If you would, be turning in your
Bible to John chapter 8. What a joy to be here. Thank you for your hospitality.
Thank you for the room and everything that you've done. Me and Bruce
have spoken several times this weekend. We still rejoice in
last year of such a glorious meeting, such a blessed time. And it is always a joy to meet
with God's people. Always a joy. You can't put a
price on this. You can't duplicate it. We make
CDs and they're good to be able to listen to, but it's not like
being in that meeting. You just, there's no substitute
for it. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, he said, I will be in the midst. And if
he doesn't meet with us, we're just meeting in vain. We're just
wasting time. But I want to look today in John
chapter eight, and I want to be looking in other verses, but
I want to begin here. Every time I read it, I'd go
back verses prior to it and kept going back, and it's almost like
I wanted to read the whole chapter. But I want to begin in verse
12. Our Lord has come to the temple,
and in the first part of the chapter, remember, they brought
the woman that was caught in adultery and brought her before
him. And he said to he that's without
sin, you cast the first stone. And she's left alone with him.
And then it says, then spake Jesus again unto them saying,
I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees
therefore said unto him, thou barest record of thyself, thy
record is not true. Now you need to notice that statement.
They're accusing him of not being who he said that he was. Not
only who he said he did, all the miracles and everything that
he preached was to prove that he was the son of God. Now, these are not ignorant people.
These are people who studied the scriptures. These are Jews. These are people that had been
taught from their youngest age the scriptures, taught about
God, about Abraham, but they're still ignorant. Jesus answered
and said unto them, though I bear a record of myself, yet my record
is true. For I know whence I came and
whether I go, but you cannot tell whence I come and whether
I go. You judge after the flesh. That's
how you judge things. Because you don't see any beauty
in me, and you probably know that I came from Nazareth, you
judge after the flesh. I judge no man. And yet if I
judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I and
the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law
that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bears
witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness
of me. Then said they unto him, Well, where is thy father? Jesus
answered, You neither know me nor my father. If you had known
me, you should have known my father also. These words spake
Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple, where they came
to worship God. And no man laid hands on him,
for his hour was not yet come. Then said Jesus unto them again,
I go my way and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins.
Whether I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? Because he saith, whether I go, you cannot come. And he
saith unto them, you are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, and I
am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, now
watch this, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe
not, that I am he, you shall die in your sins. Now you need
to let that sink in this morning. If you don't believe that he
is who he said he is, you will die in your sins. That's what
he's telling them. He's making it plain. He's making
it clear. They said unto him, well, who
art thou? And Jesus said unto them, even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning, I have many
things to say unto judge of you, but he that sent me is true.
And I speak to the world those things which I have heard of
him. They understood not that he spake to them of the father.
Then said Jesus unto them, when you have lifted up the son of
man, then shall you know that I am he. 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 speak these words,
many believed on him. Now, whether they genuinely believed,
I don't know. He then said, Jesus, to those
Jews which did believe on him, here's the proof that they believe.
If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed.
It's not how a man starts out, it's how he finishes up. That's
it. He said, if that man really believes,
he'll always believe. They'll be like Abraham and all
the other patriarchs. How did they die? They died in
faith. That's how they died. That's
how you know they're a believer. Once God ever gives a man faith,
he believes, and he believes that Christ is the Son of God.
No questions about it. No questions. If you continue
in my word, then are you my disciple indeed. And look in verse 32,
and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. He said, this is the record,
this is a true record, that you may know what? The truth. You
cannot separate Christ from truth, He is truth. It's Him, He's the
embodiment of truth. The truth shall make you free. Can you imagine what this statement
meant to those Jews? They answered Him, we be Abraham's
seed and were never in bondage to any man. Now really, you just
showed us that God brought them out of Egypt. Was that not bondage?
Did he not send them into Babylonian captivity for 70 years? Was that
not bondage? Were they not under Roman tyranny
now? Is that not bondage? But we never
were in bondage to any man. Let me tell you something this
morning. If you've never saw yourself in bondage to sin and
your depraved nature, you're still in bondage and just don't
know it. That's it. That's what they were. They're
ignorant. They said, were Abraham's seed? Oh, yes, they were. They
were the literal seed of Abraham. They were Jews. Descendants from
Abraham. Hall told us in Philippians chapter
three, he said, I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. My mama was of
the tribe of Benjamin, and my father was of the tribe of Benjamin.
I tell you exactly my pedigree. You know why? It meant something
to him. That's their salvation. That's the people he's talking
to. We'll be Abraham's seed, and
we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou that you
shall be made free? Jesus answered them. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin, you want to talk
about being in bondage? Whosoever committeth sin is the
servant of sin. That includes every one of us
in this building. You're the servant of sin. You cannot resist
it. Try it. Try not to have a bad
thought. Try it. Let me know how that
works out. Let me know. You're the servant
of it. And the servant, verse 35, abideth not in the
house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed. I want to know something
about that, to be set free. He said, I know that you're Abraham's
seed, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place
in you. He's exposing them. How is he going to expose them?
Well, light exposes darkness. But let me tell you something
else. Truth exposes error. That's what I want us to look
at today. He's the truth. The truth shall make you free.
And he is exposing their error by his words. which is truth,
and it always will. I know that you're Abraham's
seed, but you seek to kill me, because my word hath no place
in you. I speak that which I have seen
with my father, and you do that which you've seen of your father.
They answered and said unto him, now don't you see this? He's
going to bring this to a head. He said unto them, Abraham is
our father. Jesus said unto them, if you
were Abraham's children, you'd do the works of Abraham. That's
right. All believers are the spiritual
sons of Abraham. That's who the Jews are. He's
not a Jew which is one outwardly, he's a Jew which is one inwardly.
Circumcision is not of the flesh, it's of the heart. If you were the sons of Abraham,
you'd do the works of Abraham. You know what? You'd believe
God and it would be accounted unto you for righteousness. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that has told you the truth. And why did they want to kill
him? Because he told them the truth. That's it, isn't it? They
wanted to kill him. He doesn't say that their hour
was not yet come. At the end of the chapter it
says they wanted to take up stones and kill him. Kill him. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that had told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This
did not Abraham. You do the deeds of your father.
Then said they unto him, we be not born of fornication. We have
one father, even God. Now they say God's our father.
Jesus saith unto them, if God were your father, you'd love
me. That's pretty plain, isn't it?
That's pretty plain truth. If you were of God, you'd love
me. You'd bow to me, not hate me,
not try to kill me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not
understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. Do you notice verse 44? He's going to tell them right
real plain who their father is. They claimed that Abraham was
their father. They claimed that God was their
father. Now the truth is going to tell them who their father
really is. You are of your father, the devil. You imagine how that went over
to a strict Jew. You imagine telling people that
go to church every Sunday and carry their Bible and say their
little prayers that you're the child of the devil. You imagine
how that would go over. But that's the truth, isn't it? That's the truth. You are of
your father the devil and the lust of your father you will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning. You know what happened in the
garden? He murdered our parents. That's
exactly right. Isn't it? He's a murderer from
the beginning and watch this. And he abode not in what? In the truth. He was once in
the truth. Was he not an angel of glory?
Wasn't he? Didn't he? And he fell. And you know what
he did to our parents? He lied to them. Isn't that it? Did God really say that? You
won't surely die and I can see you if she partakes the fruit.
Well, he must have been right, because nothing happened. Not
a thing happened until the federal head took the fruit. Isn't that
it? And they didn't die physically. They died spiritually, though. He was a murderer from the beginning
and a bold knot in the truth. Why? Because there is no truth
in him. And that's why you're like you
are because you're of your father the devil. If you were Abraham's
son, you'd be like Abraham and you do just like you do because
that's who your father is and you act just like him. My children, God forbid, act
just like me. I've got grandchildren and God forbid they act just
like me. You know why? They got the same nature. That's
it. In verse 45, and because I tell
you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of
sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? You
know why they didn't believe him? Now you listen to me. They believed a lie. Either it's the truth or it's
a lie. And you can't believe both. You can't do it. He that is of God, heareth God's
word. You therefore hear them not because
you are not of God. What is it that keeps men in
such bondage? They believe a lie. Why do we
believe a lie? Because it says in Psalms 58.3,
the wicked are estranged from their womb. They go astray as
soon as they are born. And how are they described? They
speak lies. Isn't that kind of ironic that
how he describes, the first thing how he describes a newborn child,
they come forth doing what? Lying. He said, well, my child
don't lie. Oh, yeah, he does. Oh, yeah,
he does. Mine. That's mine. I want it.
It's mine. Come forth from the womb speaking
lies. And then as they get older, they are taught how to lie. That's right, now listen to me.
Jeremiah 14, 14. Then the Lord said unto me, the
prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither
have I commanded them, neither speak I unto them. They prophesy
unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the
deceit of their heart." What is that? That's false preachers.
That's exactly right. How did them Jews get in such
a mess? Somebody told them a lie. That's what's going on right
now. That's what's going on in our world, liars. I've heard the prophets that
said that prophesy lies in my name. They say that they do it
in God's name. What Jeremiah was saying, Jeremiah
prophesied and said, you're going into Babylon for 70 years because
of your idolatry. They said, no, we're not. Peace,
peace where there is no peace. You know what happened? They
wound up in Babylon. You know why? Because God said so. Jeremiah
told him the truth. But every time there's one telling
the truth, you've got 10 or 20 more telling a lie. That's it. But the truth is what's going
to make you free. It's just our nature to believe
a lie, isn't it? Our Lord said, let another man
come in his own name. You'll believe him. You'll follow
him. But they didn't follow him. What's the results of this line?
Isaiah 28, 15. Because ye have said, we have
made a covenant with death. You know what they're saying?
We're not afraid to die. We're not afraid to die. And
with hell, we are in agreement. We believe there's a hell and
we believe that somebody's going to hell, but we're not going. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, God's judgment one day is going to come through
and they know it. But here's what they say, it won't come
unto us. For we have made lies our refuge. Man, that's scary. People not
afraid to die, they think they got it all fixed up. You read Matthew chapter 7, it
talks about those preachers. They stood before the throne
of God. They're still bragging on their works. They've not changed.
When they left this world, they said, man, I'm going to glory. Died believing a lie. And under falsehoods have they
hid themselves. I can tell you this morning,
I want to be found in Him. I want to be found in him. The
truth like light will expose a lie. And when we listen to
me and when we preach and every preacher that is sin of God,
he does it the way you can know he's a preacher, he preaches
the truth. Isn't that it? He preaches the truth and God
has sent him and he brings people, he brings sinners face to face
with the truth. Isn't that it? You've brought
face to face with the truth. Now what are you gonna do? You
will either embrace it or you'll despise it. That's it. That's exactly, that's what happens
every time the gospel's preached and the truth is presented unto
a sinner. They're brought face to face
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what are you gonna do? You're
gonna either believe in him, you're either gonna bow to him
or you're gonna hate him. There's no middle ground. No
middle ground. Turn with me to Romans chapter
1. I want to show you this. We see everything that's going
on in this world. Do not ask the question, why?
Why? Well, the truth will answer that.
Isn't it? The truth will tell you why.
Paul said, I'm unashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power
of God unto salvation, because in that gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed. He said in Romans 118, for the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the what? Truth in unrighteousness. They do what? They hold it. They
suppress it. That's what it is. That's it,
they can't stand it. Who hold the truth and unrighteousness. They have been exposed to the
truth. Because that which, and watch this verse 19, because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God
has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made. Even God's eternal power in Godhead,
so that everybody that ever lived is without excuse. That's it. No excuses. Because that when
they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. And they changed, that word changed
means to make a difference. They changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man
and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. What does
man do now? He worships himself. Then he'll
worship him a calf. Then he gets a little lower till
he worships a creeping thing. Why? He knew about God. That's not how God is. God said,
don't you ever make an image. He never posed for a picture.
Those are idolatry. We worship him in spirit and
in what? Truth. That's how you worship
God. Not all this other fake stuff, that lie stuff. They've
changed it. Isn't that it? Wherefore? God also gave them
up to uncleanliness through the lust of their own hearts, to
dishonor their own bodies between themselves. I want you to see
this, verse 25, who changed the truth of God into a lie. There
the word changes again. That's a different word than
we found in verse 23. This word here means to exchange. You cannot change God's word. You can't change it. The only
thing you can do is exchange it. It's like Sandy bought me
a pair of flippers. I didn't like them. You know
what I did? I went and exchanged them. That's what you do with
the scriptures. You can't change it. It's settled
in heaven. He honored his word above his
name. Isn't that it? But what they do, we're going
to exchange it. They exchange the truth of God
for what? A lie. That ought to break our heart. That's why our country and this
world is in the state it is in. They knew God, they rejected
God, they wouldn't glorify God. They want to change the word
of God, exchange it for something else. And they worshipped and
served the creature more than the creator who was blessed forever.
You notice that word, they not only worshipped, But they serve
the one they do worship. They worship themselves and they
serve themselves. That's it. So what will God do? Turn with
me to 2 Thessalonians. Hope it's okay for me to read
all this scripture. I think it is good for us to see the truth. I want you to see it yourself,
what God's Word says. I think sometimes it would do
us good to just come in and maybe just for a couple hours just
read God's Word. After what they did in Ezra, they stood up and
read for half a day, just read God's Word. This is the truth. I am so ignorant to the truth.
I wish I knew more of the truth. I wouldn't believe so many lies. Every time I believe a lie, it
puts me in bondage. Like Bruce was saying last night,
what's the first thing we do when we come to approach God?
We think we've got to make ourself better. You know what that is?
That's believing a lie. Isn't that right? You don't improve
yourself. That's a lie. We still believe
them. Don't we? Let's just be honest. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 1. Now
we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon
shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, neither
by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not
come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself
above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God." Is that not what we just read in Romans chapter
1? Remember ye not that when I was
yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know that
what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work. The spirit of Antichrist
is already at work. When he wrote this, only he who
now letteth or hinders will let until he be taken away out of
the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy
with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders. Now watch verse 10. And with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. They would not receive the truth
and be set free. So what will God do? What will God do and what has
God done? And for this cause, God shall
send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie. Is that not sobering? Sobering. Say, my God wouldn't
do that. The God of truth does. What is the law they use? They don't. Most everyone I know,
they carry the same book I carry. Don't they? Don't they talk about
grace? Don't they talk about faith?
All the things we talk about, they talk about the same thing.
He transforms himself into an angel of light. And God sends them strong. Now listen to me. It is so strong,
if it were possible, it would deceive the very elect of Almighty
God. The only reason you know the
truth is His grace. It's not because you're smart.
We're dumber than a box of rocks. I like what Greg Amquist said.
These people strut around and they think that they've just
arrived at the doctrine. If you've just arrived at a doctrine,
you're lost. It's not sovereign grace, it's superior grace. Grace humbles a man. He still
sees how ignorant he is. And I see God has turned loose
on this earth. He turned Satan loose for a little
season. That's exactly right. Look at
it. How can you explain it any other
way? They fill stadium arenas filled
with people. Believe it or not, if that don't
break our heart, there's something wrong. There's something wrong. They had pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we're not going to stop right there. But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren. In the midst of so much apostasy,
in the midst of so much lie, why would God let us meet this
morning and love the truth? Beloved of God, He hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. What did we say? The truth will
make you free. He's just talking about somebody
here that's been made free. Till you hear the truth, you
cannot be set free. You say, well, preacher, I was
saved under a false gospel. No, you wasn't. No, you wasn't. You say, you're pretty confident
about that. Yes, I'm pretty confident, because I know what this book
says. I know what the truth is. A man cannot be saved by believing
a lie. The only thing he's going to
do when he lies is believe in another Jesus, because that's
all they talk about. But this truth points to one
who saves. How can a man believe who's never
heard? How can a man call on God when he's never believed?
He can't. And how are they going to hear without a preacher? And
how are they going to preach except to be sent? He's ordained the use
of means. Thank God for these men that
God has sent to Fairmont, Alabama, Indiana, Rocky Mount, Millside
to preach the gospel, the truth. Ephesians 1.13, in whom you also
trusted after you heard the word of truth. You know what it says? If most of y'all were just like
me, and I assume most of y'all are, I was raised in religion. and
believe in a lie just like everybody else did and thought it was the
truth. I would have fought you for it. I was just like Peter.
I would have took the sword and cut your head off. He didn't. He wasn't trying just for that
man's ear. He meant to take his whole smokestack off for what
he believed in. It's the truth. It says, you sent unto John,
and you know what John did? He bore witness to the truth. John said, I'm not him. I can
see him standing there by the Jordan River that day, and he
said, look ye under. You've heard of the lamb, Abraham's
lamb. God said, he'll provide a lamb.
There he is. He's the truth. He's the
bear witness of the truth. God help us, Ephesians 4.15,
to speak the truth in love with a broken heart. This is how men are made free.
The truth shall make you free. The truth shall let you be free.
It shall, Marvin, make you free. If somebody had to make me and
make me free, I'd still be in bondage. Freedom can only come from one.
There's only one source of liberty. In John chapter 1, if you want
to look there just for a minute, in verse 14, He said he came unto his own,
and his own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them became the sons of God, even to them which were born
out of blood. nor the will of flesh, but of God. And the Word
was made flesh, the truth was made flesh. And dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bare witness
of Him and cried, saying, This was He of whom I speak. He that
cometh after me is preferred before me. He was before me.
And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. What do most people use to keep
people in bondage? I'll tell you what it is, it's
the law. Isn't that it? You do this, well then God bless
you. Now that's what the law says.
Trouble is you can't do it. There's a contrast here that
is drawn between what was given by Moses and what came by Jesus
Christ. For grace and truth was not merely
given, it was given to Moses because it wasn't really his,
but it came by Jesus Christ because it was all in him. They came in all their fullness.
What did? Grace and truth. They came in all their glorious
perfections. We beheld his what? His glory. Was not the law truth? Oh yeah,
it was truth. There's nothing wrong with the
law. Did the law reveal what God is? Yes. Did the law display
all of his attributes? No. It doesn't say the law is the
knowledge of God. It says the law is the knowledge of sin. What do you know under the law?
You go to Sinai, what do you hear? Judgment. Judgment. Now grace and truth. The only alternative under the
law was death. The law can never justify a sinner. But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. The law was God's truth, but
not the full truth about God himself. The law was the knowledge
of sin, but not the knowledge of God. Grace and truth. Now
watch this. See, they're fitly and they cannot
be separated. You cannot have one without the
other. Whether there's grace, there's truth. Whether there's
truth, there's grace. There are many who do not like salvation
by grace. And there are those who would
tolerate grace if they could have it at the expense of truth. I want to show you this. Turn
with me to Luke chapter four. What we have here in Luke chapter
four, our Lord had been out doing other miracles. He'd been doing
it other places. Well, he comes back to Nazareth
where he was raised. This is where he worked in the
carpenter's shop with Joseph. He would live there for 30 years,
and he comes back. In verse 16, he came to Nazareth
where he'd been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah.
And when he opened the book, He found the place where it was
written. He didn't just open the book and let it fall open
in our beginning read. He looked there on purpose. He
found this place, Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captive, to those that are bound, to covering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised. to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. And you know what this is speaking
of. This is talking about our Lord. This is talking about the
year of Jubilee. The Jubilee was every 50 years
under the Jewish economy. And you may never have heard,
lived but one time, to live to hear one Jubilee trumpet. And
on that 50th year, they blow the trumpet. You know what happened
on the Jubilee year? Every debt was paid. If you'd
sold a piece of property, it all comes back to you. You say,
I'm a slave. That's right. But you know what
happened when that trumpet blowed? You're made free. That's what he's saying. If you ever heard that trumpet
blow one time, you'd know it if you heard it again. That's the gospel. Bruce, you
know what that says to me? Every time I come in and I listen
to somebody else preach, I'm so depressed, so down, and you
know what that does? I hear that trumpet, and it sets
me free. It makes me forget what I need
to do. It makes me concentrate on what's
done. And here's what our Lord says
to these people, and He closed the book. And he gave it to the
minister and just walks over and sits down. He never commented
on it. And all their eyes were fashioned.
And he began to say unto them, this day of this scripture fulfilled
in your ear. Why don't you say, and they all
bearing witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. Can this be the one that was
in the carpenter's shop? He never went to school. That's
what they're saying. This is Joseph's son. No, he
wasn't Joseph's son. He's the son of God. Could you
imagine how they're thinking? They're going, this boy? just read this, and they wondered
at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, and nobody
gets mad. They'll take grace without truth.
Let's move on. He said unto them, you will surely
say to me, this prophet, this proverb, physician, heal thyself,
whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in
our country. He said, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is
accepted in his own country, but I tell you of a truth. Many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heavens
were shut up three years and six months with great famine
was throughout all the land, but unto none of them was Elijah
sent save unto a Sarepta, city of Zion, unto a woman that was
a widow. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Eliseus the prophet, or Elisha, and none of them were
cleansed, save Naaman the Syrian." Just read it. They know what
he said. You know what makes people mad? It ain't so much what you say.
I mean, how you say it, it's what you say. They knew what he said. He just
preached to them sovereign election. That's the truth that he said,
but I tell you of a truth. And you know what it did? And
they were all in the synagogue when they heard these things,
they were filled with wrath. Like I said, some people will
be, they said, I'll be saved by grace. But without truth,
you can't be saved that way. These good church going people,
mad. You know what happened? They
just heard the truth. Isn't that how it always happens?
Isn't that the same response? And they rose up and thrust him
out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill whereon
the city was built, that they may cast him down headlong. They meant to kill him. Those who reject truth, now listen
to me, reject grace. You either believe a lie or you
believe the truth. You cannot believe both. The
Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit of truth. And when He has come,
He will guide you into all truth. If He don't point you to Christ,
it's not the Spirit of God. That's it. It will guide you to Him. He
will take this book, the Spirit of God Will, the Spirit of Truth,
and will open it up to your heart and enable you to understand
the truth. Oh Lord, keep us from bondage. That church at Galatia, they
had been brought under bondage. He said, O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Stand
fast, therefore, when the liberty with Christ is made us free,
and be not entangled again with that yoke of bondage. That's
it. It ain't just the church at Galatia.
It's all, we're all guilty of it. You know what Paul said in the
last part of Ephesians, that great book of Ephesians? When
he talks about putting on the whole armor of God, having done
all to stand, stand therefore, you know what the first thing
he said? The first thing to do, standing therefore having your
loins girt about with truth. Putting the helmet of salvation,
the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith, for with you
shall be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. How are
you going to stand? How are you going to stand against that enemy?
I tell you, there's only one way to stand its own truth. He says, God don't love you.
God left you alone. Has he ever told you that? Boy, he's whispered that in my
ear more than once. And the Spirit of God brings
the truth back to your heart and says, I'll never leave you,
nor forsake you. I've loved you with an everlasting love. Isn't
that true? In 2 Timothy 3.1, you don't have
to turn, I'll close with this, it talks about people ever learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. I said, ever learning and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth. These people, let me share
this with you. I mean, Sandy still gets the
newspaper from back in North Wilkes-Barre. I always like to
see what's going on and keep up with everything. There was
an ad in the religious page. This thing was probably this
big. This guy, they had a picture of him and his wife, and they
was going to celebrate his 75th anniversary. I mean, 75th birthday. Right at the bottom, oh, they
were telling everything about him. They're bragging on this
man. They said he spent 70,000 hours in his study. He's memorized
so many thousand verses. He knows all these songs. I'm
thinking, really? He even keeps up with how many
hours he's in his study. I guess he gets paid by the hour. He can learn the whole Bible
and quote it verse by verse and not know truth. Ever learning and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth Now as James and Jambres
withstood Moses, some believe those were those two magicians
that came up against Moses when Moses laid his rod down and it
turned into a snake. You know what James and Jambres
did? They laid down their rod and it turned into a snake. What
did it say? These men resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate
concerning the faith. Let me read you what Spurgeon
said. He said, men like the pursuit of truth better than truth itself. I thought that was a big statement.
They like fishing better than fish. That's all they want to do. And
he said, you do search the scriptures, didn't he? You do search them. God help us to come to this book
to look for the truth. Spurgeon says, as for us believers,
we cast anchor in the haven of the Word of God. Here is our
peace, our strength, our life, our motive, our hope, our happiness. God's Word is our ultimatum.
Here we have it. Our understanding cries, I have
found the truth. You know what it is? It is the
treasure that is hidden afield. Our conscience asserts that here
is the truth, and our heart finds here a support to which all of
our affections can cling. and hence we rest content. Within the scriptures there is
a balm for every wound and a salve for every sore. May the Son of
God make you free. Amen. Thanks.