This morning we're going to start
in John chapter 8 this morning, if you would turn with me. And
we're going to call this, this morning, Free Indeed. Free Indeed. Mike, when he closes
his messages a lot of times we'll quote parts of a couple of verses
from John that says, he says, be free. And we're going to read
a couple of portions and we're going to see a little bit of
what that means today. So in John chapter 8, we're going
to start reading at verse 28. John 8, 28. It says, then Jesus said unto
them, when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye
know that I am he, 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 do always those things that please him. And as he spake
these words, many believed on him. Then Jesus said 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. They answered him, we be
Abraham's seed, and we were never bondage to any man. How sayest
thou you shall be made free? Jesus answered them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, whoever commit a sin is the servant of
sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but
the son abideth forever. If the son, therefore, shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. And verse 36. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. And they, above there, and they
said they had never been servant to any man. Well, we know that
they were several times that we have record of that God delivered
them from bondage, physical bondage, several times. Turn to, to Romans chapter 8
again, chapter 8 of Romans, and a couple of verses, and then
we're going to look at a couple other, several other places this
morning. Romans chapter 8, starting with verse 2. Let's start with verse one of
chapter eight of Romans. It says, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." And
it goes down in this, as it goes on, Paul speaks a lot about the
difference between the flesh and the Spirit, and what natural
man is like. But here, them that are in Christ
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." And down here
in verse 4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. And
that the freedom that that is speaking about, and that in John
there, and we're gonna see some other examples in some other
places that tie into that thinking, that spiritually free, not physically
free, we're gonna have problems. I have a neck that has been killing
me for a week, and it's finally easing up a little bit. I just
assumed that that was taken care of, in Christ Jesus, all physical
ailments are not necessarily taken care of. They will eventually
be taken care of in the hope we have, but the spiritual healing
is the important and the necessary part of it. We saw the Lord himself
in the scriptures that he has healed many people from physical
ailments. and spiritual ailments. And as
a picture of the spiritual, that he has to do that healing. And
I think more times than not, if not all of the times that
he healed somebody physically, there was a spiritual healing
that was with that. And it wasn't just, I'm gonna
fix a broken arm and so this guy's fine. There was more to
the stories that we have record of. and many that we don't have
any record of at all, of all the many things that the Lord
did. And then turn to the book of
Galatians, and if anybody needs to And it needs to know the connection
between the flesh and the spirit. We have quite a record of many
books that say it's not the flesh, it's the spirit, and that it
needs the healing. And in chapter 5, Galatians chapter
5, starting with the first verse. Now, above
here in Galatians, it speaks about the two sons, and the one
of the free woman, one of the bond woman. We say we're not
of the bond, we're of the free if we are in Christ, that we
are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free in the spiritual realm. And it says
here in chapter 5, verse 1 of Galatians, stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherein Christ has made us free. And be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that
he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. Ye are
fallen from grace, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love."
And here it says, stand fast, therefore, after what he said
in chapters 1, 2, and 3, and 4. in the liberty wherein Christ
hath made us free." And he goes on, and we have many records
of the ones in the New Testament
particularly that look to the law for what they needed to finish
up their religion. They And those that turned away
from what Christ had taught and what the disciples and what the
different ones had taught, they came along with some of that,
but then it comes in. And it comes back in to the legal
part of it. And that is prevalent all through
history that we have record of in our own day, that by the keeping
of some law, Whatever it is, you take it that that's going
to add something to our position. And if we are free in Christ,
indeed, it says here. stand fast in the liberty wherein
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage." And he starts out here in, go over to the first
chapter of Galatians. And he's speaking to the believers
at Galatians. In Galatians, it says here in
verse 3, chapter 1 of Galatians, and down a few verse, grace be
to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus
Christ. who gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
to another gospel. which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you than which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I again, if any man preach any other gospel
to you than you have received, let him be accursed." Now, what
he's talking about here is removed from Christ, and it says, called
to another gospel, which is not, but some would pervert the gospel
of Christ. You need to have something else. We have Him, and He's great,
and He's our Redeemer and our Savior, but there's some other
things here that we have to take care of. That is not true. And as he says here, I marveled
that you've turned from this. And if the freedom that we have
is indeed in Christ, everything else, it says in another place,
it says, we can beggarly elements that you want to add into the
best thing that God could provide and does provide to his people,
and yet you want to do that. And he says, As it is said down here, there's
no condemnation in chapter eight of Romans again, which are in
Christ Jesus, who walked not after the flesh, but after the
spirit. Anything that we add to it is just, Paul said, he
said, when he was talking to more than one occasion, and he
says, You've kept the law. You say you've kept the law and
you're doing pretty well, but he said, you think you've done
it? He said, whatever you say you've done religiously, I've
done better than you have. I've done it to a higher degree.
I've done it more completely. And he said, and it is all done.
He said, there's nothing in it. And there's nothing in it, in
religion. And God's people can attest that,
that have been in religion, a form of religion, that there's nothing
to it. You go away feeling no different
than you did before. There's nothing to it if it is
not from God himself. Turn to chapter 3 of John. We're going to be at several
places in John and chapter 3 of John. We're going
to read a little bit of this, starting with chapter 3, verse
1 of John. And quite a passage through here
for several verses that the Lord is speaking that is wonderful
section and wonderful words of our Lord are all wonderful words
that he has to say, but so misapplied, misconstrued and misunderstood
and just plain abused over time by religion that, um, There's
some verses that you kind of shy away from, almost, because
they've been so abused, but they're a wonderful passage. And we're
going to read down, starting with verse 1. It says, There
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him,
How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but can't tell whence it cometh
and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
And stop just for a second here, up above where he says, verse
six, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the spirit is spirit. That any type of religious life
if it's born from the flesh and Most of us have been in a position
where somebody said, you know They waved their hands on it
just right or whatever and said yeah, you're a believer that
That doesn't cut it if if the Lord himself and the Spirit has
not redeemed us if it's not of the Spirit it's of the flesh
and And it is not You can't enter the kingdom of God, it said,
if it's of the flesh. So anything that's added to it,
and this is said many times from this pulpit, that if there's
anything added to the Lord and the salvation it provides, it's
not another gospel, it is just plain, it's of the flesh and
it's of no value. And I think Paul, when he said
that and the things he went through, I think he was very sincere in
his religion. I think he was a go-getter and I think he meant
sincerely to do well, up to the point that it was, you know,
having people in prison and watching them being killed and stuff.
And he thought he was doing God a favor, purging some of these
heretics and whatever. And the Lord met him, or he rather
met the Lord on that trip he was taking and had his eyes open
to that. And from that time on, he realized
and knew that All he had before was nothing. It was done, as he said. Back
to here in John 3, verse 10 again. Jesus answered and said, Art
thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things? Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that
we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told
you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe it
if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
man which is in heaven." And as Moses lifted up the servant
in the wilderness, even so the son of man must be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. And we've been along some of
those lines in several messages and sermons lately about those
in the wilderness when they were, the fiery serpents were set and
bit them and killed many of them. And Moses was told to make a
bronze serpent and hold that up. And if they looked at it,
they would live. And I'm sure that there were those that believed,
looked, and lived. And there were those that said,
how is that going to make a difference? There were those who just said,
not for me. And they were bit and died. In
that same—in that manner, as it says, as the Son of Man must
be lifted up, whoever believeth in Him should not perish but
have eternal life. And that looking up can only
be done and caused by God. It's not of our own self. We're
going to say, I see no earthly good in that. If you tell somebody
the gospel about man, sin, the nature of sin, and what it took
for God to redeem his people, they'd say, that don't make any,
it makes no sense. And in an earthly reasoning and stuff, it makes
no sense. flesh cannot understand spirit. He says, if it's not
revealed to you, you can't understand it. It makes no sense. And then,
should not perish, in verse 15, have everlasting life. And then,
verse 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. And a lot of times that one verse
is taken out, the verse 16 is taken out there and say, oh,
you say these things and you are good to go. And it says here, In verse 18 starting, if they
would read down a little ways, there's some caveats to that.
It's not just take that verse and use it wherever it looks
good. Verse 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned. But
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this
is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that
doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest,
that they are wrought in God. And that will be the record.
Not only does God the Spirit, as he talked to Nicodemus over
here and here, cause that light, that life to be there, but that's
going to be the record that's given by his people is where
it came from. There's not going to be any one
of His redeemed that say, yeah, I went along with the plan, and
then I did these things over here, and this kind of tipped
the scale type of thing or something, or added to. There's not going
to be anything that added to, and as we've seen, The outworking
of anything that can be considered good or honoring to God or anything
in that realm is because of life that was given and the outworking
of the life that was given not to get anywhere. It's going to
be the other way around when, as it says in Ezekiel, when I
put a new heart in you, In Ezekiel, we've been there many times,
favorite passages, when I put a new heart in there, then you're
going to know what you were like. You can't know what you're like.
You have no concept of what condition you're in by nature. And he says,
then when I do that and open your eyes, you're going to loathe
what you are and who you were. You're going to be a different
person. You're going to see some things that you didn't see before.
And it's not as perpetrated mostly in John
3, 16, but yeah, I believe. And so everybody's happy and
grins from then on. That often time when God works
with his people is, and it's been said that Believers say I was a better.
I was a better Christian before I was saved than I was afterwards
because before I was fat and happy and didn't know the difference
and and As he says equal says up you then you'll know and until
then you cannot know and you cannot you cannot know and you
cannot be free from from From the death that's there born again, born from above.
And like I say, this chapter three of, and this part of John
chapter three has been so abused because they don't take, people
don't read the before and the after that Christ is talking
to this man and revealing In speaking to him, what spiritual
life is, what it must be, and it's not a formula, you go down
to 316, read that, and you're good to go. There's a lot more
to it than that, that oversimplifies it. It is a true verse, just
as 15 above it says pretty much the same thing. It's a true verse,
but it's true in how it's how it's said and how it's read.
And it's not just. There's more to it than than
that verse alone. Signifies. Turn to John Chapter 17. We just spent a few times with
Brother Wayne in Chapter 17. Wonderful, wonderful passage
there called High Priestly Prayer, Christ's prayers. to the Father
for the church and for his people that he has been given, and not
prayer as we would pray for the church to God from our position,
but him as the true Son of God, eternal, everlasting God of God, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
He is he is what he's saying is. Happening and happens. And has has always been there
that he is his. People, the church that the people
he was given have always been on. his mind and heart, to use
analogies that we know in that way, and has never not had the
church's interest in welfare and redemption. in mind and in
action. And it's not, his high priestly
prayer is not wishful thinking, or as we think of prayer a lot
of times, we'll throw it out there and maybe we'll see what
happens. That's not the, that's not this,
it's a very, as Wayne said, a very comforting chapter to God's people.
that this is his thinking and his attitude and relationship
with the church, and it is just wonderful to God's people. It
says, and I'd like to read just the first few verses to start
with. It says, These words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
And here, in these verses here, a couple of things that he should
give eternal life to as many as the Father has given him.
It's not that some of those will be saved or we'll see what happens.
All those that were given by the Father to the Son, He does
give and should give and will give eternal life to as many
as He was given. And eternal life is that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent." And this is what, as he was speaking to Nicodemus,
this is the operation that only the Spirit of God can do, and
to reveal those things to his people. And without those knowing
those things and having been revealed those things, all the
other religious aspects have no bearing on it if those things
are not true, if we do not know him. Let me read just a little bit
farther down, starting with verse 4 again. It says, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, Father, Glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that
all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and that they
have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine,
and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father.
Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are." Not much comment or explanation
needed for what is said here. It's pretty plain. He reveals by his spirit, he
reveals himself to his people, he reveals them, and that Part of the comfort of this is
that He said, keep them through Thy own name whom Thou hast given
Me. And it's a real comfort and it's
a real, as Wayne said, joy to His people
here and here Keep in mind what we're looking at over, what we
looked at over in John chapter 8, where he says, you shall be
free indeed in him. That's the only true freedom
that we can have is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Two places in Acts. Turn to the
book of Acts. Just two places that Acts chapter
4 to start with. Okay. Peter is speaking up above here. Speaking of the Lord himself,
it said, Be it known unto you all, and
to all, verse 10, all the people of Israel, that by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you
whole, the one that was healed. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved." And here, speaking of our Lord, Peter, a couple of
times in his sermons that we have here in Acts, and Stephen
were bold, and he told them, The Jewish crowd there, they'd
recount some of the history and said, this is the one that was
prophesied of, that was told that was coming, that did come,
you crucified him, the Lord of glory. This was the only hope
you had. And this was what become of it. And a couple of times,
some of them, God used that to prick their hearts and to reveal
himself to them. A couple other times, like Stephen's
last sermon, didn't get quite that kind of a reception from
them. But nonetheless, that is the
case. None other name given among men
whereby we must be saved. And it's not just as most religion
will stamp his name on it, just because it's a catchword more
than it is anything else, that His name, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and there's a lot of religious organizations that have His name
and use it in vain because they're not using it correctly, they
don't know Him and don't understand what it's speaking about. and
he's the only one that that freedom that we're speaking about, and
we'll mention one more time before we finish, that's the only place
and the only one that that is in. And then turn to Acts chapter
10. Acts chapter 10. Okay, this is Peter's visiting
Cornelius and having a talk with him about a few things. And it
starts out in chapter 10. I start with verse 34. It says, then Peter opened his
mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons,
but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is
Lord of all. That word, I say ye know, which
was published for all Judea and began from Galilee after the
baptism, which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good
and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with
him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both
in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and
hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day
and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with
him after he rose from the dead. and he commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of quick and dead. To him give all the
prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins." Again, only him, and
through him all that the prophets had to say was about that, was
that the deliverance they had in Egypt, when they were getting
ready, the night before they left Egypt, Passover was, lamb
was slaughtered and the blood was applied. That wasn't just
a physical symbol, just getting them out of jail free card or
something. That was a picture of the Lord
himself. And there were those, of that group that understood
some of that. Not many of them, but there were
some that understood that that sacrifice they were sacrificing
wasn't just a formality and a religious duty to do, but that it was a
picture indeed of their Redeemer and the the only one that could
make them truly free, not physically free only, but as they were going
to be physically free, but spiritually alive and the freedom that only
he can give to his people. In John 15, it says, just a couple
of verses here, 26 and 27, it says, but the Comforter
is, when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from
the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeded from the
Father, he shall testify of me. And ye shall also bear witness,
because ye have been with me from the beginning. But when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, shall
testify of me. as all the law and the prophets
all testified of Him, and do testify of Him, and the Spirit
that was going to be sent, that's who He was going to testify of.
Not Himself, not of any other one, but of the Lord Himself. And then, just to stop in chapter
16, right next door there, starting with verse 13, and not to minimize the in-between,
but just a couple of points here. It says, how be it, verse 13,
when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into
all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to
come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine. Therefore sayeth I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you." The doing of the Spirit
here. And then, turn to Mark chapter 5. We've got to stop by here. We've got to stop by Mark chapter
5. Okay. Start with the first three verses
here, chapter five. We know this story. It's a wonderful
story. And as they came over the other
side of the sea under the country of the Gadarenes, and when he
was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs,
a man with an unclean spirit who had his dwelling among the
tombs and no man could bind him. No, not with chains. And then we're going to read, start
with verse 15. And they come to Jesus and see
him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting
and clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And they that saw it told how
it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning
the swine. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coasts. And when he was come into the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that
he might be with him. Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not,
but said unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how
great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion
on thee. And he departed and began to
publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him,
and all men did marvel. And when Jesus was passed over
again by ship to the other side, much people gathered under him,
and he was nigh unto the sea. A couple of points here. This
man, the demon-possessed man of Gadara, a true picture of
what man is like by nature. It couldn't be held with chains.
They couldn't bind him. He just cried all the time in
the tombs and the mountains and cutting himself and all the different
things that he had in these unclean
spirits that he put into the swine, and we know that part. But after the Lord had met with
him, in verse 15 it says, and they come to Jesus to see him
that was possessed of the devil, and had the legion sitting and
clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those three things, or four things,
he was possessed of the devil, they went to see what we can't
chain this guy down. Let's see what happened to him."
They were not expecting what they saw, I would dare say. And
what they saw was he was sitting and clothed and in his right
mind, and the picture of the truly what the Spirit does when
it regenerates a man. It changes a person. And before,
no rest, no peace of mind, no true peace of mind or spirit
that can be had, and not clothed with righteousness, anything
that we do, as Paul said, is not clothing, and in his right
mind. And that As said in John chapter 8, if
the sun shall make you free, then you shall be free indeed.
And with that, be free. Thank you.