Let's turn back to the Gospel
of John chapter 8. I want to pick up in verse 33. Human nature is so depraved that when it is
doing evil, It believes it's doing good. Believes it's doing
good. Now, we know that murder, thievery
and these things, we know those things. Everyone knows those
things are wrong. But the evil, the most evil thing going on
this morning is not on the streets. It's in pulpits. Men standing behind pulpits,
lying to congregations on God, taking the Scriptures, taking
the truth and twisting it and giving men and women false hope. That is the most evil thing that
can be done. And yet, they think they're doing
good. These Pharisees, they believed
that there was no one better in the land than they. And yet,
our Lord said, you are of your father the devil. He said, Satan
is your father. And they were the most law-abiding
citizens of that day. But the Lord exposes the heart. He said in one place, you are
whited sepulchers. On the outside you look good
to men, you're painted up, you're dressed up, but on the inside
you are full of dead men's bones. The corruption, the bondage that
he's speaking of in these next few verses is the bondage to
sin. not to other men, not to persons,
but the bondage to sin. And our Lord exposes the hidden
things of darkness. He exposes false professions.
He exposes them and all false religion as hypocrites. It's
not of God. Not everyone who stands behind
a pulpit and uses the name of Jesus is of God. Paul said they will come preaching
another Jesus. They will use his name, but they
will not preach his character. They will not preach who he really
is, what he really did, who he did it for, and where he is now.
They will not do that. They'll use his name, but they
can't use this Bible, or they can't call themselves Christians.
They'll use his name, but I tell you what they do, they abuse
his name. They take his name and they abuse it, use it to
their advantage. So our Lord here, He's going
to expose these hypocrites and their false professions. And
He gives the marks of a true believer. Those, He says, who
continue in my word are my disciples indeed. Those who continue in
my doctrine, in my teachings, in my gospel, they are the ones
that are my disciples. They are the ones who are the
followers of God. They are the ones. You know,
the word of God is a living word. This book is not like any other
book. There are a lot of commentaries written on this book, but they're
not living commentaries. This book right here is the living
word of God. And it's relevant to every day.
It's never, listen, it's never outdated. You and I grow old. The word of God never grows old.
It never grows old. It's fresh. It's new. It's living. It's living. Now
it says here in verse 33, they answered him, we be Abraham's
seed. And they took a lot of pride
in that. And we were never in bondage to any man. How do you
say, how says thou, thou shalt be made free? Because he said
in verse 32, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make
you free. And they said, well, we're Abraham's
seed. We're not in bondage. We've never been in bondage. That's insane, isn't it? If a man is standing behind bars
and he swears up and down he's not in bondage, wouldn't you
say he was insane? Our Lord is telling these men,
you are in bondage. You're in bondage to sin. To
say, oh, you're in bondage to these things. And they are saying,
we are not in bondage. Now, listen, and I want you to
listen to this. The only truly, truly sane person
is the person born of God. Am I right? Because outside of that, all
men call God a liar. Now, is that not insane? To call
God a liar to His face? To deny Christ? Now to me, that's
insanity. That's insanity. To deny the
Creator? To refuse to give unto Him the
glory due unto His name? That's insanity. And our Lord
says to them, for they said, here they answered Him, we are
Abraham's seed. And they thought that gave them the ticket to
freedom. Children of the covenant. Well, that's not so. It's true
they are Abraham's seed, but now listen, they are still sinners. They're still lost because they
are Adam's seed also. And those Pharisees were just
as lost as any Gentile. Lost, you know, there's no degrees
of lost. Lost is lost. And there are no degrees of saved.
Saved is saved. Just as there's no degrees of
death. If you're dead, you're dead. If you're alive, you're
alive. Notice here their depravity,
their insanity. We were never in bondage to any
man. Well, let's see. They were 400
years in bondage to Egypt. Seven times they were delivered
into the hands of the Canaanites. They spent seventy years in Babylon,
and at this present time, they were under the bondage of Roman
rule. We were never in bondage to any
man. And it made them mad when our
Lord said, You shall be made free. That ought to make us happy.
But it made them mad because they said, we're not bondmen.
We're not slaves. We're not servants. You see,
the natural man does not like to hear about being in bondage. He does not like to hear about
being unrighteous. None good. Say that on television.
Say that the next time you get mixed in a crowd at work or wherever
you're at. Just say there's none good. No, not one. See how that
goes over. That goes over like a lead balloon.
There's none, the word of God says there's none good, no, not
one, including you can write out beside that. I wrote that
beside that in my book and even me. Including me, most people
think it's talking about the people out on the street. No,
that's everybody. That's absolutely every soul that comes into this
world, God says there's none good, no, not one. And it's so,
but it's irritating. That's irritating to the self-righteous.
The Pharisees hated it. Made them mad. The only good one is God. A young man came and said, good
master, he says, hold up now. There is none good but God. Now,
if I'm good, it's because I'm God. If all I am is a man, I'm
not good. He's God and he's good. And no
man or woman is free naturally. We are slaves to our nature.
Try not to overeat. Yeah, do it this week. Try not
to eat the things that are not good for you. Vicki brought home
a bag of Oreos last night. I guarantee you in three days
they'll be gone. And they're not good for you. I can't say
they're good for you in any way, shape, or form, but they taste
good. And if they sit there long enough,
I promise you, I'm going to tear into them. I'm going to have
my milk and cookies, even though they're no good. We're slaves
to our nature. The very freedom men claim to
have is their bondage. They claim to have freedom of
the will. Well, just try the will not to do something that
you know that you ought not do. You can't do it. Yeah, just try
to drive a speed limit. Even if you will to do it, if
you want to do it, you can't do it. You can't do it. You will not do it. You'll break
it. Men are in bondage to the very thing they claim to have
freedom in. We indulge our evil desires, our self-love, We love ourselves a whole lot
more than we think. Love of the world, those in it,
love of money, love of pleasure. These things rule over us naturally. These are our natural enemies. These are things we love by nature
now. This is what we love by nature.
We naturally love these things. These things master us. We think we are the master. I
heard somebody on television the other day talking about being
master of their own destiny. I'm not a master of anything. We are being mastered either by sin and corruption
or by the Holy Spirit if you're born of God. The Scripture says this. Let
him that thinketh he stand, take heed lest he what? Fall. I'm subject to falling. I'm not
talking about a believer falling away into apostasy. I'm talking
about falling, sin, tripped up. He said, take heed lest you fall.
Be careful how you condemn somebody else. You'll be doing the same
thing for a while down the road. There's never a time when we
are past falling. If the Lord withdraws his hand
like he did David, we will fall. We will fall. Now, Jesus answered them, verily,
verily, I say unto you. See, he will get to the root
of the problem. They said, we are never in bondage to any man.
Well, he's not talking about any man. He's not talking about
a man at all. He's talking about sin. You see,
sin is the issue. Sin is the issue. If we take
care of this sin issue, we can be made free. If we can be set
free from this sin issue, if this can be dealt with, we can
literally be made free. And he answered them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin. He's in bondage to sin. He's
a slave to sin. And that's what we are by nature.
Sins, plural, is what we do because of what we are, sin. They were speaking of the outward
man, the Lord's speaking of the inward man. He deals with the
heart. He deals with the heart. And he deals with what we are
enslaved to, and that's sin. The natural man, he supposes
that bondage, that bondage is out there in the vices. If he
doesn't do those things, he's free. But all those things out
there are in here. In the heart. The biggest brothel in the world
is in the heart. It's right there. It's in the
heart. And God looks on the heart. He
deals with the heart. He says, if you can be set free
from sin, then you're free indeed. Whosoever practices sin, inwardly
and outwardly, he's the servant of sin. Whoever, it said over
in Romans, whoever you yield your members to obey, that's
who owns you. That's who owns you. That's your master, whoever it
is you obey. So he's going to deal with this
matter of sin. I tell you this, we've committed far more sin
inwardly than we ever could outwardly. I'm sure glad that the Lord doesn't
allow it all to come out. You think it's a mess now? Sheesh. And then he says here in verse
35, and the servant abides not in the house forever, but the
son He abideth ever. The servant or the bond slave
does not stay in the house. He doesn't stay in the family.
Sooner or later, that servant has to leave. But the son never
leaves. The son stays forever. He said
the son stays ever. He's not removed. Here's a general
principle. The son remains in the family
forever while the bond slave has to leave. Ishmael has to
go. Isaac gets to stay. And then he says here in verse
36, if the son, if the son who abides
forever, if the son who stays in the family, if the son who
never leaves, If He makes you free, if He sets you free, makes
you free, you are what? You shall be free indeed. In every way you're free. I hope
we can get a hold of that. In Christ we are free. We are no more the slaves of
sin. We are no more the slaves to
Satan. We are no more slaves to this
world. We are no more slaves to the
passions of this flesh. You're free. You're free. If the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, if He makes you free through His blood, His righteousness,
His power, you are a free man, a free woman in the Lord. You're
free. so thoroughly as Christ set the
captive free that he or she will never be brought into bondage
again. I didn't say we wouldn't sin
again. I didn't say we wouldn't fall. One of the writers in the Old
Testament said, Rejoice not over me, O my enemies, though I fall,
yet shall I rise again. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. We have that on God's Word. It will not dominate you. It's not your master anymore.
Not your master. You shall be free indeed. Here is Christian, here is the
believer's freedom. from condemnation. You know this
whole world right now is under condemnation? Right now, the Word of God teaches
us that the whole world is under condemnation, waiting on execution
day. That's all it's waiting on. But
the believer is free from condemnation. Look over to Romans chapter 8. In verse 1, Romans 8, there is
therefore now, right now, no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the
Spirit. But right now, those who are in Christ, those who
believe on Christ, there's no condemnation. We have no condemnation
to be afraid of. It's not law. We are freed from
the penalty of the law. The law has no claims on us now.
When our substitute died on Calvary's tree, when Christ died, I died. And the law, the law has no claims
on me. As far as the law is concerned,
I died. As far as the law is concerned,
I put to death. And then we're free from the
wrath of God. We don't have to be concerned about that. We're
free from the power of Satan. Satan has no rule and reign over
us whatsoever. You know, whenever Satan wanted
to try Job, he wanted to take the things from Job, what did
he first have to do? He had to go to God, and he had
to get permission to touch Job. And God gave him permission,
but he had to tell you what? He had him on a chain. You can
only go so far. We're free from the bondage of
sin, not controlled by the passions and lusts of this flesh. I'm
not saying they're not gone. There's still war in our members.
There's a warfare going on in every believer. But sin's not
going to win the day. It's not going to win the day.
The believer is truly the Lord's free man. And he says in verse 37, I know
you're Abraham's seed. You're not telling me something
I don't know. But you seek to kill me. You intend to kill me. That's why you're here. You're
not here to listen to my teachings. You're here to find a reason
or a way to get a hold of me. You know, in the first part of
this chapter, they brought this adulterous woman so that they
might what? Honor the law? Do right? Now they brought this
adulterous woman, threw her on the ground at his feet, and said,
now what does the law say? That's the kind of religion I
don't want. That's the kind of religion you don't want. Taking
this adulterous woman, throwing her down, what does the law say?
You know, the law says stone her to death. And you know what?
It would have tickled them to death if they had watched him
stone her to death. It would have tickled him to
death. I was watching a Western here a few weeks ago, and they
was having a hanging. And the whole town came out for
the hanging. And I said to, I think it was
Jeremy, I said, can you believe how human nature loves to watch
execution? I said, can you imagine? I mean, that's by nature. You
know, we can't shoot a dog on TV, but you can shoot a hundred
people. We love to watch it. At the end of the script, they'll
say no animal was harmed in this. No animal was harmed in this
movie. Although somebody broke his leg, but they don't put that
up there. Or stunt man was killed. They don't put that up there.
But no animal was harmed. How warped are we? How warped? He said, I know you're Abraham's
seed, but your intent is to kill me. And here's why. Because my word has no place
in you. And when his word has no place
in you, it'll make you mad. Because the truth is very, very
tough on human nature. Tough. He knew they were Abraham's
children. He knew that. But he also knew
this. They were not God's children.
Because if you were of God, you'd hear my words. If you were God's
children, he said, you'd hear my words. And you wouldn't want
to kill me. And my word would have a place
in you. Does the word of God, does the
gospel have a place in you? Penetrate? Does it affect you? He's saying this, my word has
no entrance into you. It's like a stony ground here,
the word falls The seed falls on that stone, but there's no
penetration. No penetration. That's why I say it. My Word
has no entrance into you. And all it does is make you mad.
If the Word of God has no life-changing effect on you, it's because it's
not in you. It hasn't entered you. There's no entrance. If it has
no life-changing effect on you, because I tell you what, when
God saves a sinner, There's a radical change. There's a radical change. You love what you once hated
and you hate what you once loved. Is that not radical change? It
is. It changes people. He said, I
speak the truth. I speak that which I have seen
with my father. What I'm telling you is what
my father has given me. And you do that which you've
seen with your father. Your actions prove who you belong to. And
is that not so? Do not our actions prove who
we belong to? I'm not talking about an act. Anybody can fall. Believe it, fall or consent.
But our actions, the tenor of our life, says who we belong
to. But the Lord reveals here. He says there's a great gulf
between us. And what is that gulf? It's our parents. He says my father is God, your
father is the devil. Your father is the devil. They answered and said unto him,
Abraham is our father. They kept going to Abraham, didn't
they? Because they believed that if
they were connected to Abraham, if they were sons of Abraham,
they were automatically in the covenant and they automatically
had a maid. Turn over to John chapter 1 here. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. The Pharisees, the Sadducees,
the scribes, they all rejected him. But as many as received
him, to them gave he power, or the right, or the privilege to
become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his
name, which were born not of blood." Not of blood? We can't inherit salvation. Salvation is a gift of God. It's
a gift. It's not an inheritance from
our parents. It's not of blood. You didn't
get it through your lineage. Nor of the will of flesh. No
one willed me into being saved. It's not the will of my flesh.
And I tell you what, it's not of him that willeth nor him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Thy people shall be made
what? Willing in the day of thy power.
That's when we're made willing, when the day He commands life,
when He gives a new spirit, a new heart, a new nature. And in that
new nature, in that new man, there is a willingness to submit
and receive the Lord Jesus Christ and everything about Him. Nor of the will of man, but of
God. That's right, you're born of
God. And they answered and said, We're
Abraham's seed. He's our father. And Jesus said
to them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works
of Abraham. And what's that? You'd believe
me. Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
And Abraham followed God. By faith, he followed God. You
know, he went out to a land. He didn't know where he was going.
He didn't know where he was going, but he went anyway. He believed
God. And he said, if you were the
seed of Abraham, you would believe me. You'd believe me. The word
of God tells us that Abraham is the father of all them that
believe. Oh, if you were the seed of Abraham,
you'd do the works of Abraham. You'd believe me. But now you seek to kill me.
Your intent is to kill me. A man that has told you the truth,
truth, without the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the heart
is just irritating. It's irritating. It'll make you mad. It'll upset
you. And it'll bring out that, I'll
tell you what it'll do, it will bring out that natural enmity
to God that's in you. That's what it'll do. without
the work of the Spirit of God upon the heart. That's what it'll
do. I told you the truth, and because of that you want to kill
me. Like I said, go stand in a crowd
and say there's none righteous, no, not one. We're all wretches. Somebody in that crowd would
like to kill you. Shut you up. He said, I told you the truth
which I heard of God. This is not my opinion. Even
though he's God, this is not an opinion. Really, you know,
truth is not an opinion. It's truth is truth. It's not an opinion. I'm telling you, he said, this
is what I've heard of God. Abraham, this did not Abraham.
Abraham didn't talk like this. Never a man spake like this man. And no prophet ever spake like
this prophet. You seek to kill me because I
told you the truth. And the truth I've given you
is from God. And you hate me for it. You do the deeds of your
father. Then say they to him, we be not
born of fornication. They're saying we are not bastard
Jews. That's what they're saying. Be not born of fornication like
the Samaritans. We are the pure descendants of
Abraham. And God is our father. Everyone says that, don't they?
God is our father. Most believe in the universal
fatherhood of God. God is not the father of all
men and women. He's the judge, the creator,
but He's only the father of them that are in Christ. That's who He's the father of. In Christ, you are the sons of
God. If you believe on Christ, God's
done a work in you, brought you to faith, born of God, you are
the sons of God. Now are we the sons of God. But
outside of Christ, God is not your father. He's your judge. He's your judge. And Jesus said
unto them, if God were your Father, here would be the evidence. You would love me. You'd love me. Oh, you'd love
me. You'd be like Peter, James, and
John. You'd be like these disciples.
You'd be following me. You'd be like that demoniac that
he cast the demons out of, the legion of demons out of. He said,
I want to follow you. Don't leave me here with these
crazy people. I want to follow you. That one with the issue
of blood, that's who you'd be like. If God were your Father, you
would love me. I remember this. Back when I first heard the Gospel,
heard Henry preaching on television, And one of those messages, I
can't tell you what the message was about. I don't remember what
portion of Scripture it came from, the title of it or anything.
I remember this, and it just struck me so strongly. In that message, he said, Do
you love Christ? I never thought of that before.
I made my profession. I did what I was supposed to
do. I straightened up and started going to church. But you know
something? If you love somebody, there's
a real relationship going on, isn't there? There's a real relationship. And when he said that, it just
hit me between the eyes. Do I love Christ? Peter, do you love me? Three times the
Lord asked him, do you love me? Do you? Do you love Christ? Time and providence will prove
it. If you were Abraham's seed, you
would love me. Those of you who love Christ,
you are the sons of Abraham. You are the true Israel of God. You are the true circumcision
if you love Christ. If God were your father, you
would love me. You'd love my teachings. You'd
love my gospel. You'd love my doctrines. Election
wouldn't irritate you. Particular Egyptian would not
make you mad. You'd love it. You'd love it. You'd love it. And I'll close with verse 43. Why do you not understand my
speech? Why do you not understand the gospel? Why do many women
not understand the gospel? Have you ever told somebody the
gospel? When I first heard the gospel,
I went back to the place I was going, and I was excited. I was
excited. I heard the gospel. I found something
out here. It's like I found the Lord. Samaritan
Woman said, come see a man who told me everything that I've
ever done. And I went back to that congregation, that church,
that pastor, and I told him what I heard. And they didn't want to hear it. Did not
want to hear it. I said, you've got to be kidding
me. You've got to be kidding. This is gospel. Man, this is
good news. There's a Calvinist in our midst, it was said. No,
there's a believer in your midst. God revealed the gospel. And
not everyone's glad to hear it, but his sheep are. His sheep
are. Why do you not understand my
word, my speech, my message? Because you can't hear my word.
It has no entrance, no place in you. You are of your father
the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. And he's
talking to religious people here. He's not talking to a bunch of
drunks. He's not talking to a bunch of
whoremongers. He's talking to the religious
people. And the lust of your father you'll do. He was a murderer
from the beginning and a bow not in the truth because there's
no truth in him. And if he's your father, there's
no truth in you either. When he speaks a lie, he speaks
of his own, for he's a liar and the father of it. And because
I tell you the truth, you believe not. If I told you a lie, you'd
believe it. The lost people will believe
anything but the truth. Which of you convinces me of sin? If
I say the truth, why do you not believe me? Here's why. Listen now. He that is of God heareth God's
words. Do you hear them? Do you hear
the gospel? Do you hear the truth? Do you
hear His voice? You therefore hear them not because
you're not of God. You're not my she. You know, once when the Lord appeared,
some thought it thunder. They heard thunder, but they
didn't hear Him. But some heard Him. Some heard
Him. Some heard His voice. When He struck Paul down on the
road to Damascus, Paul heard Him. But those around Paul There's
thunder in her, loud noise, but they didn't know God was speaking.
God speaks, and His people hear His voice. My sheep hear my voice,
and a stranger they'll not follow. And if the Son sets you free,
if this one right here, the Son of God, if He sets you free,
you're free. And you'll never be put in bondage
again. You're free. All right, Mike.