Good evening. We're going to open with the
scripture and prayer and then we'll have a hymn for the message. Let's go to Psalm 9. Psalm 9. Verse 1 and 2 I will praise thee
O Lord with my whole heart I will show forth all thy marvelous
works I will be glad and rejoice in thee I will sing praise to
thy name O thou most high Let's go to the Lord of prayer Our
gracious Lord we thank you for for gathering your people here
tonight to hear the glorious good news of the Lord Jesus Christ
and what you've done for sinners. Lord, we thank you for your grace,
we thank you for your spirit in giving him to us, to give
us life, regeneration, spiritual life to know the things of our
God, to hear the voice of Christ and to believe him. Lord, we
thank You for this because we know that salvation is all of
Your grace. It's not by our doing. It's not
by our works. It's not by our decision. It's
by Your grace and power and glory which raises us from the dead
by the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has put away our
sins forever by His own precious blood. Lord, thank You. We pray
that You would blessed this time, this evening, that you would
be pleased to attend this hour of prayer and worship and praise
and hearing of your word, that you would comfort your people,
that you would knit our hearts together in love, and that you
would reveal to us that understanding, that knowledge which you give
to your saints concerning your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, you
know the difficulties that we have, you know our sins, you
know our struggles, you know our sicknesses and our weaknesses. Lord, we ask that you would cleanse
us of all our sins, that you would forgive us and receive
us in Christ, and that you would heal our bodies, that you would
heal our minds, that you would comfort us in Christ. And Lord,
those things that only you know. We pray that you would do all
things according to your grace and power and will, and that,
Lord, we would see your glory. We pray that you would bless
this work here, that you would call out your lost sheep into
the light to hear this glorious gospel and to believe. It's in
Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's sing 101. 101. Electing
Love Adored. O glory to the great I Am, Who
chose me in the blessed Lamb. O millions of this fallen race,
She'll never know or taste His grace. Praise, honor, power,
and glory be to Christ the Lamb of Calvary. who gave his life's atoning blood
and reconciled me to my God. Praise to the Spirit must be
given, who frees from sin and leads to Heaven. Chosen, redeemed, and called
by grace, to God alone I give my praise. Thank you. Alright brethren, I want to return
to John chapter 18. John 18, I didn't think I'd have
another message, but I saw a text that blessed my heart. And we're going to pick up in
verse 36 and read our text down to verse 38. Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence." It's not from here. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? or Thou art a king then? Jesus
answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born,
and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear
witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth
heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is
truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in
him no fault at all." Now from this text, what the Lord shows
us is that the truth, the truth of which the Lord Jesus Christ
speaks of here, that truth must be revealed. It must be revealed
to you. There's one truth. Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. And that truth must
be revealed to you for you to receive it, for you to hear this
truth and to believe it. And when that truth is revealed,
the truth reveals to us the kingdom of God. And the truth reveals
that Christ is the king of his kingdom. And the truth reveals
the purpose of Christ's coming. And the truth reveals them that
are born of God. That's what the truth reveals. And faith, that work of the Holy
Spirit, that fruit of righteousness, embraces that truth. Faith embraces the truth. Now
let's look at verse 38. That's where we'll begin. Pilate saith unto him, What is
truth? And Pilate asks this question
because Pilate does not know the truth. He doesn't know the
truth. And that's because truth must
be revealed. must be revealed. By nature,
man does not know the truth. He does not know the truth of
God. It's not because he's not intelligent. It's not because
he doesn't put forth enough effort. It's not because he's not religious
enough. It's because he doesn't know
the truth. He has no spiritual life in him. Man, by nature, is depraved in
sin. He is dead in trespasses and
sins, and so he has no ability to know God. He has no ability
to please God. He doesn't know how to worship
God. He doesn't know how to approach
the true and living God because he has no life in him. When he worships God, he's worshiping
the God of his own imagination. He's worshiping an idle God,
a false God of his puny, small mind. It's a little g-God, and
God, the God of man, is a little God. controlled by the flesh
of him who created it. The little man who created him,
he worships and praises and creates a little God. And he has no understanding
that the God he worships is a false God that cannot save him. Let's turn over to Romans chapter
one. Romans chapter one. And we'll begin in verse 18,
just stay here, we'll look at a few verses here. Romans 1.18,
for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them."
Man knows that there is a God. Men know that there is a God. And they pretend there is no
God, they try to argue that there's no God, but they know that there
is a true and living God. That's why there's so much religion.
That's why there is so much religion in the world. Cain, though he
hated the true God, was a religious man, and he worshipped the false
god. He worshipped the god of his
own imagination. But, they hold the knowledge
of this truth in unrighteousness. They hold it without any spiritual
knowledge. The knowledge they have, what
they bring, And creating this God is a fleshly knowledge, a
carnal knowledge. It's of their own making. And so holding this truth in
unrighteousness, they worship a false God. And their worship
of God is false. And it's not pleasing to the
true and living God because it's a fleshly carnal knowledge. faith,
if you could even call it that, because it's a product of the
flesh and it's not the true spiritual fruit of righteousness, that
faith. And Paul tells us in another
place that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. The flesh has
a faith, the flesh has hope, but it's not the faith and the
hope and the love born of the Spirit of God in His children. in his people. Now the testimony
of the scriptures about man continues down in verse 25, well where
we're going to pick up is verse 25, where it says, who changed
the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature
more than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. And so man is so spiritually
defiled and corrupt that he doesn't know God in spirit and in truth. He does not know or worship God
in spirit or in truth. And what did our Lord say? He
said, God is a spirit. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. That's how we worship God. That's
how the saints of God worship Him in spirit. and in truth,
and without that Spirit of God giving us life in the new man,
that new creation of the Lord Jesus Christ, all our worship
of God is vain, and it is carnal, and it does not please the true
and living God. It's not a faith, and therefore
it's sin. It's sin. Therefore, when we look at Pilate,
that's why he asks dismissively, that's why he says, well, what
is truth? What is truth? This man knows corruption. This
man knows bribery. This man knows power. He knows
influence. But he has no spiritual knowledge
of the truth. He knows a lot of things in the
world. He knows how to get things done in the world as a governor,
a Roman governor over Jerusalem, but he doesn't know the truth. The truth that God is making
known to us is that he's the one that must reveal this truth
to the sinner. God himself is the one who reveals
the truth. to the sinner of his own choosing,
that one whom he loved before the foundation of the world and
gave to Christ to save. Those whom God loves, he gave
to Christ to redeem them and to save them, that God should
have mercy on them graciously. Graciously. And so, our God must
reveal this to the sinner for him to have mercy upon us. And
God makes His truth known in the hearts and the minds of His
people. You that know Him, it's because
God has revealed this to you and given you His Spirit. and
applied the blood of Christ to you, and given you life by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he does this, he reveals
this truth to us in the preaching of the gospel. Look up at Romans
1 verse 16 and 17. This is why Paul said, I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation. It's the dynamo, the dynamite
that explodes and gives life where there was death. It's the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein, in that blessed
gospel of Christ, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. So this truth of God is what's
clearly lacking in Pilate. Pilate does not know this truth,
and that's why he just says dismissively, what is truth, and goes out.
And even though he finds Christ innocent, he's going to crucify
him. He's going to turn him over to
be crucified. He was an educated man in legal
and civil matters, but he did not know the truth. The truth
of God is also clearly lacking in the Jews, because they rejected
their king. They knew the scriptures. They
studied the scriptures. They had the scriptures and searched
them, believing that the scriptures gave them life and told them
the way of life. but they didn't see Christ in
the scriptures. They didn't see him who gives
life to his people. And so they rejected him and
they called for Christ's crucifixion, even though they were very religious.
So we see learned men, we see religious men, we see people
of all sorts and types who have not the truth and don't know
the truth according to nature's light. The truth of God must
be revealed. Why can't the flesh know the
truth of God? Why can't the flesh know it?
Because it must be revealed. Nothing we do will give us that
knowledge of God. Nothing we do will convince us
that Christ is sufficient to save me, a sinner, to the uttermost. It's got to be revealed. It must
be given. It's a gift given by God to the
sinner of his own choosing. It's a spiritual work. It's a
spiritual work, and none of us comes forth spiritually alive. It's a spiritual work of God
for the sinner. In John 3, verse 6 and 7, our
Lord said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Your mommy and daddy produced
a baby of flesh. You are born of flesh. But that
which is born of the spirit is spirit. That which God gives
life to, that which he brings forth is spiritual. It's a spiritual work. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. And so Christ is telling us we
must be born spiritually. We need that spiritual birth
by the Spirit of God given to us. We need that new birth, a
spiritual birth born of our God. And only then is the truth known
by the sinner. Now when that truth is revealed,
The truth makes known to us the kingdom of God. Then we'll know
and see the kingdom of God. No man can see the kingdom of
God except he's born again. And so the kingdom of God is
a spiritual kingdom and is only known and understood, only received
and entered into by them who are born again, regenerated by
the Spirit. Look back in our text in John
18 verse 36. Jesus answered, My kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. If the kingdom of God were of
this world, This is the world that this kingdom is made up
of, the things that we see and touch and feel and understand
in the flesh. If it was of this world, then
the flesh would receive it. The flesh would understand it.
The flesh would have no problem in receiving the things of God. But the flesh doesn't understand
it. Because we're carnal. We're carnal. It doesn't understand
or receive spiritual things. The Jews were of the flesh, Pilate
was of the flesh, and they could not hear what Christ was saying. We can read how they rejected
him, how they turned him over to be crucified. because they
did not hear him. They did not receive his word
or understand the things that he was saying. They only had
carnal ears and reasoned carnally, doing that which benefited themselves. They did that which they were
only looking out for themselves and their own interests. Let's
turn over to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 7 through
8. Here Paul says, verse 7, but
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom
which God ordained before the world unto our glory. which none of the princes of
this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory." So we that believe the
Lord Jesus Christ, you that believe Him, it's because God has given
you His Spirit. And that's how we believe Christ. That's the only reason. It's
because God is gracious to us. He's given us His Spirit. He's
given us life by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He does for
all who come to Him, all who cry out to Him for mercy. It's
because God has given them His Spirit. It's because God has
made known to them that He is God, that He is holy, and we
are not. And we need Him. We need His
grace and mercy. If God had not given us His Spirit,
you would not believe. You would not believe Him. All
your religion would be in an outward form, a dead letter religion. And God only knows the heart.
He knows our heart. And He knows that which is His.
And that which is His believes Christ and has no other hope
It's no game or sham. He's all that we need. And He
is sufficient to save us to the uttermost. And so, if we didn't
have the Spirit of God, we'd be like these wise and brilliant
men, these powerful, influential men of learning and high esteem
in the eyes of men, but are nothing in the sight of God. And they
rejected and crucified Him. Now look down at 1 Corinthians
2, verse 12 through 14. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. You know, had Christ praised
the Pharisees for their works under the law, had he come there
and said, you guys are putting forth a great effort and doing
a good job, and had he condemned the weak and the poor and the
lowly and despised them that are sinners and those who could
do nothing for their church, then they would have received
him. If he had eaten with them and rejected all the others and
praised them, they would have received him as one of their
own, but he wouldn't have been the Christ. He wouldn't have
been the Christ of God sent to save sinners, because that's
who Christ came for. Christ didn't come for the self-righteous. Christ didn't come for those
who can save themselves. Christ didn't come for those
who think that they are pleasing God by their works. Christ came
for the sinner. Christ came for you that have
no righteousness of your own. Christ came to you who don't
know the things of God. He came for you that are blind,
poor, wretched, weak. naked and have nothing to give
to God, that's who Christ came to save. That's who the Father
sent to save His people from their sins, the Lord Jesus Christ. When our Savior came, He declared
the truth that we all are sinners. We're sinners. There's nothing
that you or I can boast of in this flesh. When Christ saves
us, all our boast is Christ Jesus. He's all our salvation, all our
hope. He declared there's none righteous. And He declared that we must
be saved by Him. He must lay down His life as
the Lamb of God, as the substitute in the place of His people, bearing
their death, bearing their sin, bearing their curse to put it
away for them to redeem us, to purchase us with His own precious
blood. And he died and washed our sins
with his blood for the cleansing of our sins. And he did this
to save us, to save us to the uttermost. And verse 14 there
says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. What I just said is absolute
foolishness unto the natural carnal man. It's not needed. It's unnecessary. Man has it
in his own hands. He can do what he needs to do.
If he needs help, then he'll come and he'll listen and he'll
take this. That's how he sees it. Otherwise,
he's doing okay. He's doing alright. And that's
how the natural man sees it. This is foolishness. Coming here
to hear the word is foolishness. It's unnecessary, unprofitable.
They don't need it. They despise it as a light, foolish
thing. But he can't know them. because
they are spiritually discerned. And so the kingdom of God is
a spiritual kingdom, and that must be revealed to us. That's the truth that must be
revealed to us, showing us our need of our Savior. It's not
known and cannot be known or understood by the flesh. It's
not known or received by religious works and service. It's not gained
by much learning. It's given by God in grace to
the sinner, made known to them by the Spirit through the preaching
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's revealed in them that
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. You hear what the
church hears. You believe what saints believe.
You've been given what the blessed children of God have inherited. And you that have received it,
and believed it, and hear it, and rejoice in it, it's because
you are the children of God. Otherwise, you're not. You're
not. The truth also reveals that Christ
is the King of His Kingdom. He's the King of His Kingdom.
Verse 37, Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then,
or then you're a king? Huh? Is that what it is, you're
a king? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. You see, Pilate could reason. He was a logical man. He understood
logic and reason, and so he said, Well, if you have a kingdom,
then you must be a king. But that's all that it was. It
was pure, carnal logic and reason. And for many in the world, it
just makes sense. That's all. It's just something
that they've confessed to and signed on because that's how
they were raised. That's what they learned from
their parents or families or heard at some point in their
lives. It's mere logic. It's mere reason. But it's not life. It's not life. It's just excess. It's something
that they could take or leave, but they don't need it. It's
because they have no spiritual life in them. He's just an acknowledgment,
some part of their history, a profession without possession. They can
say the right things, they know the right things to say, but
they don't possess the Spirit of God in them. But when the
truth is revealed to the sinner, We bow before Christ, our King,
and we confess, Lord, you're all. Lord, you know. You know all things, Lord, and
you know my weakness. You know my need. Lord, keep
me. Keep my wandering heart. Secure
it, seal it for thine own glory, to praise you, to know you, and
worship you in spirit and in truth, to love you, Lord, as
I ought to love you. Lord, save me. Have mercy on
me. Now they love Christ their king
because when God reveals the truth to his child, he reveals
the mystery of Christ to them. He makes known what Christ came
to accomplish. He makes known what Christ has
accomplished for his people when he said, it is finished. All the works were done. Everything
necessary for your salvation was completed. And there's nothing
more for you to do. That which is needful, your God
works out. He's predestinated all things
to bring you through those things to give you faith and hope and
an expected end in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so our Lord says
in verse 37, A little bit into it, he said, to this end was
I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should
bear witness unto the truth. And so our Lord came for this
very purpose, to do for us what we could not do for ourselves,
to reconcile us to God by His own blood, to restore that which
was lost by giving us life in Himself. Christ came to establish
the covenant of God's grace that God may be gracious to all his
people through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
the scriptures teach us in Galatians, we'll look at a few scriptures
here, that there's not a law that God gave by which a man
can save himself. Had there been a law, God would
have given it. Paul tells us in Galatians 3.21,
if there had been a law given, which could have given life,
verily, righteousness should have been by the law. But there
is no law given. It's because we need Christ.
You need Christ. Without Christ, you cannot be
saved. Galatians 2.16, therefore, says,
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ, his faithful work as the Lamb
of God, by that faith, his faith, even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. So Christ must be revealed to
us. The Holy Spirit must make Him
known to us, giving us life by the seed of Christ, to hear His
voice, to receive the things of Christ, and to believe them.
to believe Him for all our hope and salvation, that which is
preached and declared to us in the preaching of the gospel.
God manifests faith in His child, and that faith looks to Christ. We look away from self and what
we've done or not done, and we look to Christ and believe Him. The Scriptures hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. Now finally, we understand that
the truth always reveals them that are born of God. The truth of God always manifests,
always reveals you that are born of God. God will make it known. It's not a fleshly work of man. Faith is not of this flesh. True saving faith, faith which
believes Christ and has no confidence in the flesh, that faith is born
of God. It's given of God and not of
this flesh. We don't choose whether we want
to be saved or not. All men want to be saved. All
men want to have some salvation, whatever they think that it is.
It's not a decision, it's God's choice. It's God's work of salvation. And God reveals His choice by
giving faith, manifesting faith in the heart of His child. Faith that believes the Lord
Jesus Christ, that He is the Savior, and that He put away
the sin of His people. and we come to Him crying out
for His grace and mercy, just like all the other saints of
God have done. No saints of God have come trusting
in their own works. All saints of God walk in faith,
because we don't see in ourselves what we think should be there,
but we see Jesus, the precious Son of God. who gave Himself
to obtain eternal redemption for His people, we've heard that
word, that all who come to Him find Him a gentle, merciful,
gracious Savior. And He helps in time of need. And He gives that faith to His
children. And that's what our Lord says
here, at the end of verse 37, John 18, 37, everyone, that is of the truth, heareth
my voice." If you are God's child, He will manifest faith in you.
You will hear that word and you will believe the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe Him. It is His
word to every one of His children. It's His command. that comes
with power to the heart of His people. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved." Now God shows us that we either
hear and believe or we don't. And the unbelief is what we see
in Pilate here in verse 38 when he says, what is truth? And when
he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith
unto them, I find in him no fault at all. Pilate could find no
fault in Christ, but he found no life in him either, and that's
why he turned him over to be crucified. Pilate had no spiritual
life in himself, and that's all that men will do. unless the
Holy Spirit regenerates them and gives them that life which
He gives to every child of God. Do you hear the voice of Christ? Are you a sinner? Do you need
the blood of Christ? That's who Christ came to save. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice, Christ said. Now look with me at John 10.
John 10, verse 26. We see here how God manifests
this truth in them that are his. It always reveals them that are
his. John 10.26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my
sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear My voice, and I
know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." What
our Lord is saying is that all who come to Him asking him for
grace and mercy, asking him to cleanse them of their sins and
to give them life, he receives them all because he's the one
who gave them that need. He's the one that gives his children
that hunger and thirst for righteousness that can only be satisfied by
Christ himself. Now God reveals this hope in
them that are his, and they hear and follow Christ. Let's go to
one last scripture, John chapter one. John one, verse 12 and 13. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God. He's saying,
those that receive Christ, it's because God gave them power to
become the sons of God, the children of God. Even to them that believe
on his name, which were born. not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They were
born of God because the truth always reveals them that are
born of God. It is the truth revealed. I pray the Lord reveal that blessed
truth in you, His children, His people. Well, He will. He will.
I pray He do that for us Here always as often as needed that
he show us Christ Christ Christ. He is all amen Let's close in prayer our gracious
Lord we thank you for your grace and mercy Lord, we thank you
for your word that teaches us the truth. We thank you for your
Holy Spirit, which is given to give us that understanding, that
knowledge of these blessed things, Lord. For without your Spirit,
we would be as Pilate and as the Jews, having no life, having
no hope, having no salvation in our Savior. For Lord, we pray
that you would fill our hearts with your spirit, that you would
give us light and life by the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, turn
us from the things of this world, turn us from the deadness and
the coldness of this flesh, and turn us to the living God. We
pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Our closing hymn will be on Jordan
Stormy Banks. It's a little handout I gave
you. On Jordan's stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye To Canaan's fair and happy land Where my
possessions lie. I am bound for the promised land. I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, Christ will ever be with
me. I am bound for the promised land. For all those wide extended plains
shines one eternal day. There God the Sun forever reigns
and scatters night away. I am bound for the promised land. I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, Christ will ever be with
me. I am bound for the promised land. No chilling winds or poisonous
breath can reach that healthful shore. Sickness and sorrow, pain
and death are felt and feared no more. I am bound for the promised
land, I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, Christ will ever be
with me, I am bound for the promised land. Then I shall reach that
happy place, I'll be forever blessed. For I shall see my Father's
face, and in His bosom rest. I am bound for the promised land. I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, Christ will ever be with
me. I am bound for the promised land. Thank you.