free
as a bird. We're free as the air. And our Lord looked at that
34th verse. Our Lord answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin is a servant
of sin. Don't tell me you're free. You're
a servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in
the house forever, but the Son abideth forever. If the Son,
if the Son come down and deliver you, if the Son therefore shall
make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Well, I haven't got time
to read all that. You can read the rest of it.
He said, I know that you're Abraham's seed. I know that. I know that
you've got the blood of the Jews running in the course of your
veins. I know that. He said, I'm no dumb bell. I
know who you are. I know who your seed is. But
he said, but you seek to kill me. You're Abraham's seed, but
you seek to kill me. You seek to murder me. He just
didn't fit that in there. Now these people actually, he
read their hearts. He knew what was in their hearts.
When He touched upon them and indicated that they were dead
in trespasses and in sins and alienated from the life of God
which is in Christ, they were not the object of divine favor. It made them mad. And they said
in their hearts, well, we'd like to kill that fellow. I could
get ahold of him and wring his neck. I'd just like to kill him.
He said, but you seek to kill me. Why do you seek to kill me? Because my word hath no place
in you. My word hath no place in you.
I speak that which I have seen with my father, and ye do that
which ye have seen with your father." Who is your father?
They said Abraham was. They said Abraham was. Then answered
and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them,
is that right? Is that so? Is that so? If you
were Abraham's children, you'd do the works of Abraham. But
now you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth.
Remember Paul one other time said, Have I become your enemy
because I told you the truth? Listen, a man that has told you
the truth, he tried to kill me, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham, but you
say you are Abraham. See, you do the deeds of your
father. I am of my father which is in
heaven, but you do the deeds of your father. Then said they
unto him, We be not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God.
He's our Father. We're not idolaters. Jesus said unto them, If God
were your Father, you'd love Me. You'd love Me. That is, that
you would cast yourself totally, unreservedly, you would cast
yourself upon Me. If you were of your Father, you'd
love Me. For I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came
I of myself, but He sent me." God sent me. I'm here because
of the authorization of God Himself, whom you say you believe, and
you're trying to kill me, and I'm a direct representative of
God. As a matter of fact, I'm God
manifesting in the flesh. That's who I am. Why do you not
understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my words? You can't hear my words because
you don't want to hear them, like I told you this morning.
Many voices are speaking today, and God speaks to us. He speaks
to us through the Word. He speaks to us through providence.
He speaks through prophets and preachers, but we're not listening.
We're listening to other voices. We're listening to what we want
to listen to. We've got itching ears. We want
to hear what we want to hear. And when we get determined to
hear what we want to hear, we go and find someone who will
say what we want to hear, and we'll find him every time. Say,
you don't hear me. Verse 44, Ye are of your father. You say, Preacher, these people
believed on Jesus. Well, that's what it says. And
He spake these words, many believed on Him. And I'm telling you that
the test... Now, keep this in mind. Learn
this with me. Jesus Christ and His testimony
here, that I read to you, produced in these people a faith which
will not save the soul. His testimony of who He was. I came from the Father. I didn't
come home. The Father sent me. And they
believed on Him. His testimony produced a faith
in Him. But that faith was a false faith,
a spurious faith, and it did not save their souls. Because
as he began to dissect, as he began to take the sword and he
began to cut, and he began to touch them on these sore spots,
he comes down in verse 44 and tells the whole truth about them.
And pretty soon you're going to see the truth, the whole truth
of their character. Now he says in verse 44, ye are
of your father the devil. That's who you are, the devil
is your father. My soul, there's a whole lot of people, a whole
lot of people we talk to every day, practically everyone we
talk to today when we get out from our little family, about
everyone we talk to is of the devil. Did you know that? Of
the devil. This world lies under the wicked
one. This world is lies under the
power of the devil. The devil controls man. Controls
man. And when we talk to him, we need
to be aware of this, that that fellow we're talking to here,
his father and my father may not be the same. His father may
be the devil, you see. Oh, these people believed in
Jesus. Well, Jesus said, Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. What
is the lust of their father? Well, didn't the devil try to,
from the beginning, didn't the devil try to destroy the royal
seed? What is the royal seed? The royal
seed is the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil's desire and aim was
to kill the baby Jesus. They must flee down into Egypt
and hide. Because the king, the monarch,
said what? He said, I put a price on every
baby's head here. Every baby under how many years
old was it? Under two years old. I put a
price on their head. I want you to kill every baby.
What was the devil trying to do? Trying to kill Jesus. Trying
to kill the royal seed. If he could kill the royal seed,
there's no salvation for us. There's no redemption if Christ
don't go to that cross. You remember when Peter said,
Oh Lord, you can't go. I must need to go to Jerusalem
and be crucified? Oh, no, no, no. I'll not let...
He said, Get thee behind me. Satan? That's the purpose of
Satan is to keep us from Christ. And don't you forget it. Anything
that he can set before you to keep you from the Lord Jesus
Christ, he'll do it. He can't kill God. He tried that
and he couldn't do it. But the second cause is to keep
you from getting to Christ. If you can come to the altar,
that's alright with Him. You can believe on Jesus, that's
alright with Him. You can shake hands with Him,
that's alright with Him. He wants you to become as religious
as you can possibly be. You can keep the Ten Commandments,
you can take the Bible, I believe this, I believe that. He wants
you to do that. That's right. He's not going to fight with
you there. Just don't come to Christ. Just don't get to Him
and cast your entire reliance, body, soul, and spirit upon the
person of Christ and say, if I'm ever saved, it will be by
the grace of God because God hung His Son on a tree to pay
for my redemption. And give me a righteousness which
is acceptable with the demands of God to Him. That's my hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. not built on whether I cuss or
whether I don't cuss, whether I go to church or don't go to
church. My hope is built on nothing less. Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's it! That's it! Therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. How God
can be just, that's the only way God can save you, save me,
by punishing sin in the person of His perfect, blessed Son.
Well, He said to these fellas, Ye are of your father the devil. That's who you are. The lust
of your father you'll do. You'll try to kill me. I already
told them. I said, you want to kill me. He was a murderer. There it is. He was a murderer
from the beginning. And he's seen that in their hearts.
They wanted to kill him. Hated God. Can you imagine that? Men. Men. Who are the dust of
the earth. who are the creation of the Creator,
rising up in the Creator's face, saying, I'd like to kill you.
If I could get you, if I could get to you, I'd kill you, I'd
drain the blood out of you. That's what they're talking about
there. Your father was a murderer from the beginning and he abode
not in the truth because there's no, absolutely no truth in him. Ain't no truth in him. Make no
concession for him. No truth in him. When he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father
of it. Because I tell you the truth, I told you the truth,
and you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of
sin? And if I say the truth, why do
ye not believe me? He that is of God, listen to
this, he that is of God, A man, woman, boy or girl that is of
God, heareth God's word. He heareth God. He doesn't turn
a deaf ear to God. He pays attention to God. Whether
God speaks to him by his word, by providence, through prosperity,
through sickness, through suffering, or through his preacher. However
God speaks, he that is of God, he heareth. There's a little
old boy in Spurgeon's time. I read about it one time. In
Spurgeon's day. He always went to church with
his grandmother. Always. Every Sunday morning,
every Sunday night. And every time they had anything
going on in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, this little boy begged
his grandmother, take me, will you? Take me. I want to go with
you. I want to go to church with you. I want to go with you, Mr.
Spurgeon. And he got up as close as he could to Mr. Spurgeon.
And every time Mr. Spurgeon said anything, he put
his hands up behind his ears like this. Put up there like
that. And he just kept lifting, lifting. And his grandmother said, I wish
you'd put your hands down, son. Well, he said, I got to hear
what Mr. Spurgeon said. Well, why do you
do that? He said, because Mr. Spurgeon said that God speaks
God speaks and God calls, and when He speaks and when He calls
me, He says, I want to hear it. I want to hear it. Ah, my soul. I want to hear it. He that is
of God, heareth God's words. Ye, therefore, heareth them not,
because you are not of God. Then answered the Jews, true
characters now coming out. Then answered the Jews, and said
unto him, Say we not well? Didn't we tell it like it was? Didn't we say the truth once
about you? Say we not well, but thou art a Samaritan, and you
got a devil. You got a devil. That's what
they said about him. Spurrious faith. You see what
I'm talking about now this evening? I'm saying that the testimony
of the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 8 of the book of John produced
a faith in those that heard it which was a spurious faith, a
false faith that did not lead to their complete reliance upon
the Lord Jesus Christ as their substitute. They wound up saying
that he has a devil. They wound up saying, we're going
to try to kill him. We're going to try to kill him. They wound up saying, well, he's
in league with Satan. That's not genuine faith. Genuine
faith doesn't do that. What does genuine faith do? It
does this. It lays hold of the right object.
That's Jesus Christ. We talked to you about that the
other night. You remember over here in the book of John chapter
9, look at 9 verse 35. Look at this. Here's a fella. He is blind. He was born that way. He had
never seen the light of day. never had seen the light of day
in his lifetime. I don't know how old he was here.
But he was born blind. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
along and gave him his sight. And verse 35 says, after they
cast him out, these religious people of the day, they cast
him out of the synagogue because he was identified with the Lord
Jesus. And Jesus heard that they had cast him out. They'll cast
you out too if they get changed. And they'd be glad to cast me
out. And when he had found him, our Lord found him. And when
he finds a man, he's got you. When he finds you, when he finds
you. When he comes where you are and finds you, finds you. Listen, and he said unto him,
he said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? I think this
is the only time in the Scriptures that I know of that our Lord
asked a point-blank question to another man in regard to himself.
Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Do you believe on the
Son of God? And he asked, this is what true faith says, this
is true faith. He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Who is he? Jesus said
unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And what did he do? He worshipped
him. He worshipped him. Oh, my soul. There's got to be a true knowledge
of, a free and full consent of the truth of that which is contained
in the Scriptures concerning God, concerning Christ, concerning
God's salvation, and all other principles of true religion.
That's what true faith is involved in. He that has obtained true
faith, have had his understanding enlightened to see what his state
and condition was by nature. What is your state and your condition
by nature? Well, I can tell you real quick,
real quick. I know because I was in the same
boat that you was in. Listen, in Acts chapter 2 and
verse 37, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God hath made the same Jesus whom you've crucified." That's
my condition. I crucified Jesus. Pat sang a
hymn here, or a song, or not so long ago, Who Killed Jesus?
Who Killed Jesus? Yet I killed Jesus. That's who
killed Him. We need to know, a man who has
true faith, he knows his state and true condition by nature.
He knows that's what it is. It's not stealing the watermelon. That's not it. You know, many
think, well, let me review my past life and see what I've done. I remember one time when I took
God's name in vain. I remember one time when I stole
25 cents off my aunt's table. I remember one time when I did
this and I did that. That's not it. That's not it. It's what made you do that. There's
the problem. What made you do it? What made
you do it? You got a bad heart. That's what made you do it. You
got a bad heart, you killed Jesus. You better mourn, you see. Not
for what you did, but for what you are. Every man that winds
up at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ in eternal glory will
somehow be taught And he'll understand. He'll know the truth. He'll be
made free, but he'll see. He'll see that he was a captive
of the devil, held in bondage. He'll see that he had a bad heart.
Bad heart. Yes, sir. And lastly, he sees
also, a man that has true faith, he sees also that his own righteousness
will avail him nothing. Nothing. in point of justification
and acceptance with God. And he'll understand that without
Christ Jesus to stand in his stead, place, and room, that
his prayers, his tears, his Bible reading, his hearing, his good
deeds will avail him nothing. They will not save him. He'll
come to the Lord Jesus Christ empty-handed, and he'll come
bowing at his feet. And he'll say, Lord, you can
show mercy if you will. True faith. True faith lays hold
of Jesus, the Lord Jesus, as God sets him forth in the Scriptures. Prophet, priest, and king, and
savior, and Lord. Not in that fashion, but that's
all incorporated. All right.