John chapter 8 now. John chapter
8. I want you to look at one verse
with me here in John chapter 8. John chapter 8, look at verse
31 with me. Christ says to those Jews which
believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples
indeed. If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed, truly my disciples. Well, what
is Christ's word, and what is it to continue in his word? What
is it that makes a person a disciple, indeed? Look at verse 30 first. Let's look at verse 30 first
of all, and see the context of what he said here. Verse 30,
as he spoke these words, And he said so many things before
this, and we could spend a great deal of time on those things,
but we're just going to summarize. As he spoke these words, it says,
many believed on him. Many believed. Many believed as he spoke these
words, and after the miracles, many believed on him. It says that in other places,
too. It says that many, many followed after him. One place,
the Pharisees said the whole world has gone after him. And today, put this in relation to our day, if you look
at the roles, church roles, and look at religion today, it appears
that there are many Christians throughout the land, doesn't
it? It appears that there are many
people who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Many people. A lot of names,
a lot of people. But most of these now are by
false means. Most of these are not through
the preaching of the gospel, not through the operation of
the Holy Spirit. Most of these members and most
of these people who profess to believe are a result of mass evangelistic campaigns. You've seen them on TV, revivals
and all of this proselytizing and so forth. People that have
been coaxed to the front of some church building, who have made
some decision, who have reformed their own outward lives, who
have signed a decision card who have made some kind of decision
themselves, who have probably been baptized, most of these
people are the result of those things. This is what we call easy-believism,
and this is what normally takes place in these proselyting, getting
people, and you can get a lot of people in this manner. It's
called easy-believism, and here is what they call today the Roman's
road of salvation. Take it from Romans 10, and they
say things like this. You're a sinner, aren't Now, they probably left that
off today. I haven't heard it in a while,
but I'm sure they're probably leaving that off so as not to
offend anybody. You don't hear much about sin
today. You wouldn't get a big crowd if you talked about sin
and man's sinfulness. But this, nevertheless, this
is their little ditty, their little saying they go through.
You're a sinner, aren't you? And a man says, Scripture says,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You are
a sinner, aren't you? Sure, I'm not as bad as that.
That's all right. You are a sinner, aren't you?
Say that. Yes, I'm a sinner. You want to
be saved, don't you? You want to go to heaven? You
don't want to go to hell, do you? No, I don't want to go to hell. You want to go to
heaven? Streets of gold and this and
that and the other, and have a good time and so forth. See
mama? You want to see your mama, don't
you? Sure, yeah, I want to go to heaven." Well, do you believe
that Jesus came and lived and died on the cross for your sins
and rose again? Do you believe that? Yeah, sure,
I guess, you know. That's what history even says
that he did. Sure, he'd have to full repeat
after me. Dear Lord, dear Lord, I'm a sinner,
I'm a sinner. Won't you have mercy on me? Have
mercy on me. I now receive Jesus, I now receive Jesus as my personal
Savior, and my personal Savior, and my Lord, and my Lord. I now receive him in my heart. Amen. Amen. Now you're saved. You're saved. Now join our church
and sign this card and come on in. Everything is just going
to be fine, just going to be fine. And we'll check up on you
every now and then, and you throw a check into us every now and
then. And you can have a church full, a roll full like that. And this is what goes on. This
is what goes on. Well, turn over to John chapter
2 with me. Many do this. Many people do. This is the methods. These are
the contrived gimmicks and methods of religionists in our day. Many people have joined these
ranks of decision makers. Look at John 2 here. Now, numbers
don't mean a thing. You say you're just saying that
because you have a small congregation. Granted. Granted. But our Lord didn't
put any stock in it, did he? He said, two or three. Two or
three. I'm going to show you that. Numbers
don't mean a thing. Generally, they mean the wrong
thing. Too many means, generally, you're
doing something wrong. You're compromising somewhere.
Somebody's here somewhere. You're scratching somebody's
back. You're compromising a truth somewhere. That man wouldn't
hear you. John 2.23. Look at it with me now. If you're
not looking at a Bible, then you have to take my word for
it, don't you? John 2.23 says, Now when
he was in Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast day, many believed
in his name, and here's the key here, when they saw the miracles
which he did. Who wouldn't see all these things?
Wow! I believe. But Jesus did not
commit himself unto them because he knew all men. He didn't need
that any should testify of man, he knew what was in man. An evil
heart of unbelief. And he said in one place, it's
recorded more than once, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign. An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign. And isn't that what our generation
is totally taken up with? Isn't that what the world is
going after? There's a man who's becoming quite famous on TV now. He's not too famous with me,
is he? Rodney Howard Brown, that's his
name. This fellow looks like Alfred
Hitchcock and walks all over the stage like that. You know,
if you've got a new gimmick, if you can come up with something
new, even if it's looking like a robot, Have you seen him? You know who I'm talking about
if you see me like that. He doesn't carry a Bible, doesn't look at
the Bible. He just walks around the stage
looking like this, saying clever things. And they're following
him by the thousands. But recently he's holding a big
thing, a big crusade, and the name of his crusade is this.
Get a load of it. The Signs and Wonders Crusade. that immediately tells me that
he's a false prophet. Our Lord said, an evil and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign, but no sign will be given. Those
that are looking for signs will get them. Isn't that what he
said to the Thessalonians? Because they receive not the
love of the truth, therefore God shall send them strong delusions,
signs, and wonders. but no sign will be given. And
the thing he sends his people that sets them free from these
things and keeps them from being taken by these false prophets
and from being caught in this false religion
and making a false profession and so forth, is truth. Truth,
we said there in our text. You shall know the truth. They'll
see signs and wonders and marvel and make a false profession.
You'll know the truth. The truth will set you free. After three and a half years
of preaching, this is what our Lord did primarily. Yes, he did
miracles, but primarily he was a preacher. The first thing he
did was come preaching. He said, I came to preach. He
said, let's go in another town to preach. He said, that's why
I came. He said, for this is the reason I came, to preach.
Go tell John's disciple that the poor have the gospel preached
unto them. That makes me the cry. I am the gospel. After three
and a half years of preaching, three and a third years of preaching, in Jerusalem, before he arose
and ascended back to the Father, in Jerusalem, a town of Hundreds
of thousands of people. Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands
of people. There were 120 people. In our day, he would have been
a failure, wouldn't he? Huh? He'd have been a failure. The Lord of Glory. Now, I'm not
talking about any man. I'm talking about the Lord of
Glory. Why? He knew what was in him. He knew what was in him. 120 disciples. Now, there were more in other
areas, but not in Jerusalem, in that center, that mecca of
religion in that day. You see, salvation involves something
more than just believing facts. Salvation, Jonah 2 says, is of
the Lord. It's a supernatural work, and
it begins on the inside, not on the outside by getting people
to do something. No, no, salvation comes when
God does something first. And it's called justification,
this thing of justification. You'll never hear the word today
in preaching, but it has something to do with this thing of justification.
That is, God Almighty declaring a guilty, hell-bound sinner.
Now, these are old-fashioned words, all right, but it's Bible
truth. You know the truth. The truth sets you free. If I
repeat that about twenty times in the course of this message,
you'll know why. It's the truth. Old-fashioned and unpalatable,
and as much as men don't like to hear this, talk about hell
and so forth, it's truth. Justification has something to
do with a holy God declaring a hell-bound, hell-deserving
sinner who's condemned, who's sentenced, who's guilty under
the law of God, has something to do with God Almighty up and
one day and saying, You're not guilty. Why? Because he turned over a new
leaf? It's not good enough. A new leaf's not good enough.
That leaf's spotty. The other side of it is just
as bad. It has something to do with a holy God declaring a man
guiltless, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's holy eyesight. Now, that's deep, isn't it? That
requires something more than a man just quitting his drinking. Justification. Justification. Requires a lot more than some
decision a man makes. Sanctification. Salvation says
something about sanctification. That is, the Holy Spirit of God
actually making a man new. Making him a new man. Changing
him. And then there's talk about repentance. They say a man's
got to repent. He can't. Romans 2 verse 4 says
the goodness of God is the only thing that will lead a man to
repentance. Right? We say, well, a man's got to
believe. That's something he does do. No, Ephesians 2 says
that's the gift of God, too. It's the work of God. It's the
supernatural work of God Almighty. Salvation is of the Lord. And
it's not just a man up and just making a decision some day. Salvation
begins with the will and decision of God Almighty. And salvation involves the work
of God in and on a man. It's a supernatural work, not
a mere acceptance of facts. You remember there in James where
he said, You believe in one God, you do well. The devil believes
in one God. The devil believes there was
a Jesus and he died on the cross for sins. The devil believes
that. It didn't save him, did it? So there were many in the Lord's
day, many in the Lord's day on the earth, that is, who professed
to believe but only saw his miracle beliefs and facts and all that.
But there were some true disciples. There were. Now, it behooves
us to know this morning, to find out whether or not we are true
disciples, doesn't it? Do you want to know? I hope there
is someone in here. I believe there is. It is important
for us to find out whether we are true disciples or not. Scripture
says we need to examine ourselves, see whether we are of the faith.
Oh, I believe, Preacher, I have faith. A girl told me that the
other day. She said, I have one thing I
believe. Does she go worship God? No.
Does she take God's name in vain? Yeah. You ever heard God accept to
take his name in vain? That's one thing I do. I believe in
God. Yeah. So does the devil. Examine yourself to see whether
you be of the faith, the scripture says, and let him that thinketh
he standeth, here I am standing before you, I profess to be a
disciple of Christ, some of you sitting there before me professing
to be disciples of Christ, let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall, lest it be found out in that day that
he is not a true disciple. Does that get your interest,
John Cheesman? It ought to. Am I a true believer? Many claim
to be. Let me say one more thing here
before we get into this verse. Many people are living in a state
of blissful contentment with their decision they've made,
with their baptism, with their church membership, with all this
They've gone through in religion, and they're very, very content,
very dogmatic that they are saved. When they couldn't tell you the
gospel from my father-in-law, I'd say, Adam's
fox, whatever that is. And I believe, and they've made
their decision and so forth and joined the church and all that
and are very content, and if you begin to question that or
say anything the contrary, they will get mad at you. And I believe
this is Satan's ploy himself. One of his tools himself is to
make people, keep people in this, you know, ignorance is bliss.
Keep them in this blissful ignorance. This is what 2 Corinthians 4
says, that the God of this world has blinded the minds of them
which believe not. Believe what? They believe on
Jesus, but they don't believe everything the scripture says.
They don't believe everything Jesus said. We'll see that in
a minute. Do I believe Jesus? No, you don't. No, they don't. The religious
people of the day wanted to kill Jesus Christ for what he said.
The ones that first said they believed on accumulating later,
didn't they? And I think this is the work
of Satan to keep people in blissful ignorance, blind their minds
to the gospel, the true gospel, keep them in a false profession.
You can't get through to people like that. Just talk to anybody. You can't
get through to anybody. They're all fixed up. They've
made a decision. They've been baptized. They don't want to
hear what you have to say. You can't get through to them. Only God can. God can. He can
take an old religious, self-righteous Pharisee who's in a false profession
of religion and turn him into a true disciple. Am I a true
believer? How do you know? What does Christ
say? Verse 31 says that Christ says, If you continue in my word,
then are you my disciples indeed." Are you listening to me? Are
you interested? I'm telling you, hell is waiting.
Heaven. Life and death. If you continue in my word, then
you are my disciples indeed. Continue in Christ's word. Well,
the first thing we need to see is who said this. Turn over to
John 12. John 12. Who's word? Just another man?
And like I said before, if all you hear this morning is me speaking,
then you might as well have gone down to the lake for the day.
Right? If that's all who we're going
to hear from this morning, let's quit now and let's get—anybody
got a boat? He's got a boat. Rick, that little
John boat, we couldn't all get in that, besides it leaks, he
told me. It leaks bad. We might as well
get up and get out of here. God's not going to speak, right? Religion, God hates that. He
hates forming a religion, meeting together in his name when the
hearts fire from it. Let's do anything but that, because
it brings judgment and condemnation on the heads of people, right? Well, what does it say here?
Who is speaking? Who is speaking? We need to hear
from God, and if Jesus is just another man, just another well-meaning
prophet or whatever, forget it. John 12, verses 48 through 50,
"...he that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath
one that judgeth him the word I have spoken, that the same
shall judge him in the last day." And I'm telling you, this generation
of people who claim to believe the Bible, the Bible is going
to rise up in judgment against them. They've got pet verses,
you know, quote John 3, 16, Romans 8, 28, and that's about it. Or
Romans 10, 13, that's about it. And reject the rest of it. Reject
Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2, Romans 9, and so forth. Reject the rest
of Romans 8 and believe verse 28. Reject Romans 8.29, for whom
he did foreknow he did predestinate. Reject that and believe Romans
8.28. And the Word of God is going
to rise up in judgment against this Bible-believing generation. He says the Word is going to
judge people in the last day. He said, I'm not, verse 49, I've
not spoken of myself. The Father which sent me, he
gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.
So everything Jesus Christ said, God said it. It's God talking. Know what he said here? It's
God talking, not just a man. It's God talking. And I know
that his commandment is life everlasting. Whatever I speak,
even as the Father said to me, that's what I speak. I'd like to go into that a little
bit, how that every word that Christ uttered, think about it,
every word he uttered was divinely ordained before the foundation
of the world. He had it hidden in his heart, didn't he, John
Davis? Had it hidden in his heart, and he spoke everything exactly
like every jot and tittle. Not one was going to pass away.
Isn't that marvelous? That's who this was now. No mere
man. All right, what did he say then?
That's who this is, it's God. It's God speaking. What did he
say? Look over at Matthew 23 with
me. Let's look at a few things he said, all right? I'll not
keep you long, we just have one service and then the fourth is
coming up and we can just kick up our heels. In the meantime,
let's lift up our hearts a little bit, God, and let's read his
word and study it and just forget about whatever. for a little
while. Let's watch with him for just
a little while, one hour, okay? Matthew 23. There's nothing wrong
with kicking up your heels. I'm going to kick. I kick every
time I get out of this pulpit. Whoopee! And then I come back
down, I say, I've got to do it again, don't I? I've got to do
it again. Matthew 23, look at verse 33. This is what our Lord is saying,
and he's talking to some more scribes and Pharisees. He's talking
to a typical Sunday-go-to-meeting crowd. These are Sabbaths. These
are your finest. These are your doctors and your
lawyers and your good citizens, your mayors, and you're just
good citizens, businessmen, owners, and they've all come to church
on Saturday morning. and to hear what the good teacher
or good master might say. Not sinners, we don't need mercy,
we don't need to hear this gospel, but we're in church. God ought
to be pleased. Look what he says here in Matthew
23, verse 33. Serpents. Here the preacher got up, man.
The preacher got up in the pulpit of Christ and looked out over
that congregation and said, You bunch of snakes. You generation
of vipers. Now, this is gentle Jesus, weak
and loud, as the Catholics like to say. He said, how can you escape the
damnation of hell? He preached hell's fire and damnation. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
all love? No, no. He looked right in the
eyes of that Sunday morning crowd, Saturday morning crowd, and said,
you're a bunch of snakes, and you're all going to hell. Now, that wouldn't get you a
crowd, would it? That wouldn't get you a crowd.
It'll get you killed. That's what it'll get you. Get
you killed. Serpents. Severe words, weren't
they? Condemnation and hell. Hell's
fire. I don't want to go up there and
preach hell's fire and damnation. The Lord Jesus Christ preached
it more than anybody else. The Lord Jesus Christ said more
about hell than he did heaven. You know that? Read it sometime. Look it up. Buy your Bible. He
said more about hell than any other person in the scriptures,
and he said more about hell than he did heaven. Why? Knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, Paul said, we persuade men. See, the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's not offering
men pie in the sky and a sweet by and by and meeting Mama and
singing hymns. That's not going to create the
fear of the Lord. The terror of the Lord, we persuade men. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, not offers of this and that and the other. And it's
the goodness of God to lead a man in repentance. That's the first
order of business, to lead a man in repentance. I don't have time to go into
that. Repentance is one being sorry
for their sin, for who they are. But our Lord preached about hell.
Look at John 14. Those were severe words, weren't
they? Put a man on TV and see how long
people listen to him. Snacks? Diapers? Man, oh man, first of all, the
TV station wouldn't let him say that. John 14, 6. Look at this. Now, those were
severe words, and he preached an exclusive message, too. John
14, 6, Christ, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
no man gets to God but by me. No man gets to God but by me. Do you hear what he's saying
there? I don't care if he's a Hindu
and how sincere he is. If he's a Muslim, how sincere
he is, how much he prays on his knees on his prayer mat and flails
his back and chants to Allah, or how many pilgrimages he makes.
If he's this or that, an Indian and real sincere, no man comes
to God but by me. It's awful narrow, isn't it?
Yes, straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, he said in
another place. And few there be that find it. But broad is
the road that leads to destruction, and wide is the gate, and many
there be that go in there. But no man comes unto the Father,
to God. Nobody's going to heaven but
by me, through me. You've got to come through me.
Boy, it's big in there, isn't it? I'm going to hear that. I'm
going to hear that kind of breath. That's exclusive. It sure is. One way, one way. Now, wait a
minute, this man is sincere down here, he believes, he's sincere,
he has his faith, and they have their faith, and we all have
our faith, and we're all going to, one Lord, one faith. No man comes unto the Father
but by me. Maybe if the Lord would just
bring home this one word this morning to somebody. No man cometh
unto the Father but how? By Jesus Christ. How's that? We'll believe on Jesus and make
you a disciple. No, that's not what he's saying there. He said,
you're not getting there but by me. I decide. He said in John 17, all authority
has been given unto me in heaven and in earth. He has given him
power, authority over all flesh, Christ said. No man gets to God
but by me. Amen. Look at John 6. Boy, that's awful
narrow and awful exclusive, isn't it? John 6, look back there. John 6, verse 44. John 6, verse 44. Are you looking
at it? If not, you'll have to take my
word for it again. That one old preacher said, he
said, if you don't have a Bible and are looking at it, I could
be reading from Sears and Roebuck catalog. and preachers today
might as well be, hadn't it? Did you hear what he said? He
said, don't murmur among yourselves, and listen to this, verse 44,
No man can come to me. Now, you can't get to God except
by me, and here he says, No man can come to me. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him." No man can come to me. He is
absolutely unable. He can't make a decision. He
can't call. He can't repent. He can't do
anything. No man can. Know what no man
can mean? Huh? Stand. You and I don't have
much education, but we know what it means when it says no man
can. Right? When I say, I say, Stan, you
cannot come up on this stage. Right? What's that mean? It means
you cannot come up here. Christ said, no man can come
unto me. Come to Christ. Once you come
to Christ, the preacher say, please, please, make a decision
for Jesus. Come on down front, decide for Jesus. No man can
come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. What does that tell you? It says
man is unable to do that. Why is man unable? Why is it
that man cannot do that? Because the scripture says, Ephesians
2 verse 1, that we are what? Dead in trespasses and sins. Lazarus, do you remember the
story? Christ came to that man who had
been in the grave a long time, four days. He was stinking, stinking. That's what the scripture says
about our self-righteousness, our little decisions for Jesus,
stinking. All our righteousness is a filthy rag, Isaiah 64 says. Christ came to the tomb with
that man named Lazarus who had been laid in the grave for four
days, and what did he say? Lazarus, won't you please accept
Jesus as your personal Savior? Lazarus, I'm here, I want to
save you, so let me. Lazarus, please, would you hear
me? Now come on, come on, Lazarus. Come on to me. If you take the
first step, I'll meet you halfway, Lazarus. Quit your stinking now
and come to me." Isn't that what he said? That's what preachers
are saying to dead sinners today, aren't they? No man can. Lazarus
couldn't. Why? He was dead. God who was manifest in the flesh,
the Father who was manifest in the flesh, who came and says,
The Good Shepherd, I have come to call my sheep. The Good Shepherd,
that was one of his sheep in the tomb, just like the rest
of his sheep are in the tomb of sin. And he came to him and
said, Lazarus! With that all-powerful voice,
the word of his power, Lazarus! Not would you, not could you,
not can you, not would you, if you let me. Come forth! Did he? You better believe it. Somebody
said if he hadn't called Lazarus' name, everybody in the grave
would have come out. So our Lord preached man's inability,
didn't he? Inability. And that's preaching
God's sovereignty to him, except the Father, which has sent me
to draw him. Who descended him to? Look down at verse 37. Who did the Father send Christ
to? Verse 37, All that the Father
shall come to me, all that the Father giveth me. Over some time,
if you want to read John 10, he said, You're not my sheep. Isn't it? He said in John 10,
he said, I'm come to call my sheep. He said, my sheep are
going to hear my voice. Why? The Father gave them to
me. Those are the ones I've come to call. Those are the ones I've
come to die for. Those are the ones I've come to save. And that's
the reason my name is Jesus, because I shall save my people,
the ones that God gave me, my sheep, I shall save them from
their sin. Every one of them, I shall save
them. I shall lay down my life, shed my blood, impute my righteousness
to them. suffer the eternal wrath of God
Almighty on their behalf, justify them holy, sanctify my Holy Spirit
to call them by the gospel, to give them repentance and faith
in me, and go back to ever live and intercede for them, I shall
do that for my sheep." He looked at some Pharisees who didn't
believe, and he said, You don't believe because you're not my
sheep. And our generation doesn't like
that either. And I hope I'm preaching this in such a way, I don't want
to preach this that you don't like the way I'm preaching it,
but this is what our Lord said. This is exactly the way our Lord
preached. Gentle Jesus, make it mine, because you're not my
sheep. Lather of God, here is God's
will. No man can come except the Father
which sent me. And he said, listen to me now.
Remember our text, John 8.31, except you continue in my words, if you continue in my disciples
indeed. Christ preached hell, damnation, exclusive message,
severe words, election, sovereignty, man's inability, didn't he? The
effectual call, the irresistibility of the Holy Spirit. Didn't he?
Sure he did. If you continue my words. If
you believe this. Do you believe this? Deborah,
do you believe this? Well, your aunt or uncle or somebody
doesn't. They despise this. Your neighbor,
people you work with and so on, they despise this. Any mention
of the word election. Why? It's Christ's word. Huh? Well, if you continue my word,
then you know my disciples did. You see that, Erlene? If you
continue to believe my word, then you're my disciple of day.
And you'll know the truth. The truth sets you free. She
says some slick evangelist comes down the road, a real good-looking,
handsome devil. That's what they are, too, aren't
they? They come along, and if you don't know the truth, Erlene,
he's going to sweep you off your feet. with his smooth tongue,
with his elegant ways and his birdie voice, smooth as a bird
voice, and the choir behind you will get to swaying, and for
a long time you will be caught up in it, and you will just be
drifted away. You are sitting down right now,
Erlene, with me, with us, before the Word of the living God, the
truth, and we are looking at what God says, what Christ said.
And the truth is setting you free from all that. It's going
to set you free. You're not going to be tossed to and fro with
every wind of doctrine. You're not going to believe every
false prophet, because Christ said, Many will come in that
day. Many false prophets. You're not going to believe them.
Why? You know the truth. Blessed are you, Roberta Sword,
if you're hearing the truth this morning. Now, you've heard it
time and time again, haven't you? Time and time again, until it's time
when you take it for granted. I'm telling you, this is the
only thing that will set you free. It will set you free. This is all these people all
over this planet who are in bondage, who are taken captive by Satan
at his will, Paul said. He said he sends the preacher
of the gospel to deliver them who are all their lives in bondage. But it takes the Spirit of God
to anoint that word, to send that word out effectually. Well,
I was going to have you turn to Luke 17, but I won't. He spoke
more of hell there. And it wasn't all love, was it?
Have I mentioned the word love yet? No. No. He spoke much of hypocrisy, he
spoke much of false religion, he spoke much of the exclusiveness
of salvation, he spoke much of man's inability, he spoke much
of God's absolute sovereignty, God's purpose, God's will, God's
election, God's judgment. They're not easy things, are
they? They're hard things. They say these are hard things.
Who can hear them? Remember that dance? Some of
the disciples said to turn around and walk no more with him, because
they said, This is hard, we can't hear this. He wasn't preaching
easy believism, was he? Hard thing. Hard thing. Right? Love? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Did he preach love? Oh, my. He's love in the flesh. God is
love. He's the love of God that said,
Love to who? All men? How would all men be
saved if they were so? Love to his people, though. God
did love the people with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness
he had drawn them. How does he draw them? By the
same gospel, by the words he had been saying. Love, yes, love,
much of love, but chiefly to his disciples. Right? love to his disciples. He didn't talk about love to
the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Sunday Sabbath crowd, did
he? No. His disciples. He gathered his
disciples around him on that Sermon on the Mount, and he said,
Now, love your neighbor as yourself. Love, this is my commandment
that you love one. See, this is family. This is family doctrine. This is family doctrine. I don't
see on anybody's face that they caught that. Religion today says
that election is family doctrine. These average Southern Baptist
preachers and all the rest of them, Methodists, they will claim
in theory to believe in election, predestination, all these hard
doctrines, but they say, Rick, that's family, that's only for
the family. Everybody ought to hear that.
It's for the family. No, no, no. Love is for the family.
Hard doctrine is for unbelievers. It's for the world. Huh? It is. It's what Christ did. You don't believe because you're
not my sheep. God didn't elect you. But love was for his disciples.
He said, this is my commandment to his disciples. You get that?
Is that not right? Am I telling you the truth? Sure
I am. You don't come to a man with
a message of love and unregenerate man. God's got to slay him. Got to kill him. Kill him in
his sin. Got to make him guilty before
God. Ask for mercy. Mercy. You don't come with love
first, you come with judgment. And then that man cries for mercy,
and then God says something about love. He got the cart before
the horse. Well, the fact is, now, he preached
on love. and all compassion and mercy
and grace and a special message to his disciples. Family doctrine,
that's family doctrine. But the fact is, all he said
now is to be received and believed. If you continue in my word, then
you're my disciple. Not what you like, not what you
think is right, not what you think is consistent. No, if you
continue in my word. Now, a few more minutes. Now listen
to this and see if this is not so. Human philosophy today, this
is what people, the way people think. Human philosophy today,
and religion, they think these, basically these two things about
the Bible. Two things about the Bible. Basically,
number one, human philosophy believes that scripture is only
true if it's reasonable with human understanding. Right? Are you following me? Human philosophy, natural men
today believe that they'll say that scripture, well, that's
true only if it's reasonable with my understanding. If I can't
figure it out, that's what Thomas Jefferson did. He took him a penknife, just
like an old king, and cut out all the miracles and everything
he couldn't reason or understand. He cut everything out of the
Bible he couldn't understand. Man, he might as well throw the
whole thing away. He can't understand anything
apart from the Spirit of God. But human reason says, Scripture
is only true if I can understand it. So stories of creation, those
are just little fairy tales, you know. A story of the Flood,
that's totally dismissed. Nobody believed in the Flood.
You know that? They don't believe in the flood. Exodus, the story of the Jews
coming from Egypt to the land of the promised land, that's
a myth. Steve, nobody believes that.
It's a myth. The Trinity and so forth. Hell? Nobody believes in that. Nobody. Hell. Can't understand that.
It's not reasonable. So it's just Jewish fable, you
know. we can understand and leave the rest. You see, human reason
is not the deciding factor of what's true, because we're dealing
with God, and nothing understandable about
God. God says, as the heavens are higher above the earth, so
are my ways and my thoughts and your thoughts and your way. We're
dealing with God. You can't know anything about
God, apart from a revelation, and some things are revealed,
but other things just have to be taken and believed. Secondly, people say that scripture
is only true scientific discovery today. If it doesn't contradict
scientific discovery, we'll believe it is fact. I may be fooled, except everything
science has concluded, wouldn't it? There was a time not too
long ago, you know, just a little over 200 years ago now, people
believed this world was flat. Scientists had concluded that
the world was flat. If they had just read their Bible,
they would have seen that God said a long time ago that God
sat on the circle of the earth. Scripture said that thousands
of years ago, the earth's round because God is sitting on it. Science has finally concluded
that the world is flat, and this is established fact. Science has concluded that evolution
is fact. I mean, it's fact, everything
you read now. your children, everything you're going to read
going throughout school is going to say, this is the origin of
the horse. The horse began 158 billion years
ago, and so forth. A man would be a fool to believe
everything science says, because tomorrow they're going to refute
everything they said today. You can count on it. They're
going to totally refute it. They're going to say, that was
wrong, we've learned better. So a true disciple believes all
that is said, not because of reason or science. But why? Because Christ said it. Look at verse 32 in our text,
and I'll close with this. I've said it many times. He said,
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. The truth shall set you free.
true disciple and believer and believes the truth, because not
only is it a revelation of God, the Holy Spirit comes, you shall
know the truth, because all the Father gives me comes to me,
the Father draws them, the Holy Spirit teaches them all truth,
and when you hear the truth, you'll know it. Isn't that right? I'm sorry, she's nodding her
head. She's in agreement. Some people, the vast majority
of the people in the world today, would hear this sermon and would
be going this way. And all I've basically done is
been reading the Bible, quoting verses of scripture. This is
the reason I give the verses that I've quoted. I say, that's
found in so-and-so. So you won't think I just made
it up. When you hear the truth, you'll
know it. Why? Because Christ said, I am the
truth. I am the truth. No gospel is
true which does not have Christ at its center. True spirit. See, everybody is
talking about the Spirit today. They're being caught up in the
Spirit. It's another It's another spirit, it's not
the Spirit of God. How do you know that, preacher? Christ said
in John 16, when the Spirit has come, he'll guide you into all
truth. He'll not speak of himself, he'll speak of who? Me. He'll take the things of mine
and show them unto you. He'll bring into remembrance
all things that I have said. He's the Holy Spirit of truth.
He'll guide you into all truth, not into waving and this and
shouting and all this and being carried up and taken away with
signs and wonders. No, he'll guide you into what? Truth. And the truth sets you free.
And when you know the truth and you hear it, you'll say, that's
the truth. And when you hear error, this
reason we don't have to necessarily preach error all the time and
say, well, this is wrong, this is wrong. Because when you hear
the truth, you'll know everything else is error, won't you? A woman
who has a musical ear, when she hears something out of key, she'll
use her man. Something's just not right about
that. You might not be able to put
your finger on it directly, but very soon you will. A piano. That piano downstairs, that old
piano downstairs, I can play that and it sounds fine to me. No, I can't really play it, but
if I could play it, it would sound fine to me, you know. When
Jeanette plays it, she says, no, it's down a key or two. It's not tuned. It's not up to
pitch. I say, I don't have the trained
ear for that. But they say it's down. It's wrong. It's not up
to pitch. You never bring it up to pitch, because it's old,
a stranger shot in the soundboard and all this and that. Well,
the person who has their heart tuned to the gospel and to the
truth, and you know the truth, whatever you hear, you'll say,
if it's not the truth, if it's not Christ-centered, if it's
not giving God all the glory, you'll know it. Right? You hear
these preachers preach, and I could give example after example, and
what they're saying sounds good, but there's something just not
right there. What is it? They're not giving God all the
glory. They're getting the glory. Though the words out of their
mouth might be orthodox and true and correct and doctrinal, something's
not right." Why? God's not getting the glory here.
That man is. And they're preaching the gospel,
and it may sound right, but something's just not right there. Why? It's
not the saving of Christ. It's doctrine. He said, you know,
the truth. The truth is such a great Christ.
Christ is in it. Christ, Christ, Christ. A pastor one time said to him
one day, and she was derided him, came up to him and said,
All you preachers are Christ, Christ, Christ. Gospel, gospel, gospel. She said,
I've got it right here written down. That's all you preach.
I heard a woman say that about a pastor of this church. About
all he knows, all he preaches is Christ. Well, you know the truth, and
it sets you free. You won't go chasing rabbits.
You won't spend all Sunday talking about the sixth seal in Revelation. You'll see that the spirit testimony
of Jesus is a spirit prophecy. If you know that Christ is all,
What else is there? If Christ is all, what does that
make everything else? Nothing. Nothing, right? Christ, Christ,
Christ. Men and women need to hear Christ,
don't they? You need to hear Christ, don't
you? Sure you do. That's what saved your soul,
if indeed you are a disciple of his, and that's what you want
to hear. You say, You come to that conclusion, oh, I want to
know this, I want to know that, yeah, but oh, I want to know
Him, you see. I want to be conformed to Him.
I want to walk like Him. I want to talk like Him. I want
to be growing grace in the knowledge of Him. I want to study Him,
Him, Him, Him. Christ, Christ, Christ. Come
back again Wednesday night and we'll endeavor to preach the
exact same thing. Why? It's the truth. Christ is the
truth. It sets you free. You won't go
looking for a church. I hear people say, We're looking
for a church. I'm not looking for a church. I'm looking for
the truth. There's a church everywhere. You can go to church here, you
can go to church there. I'm looking for somewhere where Christ is exalted, where
God is proclaimed, where sinners can hear about salvation. That's
what I'm looking for. How about you? Tell me the truth. I'm looking for truth, not just
a good place to raise my kids, not a place that has programs
for my kids. Right? Not a nice elaborate sanctuary
where we can feel comfortable and hear a nice choir. I want
the truth. If we have to meet in a shelter
house on a dirt floor, I want the truth, because the truth
will set me free. All right? All right. Stand with me. May the Lord take something that's
said from this Take this right here. You can
take one word that I've said today and break the hardest heart. Convince the unconvincible. Can
it? Make a person unable to resist
who resisted all their life the truth. Let's ask him to bless
the Word. Dear Lord, we do ask you, we
call upon you once again to make the truth and hearts and minds of the people. But you take it and set someone
free, our young people, free from being conformed and taken
up with this world and free from going the path of all flesh and
all of us and others who Lord, all of us, set us free
from ourselves, from our sin and from error, from this wicked
and perverse generation that is seeking after a sign in so
many things. Lord, keep us under the sound
of the truth. We need to be under this gospel
at all times. May you supernaturally draw us
and bring us to hear this truth, even if we don't understand Even
if we don't have a particular desire to hear it, Lord, keep
bringing us by your power, and we trust that someday you will
begin this work in us, everyone in here, perhaps. Make this a
savor of life unto life, not death unto death, the word that
you preach. You said that the Word will judge
us some day. Lord, let not the truth that
we heard rise up in judgment against us, but may it be planted
in our hearts and rise up as salvation, the savor of life
unto life and them that hear it. I pray that, Lord, and I
have a burden and a wish and a desire and a hope for these
people, Well, Lord, you know your people,
you know them, and we pray that in your good time you might make
this gospel truly, truly the love and rejoicing of their heart
in Christ their Lord and Master. In Christ's blessed name, we've
met together. Thank you, Lord, for the truth,
for the gospel. In his blessed name, we've met
together. Amen.