Our only glory may it be to glory
in the Lord. I count it a great honor to be a preacher
of the gospel. The Lord called me when I was
a very young man to preach his gospel. And I've always felt
honored of God to stand in this place preach his gospel. My Lord
was a preacher. The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher. That's what Mark wrote in the
Word. He said, and now after John was put in prison, the Lord
Jesus Christ came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God. Our Lord was a preacher. And
several years ago, I prepared a series of messages on this
subject, the sermons of Jesus Christ himself. Our Lord was
a preacher, and I prepared several messages from his sermons. And I'm going to preach one this
morning, the sermons of the Savior. And I want you to turn with me
to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. And here our
Lord is preaching. And He used the little word,
if, I-f, seven times. Seven times. And I'm going to
deal with these things. And here's what I call this message. And it fits so well. In the last
point that the pastor was dealing with, unchangeable truths. I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. That's where he left off, and
that's where I'm going to begin preaching my message. Unchangeable
truths. Unchangeable terms. Because truth
never changes. Now John chapter 8, let's begin
reading with verse 20. John chapter 8, verse 20. These words spake Jesus in the
treasury. These words spake Jesus. That's
what I'm talking about. I go my way, and you shall seek
me, and you shall die in your sins. But whether I go, you cannot
come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill
himself? Because he said, Whither I go,
you cannot come. And he said unto them, You are
from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not
of this world. Now the Lord Jesus, look up just
a minute, hold that place now. The Lord Jesus is in the temple
in Jerusalem, surrounded surrounded by religious leaders, teachers, pharisees, Sadducees,
and he's declaring unto them who he is, who he is. He says, you're from beneath,
I'm from above. You're of this world, I'm not
of this world. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was flesh. And the Word was made flesh,
and the Word is God, God Almighty. He was made flesh and dwells
among us, but he said he's the Son of God. Under us a child
is born. Under us a son is given. His
name is called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, and the Prince of Peace. And that's what he's dealing
with. Now, what's this next verse? Verse 24, I said therefore unto
you, you shall die in your sins, for if, here's the first if,
if you believe not that I am, now leave out that italicized
word, he, that's supplied by the translators. He said if you
believe not that I am, you'll die in your sins. And the Lord
appeared to Moses at the burning bush. And Moses asked the Lord
this question. He said, The God of our fathers,
what's his name? You sent me to the God of my
fathers. What's his name? What is this
God's name? And the Lord said, I am. That's what our Savior is saying
here. If you believe not that I am. And the heaven of the Father
said, I am that I am. the Lord God of your fathers.
I am, that is my name forever." Forever. One day our Lord asked
His disciples, whom do you say that I am? And Peter spoke up
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Our
Lord Jesus Christ sets forth here The first unchangeable term,
if you believe not that I am, you die in your sin. Unchangeable. Absolutely unchangeable. I thank
God I believe, don't you? I thank God I believe He is I
am. God, the Word made flesh, the
mighty God. All right, here's the second
one, the second I am. Look at verse 25. Verse 25 through
verse 30. Listen. Then said Jesus unto
them, then said they unto him, unto Jesus, Well, who are you?
And Jesus said unto them, Even the same that I said unto you
from the beginning, I have many things to say and to judge of
you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the those things
which I have heard of him. They understood not that he spake
to them of the Father. And then Jesus said, When you
have lifted up, when you have crucified, lifted up on a cross
the Son of Man, then you shall know I am, and that I do nothing
of myself. But as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things." And he that sent me is with me. The
Father hath not left me alone, for I always do those things
that please him." Now watch verse thirty, "...and as he spake these
words, many believed on him." Many believed on him. When the
Lord Jesus Christ spoke these words, many believed on him. Many people did. And then watch
verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, If, if you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. Somebody said one time, if you
continue to hear his word, to believe his word, and to continue
in him and in his word, that's the proof and the evidence that
you are truly his disciple." That's what he said. If you continue
in my word, then you are indeed a disciple of Christ. Now, continuing
in the word is not a condition of salvation, but it's the evidence
of salvation. It's the evidence. It's proof
of salvation. Troupe A changes a person. It
does. Darcy and I were in a restaurant
eating one day, and this man and his wife got up to leave,
pay the bill, and their little girl, five or six years old,
was walking behind them. And I watched them, the mother
and father and their little girl, and she was skipping. I watched
the little girl skip. They don't just walk, don't run,
they skip. And I turned to Doris and I said,
that's a happy child. She said, how do you know she's
happy? I know she's happy because she's skipping. She's happy and
she's skipping. That's the way a child identifies
their happiness. If she was walking all downcast,
she wouldn't be skipping, but she's happy. And I found something
one day that applies right here. True faith changes a person.
If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed.
And true faith looks out of the eyes. You can watch a person
who loves Christ and believes Christ, it changes his very countenance. That's right. It softens his
touch. It mellows his voice. He's not
so harsh and mean. It bends his knee in praise. It bows his head in humility. It curbs his tongue. It opens
his hand, orders his steps, and produces a forgiving spirit.
It just does. Watch her, Skip. She's happy.
Watch him. He's happy. He knows Christ.
He's in Christ. Write that down sometime. True
faith looks out of the eyes. True faith lights up the countenance. True faith softens the touch.
True faith mellows the voice. True faith bends the knee, bows
the head, and curbs the tongue, and opens the hand, and orders
the steps, and produces forgiveness. That's the second if. Second
if. You believe not that I am, you
die in your sins. And if you continue in my word
and move not away from the gospel, you are my disciples. All right, let's see about the
third one. Read, start with verse 32. He says in verse 32, and you
shall know, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free. Then answered him, they answered
him, we be Abraham's seed. We be Abraham's seed. That's
these Jews speaking to Christ. We were never in bondage to any
man. How sayest thou, you shall be
made free? And our Lord Jesus, you know,
these fellows are saying, we're not in bondage. We're Abraham's
seed, and we're not bondage to anybody. But listen to what our
Lord said. And Jesus answered and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoso committed sin is a servant
of sin. The man that walks in sin and
lives in sin, he's a servant of sin. He's a servant of sin,
not Abraham's seed. He's a servant of sin. And the
servant abideth not in the house, not in God's house, but the Son
does. The Son abides in God's house
forever. Whosoever commits sin is a servant
of sin, in bondage to the law and to justice, under the curse
of the law, and that's our nature. Somebody wrote this. When our
Lord said in verse, look at verse thirty-five again, And the servant abideth not in
the house forever, but the son does. And the servant of sin
does not live and abide in God's house, nor in the true church. To abide in his house is to abide
there as a son. Only the sons live in the house.
Only the sons abide in his house. That's right. To abide in his
house is to abide with the Son as a Son forever. We must be
set free. We must be set free from sin
in order to live in the house with God. And so he says in verse
36, here it is, the third if. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free. if the Son sets you free. And that's why the Son came.
He said, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. He hath anointed
me to preach the good news. He hath anointed me to set the
captive free. He hath anointed me to set at
liberty them that abound. If the Son If the Son make you
free, you free indeed. Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath died, and there is remission. Free from sin, because
he was made sin for us. Free from the curse, he was made
a curse for us. Free from the law, because he
fulfilled it in every juncture. And free from condemnation, because
there's no condemnation to them with Christ Jesus. That's the
unchangeable term number three. If the Son, if the Son shall
make you free, you are free always, eternally indeed. I change not. All right, here's the fourth.
Here's the fourth term. Unchangeable term. Look at verse
37 through 39. And our Lord said, you know,
they said we're Abraham's seed. What's this now? I know you're
Abraham's seed. I know you're Jews. I know you're Abraham's seed.
But you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you.
I speak that which I've seen with my Father, and you do that
which you've seen with your Father. all that upset them. They said,
Abraham is our father. They didn't say, God's our father. They said, Abraham is our father. You know, people today, people
today are quick to inform other people what their, what their their union with, like for example,
the Jews said, Abraham's our father. Well, there's a bunch
of people today who follow John Calvin. They call him Calvinism. That's the same thing that these
folks were doing. They said, Abraham's our father.
And they said, Calvin? I'm a Calvinist. Luther? I'm a Luther. Wesleyans? I'm a Wesleyan. Puritans? Brethren? You know what he said
to them then after when they said, Abraham's our father. You
know what he said? Listen to here at verse thirty,
verse thirty-nine. They answered him and said, Abraham's
our father. Jesus said, if you were, if you were, really, Abraham's
children, you do the works of Abraham. Brother man, what are
the works of Abraham? Well, you know, I can name lots
of them. The Lord said to him, leave your
home, get away from your house and kindred and brethren to a
land I'll show you. And he went, not knowing where
he was going, not the faintest idea of where he was going, but
he obeyed God. Also, the Lord said, Jim, you're
going to have a son. He didn't know how. hundred years
old. Sarah was a hundred years old,
but he believed God. And then God said to him, take
your son whom you love and sacrifice him. He didn't know where, he didn't
know how, he didn't know why, but he believed God. So you know
what I'm saying? If you're Abraham's children,
you do the works of Abraham. What are the works of Abraham,
summed up in three words? Abraham believed God. That's the works of Abraham.
That which made Abraham different, he believed God. And the Scripture said he obeyed This is the reason for everything
Abraham did. This is the motive for everything
he did. What? He believed God. God told
him to sacrifice that boy. He called his servants together
and got them to cut the wood, saddle the horses, and let's
go. He believed God. And this was
the reason he looked for a city, though he didn't have any place.
He drew out in tents, didn't he? He's looking for a city. If Abraham were your father,
you'd do the works of Abraham. What are the works of Abraham?
Well, the Jews asked him one day. They said, what shall we
do that we might work the works of God? The Master said, this
is the work of God that you believe on him whom God sent. That's the sober substance of
words. Believe in God. So that's my
fourth unchangeable term. If you believe not I am he, thine
is sin. If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. If you're Abraham's children,
you'll do the works and you'll believe God. All right, here's
a number, here's an excellent fact. Let's look at verse 40.
John 8, verse 40. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of
God. This did not Abraham. You do
the deeds of your father. And they said to him, we'd be
not born of fornication. We're not born in sin. We're
not born in sin. We have one father. Oh, I thought you said Abraham
is your father. Now they're saying we have one
father. Our father's God. Our father's God. And bless your
heart. Look at verse Oh, my dear friend, this is the
heart and sum and substance of this whole thing. If God were
your Father, you would love me. You would love me. That's unchangeable.
If any man loved not our Lord Jesus Christ, I don't care how
religious he is, or how pious he is, or how faithful he is,
or how generous he is, if he doesn't love the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be a curse. It's just so. That's what God
said. That's an unchangeable truth
and term and fact. If you don't love the Lord Jesus
Christ, God is not your father. He tells us two reasons. Look,
here in verse, I was reading there, verse 42. If God were your father, you
would love me I proceeded forth, I came from God. I came from
God. I am a father of one. I and my Father are one. Father,
Son, Holy Spirit, one God in three persons. He that hath seen
me hath seen God. I'm the brightness of His glory. I'm the express image of His
person. He that hath seen me hath seen
God. If you love not our Lord Jesus Christ, God not your Father. Now, here's a second reason.
He said, if God were your Father, you'd love me. For I proceeded
forth and came from God, neither came I of myself. He sent me. Every good and perfect gift,
the pastor said a while ago, comes from God. That's the good
and perfect gift, Him. The Father twice spoke from heaven
down here to these creatures. When our Lord was baptized, the
Father spake and said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well
pleased. You don't love Him. God's not
your Father. If you don't believe Him, God's
not your father. You can claim all the religious
you want to. If you don't love Him, you don't
love God. If you don't love Him, God doesn't
love you. I hate to say that to a mixed
congregation, but I'll tell you it's just so. If any man doesn't
love Christ, he's accursed from God. This is my beloved son in
whom I'm well pleased." And then he spake again at the transfiguration. He said, this is my son. Listen
to him. Hear him. Hear him. Unchangeable term, number five.
If God were your father, you'd love me. You'd love me. If any man love not Christ, he's a curse. All right, here's
6 here. Look at verse 43 and 45. 43. Why do you, why do you not understand
my speech? Why do you not understand? I
tell you why. Because you cannot hear my word. The word of God. You're not listening.
You're turning away. You're not listening. You're
not listening. Verse 44, You have your father
the devil, and the lust of your father's you'll do. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and he abode not in the truth,
because there's no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he's speaking
of his own. He's a liar and a father of liars.
And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of
you can convince me of sin? Which of you can convince me
of sin? And if I say the truth, why don't
you believe? There's the next if. If I am the truth, the way, the
truth, and the lie, why don't you believe me? Why don't you
believe me? Men say they admire Jesus Christ. Old Nicodemus said that. He came
to our Lord. He said, now, we know you've
come from God. No man do the things you do,
except God be with him. That ain't good enough. You've
got to hear his word, believe his word. Pilate stood and washed
his hands. He said, this is a just man. I find no fault in him. Do you
find grace in him, mercy in him, truth in him? Why don't you believe
me? Here comes the answer. Here comes
the answer. Here he is right here. Which of you convinces me of
sin? If I say the truth, why don't
you believe me? Verse 47. He that is of God believes
me. Here's my word. Believe me. You
therefore hear them not, because you're not of God. That's the
only reason. Here comes the answer. He that
is of God hears God's word. My sheep hear my voice. Turn
to John. I want you to turn to John 6.
Just turn back. We'll go back to this in a minute,
but turn to John 6 and listen to this. John chapter 6. He that is of God will hear God's
word. John 6. And verse 37, All that
my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. This is
the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I will lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. This is the will of him that
sent me. that everyone that seeth the Son and believes on him may
have everlasting life. And I raised him up at the last
day. And the Jews murmured, oh, murmured at him, because he said,
I'm the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is
not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? And
our Lord answered and said to them, murmuring out among yourselves,
no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. And I raise him up at the last
day. And it's written in the prophets, they shall all, they
shall be all taught of God. Every man that hath heard and
hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." That's what he said. If I say the truth, why don't
you believe me? He that is of God hears God's
Word. You're not of God because you
don't hear His Word. Now, here's the last hymn. Look
at verse 48. Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, Say we not well that you are Samaritan and you have
a devil? Jesus answered, I have not, I
have not the devil, that I honor my father, and you dishonor me. And I seek not mine own glory,
there's one that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, here's the last if, if a man would keep my sayings,
if a man would hear my word and keep my sayings, he'll never
see death. What a blessed promise. What
a glorious sermon. Our Savior preached that sermon.
What a glorious ending and promise. If a man will hear my word and
believe on me, he'll never die. So that's the message. And I
say it's unchangeable. It's unchangeable truth, unchangeable
terms. Let's go over them again quickly.
If you believe not that I am, you die in your sins. If you
believe in my word and continue in my word, you are my disciples
indeed. If the Son makes you free, you'll
be free, free indeed. If you are a son of Abraham,
you believe God. If God is your Father, your love
Christ. Embrace Him forever. If we're
children of God, we'll be in tune with God and hear His Word.
And if we keep these sayings, we'll never die. Never die. I want Gabe to lead us in the
singing of this song. I think it fits very well with
this message. My Jesus, I love Thee. I know Thou art mine. For thee all the follies of sin
I resign, my Savior, my God. If ever I loved thee, I love
you now. All right, let's sing that. What
number is that? Hymn number 547. Let's stand
together. We'll sing the whole song, 547.
I, Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine. For Thee all the follies of sin
I renounce. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior
art Thou. If ever I love Thee, my Jesus
is now. I love Thee because Thou hast
first loved me. and purchased my pardon from
Calvary's tree. I love thee for wearing the thorns
on thy brow. If ever I love thee, my Jesus,
tis now. I'll love Thee in life, I will
love Thee in death. And praise Thee as long as Thou
lendest me breath. And say when the death do lie,
so on my brow, If ever I love thee, my Jesus, till now, In
mansions of glory and endless delight, I'll ever adore thee
in heavens so bright. I'll sing with the glittering
crown on my brow If ever I love thee, my Jesus, tis now Okay.