John chapter 8. In this 8th chapter
of John, I'm going to try to read verses 12 through 59, which
is the end of the chapter. My text this morning is going
to come out of verse 30, 31, 32, and 33. Just those short
verses. and I want to title this message,
it's a little bit lengthy, Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and
its counterfeits of which there is an endless number. John 8 verse 12. Now every time
I promise you not to stop I always goof up. but I am purposed and
I'm going to read this passage this morning. Sir? Well, it means I don't have time
to preach my message. That's the problem. So I shoot myself in my own foot,
I reckon. Verse 12. Then spoke Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world." Now remember that phrase,
I am the light of the world. That's the gist of this whole
chapter. He that follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
So this darkness is spiritual darkness. The Pharisees therefore
said unto him, you bear record of yourself, your record is not
true. Jesus answered and said unto
them, though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true
for I know from where I came and I know where I'm going. But
you cannot tell from where I come and where I go. You judge after
the flesh, the outside, the natural flesh. I judge no man. And yet
if I judge, my judgment is true. For I'm not alone, but I am the
Father that sent me. It is also written in your law
that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear record
of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me. Then said they unto him, Where
is your father? Jesus answered, You neither know
me nor my father. If you had known me, you should
or would have known my father also." These words spoke Jesus,
notice this now, in the treasury, that is in that part of the temple,
not the temple proper. He spoke these words in the treasury
as he taught in the temple. and before the chapter is finished
at the very end they take up stones to stone him and those
rocks could have only been obtained in one place. That was the court
of the Gentiles. So this event likely transpires
in the court of the Jews. No man laid hands on him Verse
20, second half, "...No man laid hands on Him, for His hour was
not yet come." Nobody could touch Christ in
the way of harming Him until God was ready for His Son to
go to the tree, to Calvary, to the cross. "...Then said Jesus
again unto them," and for that matter I count the same privilege
for myself if you're in Christ, God's your protector. I go my way and you shall seek
me and shall die in your sins. Where I go you cannot come." To the Pharisees now those words
were directed. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself? because he said where I go you
cannot come and he said unto them our Lord speaks you are from beneath I am from
above you are of this world and that ain't good I am not of this
world I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins
this is something you do not want to do we do not wish to
die in our sins to do so means everlasting punishment that never
ends eternal hell you shall die in your sins who is? if you believe not that I am
you shall die in your sins." Now this is one of those if clauses
that is a condition. What is the condition? If you
believe not that I am, that the Lord Jesus is the eternal God,
all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present. If you believe not that I am,
the word he is italicized, therefore it should be removed, you shall
die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who
are you? And our Lord said to them, Even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning, I have many
things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true. And I speak to the world those
things which I have heard of him. They understood not that
he spoke to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When
you have lifted up the Son of Man that is on Calvary's tree,
then shall you know that I am and that I do nothing of myself,
but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things. And he
that sent me is with me, the Father has not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him. As he spoke
these words, many believed on him." Then said Jesus to those
Jews," and this time the word on should not be in this verse.
It took me a lot of time to find out. It's just not there. You can read it in the Greek
English New Testament, the Nestle text as they call it. Then said
Jesus to those Jews which believed Him. this is to distinguish them
from the ones described in verse 30 as believing on or in Him. If you continue to those in verse
31, now this if clause, if you continue in my word this is not
conditional then are you my disciples indeed and you shall know the
truth and the truth shall make you free." They answered him, We be Abraham's
seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How say you, you
shall be made free? Now that's just a bald-faced
lie and they know it. But they want to brag that they're
perfectly free. In fact, the very moment they're
under Roman domination pay taxes to Rome, have troops stationed
in their own country, as evidenced in plenty of places in the New
Testament. You shall know the truth, Christ
is that truth, and He, the truth, shall make you free. They answered
Him, We be Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any
man. How on earth can you talk to
us? You shall be made free. Jesus answered, amen, amen, I
say unto you, whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abides not in
the house forever, but the son abides ever. Here's another condition,
verse 36. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, that's the condition, you shall be free indeed. When Martin Luther King said,
free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I'm free at last,
he ain't talking about this freedom, ladies and gentlemen. He's talking about political
freedom and civil freedoms and all of this stuff. You can have
all of that and not have Christ and you'll perish straight to
hell just like anybody else. Your skin color won't matter,
not one iota, nor will mine either for that matter. Now you made me lose my place.
Where was I? You sure it's 37? Yes. We were talking about the
IF clause in verse 36. All right, verse 37. I know that
you're Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me because
my word my truth, my gospel has no place in you. I speak that which I have heard
I have seen with my father and you do that which you have seen
with your father." They answered and said unto him, Abraham is
our father. Jesus said unto them, conditional
now, if you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham.
Abraham believed Christ and saw his day and rejoiced. but now
you seek to kill me a man that's told you the truth which I've
heard of God this did not Abraham you do the deeds of your father
then said they unto him boy he got under their skin this time
they let the whole bag fall open on this one then said they to
him we be not born of fortification we have one father even God Now
there's only one sense in which all men know anything about the
Father and that is that He's their Creator. That's all. That's as far as it goes. The
only way to know God is through Jesus Christ and Christ Himself
must reveal Him. John Matthew 11 verse about 24-25. Jesus said unto them in verse
42 another conditional if clause, if God were your Father You would
love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came
I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your
father, the devil." Golly, that's tough. "'And the lust of your
father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning.
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and
the father of it. And because I tell you the truth,
you believe me not." Boy, that's a tough statement. Which of you
convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do
you not believe me? He that is of God hears God's
words. You therefore hear them not,
because you are not of God.' Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan and have
a devil or demon? Jesus answered, I have not a
devil or demon, but I honor my Father, and you do dishonor me. And I seek not my own glory,
there is one that seeks and judges. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." And these people
are so blind, just like all the rest of us now. We think he's
talking about physical death. I don't know how many is out
there, but there's quite a few bodies in that graveyard. And
I know some, maybe many, I don't know, were believers, but they
died. You and I are going to die unless
Christ returns. It's not physical death that
we dread. It's eternal death and dying. Anyway, the controversy continues
and verse 59 closes it. Our Lord makes the statement
in verse 58, Before Abraham was, I am. Our Lord did not begin His existence
at Bethlehem. He is the Eternal God and the
Eternal Son. Before Abraham was, I am. then took they up stones to cast
at him. But Jesus hid himself," now this
is a strange kind of hiding, "...and went out of the temple,
going through the middle of them, and so passed by." He either
made himself invisible or he made them blind where they could
not see. One or the other. Lord God Almighty, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, this is one of the most
beautiful and wonderful passages in our Bibles, and yet at the
same time it is one of the most awful. The line that separates the sheep
from the goats is clearly drawn in this passage. Oh, that none of us in this place would perish in hell. But Lord, if we do not know you, If Christ has not been revealed
to us, if the Holy Spirit's work in
the new birth in regeneration has not taken place in me, I
may be as religious as all get out, but I'm lost. And if we die in a lost condition,
you have just told us that we die in our sin. And we must perish forever and
ever and ever. Oh God, deliver us, we pray. Open our hearts. Give us hearts
to understand what we read. Give us not just faith, but love
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Cast ourselves upon his mercy. Depend upon him for everything,
sink or swim. Lord, help us, we pray. Put your blessing on this brief
moment of time this morning. Speak to our hearts. Reveal Christ to us. In His name
we pray, Amen. Alright, let me read these short
verses. Verse 30 through 33. As He spoke these words, many
believed on Him. I'm trying to draw a distinction
in verse 30 of those that believed on Him and those in verse 31
that simply believed Him. Now I'm not suggesting that this
same order has anything to do with other places in our Bibles
that may have believing in Christ or on Christ. Let's see which
ones in our Bibles in the King James it's on. but if you read
this in the revised standard which I hope you don't possess
and I hope you don't read it but I can tell you what's there it has verse 30 pretty much like
we have it in our Bibles it may use the word in if I remember
right but in verse 31 it just simply says those Jews which
believed him which believed him All I know is there's a distinction
in the original. I did look it up in the Greek-English
New Testament and there it was plain as day. He spoke these
words, many believed on him, then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed him. Now I know it sounds like he's
talking to the same group, but he isn't. If any of those people
in verse 30 truly believed, then the next statement cannot have
reference to all of them without exception. So he says to those Jews which
believed him, if you continue in my word, you are my disciples
indeed, or in truth, and you shall know the truth and the
truth shall make you free and that truth is Christ and him
crucified." Verse 33, they answered him, we be not Abraham's seed, we be Abraham's seeds, where
I got the knot, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage
to any man. How say you, you shall be made
free? In other words, they say, you're
talking like a man from Mars. What are you talking about? Be
free! We are free! And he goes on to speak about
being slaves of sin, and that's what they were, and that's what
we are outside of Christ. The slaves of sin. They call him demon-possessed,
but the truth is we're all born demon-possessed, but not him. Adam were his father, that would
be a different story. But he was born of the seed of
the woman. So there's two kinds of believing
in this passage. One is to believe on Him and
the other is simply believing Him. Whatever the Lord Jesus
says to us is truth and He Himself is the embodiment of truth. But
why is it true? Simply and only because He said
it! That's enough. If He said it,
it's gospel. We don't need His witness like
they did to be corroborated. Whatever the Lord Jesus says
to you, Mary said to those servants at the wedding feast at Cana,
whatever He says to you, do it! Do it. Do it. So here's a problem
in this whole passage and particularly in the verses that we've isolated. We have two levels of things
going on at the same time. One is the natural human fleshly
level and these people can't break out of it. Everything he
says they take it literally, naturally. But here's the other level, it's
the spiritual level and that level is Christ. It's like those
wild animals that Noah took on the ark If you took these people
that simply believed on Him, you put them on the ark, when
they come off the ark, they're going to be just like they went
on. They're going to be wild and lost and doomed and damned. And Christ, by the way, is that
ark. Next time you read a story to
a young child about Noah and the Ark, you make sure you explain
to them where Christ is in that passage. He's the only safety
of the soul. There's none anyplace else. The
Baptists can't help you, the Methodists can't help you, the
Catholics can't help you, nobody can help you except Christ. And that's Christ and Him crucified.
Alright, let's look at verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed him. I just crossed out the word on
in pencil. I didn't want to do it in ink.
You know, I might find out I'm wrong ten years from now or twenty. I doubt I'll be here twenty,
but here's the statement in verse 31. If you continue in my word,
in Christ's word, and Christ is the word as well as the truth
now, then are you my disciples indeed. To follow, to believe, and by
the grace of God to obey the words and teaching of our Savior,
and for that matter of his apostles, for that matter of the New Testament
and the Old Testament, But to do this is an absolute evidence
that we belong to Him. If you continue, then are you
my disciples indeed in truth, in fact. The Lord Jesus takes notice even of the lowest
kind of faith, if you continue in my word. And continuance,
continuing to follow Christ, to trust Christ, to believe Christ,
continuance is the sure ground, the sure ground of genuine faith. faith believes and keeps on believing. But I have to remind you, where
are you going to get that faith? Christ is the giver of faith and it's sacredly deposited in
the soul in the new birth when the Holy Spirit of God converts
a person and makes that change, that marvelous, wonderful change.
Right now, verses 31 and 32 together. We have in these two verses three
motives to continue in His Word. Here's the first one, verse 31,
Jesus said to those Jews which believed, if you continue in
my word. If you continue, then are you
my disciples indeed. So certified discipleship, that's
what we'll call it. That's what our Lord here describes.
He certifies that this person is a genuine disciple of himself. Based on what? If you continue
in my word. But let me remind you that if
that if depended on us, we just want to go ahead and leave because
we're going to be out on our heads. Christ is our Keeper,
not only our Redeemer, oh my soul, He's our Protector. Then are you my disciples indeed. Here's the second motive. We'll call this sacred knowledge,
verse 32. Here's sacred knowledge. Here's
what it takes to be and to remain a believer. And you shall know the truth.
The truth. Now that's not knowing it intellectually. It's knowing it in the heart.
Because first and foremost, Christ is that truth. That glorious
truth. you shall know the truth." And then the third motive to
continue in his word is in the second half of verse 32, you
shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Oh, and these people got up in
arms. Who is this guy calling us? He's
telling us we're somebody's slave. Yeah, the slave of sin, the slave
of the devil, the slave of trying to please men and maybe women
too. So the third motive then is spiritual
liberty, freedom in Christ. You can't have it any place else!
It doesn't matter what country you live in, what continent you
live on, these things have nothing at all to do with these things. The TRUTH, all capital letters,
shall make you free. Then the Lord Jesus begins to
test them by this most effective method in verse 32. These questionable believers,
these people that for reasons unknown to us that
our Lord distinguished some that believed from others, and I'm
afraid that is always the case no matter when or where this
takes place. Everybody talking about heaven isn't going there.
You know why? They show no affection for Christ
while we're down here. So the Lord tests them by this
statement in verse 32, especially the last half of the verse. You shall know the truth, that's
the first half, and the truth shall make you free." The truth
shall make you free. These believers, professedly
believers, who get so upset about our Savior telling them that
the truth would make them free. They just get up in arms that
he suggests that every day they get up they don't do exactly
what they want to do and go where they want to go. They seem to deny totally that
they don't even know the God about whom they claim to be their
Father. And I'm telling you this problem
is broader and wider and greater than it ever was when our Lord
walked this earth. We have reaped an unbelievable
dead lost church members in America. Every church you want to name
in every state and county in this whole country. And I think Harnett County is
probably in the lead. second test that our Lord gives
has to do with pride. You'll find that in verse 33.
They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage
to any man. Listen, they were in bondage
in Egypt during the time of Abraham and following. How long? four hundred and some years. Joseph when he died in Egypt
he was the prime minister for a long time but when he died
he left instructions that when God delivered Israel out of Egypt
they were to take his bones with them. We be Abraham's seed and were
never in bondage to any man. Seven times in the book of Judges
they were in bondage to the to various neighbors on whichever
side you know happened to be that at the time syria and a
bunch of other countries round about them and then those captivities
that lasted a long time each of them one of them was seventy
years these people are just dumb They've
heard these things. They may not be very familiar
with them, but they've heard them. But the real slavery is the devil. We're the devil's slaves. We
be Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man. How say
you, you shall be made free? What on earth are you talking
about? You shall be made free! These believers profess to be
believers. They stumbled at this privilege. The truth shall make you free
in verse 32, the second half. The Lord Jesus, as He does with
us, so He did with them. he puts his finger on exactly
the right button to expose to us our own lost condition. You remember the fellow in the
gospel accounts by the name of the rich young ruler? We call
him that anyway. I know it's in Luke 18 and it's
also in Mark and Matthew, but I don't remember the passages.
But in chapter 18 you can find this. This man is so overcome
by who Christ is and what He's doing that he runs to catch up
with Him, and when he gets there, he falls on his knees, and the
first words out of his mouth, "'Good Master, what must I do
that I may inherit eternal life?' and the Lord sort of suggested
that he might take a look at the Ten Commandments and he said,
Oh, I've kept those from my youth up. Really? That's a lie. And he knew it. So the Lord simply
put his finger on one little thing out of those ten. Go sell
everything you have and give it to the poor and come and be
my disciple. Now that's how it is with these
folks. That's how it was with the rich young ruler. That's
how it is with us. This is how God operates. It's
just how He does it. You shall know the truth! Well,
that rich young ruler didn't like the truth. These characters
in John 8 didn't like the truth. Ah, but I tell you, somebody
did. Somebody did. May not be me and you, but somebody
did. Let me give you an illustration
of what I'm trying to say. If you're looking a place to
buy something, and you see a store with this
on the front window, No cheating practiced here. May I suggest
you go to another store. And heaven forbid, if you should
see on that window the outline of a fish, or maybe a copy of
the Ten Commandments, those people are going to take you for a ride.
Because I've been took too many times, I know. Back when we were on the radio
back in the 80s, the new station manager at Spring Lake wanted
to borrow $800 from me. Did you know you couldn't go
to the bank and borrow $800? You can borrow $8,000, but you can't
borrow $800. The minimum you could borrow
was $2,000, and I'm stupid enough to sign a note for that man for
$2,000. He never made the first payment,
not the first one. With interest, it was about $2,500.
I just thank God He gave me enough money to make the payments. It
won't no fun making them every month, but I did. People who use religion to make
money off of you, be wary of. Just be careful. So our Lord tested these folks. He put His finger. Oh, if He had just left that
out, you shall be made free. Maybe He could have just said,
you'll be made happy. Some people get upset at that.
I'm already happy. Ah, you can't win for losing. Now I want to give you one example
out of the Bible. And I've used this too many times,
but I want to use it once more. And probably some more after
that. Here is the classic example of
believing and trusting Christ. There's a thing called honesty.
Honesty with God I'm talking about. In my Bible I just turn
one page to the right. That's John chapter 9. So if
you'll look at yours, if you've got your Bible open, if you haven't,
it's okay. We're going to start at verse 35 and go through verse
41. I think I can get that in in
five minutes. Here's the classic example of
believing and trusting Christ. The man who is the main character
in John chapter 9, except our Lord Jesus, who is always the
main character. This man was born blind. Mr. Hawker thinks he didn't so much
as have eyeballs. And our Lord just simply healed
him. And the Pharisees crucified this man because they hated the
Son of God so much. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe. Some of the same Pharisees we
just met in John Chapter 8. But their character is the same. Outside they're wonderful people. They're admired in their communities.
but our savior said to them about matthew chapter twenty three
he said you're full of rottenness and dead men's bones and you
make pretense so you can steal widows houses and these things are just as
much at play today as ever so after all this wonderful healing
of this man and the questioning that he endured from the Pharisees
and the ruling body of the Jews, the Sanhedrin. Our Lord finds
him after this event. You'll have to read it for yourself
because this guy, he just turned everything they said to him right
back around on themselves. He wasn't buffaloed by them. so they saw they couldn't do
anything with him. They kicked him out of the Jewish
religion. He couldn't so much as go to the synagogue, let alone
to the temple. So in verse 35, Jesus heard that
they had cast him out. And believe me, I've been there.
That's a privilege. I didn't think so at the time,
but I do now. He heard that he had been cast
out And when he had found him, he said unto him, Now this man's
been healed now, but I'm trying to get you to see the difference
between the physical and the spiritual. And man does not have a spiritual
capability until he's born again. We're dumber than dumb can get,
and plenty of it still afterwards. At least, at least the new birth
gives us life in the soul. So our Lord found him and here's
what he said. Do you believe on the Son of
God? See, most people believe if you get some special cure
from disease or something from God, my soul, God must think
you're something. This man is still lost. You can receive any healing you
want to name. and still be lost." Do you believe on the Son of
God? The man answered and said, Who
is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? You see how much he knows
about Christ? Nothing! Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, You
have both seen him, and it is he that talks with you." Now
that's the way you'd say it in the first grade. And he said,
Lord, I believe. And look at this, he worshipped
our Lord Jesus Christ. And if God ever saves you and
me, we'll do the same thing. And if we don't, we ain't been
converted. You can see God in the mountains
and on the sea coast and everywhere in between, but until we see
Him in the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've
missed everything. Everything. Everything. And Jesus
said, verse 39, for judgment I'm come into this world, that
they which see not might see." So this man's healing is a glorious
picture of the healing of the soul, the eyes of the soul, and tragically this is always
the other side of the coin, and that they which see might be
made what? blind? And some of the Pharisees,
these characters get around I'm telling you, some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words and here's what they said
to our Savior. Words couldn't be any plainer
than verse 39 but they said are we blind also? Now here it is,
you take this verse home with you. Jesus said to them If you
were blind, you wouldn't have any sin. If we're blind, we wouldn't have
any sin. But now you say we see. Therefore,
your sin remains. remains untaken away to the damning
of the soul.