Eula Lindsey, Carolyn Fisher, Jeanette Runga. I'm still on the prayer list. Betsy Sylvester is feeling better. Her breath is kind of under the weather, so remember her in your prayers. Seek the Lord's help for her. And other than that, I can't think of any announcements. So, let's begin our worship service with hymn number 186. Is that right?

The church is one foundation. The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is His new creation by water and the Word. He was holy, bright, with His own body bought, and forever life He died. He lived for every nation, with honor on the earth, The charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one bird. The holy name she blest, which partakes one holy few. And to her name she prestiged, with heavenly grace and view. In toil and tribulation, into doubt of her war, She waits the consolation of His forever more. Filled with the vision glorious, her longing eyes are blest, and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest. Which the earth hath union with God the three-in-one, and peace, peace, sweet communion with those to which he's won.

Number five hundred and seventeen. I stand and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my portals shall fly. I am bound for the promised land. Oh, who will come and go with me? I'm bound for the promised land. Oh, as that extinguished flame shines one eternal day. God the Son forever reigns and scatters night away! I am bound for the promised land! I am bound for the promised land! Oh, who will come and go with me? I am bound for the promised land! Oh, chilly winds, don't poison us with care Reach that hill for sure Sickness and sorrow, pain and death Are felt and feared no more I am bound for the promised land I am bound for the promised land shall I I am bound for the promised land I am bound for the promised land Oh who will come and go with me I am bound for the promised land

I always think of those words, and who will come and go with me. I think of Abraham saying to his father-in-law, when he was getting ready to go towards Canaan, he said to his father, come thou with us. We will do thee good. We will do thee good.

John chapter 8. I'm going to read verses 45 through 49. My text will be from 46 to 49. Our Lord said, and because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you believe me then? Why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth God's words. Ye, therefore, hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I am not a devil, but I honor my Father, and ye who dishonor me. That was perfect.

Our Father, great and glorious Lord of this world, ruler of the universe, You who sustain all things and give all living things breath. You who take care of your creatures, supply them with every need. We thank you for your kindness and your generosity, your grace and your mercy. For folks who don't deserve any of your favor. Father, help us to be thankful people. to know that it is a privilege to live in this world under your rule, to know that all things that take place are for our good and for your glory. We thank you for the grace that began in eternity and will end there or stay there forever. We will sing this with this irrelevant one day grace Grace unto it. We know, Father, what you've done for us. Ever give us understanding and appreciation of the fact. Never let us leave our headquarters in the dust and think we are anything more than what we are. But always remind us by your grace that grace is for sinners, and so is your mercy.

Father, we pray for those who are sick. We're thankful that Crow's doing better. We pray for Loretta. She's having difficulty. We continue to pray for Ray and French and for those others who requested prayer of the Grant family. We ask, Lord, that you would be with them and watch over them.

We know that all things in this world are by your hand and according to your purpose. You do your will in the arms of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay your hand and say unto you, what doest thou? We bow to your wisdom and give us grace to appreciate even the things that are difficult and hard. For we know that your providence will always work for your glory.

Help us out tonight as we look at your word. Give us a sense of what goes on in this dynamic between our Lord Jesus Christ and these Pharisees. Help us, Lord, to understand. We pray in Christ's name, amen.

And since the day the Lord healed the sick man on the Sabbath day and was accosted by the Jews and the Pharisees on that day, he has consistently declared one singular thing, that he was God. He said it in several different ways, but the message was always the same. He has consistently declared that He was God. He has consistently declared that He was the light of the world, the bread of life, the manna from heaven. He has declared that His words are the words of God, and His words are the Spirit, and they are life.

The Jews had great familiarity with God. Sometimes their familiarity was such that they didn't think about Him at all. They just felt like He was there for them. And so they felt at ease to raise up idols and do all sorts of things in his name that had nothing to do with what he had done. But they had a familiarity with God. If you were talking about Elohim or Jehovah, Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Shammah, whoever, whatever time they went by in the Old Testament, they would be able to tell you what that meant, who he was, and that God was the God of Israel. And they were familiar with that fact.

His word and the concept of their national election was something they understood. They wore the badge of natural election with pride and a sense of entitlement and had a generalist deign for anyone who was not of the tribes of Israel. All but Israel were considered Kushites or pagans or Samaritans by the Jews. They had no use for any who might call into question their estate in God's economy. They were, after all, God's elect. That was a natural election. And a natural election always has a natural response to it. If you felt like you were naturally elected by God, this was your nation, and God was your God, then you would feel entitled. You would feel pride.

Whereas spiritual election has just the opposite result. Spiritual election, when a person learns he's been spiritually elected by God, he realizes that it had to be by grace and mercy, because there was nothing he had to offer God. never enters into the picture. Though sinners are sinners and they often will have difficulty. I will remember one time Scott Richardson telling the story of this preacher down in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. He was an old boy and had been preaching grace for a long time. Scott was a young man and had just learned the doctrine of election and was glad to preach it and loved it. He told the old preacher, he says, you know, since I learned Since I learned about election, pride just seemed to go out the door and preach to them, not all of them. He realized Scott was bragging a little bit. But that's true.

But spiritual election, when you realize what God says about election and those whom he's elected, you realize right off the bat that there's nothing in you that could have caused God to do that. In fact, everything in you seemed to repel any notion of that fact.

They, however, the Jews, believed that they were the happy estate in the economy of God. They alone had God's word. They had the law of the prophets, though at the time of this episode they had not heard a word or a prophet from God for 400 years. Now, there's this Nazarene that showed up, this Jesus of Nazareth, who was causing a stir, and though they wanted to kill him, says that over and over again, they wanted to kill him, they providentially And I say providentially because that's the only reason they would listen to Him. They providentially listened to Him speak over and over again.

In fact, since chapter 4, they've been listening to Him tell them who He is in this passion. We're now in chapter 8. It will go all the way until He ends up on the cross of Calvary. But they listened to Him because God providentially gave them pause to stop and pay attention. But his words never found purchase in their hearts. Some Pharisees did believe on him. Some Jews did believe on him. The early believers were Jews because he came into the Jews first and preached in the temple. But most of the Pharisees despised him and wanted to kill him.

In fact, the end of this chapter ends this way. They wanted to kill him. It started out that way and that's the way it ends. They continued to listen to him. The fact that they continued to listen to him is notable because he gave them no quarter and he took no prisoners in his language. He told them that they were servants of sin, that they knew not God. Now he's talking to those who believe they're God's people. He told them they didn't know God. They didn't love God. And that though their heritage could be traced way back to Abraham, he told them that their devil was their father, not Abraham. And they hearing did not hear.

He made it clear that his words and God's words were one and the same, but their ear gates were shut up by heaven. He told them in verse 45 that they cannot hear because he told them the truth. He says, and because I tell you the truth, you believe not. If he told them a lie, they would believe a lie. But he told them the truth, and because he did that, they could not hear him. He told them the truth, which in truth was the declaration that they believed the devil's lie, and that the devil was the father of lies. Likewise, their murderous intent was from their father, the devil, as he was a murderer from the beginning. This is how he addressed them. He was not kind to them.

I know the picture that religion paints of Jesus today is just so sweet and so kind and so gentle. All you have to do is listen to what he said to those religious people. He was kind and gentle to folks like us, sinners all. who had no hope in themselves. He was tender with us and loving with us and drew us to himself. But the religious people he threw out in the dirt, he called them children of hell, white sepulchers, dirty dishes, snakes and vipers. He called them all those things. He was not nice to them. And here he calls these Pharisees

And this is always, I try to put myself in the situation when it's being set forth in scripture. We should try to do that. We look at the context of it, not really just as a bunch of words, but look at the context in which it's written.

He was speaking to the finest, uprightest, most moral people that lived anywhere in the world as far as being obedient, as far as they could to the law. They were very obedient. They were law keepers. They were law about it. They tried to make everybody else toe the line, too. And to them, he said, your father is a liar. And you believe lies because your father is the father of lies. And you're a murderer because your father was a murderer from the first, from the beginning. This is how he talked to these people.

And verse 46 indicates that they had previously probably made many accusations and sinned against him. Now the sins they were we will find. They accused him of sedition. They accused him of blasphemy. They called him a winebibber and a drunk. They accused him of demon worship. And they accused him of gluttony. But none of these bore fruit. Even when he was about to be crucified, the most powerful Roman in Jerusalem, Pilate, said, I find no fault in him. And Pilate's wife did her husband do no harm to this righteous man.

He says in verse six, which of you convinces me of sin? Which of you convinces me of sin? What our Lord was saying here is that though numerous charges had been brought against him, that there had been no conviction for it. He was true and his words were true and they did not believe him. They did not believe him. That's why he said in verse 46, and if I say the truth, why do you believe me not?

Now the truth he's speaking not is not about some doctrinal essay that he's written. He's talking about the truth that he's just told them. The things he's just told them. That they were servants of sin. that they were not free men, that they were not sons of Abraham, that the father was the devil, that his word was not in them. His word was not in them. We find he uses that concept throughout all his ministry. My word is not in him. My word finds no place in him. He's talking about what he's saying because he's telling these folks the truth.

Verse 47 is profound in many ways. He said, He that is of God, heareth God's words. Here again, words. Ye therefore hear them not, because you're not of God. And again. That's profound. Just by who he's speaking to at the time. The Jews alone. Nobody else in the world. The only nation in the world was this group that came from the 12 tribes of Israel. God had given them Canaan as their land, but they mixed with the idols. They never really fully possessed it. They divorced their God. They left their God for idols. But they were the only group. The pagans didn't have Genesis to Malachi. The Greeks didn't have Genesis to Malachi. Nobody had Genesis to Malachi, but these people, they had the Word of God. Our Lord even declared that they searched the Scriptures. He said in chapter 5 and verse 39, you do search the Scriptures. You do search the Scriptures. They thought they had a corner on holy things. Secondly, they had refused to obey Christ and could not hear His Word. This statement indicts these men for unbelief and declares that since they did not hear him, they did not hear God's words. This is what he's saying. You haven't heard my words, you don't believe my words.

Look at a few examples just in this chapter, verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, you are my disciples indeed. Then in verse 37, I know that you are angry, I have seen, but you seek to kill me because my word. is not, or hath found no place in you. Then in verse 43, he says this, why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. My word. Verse 45, because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Verse 46, which of you convinced me of sin? If I say the truth, why do you not believe me?

So it's all about his words. It started way back when. the very first chapter, in a description of who Jesus Christ is. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the same as in the beginning with God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as the only begotten of the Father, who is full of grace and truth.

people who had the Word of God, Christ tells them they're not God's people. They're not born of God. They're not born again by God's Spirit. They're not born by God's will. They're not born by God's will. He's telling those who say we're God's people, and a lot of people say that. Just about everybody whom I hear talking on TV nowadays, because it seems to be the going phrase, talks about their faith and their belief in God.

But our Lord said this in chapter one, but as many as received Him, to them He gave a power or authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. That means those who received Him are those whom he gave faith to believe on his name. And these were born, which were born, not of bloods, that is, ancestors. We are Abraham's seed. I know you're Abraham's seed, but my word has no place in you.

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh. Now that means they weren't born by their own will. by their decision, by their acceptance of Jesus, by their inviting the Lord into their heart. They were not born of their own will, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of men. They were not born by some man telling them that they were born, or some man ushering them, or sowing them. How were they born? They were born of God. That's how the Son of God, that's how a child of God is born. He's born because God birthed him.

He says to these, You weren't born of God. You weren't born of God. Those who are of God hear God's words. And what words is He talking about? His words. Those who hear are of God, hear the words of Jesus Christ. He's the author and the finisher of faith. He is the word Himself. And those who believe in Him are of God. And the specific definer is that they hear God's words. They hear God's word.

Now that says something about the words that are there. We have the written word of God. But within the mystery and the wonder of this is when this is preached by someone whom God has called and sent to preach. This is the voice of Christ to men's ears. I don't understand it, don't begin it, but our Lord said my sheep hear my voice and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life.

Now there were those among this group who did hear him and what they heard were his words. Proverbs 20 says a person hears because God has given them hearing ears and a seeing eye. I think it was John Bunyan who wrote in the Christian war, the spiritual warfare, he wrote that the place where the attack or the assault on the soul is made is the ear gate. That's the first thing. Not seeing because we walk by faith and not by sight. Not feeling and touching and tasting because those are senses that have nothing to do with the gospel. It's here. Hearing. So that says something. That says something.

Paul ties this principle to the preaching and hearing of the gospel and alludes it to being as obeying the gospel. Look over Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, verse 13, it says, whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? So you'll never call on Christ until you believe on Christ. And how shall they believe in whom they've not heard? You'll never believe on Christ until you've heard from Christ. And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sin? And he quotes Isaiah 52 7, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bringeth glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel, Because Isaiah said, who hath believed our report, or our doctrine, or the hearing of the word? Who hath believed the hearing of the word? That's the gospel. Who's believed that? So faith, so then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We don't exalt the office of pastor or preacher. He's just a man, that's all he is. But when he speaks as one sent from God, what he's saying is the words of God. These are God's words that he's saying. That's why he preaches from this book. He that is of God, born of God, by God's will, made alive by God's spirit, He that's born of God hears God's words. Hears God's words.

Now you say to that, the people didn't hear it. They didn't hear it. Their response was one that every preacher of the gospel of grace has heard many times. I can't tell you how many times I've heard it. I've heard it from friends and family over the years. Verse 48. Say we not that he art a Samaritan and hath to the devil When truth is preached in the face of false teaching, men are prone to cry, that's the devil's doctrine, or doctrine of devils. You've probably heard it yourself. They said something that they had often said before they said this. Have we not said this? Say we not? Well, we've said this over and over again. So they're repeating what they said. First they called him what to them was the worst thing they could call him, a Samaritan. A dog, a pagan, a kusha. Then they turned his words back on him. They said, he hath the devil. He said, we have a devil. But he's the one that's got the devil. He has the devil. And he told them that he didn't have a devil. That was their heritage, their father. He honored the father with the words that they could not hear and did not believe. They dishonored Him, and there's a reason for that.

John chapter 5, verse 23 said, all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which is in Him. And it says this down in verse 39 through 44. He says, search the scriptures, for in them you think you find eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. You will not come to me that you might have life. I receive not honor from men, but I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe? which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only.

Our Lord said to these men, I have not the devil, but I honor my Father, and ye do dishonor me. These scripture-reading, scripture-searching men dishonored the Son. Our Lord said twice in the word of God, and at baptism, And at the mouth of transfiguration, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him.

The words of Jesus Christ are the words of God. Father, bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right.