If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to John, chapter 8. John, chapter 8, and this morning
we'll be looking at verses 30 through verse 32. I've entitled this, The Test
of True Faith. The Test of True Faith. The Scripture says, And as he
spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those
Jews that believed on him, 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. Now, as you speak these
words, I want us to, first of all, before we get into this
text, get a context of these verses. I want to get a context
of this blessed chapter. Our Lord, at the beginning of
this chapter, goes to the temple, and He is set down to teach the
people. And as He is teaching these people,
the Pharisees, in order to trip Him, in order to find fault in Christ, they bring
this woman who is caught in the very act of adultery. And they
cast this woman down in front of Him in order to find fault. They did it because He had previously
claimed to be the Messiah. He claimed to be the Christ.
He said earlier, He that believeth Me, as the Scripture has said,
out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water. He was again
claiming to be the Christ. because only the Christ was mentioned
in Scripture, as the Scripture has said. And this only fueled their hatred
for him, so they take this woman, caught in the very act of adultery,
while he was teaching, and they cast this woman down. And what
do they do? They recite the law. They said,
the law says, the law Moses has said, that this woman should
be stoned to death. But you see, Christ had previously
claimed before to be the Messiah, the Savior of sinners. He was
dubbed this, the Friend of sinners. I'll tell you this, they thought
they had Him. They thought they had Him. He said that those who
believed on Him, they shall have rivers of living water. They
should have rivers of living water that they should be cleansed
of their sin. If you believe on me, you would
be cleansed of your sin. And they find a sinner. They
cast this sinner down, and they say, Moses said she should be
stoned to death. Now, what do you say, you that
cleanse sinners? What do you say? They sought
to find fault with him. He said, what do you say about
this woman? This is what the law said. This
woman, according to the flesh, must die. What do you say? Here's
the greatest question that man's wisdom cannot answer. No man
can answer this question according to earthly wisdom. How can God
be just and justify The ungodly. They had the law. The law was
just. The law was holy. The law was
right. She deserved to die. And yet
Christ came to show mercy. How can he be just and show this
woman mercy? They couldn't answer that question,
and they thought he couldn't answer that question. You remember what he did? He
stooped down to write with his finger in the sand, and when
he rose up, He said this, He that is without sin among you,
let him cast the first stone. You who are guiltless, you who
are without blame before the law of Moses, you cast the first
stone at her. And in verse 9, you read this,
it said, They which heard it were convicted. Listen. not by the Spirit of God. They
weren't convicted by the Spirit. They were convicted by their
own conscience and went out one by one, beginning at the eldest.
Why, they had the most sin, didn't they? They had more sin. They'd
live longer. And then they left this woman
alone, standing in the midst of Christ. This proves that the law of God
is written in the heart of man, doesn't it? That proves it. Every
man feels guilt. Every man feels guilt of sin.
Every man is convicted of his own conscience. Now, he may sear
that conscience over time, but he himself knows he's guilty. This proves that the law is written
on the conscience, that we all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God, short of perfection, You know what it says in the
law? It says this, even when you bring a sacrifice, it says
that if you bring a freewill offering of a sheep, it shall
be perfect to be accepted. You can't even bring an offering,
except it be perfect. It will not be accepted unless
you are perfect. That's what the law says. Unless
you're without sin. But we all have sin. We all have
sinned. We all are guilty. Now listen,
I want you to understand, this woman is me. This woman is me. I'm guilty. By nature, we are guilty. We
are guilty. We all have sinned. We are guilty
as this woman, as taken in the very act, guilty before God,
So then the question is to us, how can God be just and justify
this ungodly sinner? How can he pardon? Well, notice
what he does next. When they go away, Jesus stoops
down again. He stoops down a second time.
And when he comes up, he looks around and he says, where are
thine accusers? Is there any man that accuses
you? And she said, No man, Lord. And
he said, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. He stooped down a second time.
You know, this reminds me of this. When was the first time
God stooped down to write something with his finger? It was on Sinai,
wasn't it? He stooped down and he wrote
the law. Get this, the same one who wrote
the law also stooped down a second time when he came in mercy. He came in mercy the second time
in order to save, in order to fulfill what he had wrote the
first time. And he said, Where are thou an
accuser? There's no man to accuse her. Why? Because Christ stooped
down. Christ stooped down and became
a man so as he should bear the iniquity of his people, that
he himself should satisfy the law of God. How could he pardon? How could he save this woman
except he himself bear her iniquity? Jesus, I like this, he did not
simply ignore her sins. He did not sweep her sin under
the rug. He didn't set her free from condemnation
without first satisfying the law of God. That's what he came
to do. Go to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
13. This is what the apostle said. He said, you being dead.
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh," what did he do? "...hath quickened us together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Now, how did
he do that? Verse 14, he did it by blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. which was
contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross,
and spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them
openly, triumphing over them in it." Only a true believer
then can identify with this woman, dead in sins, fulfilling the
lust of our flesh. But one day, what? The law of
God arrested us. You see, they didn't know what
they were doing. They were being a type of the law. They arrested her. justly, rightly arrested her,
condemned her. That's what the law does. The
law arrests the sinner, condemns him, and sets him down before
the judge of all men. They didn't know they were doing
that, but they did it. That's exactly what happens to God's people,
to true believers. We are cast down and made to
see our guilt, our shame. We are stripped and exposed.
Worthy of death. But what did we find? What did
she find? Do you not think she was ready
to die? She was worthy of death. And
she knew it. When we come to Christ, we recognize
we're worthy of death. But what did she find? Did she
find death? She found mercy. She found grace. Instead of death, she was set
down next to the only man who could save her, the only one
who was sent of God. And he, by his blood, by being
made sin, that sin she committed, he was made sin for her. And God's justice flooded his
soul. God's wrath burned his bones. He was punished so as to satisfy
the law and justice of God in her state. By his blood, he blotted
out the transgression, blotted it out. You realize God himself
can't see our sin? God who sees all things cannot
see your sin. Why? It's blotted out. God cannot
demand twice payment for sin and be just. He was just to punish
Christ for our sins. And after He had punished Christ,
there is no more sin to punish. This is why Christ could say
to her, neither do I condemn thee. Why? The law can't condemn
thee. The law could not condemn her, and Christ could not condemn
her because He had satisfied it. He took that law out of the
way, nailing it to His cross. He spoiled the principalities
and powers. He made a show of them, triumphing
over them. We serve a victorious Savior,
friends, we do. A risen, victorious Savior. He says, I do not condemn thee,
Why? I was condemned for thee. And listen what he said to her.
He said, Go and sin no more. What to God? I can sin no more. What constrains me from sin? Is it the law? or love. It is the love of Christ that
can strengthen us. I'm sure she sinned. I'm sure
she sinned. But I know this, she had an advocate.
One to always plead her cause. And so do we. So do we. Then he shouts this in verse
12. Look what he says after this. He makes another declaration
after again, proving he's the Christ. Proving that he alone
can be just and justify the ungodly. What does he do? He doubles down
and he says this, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Having saved this woman, he now
tells people boldly, I am the light of the world. What is he
saying? I am the Christ. That's what he's saying. He said,
I'm the Christ. I'm the light of the world. Everyone that heard
him understood exactly what he was saying, because the Christ
in the Old Testament is pictured as the light of the world. I'm
just going to read just to give you a couple of them. Psalm 84,
it says, He is the Lord God is my son and my shield. What is
he claiming? I'm the Lord God, your son and
your shield. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 2,
They that walk in darkness saw what? A great light. A great
light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. And what
did he say? I am the light of the world. I am Christ. I am God, manifest in the flesh. In Isaiah 42, he says, I, the
Lord, have called thee in righteousness and will hold thy hand and will
give thee for a covenant of the people for a light unto the Gentiles. I am the light of the world.
And he that followeth me, he that believeth in me shall not
walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Malachi, he's
what? He is the Son of Righteousness.
S-U-N, the Son of Righteousness, rising with healing in his wing. Is there any mistake of what
he's claiming here? He's claiming that I'm the Christ.
I'm the one. I am the light of the world. When God comes to the sinner,
what does he do? He shines light. Christ is the
light. and He shines in our hearts.
What does He do when He shines in our hearts? He exposes. Isn't
that what light does? Exposes. You know, you walk into
a pitch-black room, you don't have any clue what's in there
until the light is on. And when the light is on, you
see all that is in the room. You had no idea how vile you
were until the light of the world came into your heart, exposed
your sin, and then what? Also, you saw He's the remedy.
He's exposed our sin, but He Himself is the remedy. He is
the Son of Righteousness with what? Healing in His wings. This light heals. This light
heals. Paul said, For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, what? Shined in our hearts to
reveal the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where? In
the face of Jesus Christ. When that light shined in our
hearts, we know this. We believed on Him. We believed
on Him. Listen, if the light never shines
in your heart, you will never believe on Him. That's just so. Man will continue
in his sin until God commands the light. God said in the beginning,
He said what? Let there be light. He didn't ask the light's permission,
did he? He said, would you please shine?
No, he said, the man didn't shine. And it had no other will but
to shine. That's what happens to a sinner
when he's saved by grace, is the light comes on. And you see
him, you see Christ. You see he's all. You see, He's
all and everything. Now, going on, in the next few
verses here, verses 13 through 29, we're not going to go through
this, they refute Him again. They just keep on. It just goes
on and on. This is natural man refuting
Him, even though they can't deny what happened. They can't deny
what they've seen and heard, yet they still refuse Him. But
here's hope. Not everyone refutes. Not everyone went away unbelieving. Look at verse 30. Look at our
text now. And as he spake these words, what? Many believed on
him. That sounds good, doesn't it?
Wouldn't you like to say that today, many believed on him?
I would. I'd like to see many believe
on him. The Lord Jesus testified of his
person, that he is the Son of God, of his work, of his triumph,
of his victory, And anyone who believes on Him would be saved. Do you believe on Him? That's
the question, not do others believe. That's not going to do you any
good, is it? So what if many believe and you
don't? Do you believe? Do you believe on Jesus Christ? Do you believe He was the Son
of the Father? That's what He said, I'm the Son of the Father.
Father testifies of me. I was sent to do His work. Do
you believe He came to die in the stead of sinners, that He
rose again on the third day, is now ascended into the heavens,
sitting on the throne of God, ruling over all things? Listen,
so did many of these people. They believed His Word. They
believed He was the Christ. These people, they profess to
believe that Jesus is the Christ. But listen, profession, what
is that? What is that? You go to the end
of this chapter, you're gonna find out that these many that
believed did not believe at all. That's what you'll find. When
he started talking about being set free, they had no idea what
he meant. They said, we're Abraham's children, we don't need to be
set free. You don't need to be set free, believe in him. You don't believe in him, why?
you'll know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. You
see, believers need to be set free. We need to be set free
from sin, from the wrath of God, from the law of God. We need
to be set free. And we know the truth, that He is the truth,
and He's the only one that set us free. They profess to believe
Him, but Christ didn't leave them alone. And listen, if you
profess to believe Him, if you truly believe Him, or you don't,
He's not going to leave you alone on this Look what he said. He
said this, if, verse 31, Jesus said to those which believe.
Now, he's not even talking to those who don't. He's talking
to those who profess to believe. Listen to what he said. If you
continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And I want you to see this, the
necessity of faith. Faith is necessary. Scripture
says this, It is impossible to please God. Now, a lot of people
have faith in their faith. Now, if you have faith in your
faith, that's not the faith that pleases God. The only faith that
pleases God is faith in Jesus Christ alone. That is the only
faith that pleases God. And listen, that's the only faith
God gives. You must believe. What? You must believe on Christ. And
you must believe on Christ alone. All who believe, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And listen, there's a good news
in that. Everyone who believes on Christ alone is saved. Whosoever
believeth and is baptized shall be what? Saved. Saved. But he that believeth
not shall be damned. This is the gospel. Go to John
chapter 3. John chapter 3, our Lord talking
to Nicodemus. Our Lord talking to Nicodemus
here. He tells him, you must be born again. You must be born
from above. And he says in verse 13, he said,
No man hath ascended up to heaven. But he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of man which is in heaven. Now listen, this is
the gospel right here. No man ever ascended to heaven
by his own merits. No man ever was able to ascend
to God on his own accord, on his own works, except him that
came down from heaven. He was the only one able to merit
heaven. He was it. Except him that came
down from heaven, Jesus Christ. He obtained righteousness so
as to be acceptable to God. But how? How did he obtain this
acceptance? Listen to that next verse. The
next verse says this. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
You see, he obtained acceptance by this. by being lifted up on
Calvary's tree. He was lifted up like that serpent. You remember those Israelites
were bitten by that serpent, a picture of sin. And you know,
God says, make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole and lift
it up high, and whosoever looks lives. Jesus Christ is pictured in that
serpent in that He was made sin for us. He was made the very
image of the thing that caused the sin, that caused death, sin. For what purpose did He obtain
this righteousness by His death? Listen, that whosoever believeth
on Him should not perish, should not perish under the wrath of
God, but have everlasting life. And what is the root cause of
this? for God so loved the world." You see, the love of God is the
root cause of Christ being made sin, lifted up, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish. The love of God is the root cause,
the grace of God, the sovereign love of God for sinners. How
great is his love that he would send his son? Would you send yours? He sent his son, that whosoever
believeth." That's pretty broad, isn't it? God knows who the elect
are, I don't. So I just say, whosoever. Whosoever. I believe Christ died for whosoever
will. I don't believe he died for whosoever won't. I believe
he died for whosoever will. You believe on the Son of God.
Faith is necessary. You must believe on the Son of
God. But how easy is that to say? I read this a long time ago.
There were, what, 300-something million people in this country,
and over 150 million of them claimed to be Christians. You
believe that? You look at this society, you
tell me there's 150 million real Christians out there. Hmm. No, they profess it, though.
It's easy to say. But Christ don't ever leave you
there, does he? He said, if it's real. You pay attention. If it's real, there will be marks. True faith always has evidences
of its reality. This morning, you're alive. Kevin,
you're alive. I think so. You're animated. I see you smile. There's marks. I can tell. If you were laying
on the floor without breath, I would have no hope you're alive.
But a believer has marks. There are true evidences of our
faith being real. True marks. Now, I'll tell you
this, a believer has marks. Evidences of true faith. Now, we trust in none of these.
I don't trust in any of these marks. I don't even trust in
my faith. The object of my faith is who
we trust. It's Christ. Yet, nonetheless,
a believer will have evidences. Evidences. Now, a lot of people
think these evidences are just their experiences. They think,
well, I had an experience. Who cares? Who cares if you had
an experience? If it doesn't check with this
book, who cares? True faith has marks, and a lot
of people are trusting in their experiences. Well, here's my
proof. I went down a church aisle. You
know, here's my proof. I'm a moral person. I'm a good
person. Here's my proof. I go out and
feed the homeless. I go out and shelter those who
don't have to give food to those who don't have anything to eat.
Obviously, I have true faith. No, that's not a mark, is it?
What is the mark of true faith in Christ? Here it is. Repentance. Have you repented of your self-righteousness? Have you repented of the thought
and notion that you have anything at all to offer God? Repentance is necessary for faith.
True faith must have repentance. You can't have one without the
other. You must repent. Jesus said, except you repent,
you shall likewise perish. Repentance is necessary in order
for one to believe. One who is born again of the
Holy Spirit who sees who he is by nature, that he is a sinner
from the top of his head to the sole of his foot. What does he
do? What's the first action? He turns from himself. He turns
from his religion. He turns from his idols. And
he, by faith, turns to Christ. Repentance and faith are the
same coin. Two sides of the same coin. You've
got to repent in order to believe. And if you ever believe, you
will repent. You will turn from self. Let
the wicked, what? Forsake his way, repentance,
the unrighteous man, his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord. And what happens when it happens?
He will abundantly pardon. You see, repentance is necessary
for faith. Have you repented? Or are you
just trusting experience? You must repent. Secondly, a true believer, when
he repents, he turns to Christ wholly. He rests on Christ completely. True faith abandons all and believes
on Christ completely. What do we believe about Christ?
I believe this, that He is all my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Don't believe that Christ is
all your wisdom, that you've got some wisdom in this, that
you had, you know what, Christ put it out there, and I, by my
wisdom, figured it out. Okay? You don't believe. You
don't believe. You don't know your ignorance. Is Christ all your righteousness?
Or you have some of your own? Well, Christ started this thing,
but I have to do my part. I've got to go on in righteousness
and obey the law. You don't have faith. True faith
abandons all self-righteousness and clings only to His righteousness.
You got faith? You do if you cling to His righteousness.
You got faith? What about sanctification? Here's
one for you, for all you reformed people out there. You listen,
pay attention. If you have any part in your
sanctification, you don't have faith in Christ. You're trusting
in your obedience to the law as some measure of your sanctification. Redemption. You have any part
in your redemption? No, I have nothing to offer. I come empty. Faith comes empty,
doesn't it? It comes without anything. And
faith just simply receives it. He's done it all. It simply receives
His Word that says, it is finished. You believe that? It's finished? That's faith. That's true faith. And listen to this, true faith
submits. wholly submits to the will and
commands of Christ. Listen, I don't want to pretend. Is Christ my King? Or am I my King? Do I have rights? Or are my rights
surrendered? True faith surrenders to the submits to his will. I know if
you're a believer, anytime you've had dark providence. And what does your flesh say?
I'll have my rights. And the spirit says, you have
no rights. God doesn't go around taking
votes on how to do things, does he? He's a sovereign king. But you
pay attention. He's a good king. He's a gracious
king. And all he's doing is for your
good. True faith believes that. True
faith submits to Christ. Do you submit? Listen to this,
the fourth thing is this, true faith loves the brethren. Do not tell me you love Christ
and you don't love his people. That's what John said. He said,
you're a liar. I like John. He's pretty bold. He says, there's no two ways
about it. If you can't love your brother
who you see, how in the world can you love God who you can't
see? You're a liar. Truth's not in you. God's people
have true faith, love the brethren. This is why we assemble, isn't
it? This is why God commands us to assemble. Why do we assemble?
Why do we gather together? Why do we want a building? We
want a building, we want something, we want to assemble. Why do we
want to assemble? We don't really need it according
to the world. We've got videos, we've got over...
Because God commands it. And I love to sit here. You know, if you ain't here,
I can't hug you. I can't embrace you. I can't see your faith and
be encouraged. So we love the brethren. And
those who have true faith, now you know this also, here's a
mark, you have conflict. You have conflict within yourself. We were once people of one nature.
Now we're people of two natures. Anybody claims they got one nature, you better be careful, because
that nature that you had at the beginning, that's the only one
you've got, if you've got one. God says that he creates inside
of us a holy created after God in true holiness. And what does
Paul say? The flesh lusteth against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary,
one to another, so that you cannot do what you want to. What does
your flesh want to do? I'll tell you what your flesh
wants to do. It wants to run from God. Your flesh wants to
rebel against God. It's the same as it was. He didn't change. But praise
God, there's something opposing it. A new nature that loves Christ,
that loves the word of God. If you continue in my word, why
are you continuing in this word? Why do you love this word? Because
you have a new nature. And these two are in opposition
with one another. And Paul says, because of that
old wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this dead? What was his answer? I thank God. There is going to
be deliverance from this body of death. I thank God through
Jesus Christ my Lord. There is therefore now, right
now, forever, no condemnation of those who believe in Christ
Jesus. You believe in Christ Jesus? There's no condemnation
for you, even though you struggle. These are the marks. And I'm
going to give you this last mark, because this is vitally important,
because even apostates believe that they experience all of those
marks. Apostasy is real. Apostasy is real. This is why
Jesus said, if you really believe, listen, continue in my word,
and only then, if you continue, will you be my disciples indeed.
So what's the thread that runs through all of those evidences
I gave you? Repentance, Believing in Christ
all in Christ alone? Submitting to His will? Loving
the brethren? The mark is this. You continue
in those things. When have you ever stopped turning
from yourself? Do you need to stop that now?
You got enough faith that you can stop turning from yourself?
Or are you constantly turning from self? So you continue in His Word. Do you have enough faith? Are
you done? If we're real, we'd confess that
our faith is not worthy to be counted as faith. Are you full of love? No. But we continue in love. If you are his disciple, you
will continue in this thing. And what? You shall know the
truth. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able,
not me, I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed
on him against that. He's able to set me free. Set me free. Do you continue to believe? I've
got plenty more. I'm going to go ahead and quit,
but I've got a whole bunch more. I just want you to understand
this. You must persevere. If you have true faith, you will
persevere. You must persevere. But here's our confidence. I
tell you this, I have no confidence I can persevere. I could not make it. I had no
confidence I could preach this morning. None whatsoever. Just
get through this message. I had no confidence. I have no
confidence in myself that I can get through the day. My confidence in persevering
is this. Preservation. I'm going to persevere because
I'm preserved. You know what Paul said about
that after he said you were chosen in Christ and Christ redeemed
you? He said you are sealed with the Spirit of Prophets. That's just like a king taking
a letter with that emblem on his ring and sealing it. And
no one can open it but the king. Nobody can get to you. Nobody can take what Christ has
done for you. No one. Not even you. I'll tell you, that's the one
I'm worried about. I'm worried about me. The enemy of self is
the worst. But because I'm kept, I will
persevere in faith. And one day I'll be set free.
I'm free. One day I know Him who is the
truth will set me free. from all sin, all pain, all suffering. Why? He died for me. He lives for me. And He loves me. I know that. I believe on Him. That's the evidence, isn't it?
Not our experiences, faith. And true faith continues. He
said, if you continue, you are my disciples indeed. Todd told me this, I keep going
on, Todd told me this, it's really good. He said, you know, faith
in scripture is only present tense. Faith 10 minutes from now won't
help you. Faith 10 minutes ago won't help
me. Only faith now. And now, and now, and now. I believe now. Why? I'm persevering
because I'm kept. I pray God will bless this to
you.