Recently, I have been preaching
messages to our congregation at 13th Street from passages
of Scripture in the New Testament where our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the preacher. I've been selecting passages
in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John where our Lord Himself preached. And these studies have been a
special blessing to me, and I feel like they've been a blessing
to our congregation. And one of the messages that
I brought recently is from John chapter 8. And I'd like for you
to get your Bible today and open it with me to the 8th chapter
of John. And here our Lord is teaching
in the temple. He's surrounded by the Pharisees
and the Sadducees and the people there in the temple and the people
who frequented the temple of God in Jerusalem. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, in this message, used the word, if, a little word,
two-letter word, I-F, if. He used it eight or nine times. And it attracted my attention,
not just to make a play on words. That's not interesting at all,
just to make a play on words. But rather, he emphasized the
particular truth with which he was dealing and the unchangeable
terms of that truth. If this be so, that's so. Unchangeably
so. If this condition exists, this
exists. Unchangeably so. Now, that's
what he's doing all the way through this entire chapter, chapter
8. Now, I want you to look at it
with me. I'll give you about seven of them, the Lord willing,
if we have the time. The first powerful statement,
unchangeable truth, is found in John 8 verse 24 and here's
what our master said if you believe not that I am he you die in your
sins that's unchangeable unchangeable powerful if you believe not that
I am he you die in your sins now our Lord is here in the temple
surrounded by these Pharisees and Sadducees and and people
who came to the temple to worship and offer sacrifice. And he had
just said this to them back in the preceding verse. He said,
now, you're from beneath. I'm from above. You're of this
world. I'm not of this world. You're
from beneath. This is what he said to those
people. You're from beneath. I'm from above. You're of this
world. I'm not of this world. What's
he saying? He's declaring that he's God. I'm from above. I'm not born of the earth. I'm
not of the earth. I'm from above. That's what John
1 says, in the beginning was the Word. Christ is called the
Word of God. He was in the beginning with
God. He was God. All things were made by Him.
And the Word was made flesh. He came from heaven to the earth
and entered the womb of a virgin and was born. Timothy says this,
Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh, seen of the angels, believed on in
the world, received up into glory. Isaiah 9 says, Under us a child
is born, and a son is given, came from heaven. And Isaiah
6, 14 said, A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and you
call his name Immanuel, God with us. So this is what Christ is
saying to these people. You're from beneath. I'm from
above. You're of the world. I'm not of the world. God sent
me. I'm the Son of God. Now, this
is when He said in verse 24, And if you believe not that I
am He, you die in your sins. Did you notice those two words,
I am? If you believe not that I am,
I am. That's the name of God. Moses
in Exodus 3.14 says, Lord, when the Lord was sending him down
into Egypt to deliver Israel, he said, Lord, when they ask
me who sent me, what's his name, what am I going to tell them?
And the Lord spoke out of the burning bush and said, Moses,
I am that I am. Not I was, I will be, I am. Ever-present, eternal, ever-present
God. I am that I am. Tell them, I
am has sent you. And that's what Christ is saying
here. If you don't believe that I am, I'm from above. I'm God. He that has seen me
has seen the Father. I and my Father are one. God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. You don't
believe that, you'll die in your sin. And if you don't believe
that I am he, you notice he put that word, I am he. I'm who? Who's he talking about? I'm the
Messiah. I'm the Christ. Our Lord asked
His disciples one day, whom do you say that I am? Whom do you
say that I am? And Peter said, Thou art the
Christ, the Messiah. Thou art the Son of God. I am
He. I'm God. I'm the Messiah. You
see that? And this powerful truth, unchangeable,
immutable, These terms can't be tampered with. If you do not
believe that I am He, Jesus of Nazareth is God over all, blessed
forever. Jesus of Nazareth is Christ the
Messiah, the Old Testament Messiah, the only mediator between God
and men. And if you don't believe that,
you'll die in your sins, you'll die under the guilt of your sins,
and you'll die and meet God in judgment for your sins. There's
a vast difference in dying in Christ and dying in sin. A wide, wide difference. You believe not that I am He. You die in your sins. Can't be
changed. If. The second powerful statement
is found in verse 31. He said, now if you continue
in my word, if you continue in my word, Then are you my disciples
indeed, and you know the truth, and the truth will make you free
if you continue in my word. Now, in verse 30, as he spake
these words, I am he, as he spake these words, it says concerning
who he is, many of the people believed him. They believed him. They believed and professed to
believe that he is the Christ. Is not this the Christ? Many
of them believed. And then He said to them, now
listen, He declared to those people who believed on Him, He
said this, He said, He said, If you continue in My Word, then
are you My disciples indeed. This will be the proof, this
will be the evidence that you do indeed believe. This will
be the proof, this will be the evidence that you are truly My
disciples. If you continue in the gospel
and be not moved away, if you continue in the faith and do
not depart, if you continue in the gospel, then you are indeed
my disciple. You see, to continue in my Word
is to live and die in faith. It's to abide in Christ and Christ
abides in us. It's to continue to hold fast
to our profession and not be moved away from Him. You know,
Paul said about his friend Demas. He said, Demas, Demas left me.
Demas departed, having loved this present world. He departed.
And then John said this. He said, John said, they went
out from us. People left the gospel. They
professed the gospel and they walked with us a while and then
they quit. And they went out from us. But John says they weren't
of us. They weren't of us. For if they
had indeed truly been of us," that's what our Lord says, if
you continue, if you continue in the gospel, continue in Christ,
abide in Him, His Word abides in you, then indeed, you are
My disciple indeed, not just in profession, not just on a
church role, not just put on, play like, you are indeed My
disciple. Now, perseverance in faith, in
the gospel, is not a condition of salvation. It's evidence of
it. A man must save because he continues.
He continues because he's saved. My wife and I were sitting in
a restaurant today, and a little four-year-old girl came skipping
by, pretty little blonde-headed girl, about four years old, and
she was just swinging her arms and smiling and skipping. I said,
look how happy she is. And my wife said, when you skip,
that's a sign you're happy. When a child is skipping, it's
a happy child. But let me tell you something,
skipping didn't make her happy. Happy made her skip. You see
what I'm saying? Skipping didn't make her happy.
She's skipping because she's happy. And continuing in Christ
didn't save me. But if I'm in Christ, I will
continue. That's right. If I am, that's what Paul says
in Hebrews 10, the just shall live by faith. He'll live by
faith, he'll continue to live by faith, and he'll die in faith
if he's one of God's people. But if any man draw back, and
some do, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But Paul said,
we're not of them that draw back, are we? Are we? You know, the
grace of God changes a person, makes them a new creature. Gives
them a new heart, new nature, new attitude, new walk, new companions,
new family, new direction, new goals, new everything is new. Somebody said one time, true
faith. If a man has true faith in God,
it shows in his eyes. If a man has true faith in God,
it lights up his countenance. If he has true faith in God,
it softens his touch. He's gentle. He's a gentle person. If he has true faith, it mellows
his voice. If he has true faith, it'll bow
his head. It'll bend his knee. It'll open his hand in generosity. It'll curb his tongue. It'll
humble his heart. It'll order his steps. It'll
teach his mind. It'll give him peace and teach
him to forgive. That's right. She's skipping
because she's happy. She's not happy because she's
skipping. And he's continuing faith because he's a believer.
He's not a believer because he continues. But that's the evidence
that he's a believer. He continues to believe. Here's
the third statement, John 8, 36. Awesome, unchangeable statement. He said, If the Son of God makes
you free, you'll be free indeed. eternally, forever free. Now what led him to say that?
Well, back in verse 32, he said this, my disciples continue in
my word, which is the truth, and the truth makes them free.
And those Pharisees, when he said that, they said, well, we're
Abraham's seed. We're not in bondage. What do
you mean free? We don't need to be set free.
We've never been in bondage to any man. Our Lord declared, whosoever
commits sin is a servant of sin. That's right. Whosoever commits
sin is in bondage to sin. He's in bondage to the law. He's
in bondage to justice. He's under the curse of the law.
If you've ever committed one sin in your life, you say, Preacher,
you're being facetious. We've committed many. I said
just one. To offend in one part is to be guilty of the whole
lot. But if you ever sin, you're a slave of sin. You're in bondage
to sin. Sin, when it's finished, brings
forth death. That's the end of sin. And that'll be your end,
unless those sins are put away. The soul that sinneth, it'll
surely die. The soul, now I'm not talking
about the body, it's going to die anyhow, and you know that,
but the soul that's sinning, it'll surely, surely, surely
die, just one sin. Be sure your sins will find you
out. That's what he said. But if the
Son, the Son of God, the Messiah, who came to set the captive free,
that's what he said, the Spirit of God's upon me, he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor, to set the captive free,
to set at liberty them that are bruised and bound, to give sight
to the blind. If He makes you free, you are
free indeed." Free from what? Free from what? All right, listen. Free from sin, all sin. He said, I'll cast your sins
into the depths of the sea. I'll remember them no more. I'll
separate them from you as far as the east is from the west.
He bore our sins in His body and put them away. Free from
what? From the curse. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. But Christ was made a curse for us and redeemed us
from the curse of the law. Free. Free from sin, free from
the curse, free from the captivity of Satan. Do you know that people
are led captive by Satan, by his will? That's right. Captive by the will of Satan.
Christ sets the captive free. Free from the ceremonial law.
Do you, you that would be under the law, don't you hear the law?
Don't you hear what the law requires? You don't want to be under a
ceremonial law. Law of circumcision and ceremony
and priesthood and sacrifices and all these laws. He freed
us from the law. He didn't come to destroy the
law. He came to fulfill it. And on our behalf and in our
stead and for our righteousness, He's fulfilled all the law. We're
free. If the Son make you free, you'll be free from sin, from
the curse, from the captivity of Satan, from the ceremonial
law, and from condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who in Christ Jesus our Lord. Free from all condemnation. All right, the fourth powerful
statement, powerful statement, written down here in verse 39,
John 8, verse 39. He says, if you were Abraham's
children, they said that a while ago, we'd be Abraham's children.
If you were, if you really were the children of Abraham, you'd
do the works of Abraham. These men were quick to inform
our Lord of the fact that they were the descendants of Abraham.
They were proud of that fact, and they wanted the Lord to understand
that, and he knew that. He said, I know you're Abraham's
descendants. I know that. God called Abraham my friend,
my friend. And these people were bragging
about the fact that the friend of God was their friend. They weren't particularly a friend
of God, but there's a friend of Abraham who's a friend of
God. And that's the way people are doing today, what they're
doing today. They're going back there and living on the names
of these old forefathers, like Calvin, and Zwingli, and Huss,
and Luther, and John Owens, and John Knox, and the Spurgeons,
and the Bunions, and the Westers, and we're talking about, these
are our forefathers. They started our denomination, and we are
therefore their children. Well, our Lord looked at these
people, and this is what He said. They said, Abraham's our father.
We're the children of Abraham. He said, if you were the children
of Abraham, You'd do the works of Abraham. You'd walk like him
and talk like him, and you'd do the works of Abraham. Have
you ever studied the works of Abraham? The Jews talk about
Abraham having seven, eight, or nine, or ten trials, severe
trials, through which God put him and proved him. And he's
awesome. You remember he left his home
when he was 75 years old, when he left his home and family and
went to the land that God of which God spoke about to him. He left, believing God. And then
he dwelt in tents all his life. He never owned any property.
God promised it to him and to his seed, but he never entered
into that possession of that promise. He lived in tents with
Isaac and Jacob. He gave Lot the best land, and
then he refused to be made rich by the kings of Sodom and the
pagan kings. And then he sent away his beloved
first son by Hagar, the slave girl, he kicked him out. He had
to. God told him to send him away. He said, the child of promise
cannot live with a child of flesh. Can't do it. And then he sacrificed
Isaac on the mountain and many more trials and works of Abraham. But I can't duplicate these.
What's our Lord saying to me and to you? If you were the children
of Abraham, you'd do the works of Abraham. I can't match this. I wouldn't even want to try.
But I believe what our Lord's referring to here is the chief
work of Abraham. You know what it was? Abraham
believed God. That's what it says about him
all the way through the Scriptures. This is what made Abraham different.
This is what brought God's mercies and blessings upon Abraham. This
is the foundation for all that he did. All for which he hoped,
this is the reason for all that he did, for all that he was,
and for all that he is, he believed God. He believed God. He believed God was able to perform
all that he promised. He did not entertain a doubt
against hope. He believed God. And that's the
work of God. And that's the work of Abraham,
to believe God. And that's what Christ is saying
to these Pharisees. If Abraham was your father, and
if you were the children of Abraham, you'd believe as Abraham did. You seek to kill me. Abraham
didn't do that. Abraham saw my day and was glad. He rejoiced. Abraham believed
in me. And if you were the children
of Abraham, you would too. They asked the Lord one time,
said, what shall we do that we might work the works of God?
Now tell us. What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? The Lord Jesus said, This is
the work of God, that you believe on him whom God hath sent. So there you have it. There you
have it. This is the work of God. And
then here's the fifth statement. The fifth statement. Very powerful. It's found here in verse 42.
Jesus said to them, Jesus said to them, if God were your father,
you would love me. I know, I know that the people
out shouting in this world, this is their general, general doctrine
and theology. God loves everybody and God's
the father of all men. We're all the children of God,
the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. That's an
accepted rule of this day. But our Lord didn't say that.
He said to these men, if God were your father, you would love
me. Why did He say that to them?
Well, they said this to Him in the previous verse, verse 41. They said to Christ, we're not
born of fornication. We're not born in sin. We have
one Father. God is our Father. Now here these
religious fellows are standing looking at the Son of God, and
they're telling Him, God is our Father. You understand that?
God is our Father because God's the Father of all men. And Christ
replied, If God were your Father, you would love Me. That's what
He said. If God were your Father. He's
not. If He were, you'd love Me. If you were born of God, you'd
love God, and you'd love His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you'd love His people. Listen to the Bible. Listen to
the Word now. 1 John 2, 29. Everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of God. They're God's children. And they
do righteousness because they're God's children. 1 John 4, 7. Everyone that loveth is born
of God. And he that loveth God loveth
him that's begotten of God. And he that loveth not knoweth
not God. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ He's born of God. Now I have three sons. One's
dead, killed in Vietnam. I have two other sons. They're
my sons. They're born of me. They're nobody
else's son. They're my sons. I don't have
any other son but those three sons. But they're my sons because
they were begotten of me. And if you love God and are born
of God, you're a son of God. And if you're not born of God,
you're not a son of God. You're a son of Adam, but you're
not a son of God. is born of God overcometh the
world. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And Christ said, If you were
God's children, and God were your Father, you'd love Me. You'd love Me for two reasons. Look at this verse now, Verse
42, Because I proceeded forth, and I came from God. That's why
you'd love Me. I and my Father If I'm a Father
1, how can you love Him, not love me? Come on now. I'm the only begotten Son of
the Father. Can you love Him, not love me? He that has seen
me has seen God. Can you love God and not love
me, the only manifestation of God you've ever seen? He's expressed
exact image of God. How can you love God and not
love Christ? It's impossible. Impossible. If God were your
Father, you would love me," Christ said, because I am a Father of
one. I came from God. I'm the only
begotten Son of God. And secondly, he said, neither
came I into this world of myself. He sent me. For God so loved
the world, He gave His only begotten Son. He sent me into this world. How can you love God, believe
God, worship God, revere God, and trust God if you don't love
and revere Him whom God sent, His own Son? If God were your
Father, you'd love the Lord Jesus Christ. And the six powerful
statements in verse 46, if I speak the truth, why don't you believe
me? Why don't you believe me? Which
of you can find any fault in me, any sin in me?" Oh, they
all spoke highly of him. Nicodemus said, we know you come
from God. No man could do these miracles
except God be with him. Pilate said, I find no fault
in this man. One of the Pharisees says, Master,
we know you're true and you teach the true way of God and you regard
not the person of men. He said, why don't you believe
me? Isn't that the opinion of people today? Jesus Christ is
holy. Jesus Christ is a prophet. Jesus
Christ came from God. Jesus Christ did no sin. Only
man who ever lived without sin. Jesus Christ preaches the truth.
Then here comes the question. If he speaks the truth, why don't
you believe him? Why don't you? Right now, why
don't you believe him? Here comes the answer. He said, I speak
the truth. I came from God. Why don't you
believe me? He said, I'll tell you. He that
is of God hears God's Word. You hear them not. This is an
awful charge. Awful. You hear them not because
you're not of God. That's a terrible charge, isn't
it? But if He speaks the truth, why don't you believe Him? Well,
He tells you. You're not of God. If you were
of God, you'd believe God's Word. They asked him one time, they
said, well, if you be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told
you. You didn't believe me. You didn't believe me because
you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and they believe
me. If, that's the title of this message, I-F, if, if you want
it, if you want it, write for it. We'll send it to you. Till
next week, God bless you.