John chapter 8, let's read verse
31 and verse 32, and the title of the message will be quite
obvious. As the Lord Jesus spake these
words, words of truth, words these folks needed to hear. The
words that He spoke were the words that the Father gave Him
to speak. As He spake these words, many,
many believed on Him. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on Him, He said, if you continue in My Word, if
you continue in My truth, then are you, My disciples, My followers,
truly, indeed, And you shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. Now, I'm entitling the message
from the words that the Lord speaks in verse 32. The truth shall make you free. The truth shall make you free. Who needs freedom? Those who
are in bondage. Who needs life? Those who were
dead. Who needs the Lord Jesus Christ? Sinners. Salvation is for sinners. Now, last week I pointed out
how many times the word, if, is used in this chapter, chapter
8 of John. At least 11 times we counted,
as we read most of John chapter 8, the word, if. If. If. Eleven times. We considered verse 16 and verse
19 and verse 24 last week, and then today I want to consider
verse 31, 32, and from verse 36 where this word if is used
again. I want to go back for just a
minute and consider verse 24 one more time for just a moment.
John 8, 24. Then the Lord's said therefore,
I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins, for
if you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sin." We
see the absolute impossibility of salvation from sin and condemnation
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from loving Him, receiving
Him, submitting and bowing unto Him as God Almighty, as God my
righteousness, as God my Savior. Now obviously, there is no redemption
from sin, nor is there a justifying righteousness apart from the
Lord Jesus Christ. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." If you believe
not the gospel, the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Lord said, you'll die as you were born. You'll die in your sin. Now, I got to thinking about
that after I brought that message last week and this scripture
came to my mind. Turn over here to 1 Corinthians
chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16, we find the same statement
repeated here in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 22. The salutation
of me, Paul, with mine own hand, verse 22, if any man, there's
that word again, if. If. If any man love not The Lord
Jesus Christ. Let him be anathema maranatha. What does that mean? If any man
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed or damned
when the Lord comes back. Maranatha. If you believe not that I am,
You'll die in your sin. You see how serious this is?
If any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be damned.
Now turn back to John 8. In our message today, beginning
at verse 30, as the Lord Jesus Christ spake these words, many
believed on Him. Then said the Lord to those Jews
which did, indicate that they believed on Him. And He said,
if you continue, if you continue in My Word, then you are indeed
My disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will
set you free. Now remember, the Lord was preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God, preaching the gospel of
His saving mercy in the temple there in Jerusalem. And many,
many came to hear Him. Some heard Him. Believed the gospel some heard
him and wanted they had had just the opposite effect in the last
verse in John chapter 8 some picked up stones to stone him
to kill him some believe and Some did believe Well What made
the difference? Turn over here to the book of
Acts. Let me show you verse over here in the book of Acts Acts
28. Acts 28. Some heard the same
words that he spoke. Some heard and believed. Some
heard and wanted to kill him. Pick up stones to dash out his
brains. What made the difference? Acts 28. Look at verse 23. The Apostle Paul had been in
prison. But as he was in prison, he continued
preaching the gospel. And when they appointed him a
day, there came many to him into his lodging, to whom he expounded
and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning
Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and of the prophet, from
morning till evening. Some believed the things that
were spoken, some did not believe." Now turn back to Acts chapter
13. when Paul preached his first
sermon that's recorded in the book of Acts, the Jews rejected
that message. And then Paul turned to the Gentiles,
and it says in Acts 13, verse 48, When the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Some heard the
gospel, and believed, some heard the gospel, and wanted to stone
the Lord Jesus Christ. Do away with Him. Away with Him.
Crucify Him. We have no king but Caesar. Now
what made the difference? Or rather, who made the difference? Who makes you to differ from
another? Why do you believe the gospel? And some others don't
believe the gospel. The difference is not in you.
The difference is in God's purpose. The difference is in His eternal
purpose, the salvation of the Lord. He said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. On whom I will, I will harden.
You see, it's the Lord who has made us to differ. The Lord's elect will hear the
gospel and will believe it to the saving of their soul. You
remember what the Lord said over here in John chapter 8, look
at verse 45. John 8, 45. The elect of God
will hear the gospel. Remember when Paul writes to
Thessalonians, he said, Brother, knowing your election of God,
for our gospel came not to you in word only, but in power, and
in the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance, and you became a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word came, just not word
only, but in power. Now look what the Lord says over
here in John 8, 45. He said, Because I tell you the
truth, You do not believe. Which of you convinces me of
sin? And if I say the truth, why don't you believe me? Verse
47. He that is of God, heareth God's
word. You therefore hear them not,
because you are not of God. You're not one of His chosen,
one of His elect. The Lord's elect will hear the
gospel, and they will believe it to the saving of their soul.
You remember from John chapter 10. Turn over there. John chapter
10. These same Jews said to him in
verse 24, if you be the Christ, tell us plainly. Verse 25, the
Lord said, John 10, 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. I said unto
you, my sheep, they hear my voice. I know them. And they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I am my Father,
we are one, the sheep of Christ, hear His word, and they follow
Him." Now back to verse 30, John 8, He spake these words, and
many believed on Him. Now what did He tell them? Back
in verse 12, He announced to them that, I am the light of
the world, he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but
shall have the light of life. Christ is preaching to them that
salvation is in Him. He is light. He is light. That's the first thing He told
them. And then secondly, in verse 28,
He preached substitution. When you've lifted up the Son
of Man, you shall know that I am. He preached salvation and the
putting away of sin by His sacrifice. You know He preached substitution,
how He was wounded for our sin, bruised for our iniquity. He
preached to them His own cross, blood atonement by His doing,
by the great high priest that He is. And then He preached to
them thirdly, His obedience, His faithfulness. Look at verse
29. He said, "...for I do always
those things that please Him." You see what he preached? I am
the way. I am the Redeemer. I am the faithful
one of God. And many heard him speak, and
some were granted faith to believe the gospel. You see, true faith,
true faith, the faith of God's elect, true faith is not born
of ignorance. True faith is not born of feelings.
True faith is not born of emotions. True faith comes by hearing the
Word of God. The Word of Truth. Now, what
a privilege! The Lord gives unto sinners to
hear the Gospel message, the Gospel message of the Lord Jesus,
as Paul said, "...I am determined to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." And actually, and really, indeed,
believe that message. That's a miracle of grace, to
hear the gospel. For God to cross your path with
a gospel, gospel truth, with a gospel preacher, blessed by
God the Holy Spirit, and make you a new creature in Christ,
that's a miracle of grace. No wonder that faith is called
precious. No wonder that Peter said, we've
obtained like precious faith through the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is called the gift of God.
Not of worthless any man should boast. Oh, my friend, if you're
a believer, if you have faith, looking unto Him who's the author
and finisher of our faith, what a great privilege God has given
to you to believe the gospel. Turn back to John chapter 10
again, and let's consider this verse here. Many heard him speak
and believed. Now, John chapter 10, look at
verse 41 this time. John 10, 41. Many resorted unto
him, that is, unto the Lord Jesus, and said, John did no miracle,
but all things that John spake of this man were true, and many
believed on him there. John spake of this man. John told the truth. And many
believed, what? The truth. Turn over here to
John chapter 20. John chapter 20. So saving faith
is not born of ignorance. Saving faith is not born of lies.
Saving faith is born of truth. It's a gift of God. Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. John chapter 20,
look at verse 30. John 20 verse 30. Many other
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which
are not written in this book, but these are written that you
might believe. that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His
name." What a privilege to hear the Word of God, the Gospel of
God, and to believe it. Those who do believe, do so because
they are born of God, begotten of God. Do you remember what
the Lord said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3? Except a man
be born again, he cannot see. Cannot perceive. Cannot understand. Cannot believe the gospel. We
do not believe to be born. We believe the gospel because
we have been born and begotten of God. I can make good on that. You know I can. 1 John 5, verse
1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. We believe because God has given
us life in Christ Jesus. We receive Him because we're
born of God. Not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of man, but because we're born of God. John chapter
1 verse 12 and verse 13. Now, the Lord spake these words,
words of truth. He spoke the word that the Father
had given to Him. Many heard Him and believed on
Him. It says in verse 31, The Lord said to those Jews that
believed on Him, He describes the character of true faith.
If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed,
and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. Now here's the character of true saving faith. Here's
the character of the faith of God's elect. True saving faith
continues in the Word, continues in God's Gospel. If you continue,
if you persevere in the faith, the Lord said, then you are indeed
a genuine and true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many in
that day were said to believe on Him and to follow Him, but
many who were called disciples, you remember what happened to
them? Turn back to John chapter 6. Many who said they believed
actually indeed did not believe, and it was manifested by this.
In John chapter 6, you remember verse 66? From that time, many
of His disciples went back and walked no more. Now, were they
really and truly indeed disciples, believers? They said they were. They appeared to be for a while.
Then the Lord said unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? And Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the
word of the eternal life. We have nowhere else to go. We
believe, and we're sure, thou art that Christ, that Christ,
the Son of the living God. Now back to John 8. If you continue in my word, then
you are really My disciples." Remember from our reading back
in the book of Colossians? Don't turn, let me just remind
you of it. Our Lord said, "...and you that were sometimes alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy, unblamable,
and unreprovable in sight, if you continue in the faith." Settled,
be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've heard,
which was preached to you. Wherefore I, Paul, am made a
minister of the gospel of God's grace." Now, listen to me carefully. Perseverance in faith is never
said to be the cause of salvation. It's not the ground of salvation,
but rather is the evidence of being made a new creature in
Christ. It's the evidence of being joined
and united to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's evidence and proof
of loving the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't walk away from one
for whom you love. Now let me show you a scripture
here. Turn back to Jeremiah chapter
32. Jeremiah 32. See, perseverance in the faith
is the evidence that faith is real and genuine and true. It's never the cause of salvation.
It's not the ground of salvation. But it is the evidence of being
a true disciple. Jeremiah 32, verse 38. If you have a pencil, you need
to mark this. Jeremiah 32 38 because this is talking about
the covenant of grace and they shall be my people. I will be
their God I'll give them one heart and one way that they may
fear me forever For the good of them and of their children
after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them I will not
turn away from them to do them good I'll put my fear in their
heart and they shall not depart from me. I Now, over in the book of Hebrews,
we're going to see many warnings. Turn to Hebrews chapter 3. In
the book of Hebrews, there's many warnings given about this
very issue of continuing in the faith. In Hebrews chapter 3,
verse 6, we read this earlier today, Hebrews 3, 6, "...but
Christ as a son of his own household who's over his own house, whose
house are we if we hold fast, if, there it is again, if we
hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto
the end. Now look at verse 12 of Hebrew
chapter 3. Take heed brethren lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. And look at verse 14. For we
are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. He said, you are indeed
my disciples if you continue in my word. We are kept by the
power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation. Now listen to this statement.
I've given this some thought. If you can leave the gospel,
you will. If you can't, you will. The one
who truly loves Him will not forsake Him and will not depart
from Him. Those who depart from the gospel
of God's grace were never truly one with Him, never truly loved
Him. If you can walk off from the
gospel, you will. You will. But a believer can't. Now, turn and read this scripture
with me. 1 John. 1 John. 1 John 2. And here we see this
big word again, IF. 1 John 2.19. John says, they
went out from us. That is, some who started in
the faith, who said they were believers, John said, they went
out from us. But they were not of us for IF. They had been of
us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went
out. They went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. You are my disciple indeed, the
Lord said, if you continue in the Word. And continuing in the
Word, look back to the text now, John 8, 32. Continuing in the
faith and continuing in the Word has an effect. And you shall
know the truth and the truth will set you free. The truth
will set you free. Now what is the truth? What is
the truth? I would guarantee you every preacher
that's in the pulpit today I bet there's not one that would say,
I'm telling you a lie this morning. I'd almost take my life on it. Every man who stands behind the
pulpit today would tell his people, I've got the truth, I'm preaching
the truth. But is it so? No. What is the truth that will set
a sinner free? Pilate asked the Lord Jesus Christ
that day, in John 18 it's recorded, Pilate said, what is truth? Truth
personified was right in his face. The true and living God
was right before him. He didn't see the truth in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So what is this truth? Am I telling
you the truth? What is this truth that sets
sinners free? Well, my friend, it is the truth
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that the power of God
unto salvation. Now, let me see if I can define
that a little bit closer. What is it to preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's to tell the truth. It's
to tell the truth of our great God and Savior, who He is. Who
is the Lord Jesus Christ? We heard it on Thursday night.
There's a copy of that message out on the table if you missed
it. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He is God Almighty. Come to save His covenant people
and He shall not fail. That's the truth that sets us
free. Who God is. He's our God and
He's our Savior. Secondly, What is it to preach
the gospel truth? It is to tell the truth of our
great problem. Now you'll never seek the right
remedy if you don't know the problem. One of the reasons you go to
the doctor is so the doctor can make the right diagnosis and
then prescribe the remedy for the problem. The truth of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ describes our great problem. What is our great problem? Well,
you know, when I was a little boy, I told a lie one time. You
know, I'm just not as good as I ought to be. I know I could
do better. I'm just going to do better.
Monday morning, I'm... You see, our problem is much
deeper than that. The truth of our great problem
is sin. Sin. Has God ever taught you that
you're a sinner? Has God ever taught you and revealed
unto you the ungodliness of your nature? I'm not talking about
what you have done. You're not a sinner on the basis
of what you've done. You're a sinner on the basis
of what you are. 1 John chapter 1 says this, If
we say we have no sin, If, there's that word again, if we say we
have no sin nature, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not
in us. You see, we are totally depraved, we're totally sinful
and guilty before God. That's the truth of the gospel.
Our great problem is not the watermelon we stole, that's not
the problem. It's what we are before God.
We've sinned against God. Thirdly, the truth that sets
us free is the truth of our great God and Savior, the truth of
our great problem, sin, and the truth of salvation, our so great
salvation. Salvation is not that God put
us in a savable state. Salvation is not that the Lord
Jesus Christ paid part of the payment part of the atonement
and then it's left up to us to make it effectual. That's not
truth. That's a lie. The truth of the
gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished salvation. The truth of the gospel is that
the Lord Jesus Christ came representing His covenant people, that He
put away their sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and He completely,
fully, and eternally made complete atonement for all their sin.
That's the truth that sets them free. Now, if you forsake that
truth and go listen to somebody who tells a lie about the atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ, what does that mean? What does that indicate
about your faith? You didn't have the faith of
God's elect because the faith of God's elect wasn't going to
put up with a lie. The faith of God's elect demands
the truth. I want the truth, the whole truth.
Nothing but the truth. That's what true faith demands
to hear. The truth. The truth. The truth.
Who He is. Our great problem. And that so
great salvation. Salvation by grace alone. Salvation
by faith alone. Salvation in Christ alone. To
the glory of God alone. And the truth of this, our great
need. What is our great need? Well,
you know, we need these social programs. Free medical and free
dental. We need all these programs and
we need this and we need that. Is that our great need? You can have all those things
and perish in your sin. Our Lord said, if you believe
not that I am, you'll die in your sin. What is the sinner's
great need? Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ,
that is our great need and our need alone. Our need fully, totally met in
Christ Jesus, is it not? My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
This is the truth that sets us free. Knowing Christ, who is
the truth, being one with Him, by union of faith with Him, sets
us free." Free, free, free. Free from what, preacher? What
did truth set us free from? Well, let's see if we can find
out. Turn to John chapter 6. Free from the bondage of sin. John chapter 6. John chapter
6, verse 14. John 6 verse 14. I mean, excuse
me, Romans 6. I'm sorry. I'm glad I caught
that. I wanted you to see this. Romans
6. Romans 6 verse 14. Sometimes
I make a mistake like that. Somebody holler at me so we can
get it right. Don't be afraid to holler at
me. Preacher, you got it wrong. Romans chapter 6 verse 14, "...for
sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the
law, but under grace." Sin no longer has dominion over you.
Now look at verse 17, "...but thank God you were the servants
of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered you, being then made free from sin." You
became servants of righteousness. Been made free from sin. Free
from the bondage of sin. Turn to the book of Galatians.
Free from the religious traditions of men. Galatians chapter 5,
turn over there. Galatians 5, 2nd Corinthians
and then Galatians 5, verse 1. Galatians 5, verse 1. Stands
fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. Now who makes us free? If the
Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
Stand fast therefore in 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. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, he is a debtor to do the whole law.
free from the bondage of sin, free from the traditions and
customs of religious men. Now turn to Galatians chapter
3 verse 13, free from the curse of the law. Galatians 3 verse 13, Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that continues, cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. He made us free from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. He made us free from
the curse of self-righteousness. Turn back to Romans 10 this time. Romans 10. Self-righteous religious
pride is a great curse. Going about to establish a righteousness
of your own is a great bondage. But the Lord Jesus Christ, it
says here in Romans 10 verse 3, For they, being ignorant of
God's righteousness, that is, those self-righteous Jews, going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end
of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth. You
see, He has set us free. Now, turn back to John 8 now.
It is the truth of the gospel that sets us free from the power
of sin, from the penalty of sin, and one day from the very presence
of sin. You shall know the truth, and
the truth shall set you free. And you shall know the truth,
and you shall continue in the truth, and this truth sets us
at liberty, freedom, freedom, freedom. Now, notice this carefully. It is the truth of the gospel
that sets us free, not the lies of men. The lies of men only
bring bondage, slavish fear. The lies of men will always serve
to further condemn you, will never set you free. I'll give you a good example.
In Genesis chapter 2, the Lord said to Adam, in the day you
eat thereof, you shall die. That's the truth. That's the
truth. Okay? What did Satan say in Genesis
chapter 3? He said, You shall not surely
die. Added one word, N-O-T. He changed
the truth of God into a lie. See, it's a subtle thing. Kind
of sounds like the same thing. Maybe 90% true, No. I tell you what, that one
word changes the whole thing. The whole thing is a lie. God said, today you disobey me,
you'll die. That's what He said. And Adam
disobeyed God and he died. And we all died in Him. Satan
said, you'll be like God. You'll not surely die. You see
my friend, it's the truth that sets us free. It's the truth
that we need to hear. We sang a moment ago, would you
be free from the burden of sin? Would you be free? There's power
in the blood. Would you be free from your passion
and pride? There's power in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, okay, the Lord now, look
at John 8, 33. They answered and said unto him,
We be Abraham's seed, We're never in bondage to any man. How say
unto us that we need freedom, that
we need liberty? I mean, come on now. We're not
in bondage to any man. They completely missed the message. It went right over their head.
They did not hear a thing. And the Lord said to them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin, he is a servant
of sin. And the servant abideth not in
the house forever, but the Son abides forever. If the Son therefore
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." We be Abraham's
children. What were they saying? He said,
you're guilty, you're in bondage, you're under the dominion of
sin and the curse of the law. They said, we're not guilty,
we're not sinners. We don't need this liberty, we
don't need you, we don't need freedom because we're not sinners.
How sayeth thou unto us that we need to be made free? They were in the very bondage
and grip, the death grip of their sin and had no clue, had no idea
that it was so. Is it any different in our day? So it goes in our day, the religious
man has no idea of his problem, nor of God's remedy. When you
start preaching the gospel or witnessing the gospel to someone
who has no clue, often times they'll say, well, you're saying
I'm not saved? Well, yeah. That's what I'm saying. If you don't believe the truth,
you're lost. If you don't believe the truth,
you're dead in your sin. Well, you're saying I'm lost.
Yeah, that's right. That's what God said. He that
the Son sets free is free indeed. Well, I joined the church. Big
deal. Well, I was baptized. Well, big deal. Everybody's done
that. Has the Son set you free? Whether we be Abraham's seed,
a religious Jew or the seed of some other pagan Gentile. All
men are the seed of Adam. All men are guilty before God. Now I can make good on that. Let's see if we can find it.
Romans chapter 3. If I get Romans and John straightened
out here, we'll get through this. Romans chapter 3. So whether
you be a religious Jew or whether you be a pagan Gentile, You're
still born of Adam. You're still guilty of sin. Born in condemnation. Look what
it says here in Romans 3. What then? Verse 9. Are we better
than they? No, and know why. Romans 3, 9.
For we have before proved both Jew and Gentile that they are
all under sin. As it is written, there's none
righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way, all, none. You kind of get the idea. They're
all together, become unprofitable, all together. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
There's none, there's none, there's none. They're all guilty, guilty,
guilty. Therefore, let every mouth be
stopped, verse 19. Romans 3, let every mouth be
stopped and all the world become guilty, guilty, guilty before
God. We are sinners by birth, sinners
by nature, and sinners by choice, sinners by practice. We cannot
improve our condition, we have no ability to put away our sin,
no desire to seek the Lord, and will remain the servants of sin
unless the Lord intervenes and stops us. and does a work of
grace in our heart. The servant of sin will remain
in the bondage of sin unless the Lord intervenes for us and
makes us sons of God by His sovereign grace, sovereign mercy." If we don't understand the problem,
sin, you see, if you start out wrong, you're going to end up
wrong. You'll never see the truth and know the truth of salvation
until God shows you what happened in the garden. Sin entered in. You'll never see the reality
of what happened at the cross if you don't see what the problem
is, S-I-N. And I can't do anything to put
it away. And that's why the Lord Jesus Christ came, to put away
our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In Jeremiah 13, Can the Ethiopian
change his skin? No. Can a leper change his spots? No. Neither can you do good who
are accustomed to doing nothing but evil, drinking iniquity like
the water. You see, if the Son doesn't make
us free, we'll die in our sin. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be truly free, free indeed, actually free,
from the condemnation of sin. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
there is therefore now no condemnation to those who were in Christ Jesus. God who set forth His Son to
be the propitiation for our sin, He spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. It
is Christ who has died. Now, who can charge us with sin,
seeing that the Lord has put sin away and set us free in Christ
Jesus? In Romans 6.23, We read, don't
turn, the wages of sin, you can finish that, can't you? The wages
of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, my friend, the Lord
came to set us free. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which is lost. Turn to Luke chapter 4. Luke
chapter 4. I'll let you go with this. Luke
chapter 4. If the Son, therefore, shall set you free. It's the
truth that sets us free. And the Son of God, who is the
truth, speaks the truth, preaches the truth. In Luke chapter 4,
verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty, freedom, freedom, them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord." He closed the book, gave it to
the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all that were
in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto
them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all
bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth." What kind of words were these? Truth. The
truth. You shall know the truth, and
the truth shall set you free. And if the Son sets you free,
you shall be free indeed. Free indeed.