As the Lord preached the Gospel
here in John chapter 8, it says there in verse 30 that many did
believe on Him. And it says then in verse 31,
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye
continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. But
as soon as he said this, those who didn't believe, who had been
disputing with him while he spoke, they speak up. They took offense
to what he said. In verse 33, they answered him,
We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man.
How sayest ye shall be made free? And by this answer, they manifest
that they were in bondage so badly they didn't even have any
idea how badly they were in bondage. Verse 34, Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant
abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. And if the Son therefore make
you free, then you are free indeed. Our title will be our divisions
this morning, Bondage or Liberty. Bondage or Liberty. First thing
we'll look at is, what is bondage? What does God call bondage? Christ said here, verily, verily,
I say unto you, Whomsoever commiteth sin is the servant of sin. Lots of things probably come
to your mind when you think of committing sin. And lots of things
should come to our minds when we think of committing sin. But
when the Lord said the Holy Spirit would come, and that he would
judge this world, he said he would persuade his people in
this world of sin because they believe not on me. Now you just take everything
you thought about sin and you funnel it all right down to this
one person, Christ the Lord. They believe not on me. The Lord, turn back to John chapter
3 verse 19. This is the condemnation, that
light has come into the world And men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light." Who is the light? Christ is the
light. And everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light. and will not come to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved or discovered. When you come
to the light, when the light turns on, that's when the deeds
are manifest. But he that doeth truth, now
this is what it is to do truth, to do righteousness. He comes
to the light, comes to Christ, that his deeds may be made manifest. that they are wrought, they're
worked in God. Christ worked them. Christ performed
them. And they come to have their deeds
manifest that they're all wrought in God. Those who don't believe
on the Lord are servants to sin, slaves to sin. Slaves to the
fact that you cannot believe on the Son of God. You will not
believe on the Son of God. You hate the Son of God. Slaves
and cannot free yourself from that very sin. Everything else
you do is the direct result of hating the Son of God and not
believing on it. Everything. Bondage to sin is
being under the curse of the law, and it's being under the
power of the law of sin and death within us. It's being under the
curse of the law, and it's being under the power of the law of
sin and death within us. A sinner has no power. He's got
no power to free himself from the power of sin and death. We
are sin and death. That's what we are. And therefore
we have no power to free ourselves from those shackles. They're
iron shackles. They cannot, we can't be freed
from them by any power in us because there is none in us.
We're sin and we love sin and we don't want to be freed from
sin and we're dead. And a dead man can't do a thing.
That's what we are by nature. He's under the threats of the
curse constantly. You know why it is that a man
that doesn't believe God would rather be somewhere else than
here in the Word of God preached? You know why? You know what makes
a man uncomfortable when they hear the Word read or they see
somebody open up a Bible in a room that they walk into or anything? You know what makes a... that
turns a man? You know what does it? One thing. Enmity against God. enmity against
God. Just that little uncomfortable
feeling, just that little thing that makes you uncomfortable.
Let's see, I'm going to pick somebody here right now and call
on you, one of you children. I'm going to call on you and
I'm going to ask you something about God and I want you to give me
the answer. Let's see. That scared you to death, didn't
it? You're sitting there thinking, please don't call on me. Please
don't call on me. Why? Because by nature, you hate
God. By nature, you hate God and you
don't want to have anything to do with Him. You may consider
yourself moral. You may consider yourself obedient
to the law of God. Here's what Paul said. Tell me,
ye that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
Do you not hear what the law says? Do you hear the law? Does
anybody here hear the law? To all who are under the curse,
to all who are under the law, to all who are unregenerate,
without faith, without repentance, those who are outside of Christ
Jesus the Lord, this is what the law says. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things that are written in the book
of the law to do them. Cursed. Cursed. Not only to the
sinner who lives a profane life and who is immoral and ungodly,
but to the straightest, most straightest religionist there
is. However strict you may observe the law, however perfect your
outward obedience to the law may be, However moral and upright
you think you are, the law says to everyone who's under the law,
cursed, cursed, cursed. Bring forth any deed you want
to, cursed. Bring forth any benevolent thing
you've done for some poor old lady trying to cross the street,
cursed. Bring forth the best deeds you've
done in denying yourself and bringing forth Whatever good
you can for somebody, cursed. Cursed. What if you gave all
your goods to the poor? Just went out and sold everything
you got and gave it to the poor. Cursed. Cursed. James says, Whosoever shall keep
the whole law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Guilty of all. The law puts all
men on the same ground. Turn to Romans 3. Romans 3. The law puts all men on the same
ground. Romans 3.13. And you can put... Let's read this personally. Let's
say, mine. My. You can read this about yourself. My throat is an open sepulcher. My tongue has used deceit. Poison
of asp is under my lips. My mouth is full of cursing and
bitterness. My feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in my ways, and the way of peace
I have not known. There is no fear of God before
my eyes. Now, who's that speaking of?
Verse 19 says, We know that what thing soever the law saith, it
saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Look
down at verse 23. Outside of Christ, this is the
one common verdict of all men, all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Now that's bondage. That's bondage,
that's sin. And that's your shape, that's
your condition sitting here this morning who are without Christ.
If you die this afternoon, you'll go to hell justly and the whole
host of heaven in righteousness will rejoice in the fact. Now,
what's freedom? What's liberty? Liberty is spiritual
freedom. Every person that is made free
by Christ is freed from the law so that the law cannot and must
not pronounce one curse against you. Not one curse against you. The believer sins. Even that
believer that is born of the Spirit of God sins. Sin is mixed
with everything we do. But there is absolutely no curse. connected to our sin. None whatsoever. No threat of the law shall ever
be brought forth against anybody for whom Christ died. Not one
threat of the law. Why not? Turn to Galatians 3.13. Galatians 3.13. He that justifieth the wicked
and he that condemneth the just are both alike to God an abomination,
an abomination. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Yes, he shall. God is absolutely
just. Here's why no curse can be brought
up against anybody for whom Christ died. Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. Look at Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah
chapter 53. For all we And this is speaking particularly
to every one of those God chose and put in Christ. All we like
sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. The iniquity of us all. Hold
your place there. We'll come right back to there.
But I want you to look at 1 Peter chapter 2. Verse 24, "...who his own self," not somebody
else, his own self, "...bear our sins," not his own, ours,
"...our sins in his own body," not in another body, in his own
body. on the tree, that we being dead
to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed."
Look back at Isaiah 53 now. Isaiah 53, in perfect, absolute
harmony with God who is absolutely just, whose glory will be absolutely
diminished if He unjustly punishes anybody. but who in perfect harmony
with his holy judgment, with his glory, because the iniquity
of his children is on Christ, because he's bearing the sins
of his children in his own body on the tree, Isaiah 53, 5 says,
therefore, he was wounded for our transgressions. That's the punishment. That's
the punishment for it. He was bruised for our iniquities
and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes
we are healed. Peter said that we being dead
to sins, that we being dead to sins, that we being dead to sins,
how can I be dead to sins? How can God say I'm dead to sin? I see sin, that's all I see in
me. How can God say I'm dead to sin? Because what God says is so. That's why. That's why. You want to go home and look
up imputation? Go home and look up how God imputes. He doesn't impute what is not
absolutely so. What is not absolutely a fact.
in sin or righteousness. He does not account or reckon
that which is not absolutely so." That's right. He just doesn't. If we reckon,
if we account, the church account, we get through accounting for
what's in the treasury, what's been accounted is really there.
It's really there. And if it's not there, it's unaccounted
for. And that's the case in everything
in the way we account and the way we reckon. God, who's absolutely
able to do things that are beyond our comprehension, accounts and
reckons more absolutely than we ever thought about doing it.
And what He accounts and reckons and imputes is an actual fact. I'm dead to sins. I'm dead to
sins. I'm dead to the law. To God's
holy law, I'm dead to it. There's no sin to be charged
to me because as God reckons in imputation, there has to be
sin there for it to be imputed to you. That's why the man is blessed
to whom God will not impute sin. And the reason God won't impute
sin there is there's none to impute to him. How can that be? Because Christ
took them in His own body and went to the tree, and God in
absolute justice poured out wrath on him, and He paid it in full,
absolutely, and they're no more. When He came out of the grave,
He came out of the grave without them. And to them that look for
Him shall He return again without sin. They're gone. They're gone. You see, faith
looks at things as it is. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things that are not seen. When I look
with my carnal eyes, all I see about me is seen. When I look
by faith at what God says, even though I can't enter into it
with this little fickle mind of mine, I don't raise up the
bar of my mind and say, well, now this is where it's got to
come to if it's believable or unbelievable. I submit to God
and say, Lord, I'm thankful that as you say it is, that's exactly
how it is. And I trust you and believe you.
Now that's liberty. What does that do to a man? Well,
King David, in his flesh, looked out one day and he saw this woman
named Bathsheba. Before it was all over with,
he committed adultery with her. He had her husband murdered.
He was guilty of adultery and murder, this man was. He was
guilty of getting her husband drunk. And Nathan came to him and Nathan
said to him, there was a man who had a little sheep. That's
all he had. There was another man that had
cattle everywhere. And that rich man went and took
that man's one little sheep. And David, when he heard that,
he flew straight to Mount Sinai and he said, who is he? The man will die. The man, he
justly deserved to die. He justly deserved to die. And
Nathan said, David, you're the man. You're the man. And Nathan said, I have sinned
against God. And Nathan said, The Lord also
hath put away thy sin. The Lord also hath put away thy
sin. Thou shalt not die. Not ever. Not ever. And when that happened, turn
to Psalm 51. Will this liberty make a man want to run? And you can't tell a man he's
that free now. That's going to make a man want to do what he
wants to do. I'll tell you what it will do. By God's grace, it
certainly will. It certainly will. And David
did just what he wanted to do. Watch this. He fled as fast as
He could. When He was told it was Him,
He fled as fast as He could away from Mount Sinai and straight
to Mount Zion. And this is what He said, Have
mercy upon Me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out My transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions,
my sins ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest
be justified when Thou speakest and be clear when Thou judgest."
And God said, What sin? What sin? What sin? What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Doesn't make a believer a believer
that's truly been made free by Christ, that's truly been made
to see he's not his own, that he's bought with the precious
blood of Christ. He doesn't want to sin, he hates sin. And the
forgiveness of God draws him ever closer to his Lord. That's
why the Lord left us here in this shape we're in, in the sin
we're in, so as He makes us to know how sinful we are and see
what Christ bore for us and how much we are truly forgiven, He
just draws us nearer and nearer and nearer to Him. Forgiveness
does that. Law don't do that. Law won't
do that. It's not that there's not any
transgression in our flesh, but this is what the case is. 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. Christ came, and He did what I couldn't do through the
law. And He condemned death, and He condemned sin. being made sin and dying for
me. He paid everything that was owed
to justice. He did it. And God was just in
the way He brought it about. Wherefore, the Spirit bears witness
in the heart of every believer." And this is the promise he says.
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. That means we still have a lot
of it in ourselves. But he says, I'll be merciful
to their unrighteousness. That's what he did to David.
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Gone. Gone. By blood atonement, Christ has
redeemed us from the penalty of sin. By the application of
it by the Holy Spirit, our conscience is purged from the guilt of sin.
In regeneration, we're delivered from sin's dominion. So that
we hate sin now, we delight in the law of God after the inward
man. And when we die, we'll be freed from the body and being
of sin into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. This was
all performed by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. And all we were were slaves in
sin to whom this free liberty has been granted. That won't make a man stop serving
the Lord either. That's the only message that'll
make a man serve the Lord. It's the only word of grace that'll
make a man truly serve the Lord in heart, in truth, and in spirit. This is it. Lord, thou wilt ordain
peace for us, for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
That's Isaiah 26, 12, and the margin reads, you've wrought
all our works for us. Well, how do I obtain this freedom?
How do I get this freedom? Verse 30 of our text, John 8
says, As he spake these words, many believed on him. You see,
Christ is going to speak these words. Just like He did then,
He does now. He's going to speak these words.
Have you heard Him speak these words? You who sat there and
are scared to death that I'm going to call on you. You that
are scared to death that when you hear this curse, curse, curse,
whose conscience is still guilty, guilty, guilty. Have you heard
this voice? Have you heard this voice say
to you in the place of that word curse, curse, curse? Have you
heard Him whispered, you're justified? In the place of where you heard
bondage, bondage, bondage, have you heard Him whisper, you're
redeemed, you're mine? In the place of where you hear
torment, torment, torment, have you heard Him say, peace, peace
with God, peace in your heart, peace? Have you heard Him speak? Has He created life in you, springing
up in you where you find yourself as you hear these words, believe
in Him? Where you can finally step out
of yourself and look back at yourself and stand on the same
side with God and say, I am a curse. I am nothing but a curse that
thou might be just when you judge. I am a curse. But ask God, Lord, will you have
mercy on me? Has he made you honest? Made
you honest? How do I know if he's done that?
Do you believe him? Do you believe him? Is there
any delight in your soul when you hear what he's done? Are
you just cold and dead as a rock? cold and hard as an adamant stone. Well, if He's called you, if
you delight in Him, if you hear His voice, if you rejoice in
these things, if you know that this is not some just trivial
little light, well, I did my duty Sunday, I went to church.
If that's what you think, go somewhere else. You're free,
you're not bound here. This is about Christ the Lord
and what He's accomplished. This is about the glory of God
and what He's done. This is not about doing something
so that everybody in this community looks at us and says, boy, look
how they went from nothing to something. They built a big building. They built the church. They did.
That's not what this is about. It's about the glory of God if
He don't cause but one other person to hear it. They used
to ask, men would call Brother Henry and say, we don't have
many folks here. We need somebody to come preach
for us. How many people do you require to be there? And he said,
me and you. Me and you. Verse 31, if you've heard him,
follow him. Continue in him. Confess him.
Believe him. Trust him. Verse 31, 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. Look down at verse
36. If the Son, there's the truth,
if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. End of story. End of story. you shall abide in his house
forever." If you want to read about how that son doesn't abide
in the house forever, you go over to Galatians and you read,
let me see here, Galatians 4, around verse 30. Go over there
and read about that son of the bondmaid. He was a product of
the flesh and God said he can't stay in this house, he's got
to go. Stay in the house you're in, and God says, you're not
gonna abide forever, you gotta go. But if you be the son of
promise, born of Christ Jesus, he said he, that's what he's
saying. He's saying he is the son of promise. He's the Isaac
that was prophesied to come. And he said, if you abide in
me, you'll live forever. Amen.