And for this cause came I into
the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth,
heareth my voice. Now I've entitled this message,
Have I Heard His Voice? Now, if the Lord ever speaks
to me or you, we will hear his voice. Have I heard his voice? Go back to verse 28, John chapter
18. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas
unto the hall of judgment. And it was early, and they themselves
went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled,
but that they might eat the Passover." Now, the irony here is deafening.
They're getting ready to kill God's Son, but they don't want
to get defiled so they can eat the Passover. Verse 29, Pilate then went out
unto them and said, what accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him,
if he were not a malfactor, an evildoer, we wouldn't have delivered
him up unto thee. Verse 31, then said Pilate unto
them, take him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto
him, it's not lawful for us to put any man to death, that the
saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what,
death, he should die. Now this is interesting. He said,
judge him according to your law. They said, we can't do that.
We can't do that because we won't put him to death. And our law
won't let us do that. We want you to do this. Let the
Roman law take place. Now what they didn't realize
is they were simply being pawns in God's hand doing God's will. And their refusal to let Let me get my mind. They did not know that they were
simply being used by God to ensure the death of Christ would be
by Roman crucifixion. That's why they said this. Then
said, behold unto them, taking him, and judge him according
to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, it's not lawful
for us to put any man to death, that the saying of Jesus might
be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should
die. He was going to die on a cross. Verse 33, then Pilate entered
into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto
him, art thou the king of the Jews? Now this is the accusation
they were bringing against him. And he's saying, are you the
king of the Jews? And how did he answer? Verse 34, Jesus answered him,
said this thou thyself or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew?
The chief priests have delivered thee into me. What hast thou
done? Why do they treat you like this?
What is it you've been guilty of? Jesus answered, my kingdom
is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. I think that
the Lord is saying, if my kingdom was of this world, don't think
that you could get me. It wouldn't happen for a second.
My kingdom was of this world, but now my kingdom is not from
hence. Now what does this say about
all political activism in the name of the gospel? Lord said,
my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would
fight. Let's go on reading. Verse 37, Pilate therefore said
unto him, art thou a king then? You're talking about a king?
Maybe you are a king. Are you a king then? Jesus answered,
thou sayest that I'm king. To this end, for this purpose
was I born to be king. And for this cause came I into
the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone
that is of the truth heareth my Now, Pilate is saying, so
you are a king. Yes, I am. Yes, I am. The king of the Jews. Now, this has always been the
issue. Who's ruling? Who's reigning? Who's in absolute control? He was. is and always will be
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And remember what that
means when we're talking about the kingship of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That means me and you are in his hands and everybody
else is in his hands. And he has complete sovereign
control over everything and everybody. And we love it that way, don't
we? The kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. So are you a king?
Yes, I am. To this end was I born to be
king. Now you remember the accusation
written, look in John 19, verse 19. And Pilate wrote a title and
put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This is what he was accused of.
This is why he was being put to death. This is Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews. This title then read many of
the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was night
of the city. And it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. That's so significant. Hebrew. the language of the religious.
Latin, the language of the intellectuals. Greek, the language of the common
man. And everybody had the precise
same message. The king, the king of the Jews. Now I love thinking about the
kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. There isn't anything I enjoy
more than that. kingship. I love the way Nebuchadnezzar spoke of his kingship. He said
in Daniel chapter 4, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and
his kingdom is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants
of the earth are as reputed as nothing and he doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth And none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what
doest thou? He is the king. Now, a king has a throne. In
the year the king whose I died, I saw also the Lord high and
lifted up, sitting on a throne. Now, this signifies his throneship,
his absolute control. Now, remember, whatever happened
to you is up to the king. If you were prospered, it was
up to the king. If you were brought down, it's up to the king. When
we're talking about the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, what
we're talking about is you and I are in his hands right now
for him to do whatever he's pleased to do. How do you like being
there? Do you like that? Well, that's
the reality of his kingship. sitting on a throne, sitting
his work finished, sitting undisturbed by opposition, sitting ruling
and reigning on an eternal throne. The kingship of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, let's go on reading verse 36 of John chapter 18. My kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight
that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom
not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Are you a king? Jesus answered, You say, I am
king. To this end, for this purpose
was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that's of the
truth heareth my voice. Now how can I know if I've heard
his voice? I want to know, don't you? I
want to know if I've heard his voice and not just a man's voice.
How can I know? Well the first thing we have
to consider is the truth. For this cause came I into this
hour that I should bear witness to the truth. Now what is the
truth? What is the truth? It is the reality lying at the
basis of an appearance. That's what the truth is. It's
the reality. Lying at the basis of what you
see. Christ is the truth. So much so that he does not say,
I'll show you the truth, or I'll teach you the truth, or I'll
lead you along the way of the truth. He said, I am. the truth. Now let's consider for a moment
the significance the scripture gives to the truth. And I'm going to talk in just
a few moments about what the truth is being spoken of here.
But look at listen to these scriptures that give the significance of
the truth. There is no worship of God without the truth. God
is spirit. and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. There's no faith without
the truth. In whom you trusted, Ephesians
1.13, in whom you trusted, after that you heard the word of truth. There's no truth-saving faith
without the truth. There's no regeneration without
the truth. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. There's no freedom without the
truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free. Now do you see the significance
of the truth before we get into what it is? There's no worship,
there's no faith, there's no repentance. Repentance is called
coming to the knowledge of the truth. Faith is called coming
to the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is called coming to
the knowledge of the truth. Oh, the significance of this
and the Lord says in our text, For this cause came I into the
world that I should bear witness of the truth. Now, when Christ
said I came to bear witness of the truth, this is where we get
the word martyr from. Now, would to God that I could
say what needs to be said right now. Pray for me. The truth is
the cross. The truth is the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now what do I mean by that? He
said, I came to bear witness to the truth and bear witness
by a violent death. He did bear witness to the truth. The truth, the cross is the truth regarding me and
you. How bad are you? How sinful are you? The only
way to answer that is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
listen to me. What the truth about you is this,
the truth about me is this. If all the restraints were taken
away and I was left to myself to do what I wanted to do, I
would murder the Son of God. Now that's the truth. That's
the truth regarding our character. There's the cross gives the truth. Everybody in here, you're so,
I'm so, I'm including myself in this. We're so evil that if
God would remove the restraints and let us do what we wanted
to do, we would kill God and put him out of business. Now,
do you believe that about yourself? It's the truth. It's the truth,
but the only way I ever really get the truth regarding myself
is the cross. It's not looking within, it's
not looking within my own heart. If I want to know the truth about
myself, what God sees, the cross is the only answer. Now, not only do I get the truth
about myself with regard to the cross, I get the truth regarding the
true character of God. Everything that God is, is manifested
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every attribute fully
displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is
the truth. The cross tells me that God is holy. That if sin
is even found on his son, he'll kill him. Now that's holy, isn't
it? That's holy. The truth tells
me of the The cross tells me the truth of God's justice, how
he will by no means clear the guilty. If there's guilt, he's
going to punish. The truth of God's sovereignty
we see in the cross. I love to see those two thieves
on either side. He passed by one in justice and
he saved another. There we see the absolute sovereignty
of God. We see the power of God in the
cross, how he can actually through the cross, He can make me to where I'm without
sin before God. Now that is amazing. That's the truth. The power of
God made it to where sin was actually put away, so I stand
before God, everybody Christ died for stands before God guiltless
and sinless. Now that's the truth regarding
the true character of God, all of his attributes. His immutability,
the fact that he never changes. It's seen in the cross. He's
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Every attribute
you want to talk about God, it's all the truth regarding the true
character of God is seen in the cross. Do you see the beauty
of the cross? So beautiful? Yes, yes, it's horrible, but
it's so beautiful. What God has done through the
cross, we get the truth. We get the truth of salvation.
Now, let me tell you something with regard to salvation. The truth is, all of my salvation
was accomplished on the cross. And because of the cross, I stand
before God right now, sinless. Sinless. All the sins you feel
guilty about, they're gone. Now that's the truth of the cross. He said, I came to bear witness
to the truth. The truth regarding the true
character of man, the truth concerning the true character of God, and
the truth concerning salvation. All of salvation accomplished
on the cross. Now, let's go on, let's keep
reading. Pilate therefore, verse 37, Pilate
therefore said unto him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered,
Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth, Everyone that is of the truth, heareth my voice. Now, what in the world does that
mean? Everyone that is of the truth. We'll turn to John chapter
eight. Verse 46. Which of you convinces me of
sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He
that is of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear them
not because you are not of God. Now to be of the truth is to
be of God. And that word of has to do with
origins. You know where I'm from? I'm from God. That's my origin. That's the truth with regard
to every single believer. That's their origin of the truth. Now, the Lord says, everyone
that is of the truth heareth my voice. Now, how can I know
if I've heard his voice? If I could just drive him at
this point, wouldn't it be a blessing if you could know whether or
not you really heard his voice? Now, how can I know if I've heard
his voice? Everyone that's of the truth,
heareth my voice. Well, in John chapter five, verse
25, the Lord said, the hour is coming and now is when the dead
shall hear the voice of the son of God and they that hear shall
live. Now, have I heard his voice? Well, turn with me to first Thessalonians. First Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 for this cause also thank we
God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God which
you heard of us you received it not as the word of men But
as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh
also in you that believe. Now you've heard his voice when
you hear the gospel as the word of God and you know what you
do? You believe. Is it that simple? It's that
simple. You've heard his voice when you
believe. the Gospel. That is hearing His
voice. Look in 1 Thessalonians chapter
1 verse 4. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only,
where you just heard the voice of a man, but also in power,
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. Now, when you've
heard his voice, it means you've heard the gospel in power. What's
power mean? It means you believe. You believe. You've heard it in the Holy Ghost.
You know you can only hear as enabled by God the Holy Spirit
and you have much assurance. Now that doesn't mean much assurance
of your personal salvation. It means much assurance that
this is the truth. This is a gospel. You really believe it. Now turn
to John 10. Verse 4, And when he put forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. Now if I'm a sheep, I know his
voice, and it's the voice of grace. And when I hear works,
I flee. I flee, that's what he's referring
to. Now look in this same chapter, verse 24. Then came the Jews, ran about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep, as I said to you. Now, when you hear his voice,
you know what you do? You believe. You believe. It's not hearing an audible voice,
but when you hear his voice, you believe that Jesus Christ
is the son of God. You believe He is the Christ. You believe. And that is the
one evidence of hearing His voice. If you hear His voice, you will
believe. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live. Now turn to John chapter six. Verse 59, these things said he
in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore
of his disciples when they'd heard this said, this is a hard
saying. Who can hear it? Can we be expected to hear stuff
like this? When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, does this
offend you? What and if you shall see the son of man ascend up
where he was before? It's the spirit that quickens,
the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
their spirit and their life. Now, when you've heard his voice,
the words are not just harsh words, but words of spirit and
words of life. You find life in these words.
Verse 64, but there are some of you that believe not, for
Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not
and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said I unto
you that no man can come to me except it were given unto him
of my father. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto
the 12, will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God." Now that's what someone believes
when they've heard from God. If you've heard His voice, you
believe. that he is the Son of God the
second person of the Blessed Trinity the creator of the universe
the one who has all power. You believe he's God's Christ.
And if you believe that then that's it. That's that's the
point. Do you believe that he's the
Christ. Now if you do you've heard from God. Don't look for
anything else. If you believe that he's the
Christ You've heard His voice. That's why you believe that Jesus
is the Christ. I've not brought a very good
message, I'm sorry. It's true, but my organization
or something from, sorry. It'll be better than that, I
hope. We're having the Lord's table now, let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and we ask that you would forgive us of our many
sins and that you cleanse us. And Lord, take the word, feeble
as it is, and bless it for your glory and cause everybody in
here, according to your will, to believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the son of the living God. Lord, cause us to hear your
voice. Don't let us simply hear the
voice of a man, but cause us to hear your voice in the preaching
of your gospel. In Christ's name we pray, amen.