The darkness is a spiritual darkness. The darkness has physical manifestations,
but it's a spiritual darkness. We were darkness, says our God. We were in darkness. We entered that darkness when
we fell in our father Adam and lost sight of who we were, who
God is, and how God saves sinners like us. What a blessing and
what a privilege it is. What a remarkable gift of God. The most remarkable gift He can
give is to send the light of His gospel and for that light
to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ and reveal Him in our hearts,
to reveal Him to us but to reveal Him in us, to reveal who He is
for us. come to rescue us and to deliver
us out of that darkness and bring us into the glorious liberty
of the children of God. As I said earlier, he makes a
great statement doesn't he in John 8.31 Those that believe on him, and
we know that these people didn't have true saving faith, but there
is a lesson here for us, isn't it? If you continue in my word,
then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. The light must shine in the darkness. That's the only place it shines,
isn't it? The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not comprehended it, says our Lord in John chapter 1. This
darkness is a darkness which is exacerbated and intensified
and revealed by the presence of the Lord. These people were
standing in the presence of God Almighty, declaring Himself to
be God. Every piece of history that they
had, pointed to this one event and this one man coming to this
temple and doing the things that he said he'd do in this temple.
If they had gone and looked at the history of Bethany just a
little way away, they would have found out that there was a remarkable
event in Bethany and there was a remarkable event in the mountains
just outside of Bethany and there was a remarkable occurrence of
those men coming from the east. Evidence upon evidence upon evidence
is piled before these people. And not only that, they were
looking for him and they were excited about him coming. And
so their whole religious world was geared to being prepared
for the Messiah to come. They were preparing Jerusalem
for the return of the Messiah and they were preparing themselves
for the return of the Messiah. And yet, and yet we see the depths
of this darkness. Darkness in the presence of God
Almighty who is the light of the world. Darkness when they
heard the very words of God Almighty speaking to them plainly Only the Christ could heal the
blind. It was a messianic miracle that
he performed. He raised the dead, he fed thousands,
he walked on water, he stilled storms. They had him in their
presence and they were able to ask him questions about himself.
And he answered their questions truthfully and faithfully. He
declared himself as God and they couldn't see him. He told them
the truth about him, he told them the truth about his salvation,
and he told them the truth about who he is. And he says, you'll know the
truth and the truth shall make you free. This darkness is a
spiritual darkness. This is my third journey through
John's Gospel. I did it with my students in
India who came voluntarily to Sunday night gatherings, and
there were probably 70 or 80 of them who went through John's
Gospel, and we did it over six months, so we did it fairly briefly.
Then I came back to Australia rejoicing in the Gospel that's
in John's Gospel and the rest of the Gospels, the Gospel of
Genesis and the Gospel of Isaiah, the Gospel of the Psalms. I was
rejoicing in all that and we thought that it would be just
wonderful. We had a Bible study, Simon and Norm and some of the
others were here with us. We had a Bible study in John's
Gospel and we thought we'd do John's Gospel. we would do the
first bit, Graham was there, we'd do the first bit reasonably
slowly, the prologue, and then we'd do the stories reasonably
quickly, and then we got to the Upper Room Discourse, we'd slow
it down a little bit, and then finally we'd get to John Chapter
17, we thought we'd just do a verse each. So each person had studied
their verse and studied the verses around. Both of those last two Bible studies,
and John and I had one with some other people, both of those last
two Bible studies never got to the end. By the time we got to
John chapter 17 with those religious men, they found the God that
was described so offensive that they could not abide hearing
his word again. And they went off into their
churches and into positions of prominent leadership in their
churches. The other group that John and
I and some others were with for a while descended to the point
where these people said that I will never ever sit down and
even read the Bible with you. So offensive is the Bible. So
offensive is the declaration of God. I love his word and I love him
and I love the remarkable privilege that he's given to us to send
that light of who he is, to send the light of what happened on
Calvary's tree, to send the light of the glory of our great God. He sends that light and that
light reveals life, isn't it? His life. The light is the life
of men and that life And that light reveals the truth. And then for God's children,
that light and that life and that truth bring freedom. Freedom. The light shines in
the darkness and there is freedom. These religious people thought
that the Lord Jesus Christ was a demon-possessed Samaritan for
saying the words that we read just earlier here today. We see Him as God Almighty. He says, buy the truth, buy the
truth at whatever cost it is, whatever it cost it is for you
in this world, whatever it cost it is in relationships, whatever
it cost it is in terms of the esteem of people in this world,
buy the truth and sell it not. Your eternal soul is there is
nothing in this world, nothing in this universe accumulated
that is worth the value of your eternal soul. The Lord is nigh. I keep praying
that we will call on him. In verse 145 he says, the Lord
is nigh, the Lord is near to all that call upon him. Call
brothers and sisters, call Lord save me, Lord save me, Lord save
me. Lord, reveal yourself again in
your word to me. The Lord is nigh to all that
call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth, in truth. They call upon him in truth.
The truth is a person. They call upon him in the truth
of who he is. They call upon him in the truth
of who he is revealed in his word and how he saves sinners.
Paul is thankful to people that continue in his word. He's thankful
for them. He's thankful that the light
has come to the Thessalonians. He says, we are bound to give
thanks. I'm bound to give thanks for
you, brothers and sisters. I'm bound to give thanks to God
always for you, brothers and brethren. Beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Belief of the truth. These words
that the Lord spoke, he says in John 6, they are spirit and
they are life. They're spiritual words and they're
words that bring spiritual life to people. True religion, says
John Newton, arises, it arises by God's providential hand, arises
out of a true knowledge of God as he's revealed in the Bible.
the people in those Bible studies found what we just read in John
chapter 8 so offensive. that they couldn't abide to hear
any more of a God like that. They said, we will not have that
God to rule over us. And they went back and on into
the esteem in religion. True religion arises out of a
true knowledge of God as He's revealed in the Bible. True religion
arises out of a true knowledge of us as fallen in Adam. A true knowledge of that darkness,
true religion arises out of a true knowledge of salvation in the
wondrous work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to know the truth. I want us to be disciples. Indeed, I want us to know the
glory of that freedom, the freedom to rejoice in God as he's described
himself. There is, as we saw, as we read
through John 8 earlier, There is a faith, a type of faith that
is not saving faith. And we're confronted with that
in John's Gospel. We're confronted with that in
many of the Gospels. We're confronted with that in
many, many other places in the rest of the Scriptures. James
says that the devils believe. And they do more than most people
in most churches in this world. They tremble. They believe and
they tremble. It is a glorious, glorious thing
for the light to shine in the darkness. He came to his own, which is
what John 8 is about, isn't it? And his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power, the power
of God to become sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." That's what he says
to these people, isn't he? He says, you don't know me and
you don't know my father. You don't know me and you don't
know my father. Our God is known by revelation. Our God is known by revelation
that is linked and tied to the truth of who he is. He says to
Nicodemus, you must be born from above to see the kingdom of God. The lady at the well asked that
glorious question. The Lord told her that wonderful
answer, isn't it? He said, if you knew, if you
knew the gift of God, Not the works of God, not the works that
you have to do to be in the presence of God, but the gift of God.
The gift of God is his son. And who it is that saith unto
you, give me to drink, you would have asked of him. You'd ask.
God's children are asking children. And he would have given you the
living water. So we do have to say some things
about faith. These believed, these Jews believed,
and yet we find out that they didn't have saving faith at all.
If you continue in my word, you are my disciples indeed. These
people in John chapter 8 had a faith. And what was their first
response to him saying that? They said, we're Abraham's seed
and never been in bondage to any man. The very first thing
that comes out of these mouths of these people who said they
believed is that they were going to argue with God. They were
going to butt God. But, but, you've had but, but,
but arguments with people. We don't have to debate. We declare
who he is. Saving faith, true saving faith
is a revelation of God to the hearts of his people. A revelation
of God in his true character as it's revealed in this book. And it brings liberty and rejoicing
and freedom. True Saving Faith. True Saving
Faith is not an activity of the flesh of man, it's a spiritual
activity. If you continue in his word,
God does a work in the hearts of his people, and they have
nowhere else to go. If you continue in his word,
where are those disciples? 5,000 people left him in John
chapter 6 when he declared who he was as God. And then the Lord
says, where will you go as well, you 12? And then Simon Peter
answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? God's people continue
in the whom. Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe, and this is saving faith declared to us
by God, we believe that thou art Christ, the son of the living
God. Matthew 11 tells us that when
Simon declared who the Lord Jesus Christ was, John chapter Matthew. He says, Who do you say that
I am? Matthew chapter 16. And he says, Simon says, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered
and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. The blessed person has a revelation
of God as he is revealed in heaven, not of flesh and blood acknowledgments. had a remarkable pedigree and
they had a remarkable presence before them. But all they saw
was the Lord Jesus Christ through the eyes of flesh. And if you
look at all their answers, all of their answers were fleshly
answers. He was telling them spiritual
truths about eternal life, spiritual truths about who he was. And
they just answered with fleshly arguments again and again and
again. You must, you must, you must be born
again. You must be born from above to
see and enter. You must be born from above for
the darkness to be dispelled. Those, and there are multitudes
of them, those whose faith is merely an acknowledgement of
true doctrine arrived at by the process of theological instruction. have an understanding of the
flesh and they can know an awful lot about who God is. They can
recite and they can write papers and do other things. It's just
the understanding of the flesh. Those whose faith is a product
of their will, whose profession is a result of carefully crafted
emotional appeal meant to manipulate people. When Billy Graham came
and turned Australian Christianity upside down, he used to plant
people in the audience. And he'd play those hymns, Just
As I Am, and all of those hymns that stalked the emotion. And
he would plant people. I know one of them that was in
there. And they were planted throughout the crowd. And when
Billy was giving his appeal, after all the emotion, and all
the singing, and all of the emotion at his oratory, and they would
stand up. All of these volunteers were
paid to stand up at a certain time. And in their standing up
and their beginning to walk to the front, they would draw the
crowd down to the front. And there at the front they would
pray the sinner's prayer. And there at the front they would
be declared to be saved. His own testimony is that 99%
of them weren't in church in weeks to come. But that method
of proclaiming the gospel has led to almost all of the
Christian leadership in this country in the last two and a
half generations. It's remarkable, isn't it? It
was an activity of their will. They were manipulated, and I'm
not saying that the people were insincere, and I'm not saying
that their continued operations in those ways is insincere, because
they believe that they're genuinely saved that way. They believe
that their salvation is in their hands and not God's hands. So many people trace their salvation
to an act, don't they? That they were baptized, that
they did this or they did that, or they had some experience. Saving faith, saving faith doesn't
come from the flesh of men. fleshly men. Saving faith doesn't
come from an intellectual acknowledgement. Saving faith doesn't come from
a decision. Saving faith doesn't come from
people saying, I opened my heart to Jesus. That's nowhere in the
scriptures. Give Jesus your heart. What's he want to do with your
heart? He says it is deceitfully wicked and beyond cure. God gives
a new heart, a new creation. Seize the Lord Jesus Christ in
his glory. A new creation reads these words
that we read and we say, Amen, Hallelujah, what a saviour, what
glorious promises he makes to me. What a glorious, glorious
saviour that can take someone like us, as guilty as that woman
caught in adultery, and declare to her in the midst of all of
those people she has no condemnation. There is now no condemnation
for those that are in Christ Jesus. Salvation is of the Lord. And the challenge for these men
and the challenge for us, if we continue in his word, is that
flesh gives birth to flesh, says God. Spirit gives birth to spirit. There is a fleshly faith. There
is a fleshly faith. and it begins on this earth,
and it's rewarded by the things of this earth, and it has its
acknowledgement in the people of this earth. It begins with man, it's sustained
by man, it's rewarded by man, it's extraordinarily common,
and it's easily reproduced. See, spiritual life from above, it's a birth from
heaven. Spiritual faith begins in heaven. Spiritual faith is
sustained from heaven. Spiritual faith is rewarded from
heaven. Spiritual faith is very rare. And the truth that these gospel
accounts reveal to us, that it's in the presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ as he reveals himself, that these people are exposed.
His people are exposed. Like that woman, I'm just a sinner. I'm just a sinner and nothing
at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. But sadly, he reveals the darkness
of these people who claimed to be religious, who claimed that
they were the children of God, who knew from their genealogical
records they were the children of Abraham. They had the most
remarkable heritage, they had the most remarkable Tradition. They had the most remarkable
reason to believe in the graciousness and the goodness of God. Not
on account, how did they get into the promised land? Was it
on account of something that they had done? He fed them for
40 years in the desert. Their shoes and clothes didn't
wear out. He protected them from all their
enemies. And then he miraculously takes them across the Jordan
River, and he stops the river in flood. And they go across. bearing the Lord Jesus Christ
and him crucified. How did they get into the promised
land? Was it a work of men? Moses was buried on the other
side of the river. You don't get into the promised
land by law or by works. You get carried into the promised
land by the sovereign hand of our glorious God. He births He births his children into his
kingdom by his word. We are born again. Born again. He says in James, doesn't he? James chapter 1. Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. He births his children
through the preaching of the gospel. He births his children
by bringing his word and making that word spirit and life in
the hearts of his people. He births his people through
the gospel. All flesh is grass. That's what
darkness is, isn't it? Just flesh is grass. You've been
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever, for all
flesh is grass. And all the glory of man is the
flower of the glass. The grass withers and the flower
thereof falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So what is it to continue in
his word? It's just to believe all that
he says, isn't it? To believe all that he says. It's to rejoice in all that he
says. It's to rejoice in the who that
is declared. It's to continue in the truth. It's to know the truth who is
a person, to know everything about him. It's to know more
and more truth. It's a glorious truth. is to
know Him as God Almighty. That's why. Let's just go through
these verses in John chapter 8 and look at the description
of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ gives Him Himself. He says, I
am the light of the world. I am the light of the world.
And His people shall not walk in darkness. His people shall
have the light of life. He makes promises to His children.
His testimony, verse 14, His testimony is true. He knows where
He came from and where He is going. He knows where He's come
from and where He's going. His judgment, verse 16, of all
things is true. He's not alone. He and the Father
are as one, and the Father is with him. He has a witness, and
it's a witness that is glorious to the children of God and damning
to those who deny who he said he is. If they continue not in
his word, they'll die in their sins, he says. He bears witness
of Himself. If you know Him, verse 8, 9,
10, if you know Him, you know His Father as well. To know the
Lord Jesus Christ is to know God the Father. To know them
is to know God the Holy Spirit. Verse 20 says His hour has not
come. He has an hour. He has predetermined
and predestinated everything that happens in this universe.
He has an hour. It's the hour of His death that
He's speaking of. He came for a purpose. And we know His hour and we rejoice
in His hour and we rejoice in what He accomplished in His hour.
And until His hour was come, He was still by these people. Then in verse 21, he says, I
go my way. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. The way to God is a person. The
way of truth is a person. Then in verse 23, he says, I
am from above. I am from above. I am not of
this world. His origin is not of this world. He's come from heaven, sent by
his father. He says, I am, in verse 24, if
you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. It's
to believe all that he's just said about himself. It's to believe
that he is God. And he's the same. Don't you
love that he is the same? Even the same that I said unto
you from the beginning, verse 25. And he speaks, when he speaks,
he's speaking the words that the Father gave him. Verse 26. And then in verse 28 says, as
my father has taught me, I speak those things. He that sent me
is with me. The father has not left me alone.
I do always those things that please him. So they're the words, aren't
they? That in this immediate context, if you continue in my
word, then are you my disciples indeed. He speaks words of truth. Moses brought the Lord, didn't
he? Grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. Truth is a person. You shall know me, is what he's
saying, is that you shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free. The truth is a person. It's not
just doctrines about him. If you know him, all the doctrines
are solved, aren't they? If you know him, you have no
question about his absolute sovereignty over all things. If you know
Him, you have no doubt about the fact that He must save you
by grace because you met Him who is holy. If you know Him,
you have no doubt about His predestinating purposes. If you know Him, you
have no doubt about the fact that He's in an eternal covenant
relationship that was struck before the world began and all
of His people were saved in that and God's works are finished
and the foundation. If you've met Him, you've done all of these
things. God's children don't debate about them, they just
love them. I love the fact that He's absolutely sovereign. I
love the fact that nothing, nothing, nothing, not even me, can pluck
me out of His hand. I'm in His hand, in the Father's
hand. Nothing can pluck me out of His hand. I love the fact,
we love and we delight in the fact that when He died on Calvary's
tree, He died for the particular sins of a particular group of
people and He put them away so particularly that not one of
them can ever be lost. His body, the glorious body of
which is his church, is always going to be a perfect body. It
might not seem perfect to us, and plenty of people will be
able to criticise us for all sorts of things. We're looking
through fleshly eyes. If we look through heaven's eyes,
we would be absolutely amazed. I was saying to someone in the
break, if you could actually see what was happening here from
God's perspective, you would be astounded. We would be like
Abraham, rejoicing greatly to see the angels of God encamped
around us, rejoicing with God to see the Lord Jesus Christ
walking in the midst and ministering to the hearts of his people in
ways that I don't even need to know about, but he's promised.
We live by faith, not by sight. Brothers and sisters, if you
continue in my word, if you continue in my word, he's come He's come
to reveal the truth of who God is. He's come to reveal the truth
of who we are. He's come to reveal the truth
of God's salvation. I love when these enemies had
finally had their day with him and they'd finally got him to
the place where he was about to be crucified. And he comes
to Pilate and Pilate challenges him, doesn't he? He says, are
you a king? Are you a king? And he says, for this purpose
came I into the world. He says, my kingdom is not of
this world. My kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, them of my servants fight, that
I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom
not from hence. Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born. This
is the terminus, isn't it? This is the final point. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. That was his purpose in coming,
brothers and sisters. But it doesn't finish there.
He delivers his people from darkness, but he delivers them delivers
them into the promised land. Everyone, listen to what he said
to Pilate, everyone that is of the truth, everyone that has
an origin from above, an origin in the truth of who he is, heareth
my voice. So he's a born as a king to reveal
the truth of God and the truth of God is seen in the Lord Jesus
Christ and him crucified. We're made free. The truth shall
make you free. Made free. made free, the Lord repeats himself
so that we'll get the message. In John 8.36 he says, if the
Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. You shall be free indeed. Now
I'll just go quickly through these verses, but that particular
phrase is only used in a few times, five other times in all
of the scriptures. In John 6.18 it says, Being then made free from sin,
you became servants of righteousness. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. This is freedom. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under law, but under grace. You're not under
law, but under grace. What then shall we sin? God forbid,
God forbid. And God be thanked that you were
servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine. It's still to do with his teaching,
isn't it? It's still to do with the truth of who he is. We're
free, we're made free from sin. In verse 22, now being made free
from sin to become servants of God. That's true freedom, isn't
it? To be a servant of God. You have your fruit unto holiness
and the end eternal life. He speaks of this freedom in
John chapter eight. Therefore there is now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. We've been made free for what
the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin. condemn sin in the flesh, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." I
love God's law and I fulfilled it in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm free from that law, free to serve him. Romans 8, 21, but
the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption in liberty of the children of God. God says, if
you continue, it's a similar word to stand fast. Galatians 5, 1, stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and do not become
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. God's children are
free. They're free born. They're free
to serve. They're free to worship. They
are freed by life. They are freed by light. They
are freed by truth. and they are free to enjoy the
union that they have with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll just
quickly go back through these things and I want us to see that
in union with Him, this is what we are. He says He's the light
of the world. We're in Him who is the light
of the world. He says they shall not walk in
darkness. He will stop us from walking
in darkness. We'll have the light of life. He knows where he came from and
so does every child of God know where they came from. We know
where we're going. Do you know where you're going? In Him we know where we're going. We're in him whose judgment is
true. We're not alone. He says we're
not alone. He says he's not alone. He says
to every one of his bride, you're not alone. You're not alone.
You're not meant to walk this path, the lonely path in this
world. You walk in fellowship with him.
To know him is to know his father. He says, I go my way, and he
leads all of his people in the way of truth and the way of righteousness. He says, I am from above, and
I'm not of this world. Every child of God can say, I'm
born from above. I'm not of this world. This world
and its attractions no longer appeal and hold me. He is the
same. He that sent me is with me. He
sent you into this world, brothers and sisters, and not left you
alone. And God's children can say, I
do always those things that please me. with us. Comfort ye, he says,
comfort ye my people. Tell them their war for is over.
Tell them they've received double from the Lord's hand. May we be made disciples indeed. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we do come with a sense of fear and
trembling, hearing the words of these men. and those words
typified throughout this world that had the light of the Lord
Jesus come, and yet they found him offensive, so offensive,
they wanted to remove him and his words from their presence.
We praise you, Heavenly Father, that you come into this dark
world, a dark and fallen world in which we live, and you come
to your people and you shine a light. And the light is the
light of the truth of your dear and precious Son, and you bring
us out into the glorious liberty of the children of God. O our
Father, we pray again and again that you would make us disciples
indeed. You would cause us to continue
in your Word. You would cause us to find your
Word delightful. who of course ask to love your
written word in light of who the living word is and that we
would be those who rejoice in that blood that cleanses, in
that body that was broken. Oh, our Father, You alone can
birth Your children from above. You alone, by Your grace, can
cause us to continue in Your Word. You alone can make us disciples
indeed. Make us to ask our Father. make us to continually pray but
also to rejoice in answered prayer for the glory of your dear and
precious son, we pray, amen. Thank you.