Now let's stay right there in
the book of John chapter 8. For the past several Sundays I've
been preaching through the book of Hebrews chapter 11 on the
issue of faith and going through that, but the Lord has really
laid it up on my heart to divert from that for the next few Sundays. and to preach from this passage
here in John chapter 8. My text will begin at verse 30
and go through verse 32. John 8, 30 and 32. Just as a side note, the way
the Lord laid this on my heart, I think He put something on your
mind and you just can't get it off. Then you have discussions
with people, various people, and it just kind of seals it
that this is what I need to preach. But it started a week ago Wednesday
when I was at 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, just sitting
and enjoying our brother, Pastor Jim Byrd, preaching from this
passage. And the title of his message
was, Disciples Indeed. And it was just a great gospel,
God-honoring, Christ-honoring message. And it's on sermon audio
if you want to listen to it. It's very good. But a lot of
what I'm going to say this morning in this first message, the Lord
delivered to me through Brother Bird and it just blessed my soul. And what he's talking about,
look here at verse 30, and as he spake these words, as Christ
spoke these words, Randy read there from beginning at verse
12. You know, he had just, in the first part of chapter 8,
he had just dealt with the self-righteous judgment of the Pharisees over
a woman who was caught in adultery. And I'll deal with that later
on too. But then he began to speak there in the temple. And
I want you to think about that. Here's the setting. There's the
Lord Jesus Christ. in the temple at Jerusalem. And
did you listen as Brother Randy read this, what he said to them? And you'd have to conclude that
his goal was not to win friends and influence people. He must have missed that book,
How to Win Friends. He says, you're going to die
in your sins. That's damnation. Did you know
that? To die in your sins. There's only two ways to die.
You either die in Christ, by the grace of God, forgiven, washed
in His blood, clothed in His righteousness, or you die in
your sins. There's only two ways. No matter
who you are, whether you're rich, poor, black, white, whatever.
Male, female. You're either in Christ, or you're
in your sins. The Bible says Christ was manifested
to take away our sins. But he started out, he talked
about, I'm the light of the world. Now that light is the light of
truth. Now I'm going to deal with that
more next week on these verses and go through some of the things
that he said. But this morning, look at this
in verse 30, as he spoke these words, many believed on him. And then he said, then said Jesus
to those Jews, which believed on him, if you continue in my
word, Then are you my disciples indeed, really my disciples. That's the title of this message,
Christ's Disciples Indeed. Now I think just about everybody
here this morning, including this preacher, is going to say,
we believe on him. Here's the question, am I his
disciple indeed? Am I really his disciple? And
he says in verse 32, you shall know the truth and the truth
shall make you free. What truth is he talking about?
What kind of freedom is he talking about? Now I have a whole message
I'm going to deal with on that, but he's talking about spiritual
freedom in him. But now listen to me very carefully
here and let me see if I can put this in the context and keep
it there. This is obviously a self-examination
message, and you all know that the Lord, in the past three years,
has really impressed upon my mind and heart this issue of
being a person who examines ourselves according to the Word of God.
The books I've written, and you know as well as I do, if you're
a true believer, every message, in a sense, is a self-examination
message, isn't it? And that's what you do. You listen
to hear God's Word to confirm your profession of faith. And
if your profession of faith is not confirmed by the Word of
God, what do you do? You repent. That's what you're
commanded to do, right? You say, well, that's got to
go out the door and the light has come in. He's the light. Think about it this way. The
Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the revelation of God concerning
what? Well, let's sum it in one phrase
that the Bible uses, the doctrine of Christ. How about that? Now, what is doctrine? Well,
that's His teachings. It involves basically, you can
look at it like a two-sided coin. It's the teachings concerning
who Christ is, who He is, what He accomplished, alright? When He died on the cross, what
did Jesus Christ actually accomplish? Now there's the gospel issue. If He accomplished anything,
which I believe He did. Why did He do it and where is
He now? We speak of the death of Christ,
the burial of Christ, the resurrection of Christ. Those things mean
something. There are doctrines, there are teachings that confirm
those in the minds and hearts of believers. What was his death
all about? What did he say? Now, we'll look
at that in just a moment. But that's what it is. It's the
doctrine of Christ. And listen to this. Let me just
read you some scripture if you want to write down the reference
as you can. But we won't turn there for the sake of time. But
here's what the Apostle John said as he was led by the Holy
Spirit. In 2 John in verse 9. Now listen
to this. And I want to caution myself
and you, and we need to remind ourselves that we were talking
about this last week, Bill, how, you know, the words of Christ.
Now, obviously in John chapter 8, we're seeing quotations by
the Messiah. But do you realize that every
truth in the Bible, every word in the Bible is the word of Christ?
So if you have a red-letter Bible, okay, but don't say, well, these
words in red have more weight than what Paul wrote in Romans.
Because Paul wrote as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
So it's all the Word of God. So here's what Christ said in
2 John 9. Now listen to this. He says,
Whosoever transgresseth and abideth or continueth not in the doctrine
of Christ hath Not God. Now, do you hear that? Now, one
thing that tells us right off hand, we better be pretty sure,
according to God's Word, what that doctrine of Christ is. The
teaching of Christ. As I said before, it's like a
two-sided coin. It's the teachings concerning who He is, the teachings
about Christ, and it's the teachings that Christ actually uttered
in His Word What did he say? What is his word? What is a word? It's a way of communication.
You know, Peter told over in John chapter 6, when the multitudes
left him, he turned to the disciples and he said, will you go away
also? And Peter said, to whom shall we go? You have the words,
plural, of eternal life. Now we know according to the
Bible, according to the teachings of Christ, that those words will
always fall on deaf ears until God gives us ears to hear. Who
taught that? Christ did. His disciples were
so distraught that the religious leaders of his day were in opposition
and even offended by what he said And he said, look, they
got ears, but they don't hear. They have eyes, but they don't
see. But blessed are your ears, you hear. Blessed are your eyes,
you see. Rejoice that you see or hear. You say, well, I'm just so sad
about everybody. I am too. It's a bittersweet
gospel, isn't it? There's a sweetness to it. There's
a joy to it. But there's also some tears to
be shed. Isn't that right? Every believer in every generation
has had to face that. Abraham left the Ur of the Chaldees. Who do you think he left behind?
People he loved. But he left. Why? Because of
God's Word. Not easy, is it? It takes a miracle
of God's grace for any of us to do that. Do you know that? But listen to the rest of 2 John
9. Now listen to this, he said, whosoever transgresses and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He's talking about
continuing in the doctrine of Christ. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Now what did he say in John 8
31? If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. Let me read you another verse.
This is Romans chapter 16 and verse 17. Paul writes, by inspiration of
the Spirit, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them. And the
word mark there means name. I had people tell me, say, you
shouldn't name names. How are you going to mark them?
He says mark them, point them out. Mark them, he says, which
cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which
you have learned. So that when anybody comes in
teaching, promoting, things that are contrary to the doctrine
which we've learned, and we learned it by the Spirit through the
preaching of the gospel, he says, mark them, he says, and avoid
them. Don't follow them. You see, this is life and death,
isn't it? What is the doctrine of Christ?
Well, it's His Word. His revealed Word, isn't it?
What He spoke. Verse 30 of John 8, as He spoke
these words, many believed on Him. When we talk about the doctrine
of Christ, we're talking about the doctrine of God, for it is
through Christ that God in the trinity of his persons is revealed
and glorified. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. If you want to see the fullness
and glory of the Father, if you really want to call God your
Father and be right, the only basis upon which you can do so
and be confirmed by God's word is the person and finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Christ, the second
person of the Trinity, was made flesh. It's on the basis of the blood
of Jesus Christ, His righteousness imputed, which most people in
religion today have never even heard of. that you can call God your father,
Abba Father, he says in Romans and Galatians. It's only through
the teachings of Christ that we know Him to be who He is,
God in human flesh. The Redeemer, upon the surety
and substitute of His people upon whom all of the salvation
of all whom God gave Him, that's who He said, was conditioned,
and who came to this earth and took upon himself the likeness
of sinful flesh yet without sin, and walked this earth in perfect
obedience to the law of God and even unto the cross to satisfy
the justice of God on behalf of all those whom God gave him."
You say, why do you keep saying all those whom God had given?
I'll tell you why I say that. That's what He said. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, he said. I feel very comfortable saying
what he said. How about you? Well, you ought
not say that in the church. Well, he said it in the temple. In fact, he told them later on,
he says, you believe not because you're not of my sheep. My sheep
hear my voice. What's his voice? It's his word.
It's his truth. It's the words he spoke. Not
just in John 8, but Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
go on, all the way to Revelation. It's the doctrine of salvation. How does God save a sinner? By his grace, based upon the
righteousness of his Son. It's the doctrine of man. What
did Christ teach about man? We're going to look at that in
just a moment. Now, there are those who claim to believe in
Christ, but whose claim is false. Now, back here in John 8, 30,
it says, and as he spake these words, many believed on him.
Now, what the context tells us, and I'll show you another scripture
here. The context tells us that he's talking about they had a
profession of faith. What did he tell them? He told
those which believed on him, if you continue in my word. If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. Now that word if, what does the
Bible tell us about the little two letter word if? You say,
well, why would you make a big deal over if? I'll tell you exactly
why. Sometimes if is used in a sentence
meaning a condition for. Other times it means an evidence
of. Is that clear? It's like you'll go to work tomorrow. You'll get a paycheck if you
go to work. The condition for you getting
that paycheck is that you go to work and do your job. Isn't
that right? That's not what the if here means.
It doesn't mean if you continue, God will give you something as
a condition. This if is an evidence of. Am I a disciple of Christ truly? Well, if I am, I will continue
in his word. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. They follow me. They shall never
perish. Now you understand? Well, how
do you know? Now listen, let me give you something about biblical
interpretation this morning. How do you know if the if is
a condition for or an evidence
of? How do you know? Well, whatever he's saying, whatever
the person is saying, whether it's Christ or one of the prophets,
what covenant is it under? If it's under the covenant of
grace, it is always and evidence of. Why? Because grace cannot be
earned and deserved. You can't work for it. You can't
meet a condition for it. Grace is given freely by God
to all his people based on the Lord Jesus Christ having already
met all conditions. Christ said this, He said, then
said Jesus to those, verse 31, who believed on Him, if you continue
in what? My word. What was His word? It's the gospel of salvation
conditioned on Christ who fulfilled those conditions in His obedience
unto death as the surety and substitute of His people. That's
how I know this if is not a condition for A work done to attain, but
it's an evidence of. I always use the illustration
of like a newborn baby. That baby, before it comes out
of the womb of its mother, has what? God-given physical life. Isn't that right? And when it
comes out of the womb, what's the first thing that doctor wants
to see? Breathing. They used to turn
them upside down and spank them on the bum. I don't know if they
do that today or not. Probably not. I don't know. But they wanted
to see those lungs working. Now, let me ask you a question.
Was that baby alive before it breathed? Yes. The breathing only what? Gave evidence of life already
there. Same way in the new birth. How
do I know I've been born again? I'm breathing. What is the breathing?
Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repenting of my dead works. Resting
in Him. Continuing in His Word. That's
what it is. But now think about this. There
are those who claim to believe in Christ, but whose claim is
false. We know that from Scripture.
Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
writes here. These are the teachings of Christ. These are the words
of Christ now. Understand, if you continue in
my word, well, what does he say? Look at verse 2 of 2 Corinthians
11. He says, I'm jealous over you
with godly jealousy for I have espoused you to one husband then
I may present you as a chaste virgin of Christ. I preach Christ
to you. I've shown you that there's no other way of salvation but
Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead. His blood
alone, His righteousness alone, no other, no mixture, no combination. It's just Christ. That's what
He's saying. And he says, but I fear, verse
3, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. That's what false preachers do. It's not Christ alone. It's not His righteousness imputed
alone. It's not His blood alone. It's
Him plus you or Him plus this or Him plus that. And they take
away from the simplicity or literally the singleness that is in Christ. Divert your attention. Look at
verse four. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, you mean there's another one? The word another
in the Greek there is one of a different kind. There's another word in the New
Testament for another that means one of the same kind. For example,
when Christ was teaching about the coming of the Holy Spirit,
he called the Holy Spirit another comforter. That's one of the
same kind because the Holy Spirit is God. God the Spirit, the third
person of the Trinity. But the word another here means
one of a different kind. This is a different Jesus. Whom we've not preached. Or if
you receive another spirit of a different kind, not the Holy
Spirit, which you've not received, or another gospel, again, of
a different kind. which you've not accepted, you
might well bear with him." In other words, what he's saying
here, that word him is in italics, means it wasn't in the original
manuscript. Paul's talking about you don't
bear with, you don't put up with it, because later on he says
expose them, don't follow them. So there are people who claim
to believe in Jesus, but it's another Jesus. How do you know
the difference? The doctrine of Christ. His word. Read the Bible. I want to know
that the Jesus, the word Jesus means Savior, God our Savior.
I want to know that the Jesus I'm trusting is not a counterfeit. How about you? We'll continue in His Word. Now there's going to be a lot
of preachers who will tell you a lot of things about Jesus that
just simply are not true. You better be on your guard.
You say, well, am I just out there to flap in the wind? Or
just, is it a feeling? I just feel like it's right.
Feelings come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. My hope is in
the word of God. And that's what I want to find
myself believing. The word of, what does God say?
If you continue in my word, Christ said, Turn to John chapter 2. John chapter 2. Look at verse 23, the last few
verses of John chapter 2. Now here's my point now. There are people who claim to
believe in Jesus, but they don't really believe. Their claim is
a false claim. It's a false profession. Look
at verse 23 of John chapter 2. Now when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover in the feast day, many believed on his name
when they saw the miracles which he did. They believed just in
him because of the miracles. They didn't believe in Him as
Messiah, as the Lord their righteousness. You understand? As the Savior
of His people from their sins. As the one who fulfilled all
conditions of salvation. They just believed in Him as
the miracles. Verse 24 says, But Jesus did
not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all. He knew
all men. And needed not that any should
testify of man, for He knew what was in man. What did He say was
in man? Well, he said, in man, naturally,
it's an evil heart of unbelief. The heart is deceitful, desperately
wicked. Above all things, who can know?
You know who wrote that? Jeremiah. You know who said it?
Jesus. Because it was Jesus, Christ,
who inspired Jeremiah through the Holy Spirit to write those
words. You understand that? If you don't get that, you're
not going to understand the Bible. Turn to Matthew 13. Matthew 13. You remember the
parable of the seed and the sower? The seed is the word of God,
the gospel. The sower is Christ and his ministers,
his preachers, spreading the gospel word. And he gives us
four types of hearers here. Verse 18, look at Matthew 13,
18. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower. I'm going to tell you what it means, he says. When anyone
heareth the word of the kingdom, that's the gospel, of salvation
by the grace of God through the blood and righteousness of Christ,
and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth
away that which was sown in his heart, in his mind, And this
is he which receiveth seed by the wayside. He's talking about
a person who comes in and hears the gospel and then has no interest
in it. It doesn't even affect them.
They don't even claim to believe it. It's just taken away. Verse
20, but he that receiveth seed in the stony places, here's the
stony ground here, the same as he that heareth the word and
anon, or immediately, that's what that means, with joy receiveth
it, he grabs hold of it, Yet hath he not root in himself,
there's no work of the Spirit in the new birth there, that's
what it's talking about. But dureth for a while, he continues
for a while, for when trouble, tribulation or persecution arises
because of the word, do you hear that? By and by he's offended. He leaves it. That's the stony
ground here. In other words, that person who,
he hears it and receives it joyfully, But it doesn't bring him unto
true faith and repentance to the point that he's convinced
that this is true, it can be no other way. And when persecution
and trouble comes over the word, the testimony of the gospel,
he leaves it. And remember what Christ said,
if you continue in my word, then are you my son. Well, this one
didn't continue. And then look at verse 22. Matthew 13, he also that receives
seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care
of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. Deceitfulness of riches
choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. He's got other things
to do. There's more important things
in this person's life than continuing in the word. Got money to make,
family to visit, all kinds of things that can take a person
away in the world. But he doesn't continue, but
look at verse 23. But he that receives seed in
the good ground. Now what is the good ground?
The Bible says there's none good, no not one. The Bible says natural
man will not receive the things of the Spirit of God. The Bible
says, I'm talking, this is the Word of God, this is the teaching
of Christ. The teachings of Christ say the heart is deceitful, desperately
wicked, above all things, who can know it? Christ knew what was in man,
an evil heart of unbelief. What is the good ground? It's
the new heart given by the Holy Spirit in the new birth. God said, I'll give them a new
heart. That's regeneration and conversion. You see, we are justified
before God That is, we are made right with God, we are not charged
with our sin, we are righteous in God's sight based solely upon
the work of Christ on that cross as he accomplished righteousness
for his people. As a result of that, that work
of Christ, justification based on His righteousness imputed,
as the result of His righteousness imputed, the Holy Spirit comes
and in God's good providence brings us under the preaching
of the gospel, and you know what? By the power of the Spirit, we're
born again, we're given a new heart, ears to hear, eyes to
see. That's the good ground. And it says, is he that heareth
the word and understandeth it. The Son of God hath come and
given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true.
Which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some hundred,
some sixty, some thirty." They grow in grace and in knowledge. They continue in His Word. You see those, turn to John chapter
12, and I'll hurry here because I'm running out of time. But I'm going to pick up with
this next week now. Those who claim to believe in
Christ but stop short of repentance and do not continue in His Word
are those who have a false profession of faith. Look at John 12, look
at verse 42. He says, nevertheless among the
chief rulers also many believed on Him, but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess Him. to confess Christ before the
Pharisees is to essentially say the same thing to the Pharisees
that Christ said. Do you understand what I'm saying? Christ comes along and he says,
you appear righteous unto men, but you're not righteous. You
think you can be righteous by your works? No, sir. I came into
the world to make sinners righteous by my work Christ said. That's
what he said. You're dead in your sins and
you're going to die in your sins. Your works are evil. Now they
look at you, who claim to be a disciple of Christ, and they
say, did you hear what He said to me? Do you agree with Him? And what do you say if you're
a disciple indeed? I agree with Him a hundred percent. I hate
it for you buddy, but I agree with Him. I'm with Him. That's confessing Christ. You
understand that? What he said. That's what I say. It's not because I'm proud. I
am a proud man. But my pride is sinful. It's
not because I'm mean. I can be mean sometimes. And
that's to my shame. It's not because I'm just, I
don't know, whatever. I can be whatever. It's because
it's the Word of God. I've been brought to repentance.
I know that every effort of man at his best to save himself and
make himself acceptable and righteous before God is an abomination
to God. I know that. And if you don't
know this Christ according to His Word, look at it. He said
in verse 42, He said, Because of the Pharisees they did not
confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.
They'd get thrown out of church. For they loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. Now, this is what's included
when Christ said there in John 8, If you continue in My Word,
then are you my disciples indeed. And that continuing, as I said,
that's evidence of being a disciple indeed. Do you understand? And the reason that we do continue
is because we're preserved. But we'll go into that next time. All right? Okay.