We'll be tonight to John chapter
8. John chapter 8. Our text will
be found in verse 30 and 31. And the title of the message
this evening is, The Test of True Faith. test or the trial of true faith. The scripture here says in verse
30, as he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him. If you continue in my word then
are you my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free. Test of true faith. I'm going
to give us the background of these words and then I want us to see that
these words are a legitimate test by which everyone who professes
faith in Christ may know if their faith is genuine. If you continue in my word then,
Then, you may know this, then you are my disciples indeed. Now first let us see the context
of these verses in this chapter. Our Lord Jesus Christ rose early
in the morning and went to the temple to teach." Now imagine
the scene. He was teaching. He was in the
temple. And they had gathered together to hear what the Lord
Jesus Christ would teach them. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere,
those Jews who hated Him, who despised Him, took that woman
who they caught in the very act of adultery. and threw her in
the midst. Our Lord Jesus always never taken
by anything. We would, I'm sure, have been
aghast. We would have been confused.
We would have not known what to do. But our Lord Jesus Christ,
knowing their hearts and what they determined to do, they were
there to trip Him up. They were there to prove that
he was not the Christ. So they take this woman, caught
in the very act, throw her in the mist, and recite the law
to the lawgiver. Now get that. They recite the
law to the lawgiver. And they say Moses had said,
this woman is worthy of death, but what do you say? Now, they had before heard him
talk of mercy. Mercy. He said in the previous
chapter, "...he that believeth in me, as the Scripture hath
said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water,
this he spake of the Spirit." But this was a prophecy. "...he
that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, In other
words, anyone who believes on me, that I am the Christ, he
shall be saved, he shall have the water of life flowing out
of him. And here it is, a woman caught
in sin and they say, well how can you have mercy on her? The
law says she is guilty. What do you say? This woman was
caught in the very act, there was no way out of it. And here,
these men ask the greatest, without understanding what they're asking,
they're asking the greatest question ever asked. Aren't they? They're
asking the most, the greatest question that no wisdom of man
could answer. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? That's exactly the question they
were asking. There she is, guilty. Now how then do you suppose you
should justify her? Now listen, they couldn't answer
that question, and that's why they posed it to him, hoping
that he was as ignorant as they were. We know that's not the
case. Our Lord Jesus Christ, you remember,
he stooped down, pretended he didn't hear, he rode on the ground,
and they kept on and on and on, and he said, he stood up and
he said this, you that without sin. Now then, who here is not
guilty of breaking the law? You, then take the stone and
cast it at her. You who are without sin, cast
the stone at her. And you remember they began to
all, with one accord, one go away, from the oldest to the
youngest. They filed away, being convicted of their conscience.
And the Lord, before they did that, He stooped back down right
in the dirt, and then when they were all gone, He stood up and
asked this woman, He said, Where are thine accusers? And she said, no man, there's
no man. And he said this, neither do
I accuse thee, neither I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Now how did he do that? How did
the Lord Jesus Christ allow this woman to go free and yet we know
this, He honored the law. He magnified the law of God. How can God be just and justify? Do you realize what it takes
for a person to be accepted of God? Absolute perfection. Absolute, sinless perfection. Listen to what the law said.
Leviticus 22, 21. Whosoever offers a sacrifice
of peace offering unto the Lord, to accomplish his vow, or free
will offering in sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. Perfect. What do you and I need
to be accepted? Perfection. Perfection. Yet we
have all have sinned. We are like this woman. We have
all committed spiritual idolatry, adultery, spiritual adultery.
We have all went away from God. We have all worshipped the God
of our imagination. None of us are perfect. How then
can we be pardoned? How is it possible that a man
who is guilty like this woman be pardoned? It was all in the stooping. The
Gospel message in that part was in the stooping. When the Lord
stooped the first time to write, it is a picture of Him stooping
down and writing the law. With the finger of God, He wrote
the law on Mount Sinai. And what does the law can do?
It only condemns. He that without sin cast the
first stone. It only accuses. It only exposes
sin. but it cannot save. And you remember
what he did the second time. He stooped again. This is what
he was doing there. He was stooping down. He was
writing grace and not law. He came again to make an atonement
for sin. How could the lawgiver pardon
the guilty? Even because he stooped down
to satisfy the demands of the law. He could forgive this woman
because He came down to die in her stead. Who was without sin
among them? It was only Christ. Only Christ
could cast the stone. And yet in grace, He did not
cast the stone. He rather bore the stone. He rather Himself was judged
of God and condemned by our sin. Suffered in our stead. Scripture
says you being dead in your sins, uncircumcised in your flesh,
hath he quickened together, having forgiven all your trespasses. Listen, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances. That was against us. which was
contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. What did he do with the law?
He nailed it to his cross. He satisfied the law for us. This is how God can be just and
justify the ungodly. You see, only believers can identify
with this woman. If you're a true believer, you
completely understand and identify with her. Matter of fact, her
experience is yours. There you were, sinning at will,
sinning, lusting. Now do you suppose that woman
ever thought that that day was going to go that way? I'm sure
she had other plans for her day. The Lord had other plans for
her. There we were sitting. And then what? We were arrested.
These people didn't know what they were doing. They were being
a type of the law. They grabbed this woman and cast
her down at the feet of Christ. Isn't that what the law did with
us? Being a schoolmaster, it brought us to Christ. There we
were before Christ guilty. Could do nothing but confess.
And what does He do? What does Christ do when a sinner
comes at His feet? He is righteous to cast the stone
at us. We confess that He's righteous
to kill us. But what do we find? We find
no stone. We find mercy. We find instead
of Him standing over us, He stoops down with us. Scripture says that He was numbered
with the transgressors. That woman was on the ground.
When Christ stooped, where was He? He was on the ground with
her. He came down to get her. to die in her stead. This is
why He could forgive her. And so instead of death, we receive
mercy. By the blood and righteousness
of Christ, He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and
justice flooded His soul. The fires of hell burned His
bones, so that sin should be punished and justice satisfied. And He blotted out our sins with
His own blood, nailing it to His cross. And therefore, there
is therefore now, listen to you who believe, there is therefore
now no condemnation. What does Christ say to you tonight,
right now? Neither do I condemn thee. Where's the law? Where's thine
accuser? Well Lord, you nailed Him to
a cross. Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. This
is our Savior who done this for us. Therefore, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ cries then now to
all the world as he does in verse 12. He says this, "...then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life." So instead of shutting him up, They were
used again as a springboard so he might confess his office again. I am the Christ. I am the light
of the world. Everyone that heard him understood
what he was confessing. This is the Christ that should
come. The scriptures are plain. It says the Lord is a sun and
a shield. This is speaking of the Messiah.
Psalm 84 11. In Malachi 4 and verse 2, it
says, So when Christ said, I am the light of the world, everyone
knew what he was saying. I am the Christ. I am the Messiah. I am the one who is both the
lawgiver and I am the one who shows mercy. And so then, after hearing this
and seeing this, what do you suppose they did? Did they bow?
No. From verse 13 on down to verse
29, they're still confronting Him over and over and over again,
trying to... they denied Him. They denied
Him. I want to speak to you a minute. If you're walking in darkness, Is there anyone here walking
in darkness? Anyone groping in the dark? You
listen to what Jesus said, I am the light of the world. What does light do? It exposes
things, doesn't it? It exposes. When Christ, when
that woman was there, Christ was the light of the world and
He was exposing sin. Her sin and their sin. Yet what
did that light do to those who had no life? They ran away from
the light. Tonight, many may run from the
light. I just told you He's the light of the world. And many
may try to hide in darkness again. You may be convicted of your
sin, it may cause you to run from Christ. But those who Christ
saves, they don't run because they don't have anywhere to go.
This woman had no place to hide, and neither does one convicted
of sin. We have no place to go! But I'm thankful because these
are the ones that God shows mercy. These are the ones that God saves.
And listen, these are the ones that believe on Him. Now listen, as Jesus spake all
these words, listen, many believed on Him. And what our text said, look
at your verse 30 again. As he spake these words, many believed,
many believed on him. Lord Jesus testified of his person,
of his work, that he should be lifted up. And after he's lifted
up, they shall know that he is God. And man, do you believe
this? Have you heard him? Do you believe
his word? Do you trust in Christ? Do you
believe that He is the Son of God, Son of the Father? Do you
believe that He has come to die on the cross for sin, rise again
the third day, sit on the throne of glory as the God-man mediator? Do you believe? Do you trust
Him? Do you believe on His name? Now, I want you to pay attention.
So did these people. What Scripture said. they believed
on him. But I want you to see that their
faith was not real. Go over to verse 59 and look
what these people that believed on him by the end of his speech,
by the end of his message, look at how they did. Then took they
up the stones to cast it in. You see, these people who believed,
they professed to believe in Christ. Now, I'll tell you this, some
did believe and continued to believe. But there were some who believed
that did not continue. You see, Jesus would not be content
to let these alone, but would... who professed to believe. But
rather, He would prove their faith. He would set their professed
faith to the fire of His Word in order to prove it, whether
it is true or whether it is a sham. Some men's faith is true faith,
and some men's faith is nothing but a deception. Now listen, faith is necessary. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Except you believe on the Son
of God, you shall die in your sins. Faith is necessary. And listen to the great benefit
of faith. Jesus said this, "...no man hath
ascended up to heaven, but him that came down from heaven, even
the Son of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."
Listen, "...that whosoever believeth in him," listen, "...should not
perish, but have everlasting life. Here's the gospel. Here's the gospel. No man ascended
up to heaven. In other words, no man merits
heaven. No man is going to build his
staircase to heaven. No one is going to build their
works up to God. Except one, he who came down
from heaven. the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. He alone is going to merit the
righteousness of God by His obedience. He is going to obtain the righteousness
of God. And He is going to be lifted
up as Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness. Even so, Christ
is to be made sin for His people, to bear the sins of His people.
And God made His soul an offering for sin for this purpose, that
whosoever Whosoever believeth in him should not perish. What
a benefit faith is. Isn't it a benefit to believe
on the Son of God? It is of great benefit to our
souls. Because all who believe will
never perish. Never perish. Never perish. And the root cause of such grace,
the root cause of such a covenant of grace is only the sovereign
love of God. For God so loved the world. Here's
the cause, Jesus said, for God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son. Listen, He repeats it, that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now
then, do you believe? That's a question. Do you believe? Now you pay attention, I cannot
and will not believe for you. You yourself must believe on
the Son of God or die in your sins. Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. That's good, isn't it? that a
good word? It is the one that needs to be
saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And so then
faith is necessary. Now I read this, and this is
just numbers, just to give you a perspective. In this country,
in 2014 they said there were two hundred and what I wrote
down, 245 million people in the United States. Now I want you
to understand this, 173 million people profess to believe on
the Son of God. In this wicked, perverse nation
where they kill their own children, homosexuality is a common thing,
adultery and fornication is rampant, 173 million, over half of these
people profess to believe in Christ. I guarantee you millions
upon millions upon millions of people are deceived. How do I know? By the very litmus
test that Christ gave. If, if you continue in my word, then
are you true disciples, true believers in Christ. And so then tonight, it is incumbent
upon us, and I do ask that God himself would come down and try
our faith. Is there anything more important
to the believer than knowing the genuineness of our faith? Friends, I do not want to wake
up deceived. I want to know if I'm in Christ. Make your calling and election. Sure. Why, there's nothing more
important. There's nothing more vital. All who profess faith in Christ,
Jesus said, if you continue in my word, then are my disciples
in deed. Peter said this, that the trying
of your faith is much more precious than gold, though it be tried
with fire. Listen, if it's real, it will
be found to the praise and glory of Christ at His appearing. In
other words, true faith will endure. Now, here We have many
vain professors who will flee when they are confronted with
the trial of their faith. You ever see a man when the gospel
is being preached and he just can't find a way to get out of
the room? Why? He doesn't want his faith
tried. He doesn't want it tested. He is fine with his faith, whatever
it is. He is content in his deception
and desires to run. But one who understands his sin,
one who knows the holiness and the justice of God that must
punish sin, we who know that Christ is the only sure refuge
for sinners, it is our desire to know if I am in Christ. There's a point I long to know.
Often it causes anxious thoughts. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? I must know. I must know. I've got to know. And listen, if you do believe
in Christ, there will be marks. There will be evidences of it.
There will be evidences of true faith in Christ. I want you to understand this,
that these evidences of true faith are not proof of true faith. What do I mean by that? In other
words, you have a lot of people who are having faith in their
faith. Faith is an evidence of faith.
You don't have faith and you really don't have faith. So what
men are doing is they're saying, well, I'm proving I'm a believer
because I believe. No. I don't have faith in my
faith. I have faith in the object of
my faith. Christ is my hope. Christ is the object of my faith,
not my faith. I love you and I love Him, but
that's not the grounds upon which I stand before God. That is not
the proof of my salvation. The proof of my salvation is
Christ sitting on the throne. The proof of my salvation is
His nail-scarred hands. The proof of my salvation is
His pure sight. The proof of my salvation is
His death and His resurrection. That's the proof of my salvation.
The proof of my salvation is the Word of God. This is where
we prove our salvation, not by what we do. And so I don't want
you to have to lean on these, but I want you to see them, these
marks. They're necessary marks. You'll
have them, but we don't trust in them. First thing is, Repentance. One who truly believes
in Christ has repented of his sin. Repented. Turned. One who is born again
of the Holy Spirit is made to see his sin nature, his ruined
nature, that we by nature are only always continually full
of sin. We know this. In Genesis it tells
us that The very thought, every thought of the imagination of
the heart of man is evil. How often? Continually. In Isaiah 1 verse 6 it says,
from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. You see, when one is made
aware of who he is, and the disease of his sin. Do you suppose that
he keeps it? That he nurtures it? No. We turn from it. We repent. We turn from everything we have
done, everything we have thought, and we turn to Christ. You must
repent. To believe, you must repent.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thought,
and let him repent, let him turn unto the Lord. And he will abundantly
pardon. Jesus said, except you repent,
you shall likewise perish. So what is this fruit? Repentance
is evidence. Now am I trusting my repentance?
No! When have you repented enough?
Would you trust your repentance for your salvation? Absolutely
not! But I know this, I have repented, I have turned and believed
on the Son of God. Second thing is this, true faith
trusts Christ completely. True faith trusts Christ completely
for all our salvation. Do you trust Christ for all your
salvation? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1
and verse 30, he said, but of God are you in Christ, who hath
made him to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Is Christ your wisdom? Remember
that question we just asked, how can God be just and justify
the ungodly? What is our answer? Is Christ all your righteousness?
Every ounce of your righteousness. Every stitch of the robe of righteousness. Who made that? He did. It's all
of Him. It's all of Him. Who is your
sanctification? Oh, how many fail here. How many
go about making their own sanctification. Well, Jesus is my righteousness,
but I need to make this flesh more holy. I need to make it
more righteous for it. I need to sanctify myself. Oh,
no. No, no. True faith knows this. He's all my sanctification. He's
all my holiness before God is Jesus Christ. Redemption. Christ is all my offering for
sin. Is He all your offering for sin? See, that's a mark. Now then, are we trusting in
our trusting? Are we trusting in Christ? No, we don't trust
in our trusting. How far with that? I want him
to get me to the door. And I'm already doubting. Isn't that
the same with you? Let a puff of wind blow. And
what do we begin to do? We begin to doubt. God's love,
his mercy, his grace, we begin to doubt it all. We sin one time
and we're on our knees crying out, oh God, have you left me? Have you left me? Oh, don't trust
in your trustee, trust in Christ. Believers trust in Christ. You
see, vain faith, how many people have such vain faith, that empty
faith that's trusting in Christ plus something? That's empty
faith. That's a deceived faith. They're
trying to rob God of His glory. They're counting the blood of
Christ as an unholy thing. That means incomplete. Jesus did all He could do. I
need to add to it. I'll tell you this, friend. Your
faith is empty. It's vain. It's not true. Not real. Not
of God. The third thing is, a true faith bows in submission to the
sovereign Christ. If any man cometh to me, and
hateth not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren,
and sisters, and his own life also, you listen, he can't be
my disciple. That's a true test of faith, isn't it? Do you set Christ above everyone? True faith sets Christ above
everyone. True faith sets all of our affection
on Christ, who is our life. He is the object of our love,
and His commandments are not grievous to us. What commandments
are those? Love and faith. Are they grievous
to you? Is it grievous of Christ to ask
you, trust me? Is it grievous of you when Christ
says, love me? No. Matter of fact, I want to
trust Him and love Him more. The fourth thing is this, true
faith loves a brethren. John says, don't tell me you
love Christ if you hadn't seen him and you don't love the brethren.
You're a liar. You know, true faith loves a
brethren. True faith sets the believer as his true family and
his true family as strangers. Why? We are the body of Christ. Any man not love his own body?
No, I won't. I love mine. Well, I love you
because you're part of the same body. Christ is our head. And so we love the brethren.
And listen, true faith has this. It always has an inward conflict. You remember Pilgrim's Progress,
the man Ignorance, he went on without any conflict, didn't
he? You see all these people running around with smiles on
their face and, oh joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, liar, liar, liar,
liar. Fact is, if you don't have any
inward conflict, something's wrong with you. If you've got
always contentment, peace, and joy in your breast, something's
wrong with you because Paul didn't have that. He said, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Lord, a will is present with
me, but how to perform that which I find not. Oh, wretched man
that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this rotten corpse hung about my neck? Who shall deliver
me? You have some inward conflict. Well, you know you do. We had
a nature, one nature, and it was all fine by itself. But when
God gave us a new one, there began a conflict, trouble. The flesh lets us against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary
one to another so that you cannot do what you would. There's a
conflict that goes on in a true believer. You have this conflict. And the
last thing is when this, the true believer grows, grows in
faith. You see these people that they
get to a certain point in knowledge and they say, well, can't learn
anymore. I guess that's it for me. And they just go on about
their business. False faith. True faith always
grows. And we are not satisfied with
what we have. Who's satisfied with their faith?
Who's satisfied with their love? Who's satisfied that they've
won the victory over the inner man? Who? Not one of us. I shall not be satisfied till
what? I awake in thy likeness. True faith is not satisfied.
True faith grows. Grows in these graces. But there's one evidence that
runs through every one of these other evidences. one evidence
that surrounds and binds all of these evidences together.
You want to know what it is? Perseverance. If you have all of these evidences,
but these evidences are not, you don't persevere in them,
they're not real. Jesus said, if you continue in
the faith, if you continue in my gospel, if you continue to
follow me, believe on me, trust in me, then you know I am, you
are my disciple. Then you may know. Then you may
have the comfort of it. If you endure, all of these graces
will endure. Those who repent never return
back to the hog's pit. Those who believe on Christ never
trust in anything or anyone else. Those who love the brethren always
continue to love the brethren. Those who submit to Christ continually
perpetually submit to Him daily. Those who grow in grace will
always produce the fruits of the Spirit. True disciples are
persevering disciples. We do not merely profess His
word, but we continue in it. Continue in it. We who are saved,
who have put our hands to the plow, never turn back. Jesus
said this, He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. Endurance. Perseverance. You who believe, will you persevere? The answer is yes. How do you know I will persevere? Because you are preserved. The doctrine of perseverance
and preservation cannot be separated. You will persevere in the faith
because you are preserved. And because you are preserved,
you shall persevere. You shall persevere. Peter said
you are kept by the power of God. By the power of God. I know, believer, you do fall
and you're plagued with sin, but Christ will always raise
you up. He will always be a continual
wall of fire round about you, and none will be able to charge
you for sin. Our religion is not some spasmodic
religion of convenience. Christ is our life, our hope,
our joy, our peace. And even in the midst of all
our trials, pain, and trouble, you may have this confidence,
you will persevere. You will persevere because you
are preserved. You are kept. Now you who are
the elect of God, I want you to know how sure your perseverance
is. Do you understand this? The covenant of God cannot fail.
You will persevere because the covenant of God cannot fail.
Did God not promise this? I will be your God and you shall
be my people. God says, I will not turn away
to do them good, and I will bring them to this land. Is there any
question then, as to how this is going to happen? He said,
I'm gonna do it. And you know what? So will you.
I'm gonna do it because I'm gonna do it, you shall do it. I will
do it and you shall do it. The covenant of grace cannot
fail. That's why you shall persevere. You shall persevere because His
covenant will not fail. Second, you will persevere because
the blood of Christ was not shed in vain. You are redeemed. You are justified. You are saved. And you pay attention,
you will be saved. If your faith is genuine, you
will be saved. Why? Christ didn't die in vain.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth the Lord. Speak comfortably
unto Jerusalem, for her warfare is accomplished. For the Lord
hath received double at the hand of the Lord for all her iniquities. Thirdly, you will persevere because
the Holy Spirit is in you. He won't let you go. I talked
to somebody today about Peter. Peter, when he betrayed the Lord and
the Lord died, he thought it was all over, so he said, I go
fishing. I'm going back. The Lord said, no, you're not.
The Lord went and got him. He said, I've prayed for you
that your faith fail not. Do you suppose his faith would
have failed? Not in a million years. Christ went out there,
found him naked on that boat, called him in. Why? He was sealed. He was sealed. He had the mark of God on him.
You believe you have the mark of God on you and no one can
touch you or pull you from him. You will persevere. You will
persevere. You are kept by the power of
God and the grace of God and the promise of Christ cannot
fail. Isn't that what he said over in John chapter 10 and verse
28? He says, I give unto them eternal life and you listen,
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand. The promise of Christ will not
fail, therefore you will persevere. You will persevere. God's love is eternal, immutable. It doesn't change for you. He's
always loved you. He loves you now. He's always
loved you and He always will love you. He says, having loved
His own which were in the world, He loved them until the end. And listen, you'll persevere
because you cannot be charged with sin. Lay hold on it. You, who are
so full of sin, you can't see anything else. You cannot and
will not be charged with sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not sin. Why? He's already imputed to
you, Savior. He's already charged him. He
can't charge you. He won't. But I want you to be warned. You must persevere. How many warnings are we given
about apostasy? Friends, apostasy is real. It's
nothing to scoff at. How many people have had all
of these outward signs and yet have turned away from Christ? It's real. We should be warned of it. And
I want you to understand The first signs of apostasy,
you know what they are. It is forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together. This is why our Lord says by
the Apostle, forsake not. You know what? Paul says, I know
they're apostates, but I'm persuaded better things of you. He saw
these people and he knew that this would cause them great pain,
but he wanted them to know the reality of it. Why? Because believers are the only
ones scared about apostasy. One of you betrayeth me. He said,
I. He said, I. And there's Judas
bringing up the rear. Well, is it me? I don't want
to seem like the oddball here. The only one concerned about
it is someone who loves Christ and don't want to be separated.
I don't want to be separated from Him. I must have Him. Praise God by His grace and power,
I will have Him. Why? Because I'm preserved. I'm
going to persevere because I'm preserved. Therefore, who gets
the glory? God. Now may God comfort you with
his word. If you continue, then continue
what? In my word. Trusting in me. Believing my gospel. Then are
you my disciples indeed. Pray God will bless this to you.