I want you to open your Bibles
this morning to John chapter 8. I don't have much voice. The flu has left me coughing
a lot. I hear people say all the time
when they Miss the day's work that they had the flu? No, they
didn't. No, they didn't. This is entirely
different. I want to remind you in the beginning
this morning of who the Lord Jesus Christ
is talking to in this text. He's not talking to a biker gang, not talking to harlots,
or drug addicts, or drunkards. He's talking to those Jews especially
Pharisees, who claimed to be the children of God. They claimed to be the children
of Abraham. And if you look in verse 37, Christ says, I know that ye are
Abraham's seed, that is, after the flesh, but ye 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 ye have seen with your
father." They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, if you
were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a
man who hath told you the truth which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham." They were all very traditional
religious people. They were very moral people,
and they were very zealous people, as one of their own said. Paul the Apostle said of them,
they have a zeal. They have a zeal toward God,
but it's not according to knowledge. And here is our Lord who is knowledge
itself, truth itself speaking to them. And Christ here says in verse
41 that what you do and what you believe reveals you and who
you are no matter what you claim, no
matter what you say. 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. They looked at the Lord Jesus
Christ, they considered him a spiritual illegitimate, and they claimed
for themselves the being of the children of God, having God as
their father, and also Abraham. Then in verse 42, Jesus said
unto them, if God were your father, ye would love me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. And then notice what he says
to them in verse 43. Why do you not understand my
speech? Why don't you know this? Why
don't you believe what I'm saying? Why don't you understand the
things that I'm talking about if you claim to be the children
of God? He says, even because ye cannot
hear my word. It wasn't that they did not have
the natural ability to hear. It was because they had hearts
and minds that were empty against the true God, and they would
not, could not hear the things that he said. But notice verse 44. These are the very strongest
words. He said, ye are of your father,
the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning
and a boat not in the truth because there is no truth in him. And when he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it. Now he did not mince words. He looked them straight in the
face, and told them the exact situation, the truth. He said,
your father, ye are of your father the devil. Now when we hear that, we have
to know by those words that there is no such thing then as the
universal fatherhood of God. We have to know and admit what
we often do not want to admit, which is that we are not all
God's children, as we like to say. Because here he speaks of these
people as not only being the children of the devil, Moral
as they were, religious as they were, zealous and dedicated as
they were, they were nonetheless the children of the devil. They were the children of the
lie. And that's my message this morning. The children of the lie. Because the lie, as well as the
liar, have been since the beginning. That's what our Lord says in
verse 44. He says the devil was a liar
in the beginning, and he told the lie in the beginning, And
he was a murderer, murdered our whole race, and did it with a
lie. He did it with a subtle lie. Look back over in the book of
Genesis, in Genesis chapter three. You see, we have to remember
that the devil always uses craft and subtlety and deceit in what
he does to men. And this is pictured for us in
chapter 3 of Genesis in the serpent that beguiled Eve. It says, now
the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. He was more beautiful, he was
more cunning, he was more able to travel in a gracious fashion. And he said unto the woman, yea,
hath God said, ye shall not eat, of every tree of the garden."
In other words, he began by putting in doubt, sowing doubt in her
mind as to what God actually said and to what He actually
meant. But if you'll notice, In verse
2, it says, The woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said. In other words, there wasn't
any doubt in their minds. God had said very plainly, Ye
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
He told Adam, in the day that you eat of this tree, you will
surely die. And that tree was merely symbolic. of God's right to be God, of
God's right to command his creature or deal with his creature in
whatever way he so desired. He simply said, do not eat of
this tree in the midst of the garden. But if you'll notice what Satan
said in verse 4 in reply to her repeating what God had said,
he says, And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not
surely die. That will not be a way of death
unto you. That will be a way of a better
life to you. For God doth know that in the
day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil, or determining good
and evil for yourselves. Now, the thing that I want you
to notice first in this is this. Compare what was said in verse
3 and in what was said in verse 4. In other words, God said that
in the day that you eat of it, you'll die. You shall not eat
thereof, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the devil said, you shall
not surely die. Now I ask you this, what happened? Who told the lie? Who misrepresented
God? Who told them that which was
not true? It was the devil, because when
they heeded his words, heeded his advice, followed his way,
they all died. They didn't die physically, but
they died spiritually. They died to God. They died to
truth. And so Satan's lie has always
been said from that point on against God's truth. And his
preachers always preach his lie in the form of many lies. You've got to understand it.
In the form of many lies. And the majority of men and the
majority of women believe his lies rather than the truth of
God. Why? Because when Adam fell in
the garden and plunged our whole race into sin and spiritual death,
We fail and our nature becomes a nature in which we would rather
naturally believe a lie than believe the truth. Don't believe that. Sometimes, I think it's about
three times in the book of Proverbs, it tells us this. There is a
way that seems right to a man. To you, to me, naturally right
to us, naturally good to us. There is a way that seems right
to a man. The end thereof are the ways
of death. Just exactly like what happens
here. In other words, it is one way
that leads to death, but it is many ways. But it all is the
same way, which is Satan's way rather than God's way. And the majority believe the
lies of Satan rather than the truth of God. They do not even
know, for the most part, what the truth is. They can read such as John 8,
44, and they read it with blind eyes.
They don't see what's being said there. They don't see the danger
of their own selves. And they believe and accept commonly
believed lies about God, about salvation, about Christ, and
about especially the only way a sinner is saved. You see, Satan was a subtle creature
as the serpent in the garden. But he is even more so with his
emissaries today. He is such as is transformed
into an angel of light. You remember when Paul warned
the Corinthians, he said, if anybody else comes and preaches
to you any other doctrine other than that which I have preached,
even if it is an angel, don't heed it. Don't believe
it. Don't follow it. Turn over to
2 Corinthians. You see, most people have the
idea that Satan is some kind of a being walking around with
a pitchfork and horns and a pointed tail and such as like that, and
leading men through drunkenness or one thing or another like
that, when chiefly he is doing what he does in his most dangerous
work by deception. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and beginning in verse
13. Now this was a long time ago. Even then, there was this deception. Even as the apostles themselves
preached, there was this deception. So Paul says, of such who were
at Corinth and other places, in verse 13, he says, for such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. They're not going to look like
red-suited devils with pitchforks and such as that. They'll be
smooth talking, smooth looking, smiley faces, appearing to be
intelligent, biblically sound, and saying everything they say
from the Bible. The other morning when I flew
out early, to go to Florida, I got a cab
to pick me up and drive me to the airport so I wouldn't have
to interrupt anybody's day at 4.30 in the morning. And I got in the back of that
taxi cab and there was a young, articulate black man driving
it, had good English, spoke good grammar, friendly, warm. And so we were driving along.
We haven't gotten hardly a mile. And he said, I was looking just
recently in history of some dates that took place about 1844. And this happened and that happened. And I thought to myself, why
do you bring up such a conversation as this at 4.30 in the morning? You are going somewhere. And he began to relate one day
about this person. Oh, and something else happened
to them. And something else happened.
One thing led to the other. He was a seventh-day Adventist. trying to sell his doctrine to
me, trying to convince me that Saturday
is still the Sabbath and such foolishness. And the only thing
that kept me from being charmed, from being taken in, from being
led along his path down to where he wanted to take me, the only
thing that stopped that was the truth that I knew. He started talking about how
this group waited for the coming of Christ. I said, yes, and he
didn't come, did he? Well, and later on, they came
together again, and they waited for him to come. I said, yes,
and he didn't come that time, did he? And the reason you don't
know when he's coming, and I don't know when he's coming, and anybody
else doesn't know when he's coming, is because he said it's not given
to us to know. But that's the way it is. That's
always the way it is. So he says here, for such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. They even take that name, title. You can go somewhere over here
and you can hear apostles so-and-so. No. And no marvel. In other words, this ought not
surprise us. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. What does that mean? He's transformed. That word angel
means messenger. And it says Satan himself is
transformed into a messenger of light or truth. We have something
that will help you, enlighten you, make you happy, make you
wealthy, make you joyful, give you peace. But look at this. Therefore it
is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works." They're transformed as ministers
of righteousness. But it says, if you'll notice
there, it says, their end shall be according to their works. Is that what you want? If you would take the dearest
person to you in this world, Would you ever say that you would
want God to deal with them based on your works? No. If you do, you're the most
self-righteous person I've ever met. You don't have an idea what
you are in God's sight. when he says, we have all sinned
and come short of his glory. And so these people, these individuals,
these teachers who will enlighten and cause us to have understanding
about all these various things, prophecy and such as that, he
says, their end shall be according to their works. God's people want their end to
be according to Christ's work. Christ's work. You see, these children of the
lie believe the lies spoken by these deceivers without even
questioning them. I'm not kidding you. They believe
some that are so generally accepted that almost nobody questions
them. They say things like, well, we
know that God loves everybody. Really? Is that what you think? That is one of Satan's lies. Because all you have to do is
open this book and read places like he says of Esau, that he
hated Esau, or the Psalms where it says that he hates all workers
of iniquity, and see all the instances in the scripture when
God evidently hated some people rather than loved them. Look at all the people this side,
the other side of the flood. Look at all the people that drowned
in the flood waters, or all the people that were burned up with
the fire and brimstone in Sodom, or all the people that we find
in the Bible that God struck them dead. Is that God's love? The Bible says that the love
of God is in Christ Jesus, and outside of Christ Jesus, He doesn't
love anybody. He can't love anybody. Because He's holy. Because He's
just. Well, they say, we know this.
We're sure that you can accept Jesus because Christ died for
everybody. Absolutely a lie. Probably the
biggest lie that Satan has ever proposed in this world is that
that Christ died for everybody. When you can turn to John chapter
10 and hear the shepherd himself say, I give my life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep."
And he turns and he looks at some just like these same people
and he says to them, you believe not because you're not of my
sheep. It says that Christ Shed His
blood. He shed His blood as the very
blood of God, and He purchased the church with His own blood. over and over again. And everywhere
that you see a type and a picture of the death of Christ, it will
always be for a particular people. It will always be for a particular
individual. It will never be general because
of this. If what is necessary to make
His death effectual for you is something you do, that makes
your salvation to be by works. The man in hell and the man in
heaven, if Christ died for them both, I ask you this morning,
What effected good for one and nothing for the other? What do
you say? Christ makes salvation available.
It's up to you. That's the problem. It cannot
be by grace then. It cannot be by all of Christ. It cannot be by all His work
if, if, if you must be the determining factor. Christ gave His life for the
sheep. Really? Yes, really. How, he said, how do I know that
I'm one of Christ's sheep? How do I know I'm not one of
the goats that are described? Christ said this, my sheep hear
my voice and they follow me. You see, they believe what Christ
said. They don't believe one of Satan's
lies. They believe it up until the
time that God in His grace and mercy comes to them and reveals
to them the truth, shows them the difference. You see, salvation
is not something of a contingency plan with God. Salvation is His
purpose of grace which was given His people in Christ before the
world began. You say, I believe everybody's
given a choice. You see, salvation cannot be
by any choice other than God's. And you read in Ephesians 1,
and it says that he chose his people in Christ and blessed
them with all spiritual blessings in him before the world began. Well, I believe the Holy Spirit
is trying to save everybody. Why? The Holy Spirit works in direct
harmony with the other two persons in the Godhead. God the Father
loved the people and chose them and gave them to Christ. And
Christ came to this world and died in their place as a substitute
for this sin. And the Holy Spirit is going
to make sure that they know and receive this great blessing. That's what Christ said. He said, I'm going to go away,
but when I go away, I'll send you the comforter. I'll send
you the spirit of truth. And you know what he'll do? Well, he'll make everybody speak
in tongues. He'll make everybody jump up
and down. I don't think so. I don't, I'd hate to know that
the spirit of truth made anything any more chaotic than it already
is. You know what he said? He said,
he will take the things of mine and show them to you. Wherever you find anybody always
talking about the Holy Spirit this and the Holy Spirit that,
I'll guarantee you he's not there. He speaks of Christ. He takes the things of Christ,
the truth of Christ. He shows you what Christ has
done. He shows us who Christ really
is. Well, I say, some say, I believe
that everybody has a free will. We don't even find that in the
Bible. And you see, in truth, there
can only be one free will in this universe. And that's the
one whose will is the strongest. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. Did you hear that? All things after the counsel
of his own will. Well, you say, What if I'm not
willing? You probably won't be. But it doesn't matter. Because
all of His people, whose will are as directly opposed to God
and His truth as anybody else, it says He'll make all His people
willing in the day of His power. There was a time when I wasn't
willing. There was a time when I wasn't
willing to accept this truth from God's Word. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians. You see, Deception has been going
on all since the garden. There have been these children
of the lie all the way. They make up the majority. They
were the majority in Noah's day. They didn't believe the message
that Noah preached to them. It says he was a preacher of
righteousness. So they've been deceivers. And so when Paul writes in 2
Thessalonians 2 and verse 7, he says this, for
the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Now all that mystery
means is that which has not been revealed for what it is. The
mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth
will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that
wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with his spirit,
the spirit of his mouth, and 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. You notice that. The power to deceive is so great, it is often joined with power, signs, and lying
wonders. Well, I'll tell you, preacher,
I saw it with my own eyes. If you see it with your own eyes,
if you feel it in your own body, if it's told to you for the absolute
truth and it is not according to this word, don't believe it. Don't believe it. How many things have we been
told as absolute fact in our short lifetimes? How many things
have been proven to us, even in the natural realm, only for
us to find out later it was not true? I remember when they started
talking about how bad coffee was. Oh, one thing you don't want
is coffee. That stuff will kill you. You
won't live very long if you drink it. Brother Rupert, that kind of
scared me because I like my coffee. But now, great revelation. If you drink two or three cups
a day, you'll probably have a longer life. We are an easily deceived people. But look, it says, verse 10, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness, which is simply calling righteousness
what is not righteousness. In them that perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Sometimes I'll think, How can
people believe what they do when we have the Bible so clear and
so plain? How can they fall for some of the things they
do? God sends them strong delusion. Is that too much for you? Well,
there it is in black and white. God sends some people strong
delusion that they believe a lie rather than the truth because
they are naturally unwilling to receive the love of the truth.
It's not that they don't just love, they don't love the truth.
They don't want to receive the love of the truth. The love of
the truth is electing love, saving love, the love that is in Christ
Jesus, period. that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Bob, that doesn't mean that they
just all like wine, women, and song. It means that they trusted
in and had pleasure in things and deeds and ways of coming
before God rather than the one He sets forth. You say, do people really? Oh
yes, they really do. What's your hope? Well, I've
been a Christian all my life. That's too long. I've never drunk
a drunk of alcohol, drink of alcohol. I've never smoked a
cigarette. I've been to church all my life. That's all unrighteousness. So much so that Christ says in
Matthew 7, when they stand up before me and they say, calling
me, Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonderful works in your
name? We've cast out devils in your name. We've preached in
your name. He'll say to them in that hour,
depart from me. I never knew you. Ye that work iniquity. He did work iniquity. But now
look at verse 13, 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, but, but we are bound to give thanks
always to God For you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That means the difference between the children of the lie
and the children of God, the children of truth. The difference
between these who from the beginning were chosen unto salvation by
God determined to know this by the
revealing work of his gospel and spirit, the difference is
God himself. His grace. They're gonna believe a lie. If you think God's trying to
save everybody, that's another lie. He's come to save His people. Well, I believe in John 3.16. Do you believe in Matthew 1.21? Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Who's going to do it? Jesus. Who's he gonna do it for? His
people. What's he gonna do for them?
Save them. Not make salvation possible,
but save them from all their sins. And from the garden time, men
have been showing whether they are the children of the devil,
the children of the lie, were the children of God. Matter of fact, do you remember
those first two boys that were born to Adam and Eve? They had
more children, I'm sure, but God gave us those two boys to
show us this very thing. One was a child of the lie. And the other was a child of
grace, child of truth, child of God. And their name was Cain
and Abel. Jude records those words, woe
unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain. King and Abel. If you'll turn over to 1 John. 1 John chapter 3. In these two men, we have these
two ways. One is the way of death, the
other is the way of righteousness, which is God's way. And you'll never know what, you'll
never believe what John does here, being led by the Spirit. He goes all the way back to the
beginning, all the way back to the beginning. Because nothing
has changed. Verse 8. He says, He that committeth
sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Now I want to ask you something
before we go any farther. Have you ever sinned? Well, sure, everybody's sinned.
But it says here, those that commit sin are of
the devil. Well, I guess we'd have to conclude
then that there are no children of God, because we've all sinned. But he's not talking of sin in
general here. He's talking of a particular
sin. He's talking of a particular
sin. And he says, Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and
he cannot sin, because he is born of God. I don't know how many mistaken
commentaries there are on this verse. Trying to make regeneration,
being born of God, mean that we won't sin anymore. I'm afraid
that is not the case. But those born of God, they won't commit this sin. They won't choose the way of
death. They won't ultimately and finally
trust in their own works or some scheme of man rather than trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They won't do it. Because he says in verse 10,
in this the children of God are manifest and the children of
the devil Whosoever doeth not righteousness
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this
is the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that we should
love one another, not as king." I've told you this before. I'm
going to say it one more time. What do we know? about Cain and
Abel. We know very little. We know that Cain rose up and
slew his brother Abel. But before that, we know this
about him. We know that when they went before
God to worship God and to be accepted by God, Abel, in obedience to the instruction
of his father Adam, brought a lamb. which was a type and picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took that innocent lamb and
slew it and shed its blood on that altar, and he worshiped
and sought to come before God and be accepted by God on that
basis. A God-appointed, God-provided
sacrifice. What about Cain? It says, Cain
was a tiller of the ground, and he brought forth the fruit of
his own hands. That's all we know. God rejected Cain's sacrifice. I'll never forget one time in
a Sunday school class, the teacher saying, That Cain's offering
would have been accepted if it had been offered in the right
spirit. And even then, the Spirit of
God in my heart said, lie. That is a lie. It wasn't a problem
of spirit, it was a problem of blood. Without the shedding of
blood, there is no remission of sin. Wouldn't have mattered if he'd
offered his best. I'm sure he did. Just like it
won't matter if you offer your best. I'm sure you will. But
the only righteousness there is, is the perfect work of Jesus
Christ. He says, not as Cain, who was
of that wicked one, he was one of Satan's, children of the lie,
and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because
his own works were evil, and his brothers were righteous. That's why doing righteousness
is simply believing on the only righteousness there is, which
is Christ and Him crucified. All right, turn back to our text,
John 8, and I'll quit. God would have somebody here
this morning to hear this message. I know that. Because I had already prepared
to preach it last Sunday. Because when I got here this
morning, I could hardly talk. John 8, 45. He said, you're of your father
the devil. Why? Because you believe a lie.
Is it because you're not nice? You're not friendly? It's because you believe a lie. 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? These men here heard the truth
from the lips of him who is the truth. Well, you say, if Jesus
was here telling me this, I'd believe it, but I won't believe
it because you're telling it. No, he was there. Look at verse 47. He that is of God, heareth God's word. Ye therefore, hear them not,
because you're not of God. Anybody who in any way adds the
least little thing to the work of Christ. Takes away the least little thing
from the work of Christ. He's a deceiver. He's a child
of the lie. Those who believe him will be
the children of the lie. but all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, plus
nothing. Plus nothing. You say, well,
what about plus nothing? Well, shouldn't I do plus nothing? That's what grace is, plus nothing. Christ plus nothing. Christ crucified. Christ's blood and perfect righteousness
is the all of God's salvation. And he that is of God, child of God, the elect of God,
loved of God, redeemed of God, called by the Spirit of God,
he'll hear God's words. But those that are not, they won't. I'm not on a fool's errand. I'm
on a mission. looking for those sheep. And I know that what I preach
isn't favorable to natural men. Wasn't favorable to me in the
beginning. But everyone that's born of God, they'll hear God's Word. And
they'll find them so sweet. I remember feeling the feeling
of, I was so glad when I learned that salvation didn't depend
on me, it depended on Christ. I remembered the feeling of,
I was so glad when it didn't, it wasn't all about doing and
rules and regulations, it was all in Christ. That's the way God makes it sure
to his people. He put all the saving in the
hands of his savior. Our father, we thank you this
morning for your mercy, for your strength, for your goodness, for your son, for his perfect righteousness.
but you lay to the account of all your people and reveal that truth to them. We do pray and ask that you would
make known your people, but we look to Christ and we thank you
for him and every blessing we receive from you. a man.