Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from John chapter
eight. And the title of the message
is Liberty in Christ. Liberty in Christ. And I want
you to look over in John chapter eight and verse 30. As the Lord
continued his earthly ministry, He continually healed people
of various diseases. He continually revealed more
and more truth of Himself and salvation and why He had come. In John chapter eight is the
episode where he stopped the Pharisees and other people from
stoning an adulterous woman. And that's the famous line where
he said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. And
of course, we know that under the law of Moses, there was penalties,
but it was not to be a mob mentality or vigilante justice. It was
always to be done in a certain way under the court system of
the Sanhedrin and the Jews. But these people were, and their
judgment was wrong and selective. I've often told people that if
that woman was caught in the act and they brought her out
to stoner, where was the man? Because he was just as guilty
if she was caught in the act of adultery. And so I surmised
by that, maybe this man was somebody who was very prominent in the
community and they didn't want, so their judgment was skewed
and that's no matter. But as he went out through the
world, through the Galilee and Judea, teaching and preaching,
he continued to reveal things about himself. And here it says
in verse 30, as Christ here showed himself to be the Son
of God, the Messiah, who always did the will of the Father. He
knew no sin and he did no sin. And it says in verse 30 of John
8, he spoke these words, many believed on him. As he spoke
these words, many believed on him. Now whenever you read that
in the Bible, you have to keep it in its context. So when it
says that many believed on him, Why did they believe on him?
How did they believe on him? We know that truly believing
on Christ unto salvation is a miracle gift from God. We know that no
person naturally will believe on Christ. Now, you need to understand
that because this is what the Bible teaches about us. You see, man does not have the
natural desire, or even ability, to believe on Christ. That's
a gift from God. The Bible says that, and I quote
this all the time in this passage, or in this program. Ephesians
2, eight through 10, where it says, for by grace are you saved
through faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Verse 10 says, for we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So a sinner
who has been born again by the Spirit and brought to faith in
Christ is a miracle of God's grace and power. If you're a
believer, you are not the product or the result of your own goodness
or your own will. You don't become a Christian,
in other words, by making some decision for Christ. You become
a Christian by the grace of God, which brings you to make a right
decision for Christ. The Bible says God's people will
be willing in the day of his power. And I could show you a
multitude of scriptures like that. In other words, man left
to himself will not believe. The natural man believeth not
the things of the Spirit of God, receiveth not. They're foolishness
doing. So he spoke these words. As he
spoke these words, many believed on him. Back over in, I think
it's John chapter five, he talked about how he did not commit himself
to those who claimed to believe on him because he knew their
hearts. He knew if their profession was a true profession of faith
or if it was just a false profession. And he knew that many people
claimed to believe on him just because of the miracles, not
because of the glory of God revealed in his person as the Messiah,
the righteousness of God, which is the gospel. So he says in
verse 31, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on
him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. If you continue. Now the if there
is not a conditional if, and this is very important too. Whenever
you see these if passages, if you continue, it's not saying
that salvation or continuing in salvation is conditioned on
our believing. It's an evidential if. If you
continue in the faith, if you continue in his word, that is
the evidence that God has brought you to faith in Christ, real
faith, saving faith, genuine faith, sincere faith. I've often
said it this way, that if the Holy Spirit has given you life
from the dead, and that's what the Spirit does in the new birth,
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
If the Spirit has given you life, there's three things about you
concerning your relationship with Christ. And the truth, because
here in the next verse he says the truth will set you free.
Number one, you cannot ignore it. If the Spirit's given you
life, you can't ignore the truth. You can't ignore this thing of
how God has brought you to faith in Christ. You can't ignore it.
You can't just walk away and ignore it. Secondly, you cannot
deny it. If you can deny any part of it,
you have not life. So you cannot ignore it, you
cannot deny it. And here's the third thing, you
cannot leave it. You cannot leave it. We read
about it over in John chapter six, how many of those who claim
to believe on Christ walked away. They went away. They turned away. Judas was one of the 12 disciples
of Saul, but he was a false disciple. and he turned against the Lord
and sold him out. The book of 1 John chapter two
speaks of those who went out from us. This is 1 John 2, 18
and 19. Read it. It says they had the
spirit of antichrist because they were at one time claimed
to believe in Christ, but then they left and turned against
him. They went out from us, John said.
And he says this, it's not that they were saved and then lost
their salvation as some false preachers teach. No, sir. He says, had they been of us,
they would have no doubt remained with us. But they went out from
us that it may be made manifest that they were not all of us.
But then he went on to say, but you have an unction from the
Holy One, from Christ, and you know all things. Those who are
truly born again, once they're saved, they can never be lost
again because they cannot ignore it, they cannot deny it, and
they cannot leave it. Now they may stray for a while,
but God won't let them go. Christ said, my sheep hear my
voice, I know them, they know me, they follow me. He said,
no one can pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father
are one. He said this in John 6, 37, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will
of him that sent me that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, no one, but raise him up again at the last day.
That's salvation by grace. Grace saves us, grace keeps us,
grace will bring us to glory. And it's all based upon Christ's
righteousness alone. It's all based upon the conditions
that he met to secure and ensure the salvation of his people.
So he says, it says here in verse 31, then said Jesus to those
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed. Because disciples are not only
those who make a profession, they are those who continue.
And he says in verse 32, and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. Being a disciple of Christ is
to know the truth. And it's the truth of the gospel.
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believeth, the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. From faith to faith, from knowledge
revealed to knowledge received, for the just, the justified shall
live by faith. And what is it to be justified?
It's to be free from condemnation. It's to be free from the law.
The law's condemnation, the law's pull. and motivation, which is
legal and mercenary. To be free. He who is justified
is freed from sin. Sin cannot condemn you. Sin cannot
be imputed to you if you're justified. That means your sins are forgiven
on a just ground. And what is the just ground?
The blood of Christ. It means you have been declared
by God Almighty who knows all and sees all, who sees within
our hearts, we've been declared by God Almighty to be righteous
in His sight on a just ground. And what is that just ground?
The righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ, imputed, charged,
accounted to us. Romans 4, 6 says, blessed is
the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness
without works. So that's to be free, free from
sin. You can be in jail, like Paul
was often, and be free in Christ. That's the liberty that we're
talking about, free in Christ, the freedom that he brings. He
set the captives free, free from death. Oh, we'll die physically,
but we'll live forever. And in that sense, we'll never
die. If we're in Christ, if we come before God, washed in his
blood, clothed in his righteousness. Well, he spoke of this, this
freedom. And look at verse 33. They answered
him, we be Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any
man. How sayest thou you shall be
made free? Now there's a couple of things
about this that you need to understand. self-righteous Jews, unbelievers,
who claimed that they were God's children simply because they
were natural, physical descendants of Abraham. You see, the Jews basically had
three things that they thought made them right with God, proved
them to be spiritual children of God, not just physical. But
one was their physical descendancy from Abraham. Secondly was their
circumcision. Thirdly was they thought they
kept the law of Moses. Well, Christ puts this to sleep
right here. He puts it to death right here.
Look at what he says in verse 34. Jesus answered them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant
of sin. Now, the committing sin here
is referring to unbelievers who are the slaves to sin, and he
says in verse 35, and the servant abideth not in the house forever,
but the son abideth forever. In other words, those who are
slaves don't abide in the household of the master forever, but the
son, the master's son does, and of course Christ is the son.
And he says in verse 36, if the Son therefore shall make you
free, you shall be free indeed. Free in Christ. Free indeed. What they did not understand
is that in their own works, in their own self-righteous religion,
in their own legalism, They were slaves to sin. And that's the
problem with all of us by nature. Without Christ, we are in bondage
to sin, to Satan, to the flesh, to the world. We have no freedom. We might think we're free. And
incidentally, these Jews who said, we've never been in bondage
to any man. Right then and there, the Jewish
nation, Israel, was under the bondage of Rome. They were slaves
to Rome. And they had actually been under
a foreign government since the time of the Babylonian captivity. When Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian
army destroyed Jerusalem and brought them all in captive,
and Cyrus the Persian set them free, but they were still under
the Persian government, then under the Greek government, under
Alexander, and then under the Roman government. And they were
that way up until the time of their total destruction in AD
70. So they were in bondage, but they didn't recognize that
because they thought so highly of themselves. But my friend,
here's what I'm telling you. If you don't know Christ, the
God-man, the one mediator between God and man, the only redeemer
of sinners, the righteousness of God for His people, He is
my righteousness. If you don't know Christ, you
can be religious, you can be moral in the eyes of men, and
you can go around bragging how free you are, but you're in bondage. If the Son, therefore, make you
free, you shall be free indeed. And if you're, listen, if the
Son has not made you free, then you're not free. Well, how does
He make us free? by bringing us into a saving
knowledge of Christ the liberator. How he liberates his people from
sin, from death, from hell, by his obedience unto death as the
surety, the substitute, the redeemer, and the preserver of his people. And without Him, even though
we may not admit it, and may not even be aware of it, without
Him, it's bondage, and nothing but bondage. Well, there's a
lot of people who claim freedom in Christ, claim to be Christians,
but desire to bring people back under the law. They'll say things
like, well, salvation is by grace, But our continuing in salvation
is based upon our works. Well my friend, that's bondage.
I'll show you that in a minute from the scripture. But look
at what Christ said to these objectors. He says in verse 37,
I know that you're Abraham's seed, I know you're Abraham's
descendants physically, but you seek to kill me because my word
hath no place in you. Now basically what he's telling
them this, You're Abraham's children physically, but you're not Abraham's
children spiritually. You know, the Bible's very clear
on this issue. Who are the spiritual children
of Abraham? And when I say that, they say
we have Abraham as our father. Well, physically speaking, they
could say that, but spiritually speaking, they could not. But
you know what? Spiritually speaking, I can tell
you I'm a spiritual child of Abraham. Now God is my Supreme
Heavenly Father, not Abraham. But what he's using Abraham here
as a prototype, you might say, of those whom God saves. Those
whom God saves by grace. And in that sense, they're called
the spiritual seed of Abraham. And they're believers. And as
I said, God only is our Father. He's the source and originator
of salvation. But I was justified before God
the same way that Abraham was. You can read that in Romans four,
but listen to this. This is Galatians chapter three,
verse 26, where the apostle Paul writes, for you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. The only evidence that a person
can give of being a true child of God, a sinner saved by grace,
a saint, is by believing in Jesus Christ. As he is identified and
distinguished in the word as the surety, substitute, redeemer,
and preserver of his people. He is my righteousness. I have
no other righteousness but Christ. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
And he says in verse 27 of Galatians 3, for as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now baptism there
is not talking about the ordinance of water baptism, where we go
down into the water confessing Christ. Baptism here has to do
with our union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. When he died, I died. When he
was buried, I was buried. When he rose again, I rose again. He's my representative. He's
my surety. He's my substitute. He's my redeemer.
And I put on Christ. Now, how have I put on Christ?
By the sovereign, powerful work of the Spirit in the new birth
that brought me to faith in Christ. Putting him on means believing
in him, resting in him. as the Lord my righteousness.
And he says in verse 28, in Christ there's neither Jew nor Greek,
neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female, for
you're all one in Christ Jesus, and if you be Christ, if you
belong to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according
to the promise. So when he, over here in John
chapter eight, He says, verse 37, I know that you're Abraham's
seed, physically, but you seek to kill me because my word hath
no place in you. You've not put on Christ, you
see. You give no evidence at this
time that he is your substitute, your redeemer, your surety. But
he says in verse 38, I speak that which I have seen with my
father, and you do that which you've seen with your father.
Well, they answered and said unto him, verse 39, Abraham is
our father. And Jesus saith unto them, if
you were Abraham's children, you'd do the works of Abraham.
Now in the Bible, what are the works of Abraham? Believing on
the son. That's the works of Abraham.
You say, well, Abraham did other works. Well, Abraham was a sinner
saved by grace. Abraham looked to Christ over
in verse 56 of this same chapter. Listen to this. He says in verse
56 of John 8, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he
saw it and was glad. Abraham looked forward to the
time of the Messiah. And he says, that's the works
of Abraham, and he says in verse 40, but now you seek to kill
me, a man that hath told you the truth which I have heard
of God. This did not Abraham. Now look on, he says in verse
41, you do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him,
we be not born of fornication, we have one father, even God.
And Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, you would
love me. If you had a right spiritual relationship with God as your
heavenly father, you'd love Christ. You'd believe in him. 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. And why couldn't they hear it?
They didn't have ears to hear. They hadn't been born again by
the Spirit. But look at verse 44. You are of your father the
devil. These are religious people now.
He says, in the lust of your father you will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning and a bode not in the truth because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own for he's a liar and the father of it. in their efforts
at religion, trying to be saved by their works, they were following
a lust inspired by Satan. That's how serious this is. And
Christ said in verse 45, and because I tell you the truth,
you believe me not. You see, they weren't free. They
thought they were. They claimed to be, but they
didn't know Christ. Every sinner who doesn't know
Christ, doesn't believe in Christ, though religious they may be,
they're following an unlawful desire, a lust, by not abiding
in the truth, the truth of the gospel, that's inspired by Satan,
who is a liar. Satan will speak peace to you,
he'll give false comfort to you, he'll tell you you're free when
you're not, My friend, there's only freedom in Christ. Now I
mentioned earlier about how many who came into the churches claimed
to be free in Christ, claimed to believe the gospel, but tried
to bring people back under the law, the law of Moses, in order
to be really saved or really righteous. Listen to what Paul
says to them in Galatians chapter five in verse one. He says, stand
fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. and be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. Christ has freed you from the
law, freed you from those obligations, seeking to establish your own
righteousness before God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And so he says
in verse two, behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be
circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Well, does that
mean that any man who is circumcised, that he cannot be saved? No.
What he's talking about is those false Judaizers who tried to
say that even though we believe in Christ, you must be circumcised
in order to really be saved or really be righteous. Oh no, Paul
says, if you do it for that reason, you're denying Christ. Christ
will profit you nothing. Paul said this, God forbid, in
Galatians 6, 14, God forbid that I should glory, save only in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me and unto the world, for in Christ Jesus circumcision
or uncircumcision availeth nothing, but only a new creation. Hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.