If you wanna follow along, I'm
gonna be in John chapter eight. John chapter eight. And I'm gonna begin reading in
verse 27. John chapter eight, verse 27. They understood not that he spake
to them of the Father. 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 spoke
these words, As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are
ye my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. I'm gonna try and preach. My
title, Paul, is If Ye Continue. If ye continue. We've been talking
about this and around this and mentioning this and Walter's
mentioned it and I've mentioned it several times and I really
like this verse. I do. I'm not going to go into that.
I'll go into that maybe later here. In verse 28, Jesus spoke
to him. And many believed on his word.
Many believed on him. Amazing statement. Amazing statement. The world doesn't know what a
miracle it is that anyone believes Jesus Christ. Because the world
doesn't know, you said this morning on the TV, you with uncircumcised heart
and ears, what did Stephen say? Do always resist the Holy Ghost. That's the way the natural man
reacts to the gospel. You understand, the gospel is
the power of God to everyone that believeth. The gospel is
not the power of God to unbelievers. The power of God the unbelievers
need is Christ's voice speaking to them. And the dead shall hear
his voice and those that hear shall live. Then you can hear the gospel.
Anyway, I'm not gonna quite go into that. But as he spake these
words, and what were those words? He said, when you have lifted
up the Son of Man, then shall you know. Know what? I am. I am. The fulfillment of
the life of Christ is shown on the cross. The Son of Man shall be lifted
up. You want to know why I said that?
Because Jesus Christ said it. He said, this is the Father's
will. John 3.14 put it this way, Christ's
words. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Now, I remember David, McCollum
telling me years ago about an idiot. You want to know why I
call him an idiot? Because he is one. Or he was
one. He's dead now, I'm sure. David had heard the fella say,
if I'd have been there, I'd have stopped that crucifixion. Oh
no, you wouldn't. First point. It's all right. You understand, anybody that
actually tried to stop the crucifixion, God had killed him. Because this
was the purpose of God. This was the purpose of Christ.
For this hour came I into this world. And the Son of Man must
be lifted up. So I'm sorry if you thought you
could stop the crucifixion or if you thought you should have
stopped the crucifixion. You're an idiot. And that's just
all there is to it. It may not be polite, but it's
the truth. The Son of Man must, must be lifted up. Then those
with eyes that see, those of circumcised heart and ears, you
shall see. You shall see that I am. Oh, I like this. What did he
say to them? The Father hath not left me alone.
He is with me. He is with me. For I do always
those things which please him. Now understand, the world doesn't
understand that that's the only person who could truthfully make
that statement. Jesus Christ is the only one
who always did what the Father wanted. Oh. He was the only one who could
do those things that please the Father. Jesus Christ was and is perfect. Perfect God, perfect man. He always loved God with all
his heart, his mind, his soul, and his strength. No one else has ever come close.
Not even close. You understand, we're coming
to that time of year, this is, whatever this is, December what,
11th, 12th? I don't know, it doesn't matter.
I'm starting to see happy birthday Jesus signs up. Now it's true,
it is true that what? A child was born. And at the
same time, the son was given. He was born in perfection and
he was given in perfection. And he lived upon this earth
in complete, I'm gonna use the word, submission to the will
of the Father. He always did that which pleased
the Father. Whatever the Father gave him
to do, he did. What's this? John 536. But I have greater witness than
that of John, for the works which the Father hath given me to finish,
the same works that I do. And that that I do bears witness
of me that the Father sent me. Then Jesus Christ spoke again
to those Jews which believed on him. I think sometimes we get a little feedback, negative feedback,
if you wanna put it that way, when you tell people that the
Bible was not written to unbelievers. Understand what I'm saying? We
have to place a great deal, and correctly so, we try to place
a great deal of concern on the context of the scripture. Who
was talking to who? What are we talking about? We
look at the letters from the Apostle Paul, and we look and
see who he wrote them to. He wrote them to the saints that
were at Ephesus. He did not write them to the
heathen in Istanbul. He wrote them to the saints in
Ephesus, the churches at Corinth, wherever he would, there was
a specific address, and he uses words like we, and us, and you,
and he is very particular about who he is talking about and who
he is talking to. The Lord Jesus Christ did the
same thing, and here it is. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him. Now, what did Jesus say right
here to the Jews who didn't believe on him? Absolutely nothing. Not here. Not here. This is a
direct address to those which believe. And John wrote it down
for us so that we knew. You understand, Jesus Christ
doesn't talk to everybody. I know that's a foreign statement
today in this day and age. And if you're watching this on
TV or streaming, I can't explain it to you. It says what it means
and it means what it says. Then Jesus said to those Jews
which believed on him, he himself had a message for believers and
believers alone. You understand, All through his
ministry, you can look in the other scripture, look at the
parables. He explained those parables,
some of them, to his disciples. He said things and taught things
to his disciples. He did not teach to the multitudes. Now he did say this to the multitudes
after his preaching sometimes and after a parable sometimes.
He said this, he that hath ears to hear, Let him hear. Let him hear. What about the
ones that don't hear? Well, they're not gonna hear. I mean, how blatant, how simple
can you get? If you got ears to hear, you
can hear. If you don't have ears to hear,
you're not gonna hear no matter what is said. And here's the
thing, even if the Lord of glory is speaking to you, if you don't
have ears to hear, you're not gonna hear. and they proved it
when they tried to kill him several times. But the word here, he says, this
is what he said to those Jews which believed on him, if ye
continue. Now the word here, continue,
I looked it up, it means to dwell, to live there, to abide there. And here's another word that
I like, to endure. If ye continue means to endure.
This is where you live, this is where you are. And here's
the thing, this is where you wanna be. This is where you want
to be. But that bit about enduring always
sound familiar to me. Matthew 10 and 22 puts it this
way, Christ speaking, and ye shall be hated. Another cheerful
gospel message. Ye shall be hated of all men,
for my name's sake. But, he that endureth to the
end, what? Shall be saved, shall be saved. Walter and I had talked about
this years, I mean, you know, back when we first started talking.
because I'd heard, you know, I was new to this Christian stuff,
Mason, to believing. I was, I'm seriously, excuse
me, I was new and green as grass. And I didn't know and then I
found out that people thought you could be saved and then you
could be lost. And then you could be saved and
then you could be lost and you could be saved and you could
be lost. And I looked at Walter, I said, well, you know it says,
he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And
he said it here a couple weeks ago, I'm gonna say it again.
Sounds like they're talking about enduring at the end. You just hope that you're saved
when the end comes. Because you don't lose it before
it gets here. No, Christ said, you gotta endure to the end.
Now, he's gonna keep you. He's never
gonna leave you. He's never gonna forsake you.
Anyway, because here's the thing. If ye continue to continue is
to continue, is to keep on. Like I said, this is where you
live. This is where you want to live. This is where you want
to dwell. Believers want to continue. Believers want to abide, to live
here, not only with him, but in him. In him. Because I'm gonna
tell you something that I found out years ago and I've never
found anything to make me think any different. There is no better
place to be than at the feet of Jesus Christ. At his feet. Because at his feet, now here,
I'll use the word again, that's a place of submission. You understand? The prayer he told us to pray
was not my will, but thine be done to the Father. Submission
of what I want, because what he wants is far better. Yes,
this is, you know, God's thoughts are not our thoughts. You know
why? They're good. My thoughts are not good. Occasionally
I might get lucky and stumble upon a good thought, but generally
it's because it's in the scripture. But that's the thing. That's
where I wanna be, at the feet of Christ. A place of supplication,
a place of submission. Continue. Where were you yesterday? Where are you today? Where do
you wanna be tomorrow? Where do you want to be this
afternoon? Tonight. Continue. But here's the thing
that kind of struck me when I was reading this. Because it tells
you where. If ye continue. Three words. In my word. And I thought, that struck me,
Mason. That struck me. If ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. Now, before I get into
in my word, I wanna get into the negative. I do this sometimes. Because I know what other people
say out there. And if you wanna, nah, don't. But I wanna talk
to you about three things that Jesus Christ doesn't say here.
The first thing is this. Jesus Christ does not say, if
ye continue in my walk. He says, in my word, in my word. Now, Jesus Christ walked. He
lived his life on this earth perfectly, perfectly. His walk is perfect. He never
strayed in his walk. He never made a misstep. Jesus
Christ never made a wrong turn. I must need to go through Samaria. Jews didn't go to Samaria. Jesus
Christ did. You know why? Because he must.
He must. Oh my. Jesus' walk was always
straight. And our walk, at best, is wandering. We go willy nilly. You know that old, poster they
have, one set of footsteps in the sand. How come there's only
one set? Well, then I carried you. Well,
I'm going to tell you something. When he carries you, that's the
only time you walk straight, is when he's doing the walking.
Because we can't walk straight. I mean, I'm not going to tell
you some of the wrong turns I've been down. But you understand,
he never made a misstep. He never made a wrong turn. Jesus
Christ never stood up when he was supposed to be standing,
or sitting. He never sat when he was supposed
to be standing up. Our walk is crooked at best. We stumble, we trip, we fall. But thanks to him, we are not
utterly cast down. And the bad part is, if we trip,
sometimes, if we're not careful, we can trip somebody else up.
Our own walk. Jesus Christ's walk was perfection. Whenever he was dealing with
the Pharisees, whenever he got angry at those fellas in the
temple and planted a cord, made a whip, made a cord and drove them out
of the money changers and overturned their tables and run them out
and said, you've made my father's house a house of merchandise.
He was doing exactly and perfectly right at that moment. His anger
at that moment was a holy anger. It was a perfect anger. I can't
do that. I can get angry, but it ain't
perfect. And usually I'm angry at the wrong things when I should
be angry at myself. Or I am angry at myself and I'm
lashing out at somebody else. Jesus Christ never did any of
that. His walk was perfect. You understand? Here's a miracle that the world
will not recognize. I'm gonna tell you this right
now. Jesus Christ always said the right thing at the right
time and to the right person. That's a miracle. Because you
know what our tongue is? Our tongue is an unruly member. If I could walk straight, my
tongue would still get me in trouble. But Jesus Christ said don't,
he didn't say continue in my walk. The second thing he didn't
say is if you continue in my works. We can't do his works. I mean, that's just flat out.
This man, this God-man, was, is, and always shall be prophet,
and priest, and king. You understand? His works are
not ours to perform. But here's this. His works are
ours to receive. How do you receive them? The
only way you can. He gives them. He gives them. He gives it. God has made him
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Oh, I like that. His works are
to be received. He gives us his works as prophet,
priest, and king. Understand, he healed the sick. He healed lepers, made them whole. gave sight to the blind, raised
the dead. He fed thousands in one afternoon. The apostles did some of that
occasionally. We have it in the record for
the establishment of the church. But the apostles are gone now.
And here's the thing, Jesus Christ did that stuff every day. We
don't know half of what he did while he was here. We just have
a little portion, like from about here to here in this book, is
when Jesus Christ walked on this earth. You understand there's
like eight or nine chapters in John, whatever, six or seven
chapters in John, that's one night. From Passover to getting
taken to Pontius Pilate. One night, we got five or six
chapters. What happened? We don't know
what all he did. All we know is that he did what
the father told him to do. And he did it perfectly. His
works were perfect. He did it every day. Matter of
fact, he spoke and it was done. I can't imagine something like
that. The third thing is this, Jesus Christ does not say, if
ye continue in my way. He's the way. He's the way. Oh, I like that. The way of Jesus
Christ is Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes under the Father
except by me. He is the way. The way is singular. There's only one way. We can't continue in his way.
He's the way. He is our way. We live and move
and have our being, have our very existence in him. He's the way. So that's the three things. He
didn't say, continue in my walk, my works, or my way. What he
does say is, if ye continue in my word. And I look, that is the word
logos. So how do we continue in his word? his word. Well, the first thing
I want to give you is this. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. What's it
say there? Rightly dividing the word of
truth. That's one way you continue in
his way. Study to show thyself approved. Now it doesn't say
you study to get yourself approved. No, you're just showing that
you are approved. Study, dwell, continue in my
word. Why should we study though? What's
it say? Divide the word of truth. To divide is word. rightly divide the word of truth. That's the key word. You understand,
we're surrounded on every side. Well, hello there. We're surrounded
on every side by people that are dividing the word of truth,
but they're not doing it rightly. They're not doing it correctly.
There's a lot of dividing that is not right. You understand,
I've heard people and they're still out there.
There's a lot of verses of scripture that are just completely ignored.
They act like they're not there. I challenge you to go to a free
will Baptist church to hear a sermon on Romans nine. You're not gonna
find one. And I'll tell you this, we'll
get to it in a little bit, you're not gonna find a good one, I
can tell you that much. There are verses that are explained
away. Oh, well that doesn't mean that. And then there are these,
there are verses where just a certain part, whether it be a phrase
or just in this, I'm gonna give you an example here. Two words,
removed out of the verse. And repeatedly removed out of
the verse by different people. Here's the verse, I'll give you
this one. Because this one you all probably know. 2 Peter 3
and 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. Now, very quickly, I've seen
this written in books multiple times by different people. They'll
put it in there, and then they use those four little dots. It's
called an ellipsis. But what it's trying to tell
you is we're leaving something out of the verse. You know, for
like, oh, to make it shorter, sometimes you leave out a whole
phrase because you're not dealing with that. You're dealing with
the first part of it. What they leave out is two words here,
two us word. And the reason they leave it
out is this. What Peter wrote here is that
the Lord is not long-suffering to everybody. He's long-suffering
toward us. And that us is believers. That's
who Peter was writing to. But it gets left out. I'm seriously,
I have seen it six or eight times in six or eight different books.
Or six or eight different parts of different books. They leave
that part out. Because in 2 Peter 3 and 15 it
says this. count the long-suffering of our
Lord is salvation. He's long-suffering to us-ward.
He's long-suffering toward us. Not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. There's all kind of ways to divide
the word of truth, and it's not right. Because I've heard person
talking about Romans 9 verse 13 As it is written Jacob have I
loved and Esau have I hated And I heard now not in person. It
was on a tape on a recording. I heard it on a recording I had
a person say this well God doesn't hate anyone don't pay any attention
to that I'm telling you something right
now, okay, that's a prime example of not rightly dividing the word
of truth. Because that's what it says.
Jacob have I loved and he have I hated. And not only that, Paul
was quoting it from the Old Testament. It's not like something Paul
made up out of fresh air. But this fella, and I'm seriously,
God doesn't hate anyone, don't pay any attention to that. Now
that was a gist of it, he may have said it a little different
way, but said that can't be right. Study to show thyself approved. That's a workman unto God. It needs not to be ashamed. Rightly
dividing the word of truth. Oh my. If ye continue, what? In my word. In my word. Rightly dividing the word of
truth. Paul also tells us in 2 Timothy 4 and 2, he says, preach
the word. Preach the word. Be instant in
season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering
and doctrine. Preach the word. His word, my
word. If ye continue in my word, preach
the word. To continue in his word is also
to preach the word, to study. What is Mark 16 and verse 15? And Christ said, and he said
unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Preach the word. Continue in
my word, if ye continue in my word. Written and spoken, my word,
if ye continue in my word. Reading, studying, speaking,
and listening to my word, if ye continue in my word. After
all that reading studying speaking and listening Do it again Continue
do it again continue what? Search the scriptures to see
if these things be so That's what the Bereans did they were
more noble than some others search the scriptures to see if these
things be so I Read that to you Jacob have I loved but he saw
have I hated is that in the Bible? I'm telling you something, I
know the excuses. I know where they try to explain
that one away. Well, Esau, I have loved less. Well, if you look
at it and you study it, it says he hated them. I mean, that's just what it says.
It says what it means and it means what it says. What does
it also say? Search the scriptures and see
if these things are so, and try the spirits, whether they are
of God. What am I saying? Continue, if
ye continue in my word. Continue. Then it says, Christ
said, ye are my disciples. Indeed, indeed. And he says,
you understand, he doesn't say you will be or you can be, no,
he says you are. If you continue in my word, you
are. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. I like that. You understand everything
Christ says. If you continue in his word,
you are my disciple. What? My student, my learners,
my followers. Indeed. You know what that word
is? Verily. Verily I say unto you. Indeed. In truth. Surely. That's what the word
means. Indeed. Surely. How can it be sure? Oh, we have
a surety. Jesus Christ is our surety. I
like that. And you are my disciples. Surely,
indeed. You understand, I don't want any disciples. I like
to know some disciples. I want to be a disciple of Christ. I want to continue in his word.
But you understand, I don't want any disciples. I don't have any
disciples. but my Lord does, my Lord does. Oh, I like that. What I want
are brothers and sisters in Christ. That's what I want. I want to
know his disciples. I want to know those who want
to continue in his word. I want to know who I can preach to, who I can listen
to. my brothers and sisters in Christ. And Christ has given to me you
people here. And I am so thankful for that,
that I can come and we can try and worship God in spirit and
in truth, in his word, and try and continue in his word. But then he says this, and ye
shall. I love this. You understand, Jesus Christ says you shall,
you shall, you shall. If you continue in my word, then
ye are my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. We're not talking about facts, although you'll know facts. Jesus
Christ very carefully said, you shall know the truth. And this
is the same word he'll use in John 14, six, the truth. I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh under the Father,
but by me. I am the truth. You shall know
the truth and the truth shall set you free. Well, look right
down at verse 36 of John chapter eight. What's it say? If the
Son therefore shall make you free, where again? Ye shall be
free surely. Indeed. Indeed. I like that. You're gonna know the truth,
you're gonna know Christ. If you continue in his word, you're
gonna know Jesus Christ, the son of God. God manifests in
the flesh. Pay attention to the sureness
of his words. He says it, you shall. No uncertainty, no hesitation.
This is a certainty, this is a fact. And the truth shall make
you free. What? Our freedom, which is real, there's
a freedom from sin, there's a freedom from guilt. Now, yes, we still
do sin, but there's a freedom from sin in the fact that I am
no longer the servant of sin, the slave of sin, and I want
to be more. Even in Romans 7, it's very clear,
there's a battle between the flesh and the spirit. There's
it, it's there, it's real. I don't want to serve my flesh,
though, Mason. I do, but I don't want to. I want to continue in his word.
That's what I want. That battle is there, but I'm free to root for him
against myself. Isn't that something? When you want to root against
yourself because you know what you want is wrong. You know,
sometimes what you're doing is wrong. I wanna root against me. I want you to root against yourself. The truth shall make you free. You understand? I never knew
anything about a battle before there was one. And I never had
a battle before he gave me life. I was happy the way I was. There's
a freedom in Christ that this world will never, ever know. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. The world's never gonna know
that. Even though I sin, God's not
imputing it to me, because my Lord, my Savior, already paid
the price. Because here it is, we are free
to call upon the name of the Lord and not be rejected. Well God wouldn't reject anybody.
Listen folks. God's rejected a lot of people.
You understand? God has rejected a lot of people.
But here's the thing, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples
indeed. What's that mean? That means
you will not be rejected by God because you are accepted in the
beloved. That's the only place there's
an acceptation with God, is in Jesus Christ. That's the only
place. And you can call upon him, some
people, don't be shy, call him Abba. The familiar term, Abba, Papa,
Earl used to say. We can do that. Why? Because you are accepted in the
beloved. You are in Christ. You are his disciples, surely,
indeed. If ye continue in my word, ye
are my disciples indeed. No question, no doubt, no argument. You are. You understand, religious people, religious societies,
they're looking for miracles. I don't recommend you do this,
but I did it. Look for miracles today on Google. What about miracles
today? There were 23 million responses for that on Google.
Now I'm sure some of them were doubled or whatever, tripled,
who cares? But this is the thing. The fact that they're looking
for miracles in the wrong place is not the problem. Religious
people, religious societies. The fact that they're looking
for the wrong miracles is not the problem. Here's the problem. Looking for miracles at all.
That's the problem. They're not looking for Christ. They are not looking to Christ. They are not, they're looking for an experience
and not the Lord of glory. That's what they're looking for.
Now, let me be very clear. Miracles never saved anyone,
and yet every salvation of every person is a miracle. Because
it's not the miracle that saves, it's Christ that saves. They're
looking in the wrong place, they're looking for the wrong thing.
You understand? It's Jesus saves, not the miracle.
The one who performs the miracle is the one who saves. What? And I'm gonna tell you this.
To continue in his word, to continue in my word, is a miracle, is
a miracle. It's not of ourselves. This is
not something we can do in and of ourselves. What did Peter
write? I'll give you this, I'll quit. 1 Peter 1 and 5, he says this,
we are kept. That's how you continue in his
word. You're kept. But how are we kept? By the power
of God. That's a miracle. We are kept
by the power of God. And I say, through faith. Unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. There's more to this salvation.
We have salvation now, we have been saved. If you're his disciple,
indeed, if you continue in his word, you are saved, but there's
gonna be a completion to the salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. And how are we gonna get there?
Well, you're not, unless he keeps you. We are kept by the power
of God. That's a miracle of grace. That's
a miracle of grace. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. That's one of the ones where
they unrightly divide the scripture because they'll stop right there.
Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in
my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling. And I've heard
people quote that and stop. Because they don't want to read
the next verse. The next verse is this. For it is God which
worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. How do we continue in his word,
if you continue in my word? Right there. He's gonna put it
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And what
do we do? Abide, dwell, endure, continue,
and then continue some more. according to the working of his
mighty power, according to his holy will. If you do, Christ
himself said it, if ye continue in my word, ye are my disciples
indeed. Heavenly Father, we're thankful
at this time for your son, our Lord Jesus
Christ who came and gave himself, gave himself for our sins. He gave himself, took
upon himself our iniquities and gave himself to us. Thank
you, Lord, for all that you've done and all that you're doing.
Be with Walter as he's in Wheelersburg and give him safe travel home.
Be with Paul here as he comes to preach your gospel. Lord,
thank you for all that you've done and all that you're doing
and all you shall do. In Christ's name we pray, amen.