Would you turn back to John 8? This evening we're going to observe
the Lord's table together. The Lord said, this do in remembrance
of me. And by His grace, that's what
we want to do. If the Bible is not God's inspired
word, And what we're doing right now is a waste of time. We'd
be better off doing something else. Beautiful day. But the Bible claims to be God's
inspired word. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. God breathed. And if God is able
to create the universe from nothing, he's certainly able to inspire
a book and keep it preserved. And we're looking this morning
on what God says in his word. John 8 chapter 36, I've entitled
this message. Free indeed. John chapter 8 verse 36. It's
the Son. Speaking of the Son of God. Another
mystery. God is one God in three distinct
persons. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. This is God the Son speaking.
And He says, if the Son therefore shall make you free. Now this I know, the only way
I'll be free and the only way you'll be free is if the Son
of God makes us free. You can't free yourself. You
and I are in His hand. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. In reality, in point of fact,
as opposed to that which is pretended, fictitious, false, and conjectural,
you'll be free indeed. I'm interested in this, aren't
you? I want to be made free by the sun and to be free indeed,
in fact, not just what I say, but in reality. In verse 30 of
John chapter eight, as he spake these words, many
believed on him. This same group of people, by
the end of this chapter, will pick up stones to stone him.
These people who were said to believe. That's a very sobering
thought, isn't it? I mean, they were going to kill
him. That's how bad they hated him for what he said. They were
going to stone him to death at the end of this message. But
at this time, as he spake these words, many believed on him.
Then said Jesus, verse 31, to those Jews which believed on
him, if you continue, if you remain, I hope I'm saying this the right
way, if you keep on keeping on, if you dwell, if you never leave, if you continue, in my word." The only people who are going
to know the truth are the people who continue in his word, not
who begin. These people began, it says they
believed on him but by the end of this message you look at the
final verse they picked up stones to kill him It's only those who
continue in his word that are his disciples indeed in reality,
in truth. I want to be one of those, don't
you? I don't want to be a temporary disciple. I want to be someone
who continues all the way to the end. Verse 32, and you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free. Now it's only in continuing
in his word that you really know the truth. If you continue to
your dying breath, that'll prove you did know the truth. And the
truth, not your knowledge of the truth, but the truth himself.
Now understand this, would to God that he would give us grace
to see this. The truth is more than a proposition
of facts. The truth is a person, the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the truth. He said, I am
the way, the truth. The life, no man cometh to the
father, but by me, you should know the truth and the truth
shall make you free. Now let's look at these people's
answer to the Lord's statement. Verse 33, they answered him. We be Abraham's seed. and were
never in bondage to any man. What a lie. They were under the
dominion, they were under the thumb of the Roman government
even when they said this. And yet they make this claim.
We were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, you shall
be made free? What are you talking about freedom?
We know freedom. Yeah, really? I think it's interesting
to notice too, that you see the word any man in verse 33, the
word man actually is not found in the original. Young's literal
translation reads, we've not been enslaved at any time. We're free. We've got free will. We've never been enslaved. We've
got control over our situation. Nobody's calling the shots for
us. We've never been enslaved at any time. We're free already. What do you mean you should be
made free? You and I will never understand
freedom, what it means to be made free, unless we understand
something about bondage. Bondage. Now picture in your
mind two jail cells. The doors of both of these cells
are shut. One is locked. The other is unlocked. Two men in these cells. One has
freedom to get out if he wants. All he has to do is open the
door. Out he goes. The other has no
such freedom. The door is locked. He cannot
get out even if he wants to. The only way he's gonna get out
is if somebody lets him out. I need somebody to let me out. Freedom and bondage. Now, in reality, we'll never
know what freedom is if we don't know what bondage is. Now, men understand the bondage
of addictions. Oh, they're so terrible. and
how they ruin lives, how they ruin homes, substance abuse,
any kind of addiction. It's a horrible thing, and I'm
not saying, I feel sorry for, and I wanna be compassionate
towards somebody in addictions, but what terrible things they
are. But the addiction I'm talking
about is the addiction of sin. And this is an addiction that
you can't go to rehab for this. There's nothing you can do to
deliver yourself from this horrible addiction. Look what he says in verses 33
and 34. They answered him. We be Abraham
seed. We were never in bondage. How
sayest thou you shall be made free? Jesus answered them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the slave of
sin. All I have to do is commit a
sin. And I am the slave of sin. Do you know what it is to be
the slave of sin? But don't we have a free will?
Can't we just decide to not commit sin anymore? Can't we just decide
to live a good life? Can't we just decide to believe? Don't we have a free will? What
are you talking about? An absolute slave to sin. Free will. Let me talk about
that for a moment. That's what most people believe.
God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. Made
salvation possible for everybody. It's available to you. If you
will, as an act of your will choose Jesus Christ to be saved. Free will, what about free will? There's no such thing. That is
what about free will. There's no such thing. Lynn and I were from, I can't
remember who else, we were in Columbus. at the zoo there. I love zoos. But I remember how
disturbing it was to watch this tiger go back and forth. He was
a big tiger, and he was scary. He had a bad expression on his
face, and I knew if that thing got out of that jail, it was
over for me. There he is. Now, could that tiger eat grass? You going to stop him? I guess He could if He wanted
to, but it's against His nature. Your will is controlled by your
nature. God does not have a free will
in this sense. His will is controlled by His
nature. Well, God could lie if He wanted to, couldn't He? No.
It's against His nature. He's holy. He's righteous. He cannot act contrary to his
nature. And according to the scriptures,
by nature, we're children of wrath. Ephesians chapter two,
by nature, the children of wrath, that's a scriptural statement.
By nature, that means we were born into this world, wrathful
children. People who have no love for God. People who get mad at God and
His attributes. We don't, by nature, love His
sovereignty. We don't love His holiness. We
don't love His justice. We don't love His sovereignty.
We don't love His immutability. We don't love His independence.
That's what we are by nature. Children of wrath. We get angry
with who God is. Children of wrath. Romans 8,
7 says the carnal mind is enmity. against God. It's not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. That's what we are by
nature. That's why the very thought of
free will is ridiculous. Now you do what you want to do.
You know why you're here this morning? Because you want to
be. Someone says, I don't want to be well, somehow your will
is involved in it. I can realize some people say,
well, I'd rather be anywhere. That's why I was like, I remember
when I was a kid, uh, in church, I would, I would think I'd rather
be anywhere than here. Uh, I'm glad the Lord changed my want
to, but, uh, the point is you and I here's what the Lord
says in his word, Jeremiah 17, nine, the heart. That's all about
my heart, your heart. The heart you were born with.
By nature, children of wrath, wrathful children. The heart
is deceitful above all things. Your heart will tell you a lie
and make you believe it. That's how deceitful it is. The
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Incurably wicked is what that
means. Who can know it? There's none
righteous, no not one. There's none that understands.
I'm quoting scripture. There's none that righteous,
no not one. There's none that understands. There's none that
seeketh after God. They've all gone out of the way. They've
together become an unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now that is my state by nature. That's your state by nature.
You can't get out of that. You see, when Adam fell, we fell
on him. How'd we get into this mess?
Well, when Adam fell, we fell on him. By one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. This is what scripture teaches.
It may be not what we naturally agree with, but it's what the
Bible teaches. I was born bad. I was born evil. I didn't have
to be taught to sin. I didn't have to be taught to
lie. I didn't have to be taught to be selfish and self-centered.
It comes natural. You see, a man doesn't become
a liar when he lies. He lies because he's already
a liar. A man doesn't become a sinner
when he sins. A man sins because he's born
into this world as a sinner. That's what the scripture teaches.
That David said, behold, I was shapen in iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive
me. I was born evil. That's what
he's saying. The wicked are estranged from
the womb. They go about as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Well, how's that? They can't
even talk. They don't even have a cognitive.
Let's talk about their nature. You're not gonna have to teach
him how to lie. Born that way. The Lord said, you will not come
to me that you might have life. So much for free will. You will
not come to me that you might have life. It's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Now, here's the fact. You and I are born evil. And
we will go to hell unless God does something for us and intervenes. Amen. That's what the Bible teaches. This is the facts of the scripture. And here they make this claim.
We were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you shall
be made free? Verse 34, Jesus answered them.
Verily I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant,
is the slave of sin. I love the way the Lord says
verily, verily. Truly, truly. Amen, amen. This is the Lord's
emphasis. I love when he says verily, verily.
It's like, listen to this. This is what I say to you. Barely,
barely I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant
of sin. Enslaved to this degree. All you got to do is commit a
sin. All I've got to do is commit a sin. And the scripture says,
I'm a slave to that sin. To this degree, I cannot not
sin. is a sin. Do you believe that
with regard to yourself? Everything you do, everything
you think, slave to sin. That's a grim picture, isn't
it? Yeah, it is. It is. A slave to sin. You know, and my sin's all my
fault. I can't say, well, it's Adam's fault. No, it's my fault.
Every sin I commit, I can't blame somebody else. I can't say the
devil made me do it. I can't say God and His sovereignty
caused me to do it. It's all my fault. I've got no
entitlement with God. No, sir. My sin is all my fault. A slave to sin. Sinners by nature, birth, choice,
and practice. Verse 35, and the slave abideth not in the house forever.
He's going to get kicked out. He sins all of his fault. He's
not going to abide in the house forever. The house of God's favor,
the house of God's acceptance. It's not going to happen. And
the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son, he
abides forever. If the son, therefore, shall
make you free. You shall be free indeed. Now what's this mean if the Son
shall make you free? I love the scripture. We're going
to go to it in just a moment in Galatians chapter 5 verse
1 where it says stand fast in the liberty, in the freedom,
wherewith Christ hath made you free. And don't be entangled
in that yoke of bondage. But first, I want you to look
at a verse of scripture with me in Matthew chapter one. Opening verses of the New Testament. Verse 18, and now the birth of
Jesus Christ was on this wise, When, as his mother was espoused
to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example of
his mind, put her away privately. He didn't believe this pregnancy
came as a result of the Holy Ghost. He didn't believe that
for a second. he was a just man, he didn't
want to put her through public humiliation, so he was going
to put her away privately because of what she had done. But while
he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Savior. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Now this is what being made free
and liberated is all about. It's being saved from your sins. You and I can't deliver ourselves
from our sins. We can't pull ourselves up by
the bootstraps. Quit sinning. Oh, can you do that? Somebody says, well, I can. Well,
you prove by that you're under the complete dominion and domination
of sin, if you even think something like that. You prove you don't
have any understanding what sin is in the first place, when you
even think something like that. He shall save his people from
their sins. Now, that means three things. Number one, I'm saved
from the power of sin. Now, when I was born into this
world, as a child of wrath by nature, I could not believe the
gospel, couldn't even hear the gospel. Maybe somebody's like
that right now. You can't really hear the gospel.
It's not gospel to you. I pray the Lord makes it the
gospel to you so you hear. I didn't even know what repentance
was. I remember one time I thought during a message when somebody
said, repent, I said, I'd do it if I knew what it meant. What's
it mean to repent? I didn't have any understanding
of that. I certainly didn't have any love for God. I thought of
him as being strict and austere and didn't have any love for
him. I was under the complete dominion
and control of sin. And like I said, if somebody
says, well, I'm not like that, then you're totally blind. Right now,
you're under its dominion. You're under its control. But
when God saves a man, he's saved from that when God gives him
spiritual life. When you're given life, you can
now do what you at one time could not do. You can now believe.
You've been delivered from the dominion, the lordship of sin.
Sin shall not have dominion over you. It shall not have lordship
over you. You can now believe. You're now in a state of repentance.
You now love the gospel. It comes to you as good news.
Why? You've been saved from the dominion
of sin. You've been saved from the condemnation of sin. Now,
God's just. All sin must be punished. And
don't think it's any other way. Look, the cross proves that.
God is gonna punish sin. He's just. He's perfect. He's
holy. But when God saves you, there's
therefore now no condemnation, no condemnation at all to them
that are in Christ Jesus. You've been saved from the condemnation
of sin. You're not going to hell, you're
going to heaven. Because God put away your sin through the
blood of Christ. That's why. One of these days,
we'll be saved from the very presence of sin. I won't have any sin to molest
me anymore when I'm brought into glory, saved from sin. That's the freedom. If the Son
shall make you free, He's got to do it, doesn't He? You know
you can't do this yourself. It must be Him doing it for you.
If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now,
I mention this scripture. Would you turn with me to Galatians
chapter 5? Galatians chapter 5, verse 1. Stand fast. You're going to have your own
mind, your own heart, and everybody else trying to knock you from
this position. They're going to try to betray you. You'll
try to betray yourself. I mean, this is a position that
is so against our flesh, against others. Stand fast. Do not be moved. Don't let anybody move you. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty, the freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free. Remember when the Lord said,
if the Son shall make you free, you're free indeed. Now you stand fast in the liberty. Oh, what a glorious thing liberty
is. Freedom is owing nothing, debt
free. God's law can't say he owes me
this or he owes me that. I'm accepted before the law of
God. I owe nothing. I owe nothing. Have you ever paid off a debt?
You know how liberating that is when you pay off that debt?
Oh, it's great. I became a debtor in high school.
I borrowed $600. And I remember it was a crushing
debt to me, $62 a month. I had to make that payment for
that car. It was a crushing debt. And I can remember how proud
I was after I paid the last installment loan on that car that I had.
Oh, free, finally. Well, this is an infinitely greater
freedom than that. Freedom before God. I owe God
nothing but gratitude, no sin to be condemned for. And when
you're free, that means you get to do what you want to do. You
know, most people's religion is a very unhappy thing. They're
really doing what they don't want to do. But if God sets me
free, if Christ sets me free, My want to has been changed.
I want to follow him. I want to be just like the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's my want to. Freedom. Stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. And don't you be entangled
in that yoke of bondage. Now what led him to say this?
Well, let's stay in Galatians chapter four now. Verse 19. We're going to see
what led him to make this glorious statement. My little children,
of whom I travailed in birth again until Christ be formed
in you, I desire to be present with you now and to change my
voice for I stand in doubt of you. Now he had said to these
people in the very opening of this epistle, no commendation. He said, I marvel. that you're
so soon removed from him that called you to the grace of Christ
to another gospel. Now that was his tone. And here
he says, I stand in doubt of you. Now, why did he stand in
doubt of him? Well, he goes on to tell us verse 21. Tell me
ye that desire to be under law. Do you not hear the law? Don't you hear what it's saying? Now, if I was writing this epistle,
and I've said this before on numerous occasions, I would have
written down the 10 commandments. Do you hear what they're saying?
You know, I love the 10 commandments. I shall have no other God before
me. Nothing before God, the commandment against idolatry, any false thoughts
and imaginations of God. I love the commandment, don't
take his name in vain. The Lord is so holy that to even
mention his name without the proper reference is a sin worthy
of hell. That's how glorious he is. Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt
honor thy father and mother. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not tell a lie. Thou
shalt not covet. I love the Ten Commandments,
but that's not what he mentions. He mentions an event that took
place in Genesis chapter 16 that I would have never known it means
this had not Paul made it known. Now, what the story is in Genesis
chapter 16, it's that story about God had made a promise to Abraham
and Sarah, you're going to have a child. Some 17 or 18 years later, no
child. Sarah comes up with an ingenious
thought. God's promise will not take place
unless we do our part. That's very much like the false
gospel that's preached in our day. God loves you, Christ died
for you, but you won't be saved unless you do your part. That's salvation by works, you
doing your part. And that is the message of our
day. God loves you, I do too. Christ died for you and put away
all your sins. But if you don't accept him,
if you don't do something to make what he did work for you,
you won't be saved. Oh, that's such an offensive
message. So offensive. To think that Christ could die
for somebody and wind up in hell anyway, that makes Christ a failure.
That would make salvation dependent upon what you do rather than
what he has done. That's an offensive message. But that pictures what's
going on in Galatians chapter 16. Sarah says, God's promise
of us having a kid will not come to pass unless we do our part. See that, my servant, that young
lady there? You go in into her, and then
we'll have a child. I'll claim the child's mine after
you go into her, and then we'll have a child, and we'll do our
part, and then God's promise will take place. Does God need
that to have His promise take place? Oh, of course not. And let's go on reading, Galatians
chapter four. Tell me ye that desire to be under the law, do
you not hear the law? For it's written, Abraham had
two sons, the one by a bondmaid, Hagar, and the other by a free
woman. And now another 13 years later,
Sarah, having gone through the time where women can't have babies
anymore, she has a baby anyway. And the one from Hagar, the young
woman, Ishmael is called from the bondwoman and the one Sarah
has, supernaturally, the son of the free woman. Verse 23,
but he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. There
was nothing supernatural about that, but he of the free woman
was born, was by promise, God's promise, which things are an
allegory Now, I understand this with regard to the Old Testament.
It's all an allegory to teach us the gospel. Yes, there are
real events that took place. These are not fictitious events. They're events that took place.
But everything in the Old Testament is given to teach us the gospel. These things are an allegory. I'm thankful for this passage
of scripture because I would have never read Genesis 16 and
say, oh, I see an allegory between law and grace. I would have never
seen that. But Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
tells us it is. Which things are an allegory
for these are the two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, which
genders to bondage is Hagar. Now, he says Hagar, Abraham going
into this woman to do his part to make God's promise to come
to pass. He said, oh, this is Mount Sinai.
This is law. This represents law. Law is salvation
in any way dependent upon what you do. That is law. And anything that is law will
not save. But he of the free woman was
by promise, which things are an allegory. These are the two
covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, which genders the bondage
is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, which answers to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage
with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above. Above. Except a man be born from above. He cannot inherit the Kingdom
of Heaven. John 1, 12 and 13, But as many
as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons
of God, even to them which believe on His name, which were born,
which were birthed from above, not of blood, Not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God born from
above. Now, the only way that I'm ever
going to be free and that you're ever going to be free is if we're
born from above. That is God's work. And instead of saying,
well, I'll just have to wait till, uh, see what happens. I'd
be saying, Lord, birth me from above. Save me. Birth me from
above. Give me grace to believe the
gospel. Set me free. I want to be made
free by what the Son of God does. I want to be made free from my
sin. I don't want to be a slave to my sin. I want to be set free. I don't want to have to pay for
my sin. I want it to all be paid for and put away. Save me. Everybody in this room, pray
this prayer right now by His grace. Lord, save me. Save me
from above. Look down in mercy on me. But Jerusalem which from above
is free, which is the mother of us all, for it's written,
verse 27, Rejoice thou barren that bearest not. Break forth
and cry thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many
more children than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren,
as Isaac were, are the children of the promise. But as he that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth the
Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the
bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So
then, brethren, we're not children of the bondwoman, but of the
free. Only Isaac is acknowledged as
a son. Stand fast, therefore, in the
freedom, the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."
Now that's not talking about physical circumcision. It's talking
about if you think there's anything that you do that entitles you
to salvation. If you think your salvation is
dependent upon what you do in any way, forget Christ. You're
on your own. Here's what it means to be on
your own. Verse three, for I testify again to every man that circumcised
that he's a debtor to do the whole law. You got to obey every
commandment perfectly. Christ has become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever you are, they're justified by the law.
You're fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. Now by the Spirit of
God right now, I am waiting for that glorious hope of righteousness
when I stand before God without guilt, perfectly righteous by
faith. For in Christ Jesus, verse six,
Neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision. Somebody
says, well I understand that I can't be saved by my works.
That's not going to avail anything either. Real faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now what is faith in Christ?
May God give me the grace to say this as it ought to be said. Faith in Christ is trusting who
He is and what He did alone as all there is to make me accepted
before God. I'm trusting Him. I'm not trusting
my works. I'm not trusting my experience.
I'm not trusting my motives. I'm not trusting my intention.
I'm not trusting my past experience. I'm trusting Him only as the
all-sufficient Savior. I do not need Anything else,
I do not want anything else. I trust Him only. I love this acrostic faith, F-A-I-T-H,
forsaking all, I trust Him. Faith that works by love. You see, the only thing that
produces love is looking to Christ only. If you're under law, you're
not gonna love God, you're gonna resent him. You're gonna think
he's too harsh. You trust Christ, you're gonna
love God, and you're gonna love his people. Faith that works
by love. May the Lord work that in our
hearts. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would bless your word. And we ask in Christ's name that
we might be of those who are made free by him. Lord, how we
thank you. If the son shall make you free,
you're free indeed. Lord, cause us to see and believe
our freedom in thy blessed son, the freedom of the complete putting
away of our sins, the freedom of your grace. Enable us to stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and
don't let us be entangled in that yoke of bondage. Bless this
message for Christ's sake, in His name we pray, amen.