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John 8:37-47
Please turn with me in saying that to the Gospel of John chapter 8. John chapter 8 is really loaded up, isn't it? We just... I just want to say after the Feast of the Booths in chapter 8, or called the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus has made several proclamations during this Feast concerning His deity and the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.
Many of the religious leaders have outright rejected Jesus as the Christ, the Anointed One. They have become very angry towards Him, even to the point of seeking His arrest for the purpose of putting Him to death.
That was their intention. Others have rejected Jesus as the Messiah, but are less antagonistic here. There are still others, different groups, as you notice in this, are wondering about Jesus' identity, who He is.
With some believing Jews, He could be the promised Messiah. But so to bring us up to speed to this point here in the narrative, it is to a group of people, to these Jews, that Jesus is specifically speaking to.
And we see this in John chapter 8 verse 31. Though they have come to a certain level of belief in Jesus, I've mentioned this on part 1, Jesus always challenges that belief. And there's a reason He does.
Because He knows what's in the heart of men. He did this often in the Gospels. Jesus is not going to allow them to entertain any idea of being a political Messiah. No, He's not. According to the Scripture, Jesus came to set people free from sin, not Roman oppression.
We see a lot of people like this today, don't we? Even when we were out, I remember a couple years ago, we was out at the place, the levee, witnessing on this pride parade deal, and reaching out to these poor lost souls that's caught up in the LGBTQ movement.
And there was always political people there. You remember that? Waving their flags. It's like all they could think of as a political agenda, like Jesus came to push political agendas. That's not what the Scripture says, beloved.
The Scripture is very plain. Matthew 1 .21, and she, speaking of Mary, will bring forth a son, Jesus. And it says, and you shall call His name Jesus. That means Jehovah saves. What will He do? It says, for He shall save His people from their sins.
That's what He came to do. That's why He came. He came to seek and save the lost. He calls sinners to repentance, and He come to save sinners. Christ Jesus, Paul says, this is a worthy saying, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
He didn't come to be a political activist. So Jesus calls believers to discipleship. And this is what we read here in John 8, starting actually with verse 31, and taking it all the way to the end of the chapter, but I like to read the text before us in verse 37 to 47.
So hear the word of the living God, beginning with verse 37. And I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have seen with your father.
They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God.
Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. And then they said to Him, we were not born of fornication. We have one father, God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me.
For I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you're not able to listen to my word. And here's a punch right here. Verse 44.
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there's no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources.
For he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God, hears God's words.
Therefore, you do not hear, because you are not of God. Strong, powerful words, but yet, this is a merciful, very merciful warning to these Jews. Please bow with me in prayer as we seek the Lord's face and favor in this hour, as we hear His word.
Lord, our Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to Your throne, the throne of grace, the throne of mercy, in the name that is above all names, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that You are well pleased in.
The one and only begotten Son of God, Son of Man. The one and only in which You are well pleased in. Our Savior, our Lord, our King, our Great High Priest, our Substitute, our Sanctifier, our Healer, and our soon coming King, who will judge the living and the dead.
Lord, be pleased now to speak through Your word as we come to this awesome text. There's so much here, Lord, and we need the Holy Spirit to help us. Draw closer to You, sanctify us, set us apart, Lord.
Cleanse us all to be more like You, to love You more. May each and every one of us leave here closer to You than we came. Father, now work through Your word. Change us, transform us more into the image of Jesus Christ.
And we ask this for Your honor and glory in Jesus' name, Amen. We see the emphasis in verse 38. Let me pick up right there. Speaks of Abraham's seed and Satan's. Only two families here. Not three, two.
We are of only part of the family of God, or we're part of the family of the devil. And if we're not of God through Jesus Christ, then that categorizes everybody as part of the family of the devil. People do not like to hear that.
That's very strong words. But that's exactly what Jesus is saying here in our text before us. A warning, but a merciful warning that our Lord gives. Jesus says in verse 38, I speak what I have seen with My Father.
You do what you have seen with your Father. Now, right here in this verse, we see the contrast. There's a contrast given between what Jesus was speaking of what they were doing. There's a contrast here.
Jesus was revealing what He had seen with His Father, and yet, these Jews were doing in action the deeds of their Father. They were not receiving His Word. They were actually rejecting it, and therefore would continue in their effort to find a way to kill the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were doing what they were hearing from their Father, the devil. They were listening to, doing what their Father, the devil, told them, and not what Jesus was literally revealing to them that the Father was saying to them.
They could not hear. And Jesus tells them, they're not able. They cannot hear. You notice Jesus says this quite often.
Through the Gospels.
He that has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. He that has ears, blessed, and He says many times, blessed are your ears of what you hear. So, they're not capable, they're not able to hear.
Reminds me also what John the Apostle continues to say in his epistle, the same Apostle. He says the whole world lies in wickedness. It's a whole entire lying system. It lies and lies. If you know what I'm saying there.
But it would soon be apparent here that as Jesus did not directly state who their Father was at this particular point, He does later on get very direct with them. So, in verse 39, these Jews, these religious Jews, they respond defensively.
They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our Father. You can't tell us who our Father is.
Abraham.
We're descendants of Abraham. They prided themselves of their family heritage physically that they are related to Abraham. They're Abraham's seed. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
Now, they were physically descendants of Abraham. But, as far as spiritual descendants, no. Verse 40, Jesus said, but now you seek to kill me. This is Jesus. A man who has told you the truth which I heard from God.
Abraham did not do this. And he's getting to a point. Verse 41, you do the deeds of your Father. And Jesus hasn't yet told them, but their Father is the devil. Again, this is the same argument that Jesus made in verse 37 and in verse 38.
I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. And, but now, he gets more direct. They were indeed physical descendants of Abraham, but they were not spiritual descendants.
That's really the truth of what is being said here. They were not doing the deeds of Abraham, but they were doing the deeds of a different Father. Very serious. And now they become extremely offended at this and they respond with accusation and even to a greater claim in verse 41.
They said to him, we were not born of fornication. You can literally almost see at this point that they're becoming very angry at Jesus, which Jesus knew this because their intent and purpose was to kill the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then they say, we have one Father, God. See, they're deceived. They don't see that the devil is their Father. They think God is their Father. They think they're the gatekeepers of heaven. A common response of people who are caught, by the way, in the truth, to attack their opponent.
You, I'm sure, have dealt with that just the same when you tell people the truth, whether it be in your family or outside of your family. You lovingly, graciously tell them the truth and it's a very difficult thing to do, but I would rather offend people than offend God.
You know? Because the truth is what really matters here. And this is the truth himself, Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life, telling these people the truth, and they wanted to attack back Christ.
And so, what are they saying? So, really, they are accusing Jesus of being illegitimate while claiming God as their Father. That's why they were so angry at this point. It is said that later Jewish writings would commonly slander Jesus as a bastard, illegitimate son of Mary.
That was what the Jewish writings actually did. And actually, don't you see that Diolobos, the slanderer is Satan himself. He slanders God's people, but he slandered Christ, and the reason why he slanders God's people is because of Christ.
He hates Christ. He's rebelled against God and against Christ, therefore, he hates anything, especially the church that is of God. It's a threat to him and his kingdom. Now, let's see who their true Father is.
Well, verse 42 to verse 47, Jesus directly lays down the bomb. Jesus responds in verse 42. What does he say? Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God.
Nor have I come of myself, but He sent me. He sent me. Jesus' statement is a clear contrast again between their claim and the reality of what Christ is speaking here. The Lord exposes the falseness, the falsehood of their claim by reminding them that if they really loved God, they would love Him.
That's the point. And that God sent Him. It is foolish for anyone to even claim to love God and at the same time to hate the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's happening all over the world. There are people who think that they're doing cults, religionists, or killing Christians in the name of God because they think they're doing God's service.
But they're really hating God because they hate Christ. It's almost like an oxymoron, isn't it? But yet, this happens all the time because they honor God with their lips, but Jesus said their hearts are far from Him.
Jesus said that He proceeded forth from God. He came out from God. He is God. He came forth from the Father. The Father sent Him. This speaks of the divine nature in the Incarnation. We're coming up to a time where we focus on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Of course, Christians do this all year long because we study Christ, we know Christ, we know who Christ is, but specifically during Christmastime, the focus is on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, on the glorious mystery that is.
But Mary was His physical mother as we know. And we know that the Roman Catholics is in deceit here thinking that they make her the mother of God and they literally worship her, which is idolatry and horrible, horrible sin against God.
But she was a vessel. She was physically, yes, the mother of Christ, but she was a vessel of the Virgin to bring forth Christ. Christ is the focus. Jesus had no human father as we know, as we know that Joseph was basically just a father here on this earth, but not like His physical father.
He had no human father. He did not proceed from a man, but Christ came from God the Father Himself. And next we see Jesus Himself said, I have not even come of my own initiative, but He sent me. I proceed forth from God the Father.
Jesus had already made this point many, many times in the previous days, and this is a very important point. If you notice with me in chapter 7, if you go back to chapter 7, look at verse 16. Notice Jesus says, He answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but His who sent me.
His who sent me. Notice in verse 28, Jesus cried out as He taught in the temple saying, And you both know me, and you know where I'm from. I have not come of myself, but He who sent me is true, whom you do not know.
Look at verse 33, chapter 7. Then Jesus said to them, I shall be with you a little longer, and then I shall go to Him who sent me. Jesus is the great missionary. He's the great apostle. If you go to Hebrews, it says, The Apostle, capital A.
Jesus is the sent one that came from the Father. He was sent from the Father. The Father sent Christ, the second person of the Trinity. So that's verse 29. Believe, but I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent me.
Verse 29. So you have verse 16, verse 28, verse 33, verse 18, verse 26, verse 29, that Jesus emphasizes that He sent from the Father, He came from the Father. Now Jesus even goes on in verse 43 here in chapter 8.
He says it.
Why do you not understand my speech? Why do you not understand my speech? He basically gives an answer to that question of His own question. I believe they need to be paying attention to Him, don't you think?
But they don't have ears to hear, unfortunately. Jesus answers it and says, because you are not able to listen to my word. It made me think also in John chapter 10 that Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice.
They hear the voice of Christ. They hear the voice of God. These people here that claim to profess to be something that they're not, they could not hear the word of God, they could not hear the word of Christ because they were not able to hear.
Not able to hear. That tells you right there that they needed the new birth, as Jesus told Nicodemus. Jesus was not talking about physical hearing, but spiritual understanding, accepting of what He was saying.
So when He spoke about bread, remember when He did speak about bread, they thought of literal bread. They didn't think about the spiritual bread from heaven. When Jesus spoke about water, they never connected it with spiritual water, that He is the living water.
Why was it that they could not understand His speech? Well, the Scriptures, I'm not going to answer that myself, I'm going to let the Scriptures answer that. Go with me to the Apostle Paul's writings, to 1 Corinthians 2.
Paul through the Spirit, let Scripture interpret Scripture here. Listen to what Paul through the Spirit says. In chapter 2, let me read beginning with verse 6 to the end of the chapter. However we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not wisdom of this age, nor the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom of God, ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. To those who love Him. But notice in verse 10, he gets to this issue about how can we know these things, how can we hear these things, how can we even understand these things, these spiritual things that are revealed to us from the Word of God.
Paul tells us,.
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man except the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, and this is the children of God, this is how, why we, by grace, nothing of ourselves, nothing of our intuition, nothing of our brilliance, no Ph .D., not smarter thinking, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Freely given. Isn't that wonderful? Purchased by the blood of Christ.
God has freely given these things to us. Verse 13, these things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. This is why spiritual things must be spiritually discerned.
Notice what he says in verse 14. Now we're talking about the lost people. The children of the devil. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.
Nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. He who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ. See there Paul gets right to it. It's because of the Spirit of the living God that you and I can sit here today, and when we read and hear the word of the living God, we know that this is God speaking.
Through man writing it in his language, but it is the word of God. Every word of God is pure. All scripture is God breathed. It is supernatural. It is by the Spirit of the living God. And I'm telling you, I've had people come to me, and I'm sure you have too.
And here's an illustration. They've even told me, well brother David, I've read this Bible, and I don't see anything different in it. It's just another book to me.
Oh no.
Beloved, we don't see this as another book.
This is the book of books because it is God.
I like what one Puritan said. When we open this wonderful word of God, it is God's love letter from home to us that speaks that God tells us in sweet words.
What He says to us.
And to us who love Him. Beloved, think of it. We would not be able to do this unless the Spirit of God has given us eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand the things of God. It is the Spirit of God.
And this is why these people could not understand. They were not of God. They were of the devil. They were of the natural. This is why Jesus says, you know, those that are born of the flesh is flesh. But those that are born of the Spirit is spirit.
Paul picks this up in Romans 8. Let me read it. If you go to Romans 8, and I like what MacArthur said about the epistles. All the epistles is commentary on everything Jesus taught and everything that Jesus spoke.
It's just commentary. But it's God's Word that's commentary. And we let Scripture interpret Scripture. But Romans 8, notice what he says. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh,.
God did.
Don't you love that?
By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.
And if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. I'll stop right there. But you see the contrast? It's very simple. And I believe that's the problem.
The natural man, the flesh, we overcomplicate things. God comes to simplify it for us through the Spirit of God to help us to see it. But we could not see it today unless the Spirit of God entered in by faith.
And Christ is that truth. It's like the Holy Spirit shines everything on Christ. It is Him. It's all about Christ. Jesus said that. He said the Spirit when He comes will glorify Me. He will glorify Me.
Well, back to the text.
It was the prophets.
Who actually predicted that these Jewish people would not heed what the Messiah would tell them. The prophets knew this because of the Spirit of God breathing upon them. That is why Jesus spoke in parables.
He spoke in parables. Why did He speak in parables? We'll find out that answer. Go to Matthew chapter 13. Let the Word of God answer that.
Parables. Parables. The purpose of parables.
He was speaking a parable, the psalmist says. The disciples came and said to Him in chapter 13 verse 10, Why do you speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
But to them it has not been given. There is grace, beloved. God has given much grace to us that we may see these things. He goes on to say, For whoever has, to him more will be given. And he who has an abundance, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
Therefore I speak to them in parables. This is Jesus. Because seeing they do not see, hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. They do not understand. And Jesus actually quotes Isaiah here. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand.
Seeing you will see, but not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing. Their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, meaning repent, so that I should heal them.
Notice verse 16 and 17. And I love what Jesus our Lord says here. But blessed. You know, think about this. It should cause us to worship right here. Blessed are your eyes,.
For they see.
Your ears, for they hear. For surely I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it. And to hear what you hear,.
And did not hear it.
Beloved, we have the precious words of Christ before us. It would be such a sin to let it slip from us a day, not digging and reading and meditating on this wonderful book that's God's love letter to us.
Oh may we worship Him, and thank Him and love Him more and more because through the Spirit He has given us eyes to see and ears to hear. These people were not capable of doing that and we could not be either unless the Spirit of God opened our eyes to us and our ears by His grace.
Well, moving on. John chapter 8 back to verse 44. Back to John. Wonderful text, very strong words. Look at verse 44. Jesus confronts them directly of their father. And I'm here to tell you, this one verse, verse 44, is more powerful than an atom bomb that Jesus dropped.
It's shocking to them.
Because they've never heard this before. But Jesus directly gives them this truth because of their hard hearts of unbelief. He mercifully warns them. You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do.
You want to do it.
He was a murderer from the beginning and He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in Him. Men, when He speaks a lie, He speaks from His own resources. For He is a liar and the father of it.
That's powerful, isn't it? I mean, that's stronger than an atom bomb. All of them put together. Christ just drops it on them. They were physically descendants of Abraham, but they were spiritual children of the devil.
That's what Jesus is telling them. Their desires were not those of Abraham. Their deeds were not of God. They were of the devil and they showed it by their actions, their works, including two things that Jesus directly pointed out here.
The first one was murder. Murder. He was a murderer and He's a liar. Murderer and liar. You know, God says this in the Decalogue, doesn't He? Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not lie against the holiness of God. Murder because they were seeking to kill Jesus. Lying because it was their characteristic of their own lives in which they exemplified.
They rejected the truth and believed their own lies, therefore they were damned. They were spiritually blind, spiritually dead, spiritually deaf, spiritually lost, thus self-deceived. And we see this in our day as well, don't we?
You may have people in your family. We may have friends, people that you work around. We see people that are spiritually dead in their sins, lost in their sins. And if it's not by the grace of God, we are what we are.
Those who give themselves over to lying, believing the lie, and believing their own lies seem to lose the capacity of even discerning the truth whatsoever. Here stood Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life.
And He tells them the truth. And they refused to believe the direct revelation He gives. This showed that their real character was very sinful and very wicked. Now, there's a lot of scriptures here, but I want to point out just a few.
2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians brings this up. 2 Thessalonians 2. This whole chapter speaks about the great apostasy that's coming our way, beloved. We're partially there, I believe it. It hasn't been totally fulfilled to this point.
But notice with me in 2 Thessalonians. Let me read 1 -15, and you'll get what it's saying here. Paul says, Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, he's talking about the second coming, and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
Let no one deceive you by any means. Watch out for deception, right? For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. It's very clear. There's going to be a falling away first. I believe we're seeing it.
I really do believe we're seeing this in the church. How far in time frame, I'm not for sure. I don't believe any man can tell this, but there is a falling away that's coming first. Then the man of sin is revealed.
He's talking about the antichrist, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Do you not remember that when I was with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time? For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.
Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
Speaking of the second coming of Christ, verse 9, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders. Notice what Paul says here, with all unrighteous deception, don't we see deception everywhere, among those who perish because, now listen to these words, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
For this reason, God will send them strong delusion. See, God's the one in control here. God sends the strong delusion that they should believe the lie. Actually, it's God passing over what it is. But He sends a strong delusion that they all may be condemned, who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Now, He basically gives what is said of the great apostasy. But in verse 13, He gives an exhortation what to do in the midst of the great apostasy. And let's hear this very attentively and engage, because beloved, in the midst of apostasy, a great falling away, this is what the Word of God tells us to do and commands us to do.
But we are bound to give thanks.
Isn't that fitting?
To give thanks to God, always for you.
Brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and the belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, brethren, here's the exhortation. I don't know about you. I'm already exhorted. But He pours it on more by the Spirit of God.
Stand fast.
Stand fast and hold the traditions. And He's not talking about the traditions of man here. He's talking about the traditions from the Scriptures, which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle.
And then He gives a benediction. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us an everlasting consolation and good hope by grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
What a word in the midst of apostasy where the stand fast. Stand fast and continue to stand fast and don't give up. What Jesus says in John 8 .45, but because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me.
He tells them, you do not believe Me. Commentator Linsky says this, puts it well, when it meets the truth, the corrupted mind seeks only objections. When it meets what differs from this truth, it sees and seeks reasons for accepting the difference.
You see, and that is well said. John 8 .46, which Jesus says this, which of you convicts Me of sin? Which of you convicts Me of sin? Did you know from this point, except for them taking up stones at the end of the chapter to try to kill Him, this really shuts their mouth.
And if I tell you the truth, Jesus says, why do you not believe Me? Why do you not believe Me? I like what John MacArthur says right here concerning this verse. Although the Jews argued that Jesus was guilty of sin in John 5 .18, the sense here is that the perfect holiness of Christ was demonstrated not by the Jews' silence at Jesus' question here, but by the assurance of His direct consciousness of the purity of His whole life.
Only a perfectly holy one who has the closest, most intimate communion with the Father could speak such words. The Jews could marshal no convincing evidence that could convict Him of sin in the heavenly court.
End quote. That's well said. They could not find anything on Him because we're talking about the only perfect holy one that ever lived, that kept the law of God perfectly, that lived the holy, righteous life as a man by the Spirit of God perfectly.
He obeyed God perfectly. His thought life was pure to the very point of pleasing God. Everything He said was pure because we're talking about the holy one of Israel. Only Christ, the sinless Son of God, could ever truly utter words like this.
Praise His name. There was no defect in Him whatsoever. He spoke only words of truth and yet they would not believe Him. And you know what's wonderful about this when I mention this? That Jesus lived for us.
He represented us. He represented His people. As Brother Keith said this morning, when God looks down, He looks at us. He doesn't see us. He sees Christ. He sees Christ. And did not the Father say this many times?
Actually, I want to say three, four times. This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Wonderful. Look at John 8, 47. Jesus says, He who is of God hears God's words, therefore you do not hear because you are not of God.
Right to the point.
Not of God.
Let me give a conclusion. The tragic truth is that so many people today they claim to know God and profess to be Christians are just like these deceived Jews. There's another scripture I'm thinking of that's found in Titus chapter 1.
It speaks of this. Chapter 1. This is actually the pastoral epistle along with 1 and 2 Timothy. The elder's task of a church is this. Verse 10. For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers, deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain.
See this today, don't we? But the true elder of the church is to confront this and rebuke it. One of them, he says in verse 12, is a prophet of their own. Yeah, they got their own prophets, don't they?
The cretins, he says, are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.
And then he says this, To the pure, all things appear. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But even their mind and conscience are defiled.
Wow.
Romans 1 picks up there. They suppress the truth. It's like their conscience is seared like a hot iron. And notice verse 16. They profess to know God. There's a profession. Like R .C. said, but there's no possession.
There's no reality of them to know God. They talk about knowing God, but they don't really know God. They profess to know God. How do we know? Well, the Scripture tells us. But in works, they deny Him.
Watch the way people live, folks. Not only what they talk about, but watch the way they live. It's the fruit. Amen. In works, they deny Him being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
And I guarantee you underscore those last characteristics there. Abominable, disobedient, and disqualified. I guarantee you've got a rotten fruit on your hand. Bad fruit, as Jesus said. Well, their belief is empty because their faith is dead.
As the Apostle James, one of the many reasons is prevailing false idea about what it means to believe in Jesus. James speaks about this. They fail to truly understand the nature of saving faith, living faith.
They have a dead faith. They have a faith all right,.
But it's dead.
It's dead. Listen to the truth from the Apostle James concerning this. Go with me to James chapter 2. I'm almost finished. James chapter 2. James is... I mean, he cuts to the quick, like the Word of God always does, but he takes you right into the emergency room and he does surgery, right?
He doesn't play around, like the writer of Hebrews as well. James is saying this in verse 14. Notice this. Chapter 2. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can faith save him? Now, I want to stop right here. There's two different audiences that Paul speaks to and James is speaking to. The Apostles actually believe the same thing. James is not saying that you're saved by works, but basically what he is saying is that these people here profess to say something that they're not.
So he's addressing them. He had a different audience than Paul did. Paul is basically giving the view from heaven, from God's viewpoint of justification by faith alone. And James is not coming up against that, but he's basically saying when you are justified by faith, there is faith that works.
That's what he's saying. Faith without works is dead. He says that faith is living and the faith that justifies is a faith that is living and it's active. And how active is it? Listen to this. He gives a simple illustration.
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, depart in peace and be warmed and be filled, you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
What does it profit? Thus also, that's an illustration. He said, thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. In other words, a true living faith that saves is always backed up by true good works.
And Paul says this in Ephesians, that we're saved by grace alone through faith, not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. And at the end of that, he talks about you are the workmanship of Christ. It is unto good works.
It has fruit, good fruit. And notice in verse 18, but someone will say,.
Notice what he says,.
They say it, you have faith, I have works, show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works. Notice what he says, you believe that there is one God. You got a lot of people saying this, oh yeah, I believe in God.
Well, you do well, even the demons believe in tremble, ha, big deal. The devil, like Tozer says, is a greater theologian than any of us and he's a devil still. He's been in heaven, folks. He's seen God.
He's been there.
He once worshipped God until he rebelled and God cast him out of heaven like a bolt of lightning and then he came here and God had it all ordained. He's on a leash.
But you do,.
And then in verse 20, but do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Basically, in other words, that his faith was working faith, it worked.
He did something in that sense that the fruit followed up to the faith in which he believed in God and he was justified. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac the son on the altar?
Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works, faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which says, notice what he says, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
See, he's not coming against faith alone, but what he's saying is, when you do have faith, that you say by faith alone, it's not alone. It's working faith. He was called the friend of God. And then he says this in verse 24, you see, then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only, likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
He gives illustration after illustration that true living faith has good fruit to it, fruits of obedience, fruits of righteousness. And then he says in verse 26, for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
What an illustration. Well, he's basically saying, faith without works is dead. So the test, the readers can evaluate whether faith is living or dead. Here the passage basically contains the test, the test that pulls all others together, which the test of works of righteousness, behavior that obeys God's word and it manifests a godly nature.
You see,.
Again,.
And I love Pastor MacArthur on this, I know I've quoted him to death here, but you know, he is so right. The greatest evidence of salvation is not perfection.
It's direction.
The direction you go into.
The direction.
Keep in mind,.
Also let me mention this, the only way a person can tell that we're saved, J .C. Rowell said this, is by our sanctification. That's the only external way people can see outwardly, kind of like a sign that baptism is a sign of our salvation.
It doesn't save us. Our sanctification doesn't save us, does it? It's Christ that saves us. But our sanctification is the only external way that people can see that we're living out the Christ-like life.
That's what sanctification is, is being full of the Spirit of God and living out the Christ-like life. That's sanctification. So there has to be transformation. And we're transformed from glory to glory, from faith to faith.
We grow in the knowledge and the grace of God up into being godly, up into Christ. James' point is not that a person is saved by works. Again, he's already strongly mentioned that salvation is a gracious gift of God in James 1, 17 and 18, that every good and perfect gift comes from above.
It is of His own will that He's begotten us, right? James said that. So he's basically saying when we're truly saved, there's good fruits. There's fruits of righteousness. Read Romans 6. That's what it's all about.
Sanctification. But there's a kind of apparent faith, unfortunately, that is dead. It's dead. There's a dead faith. It's a lifeless faith. And it does not save. True belief that saves, true saving faith, must have these qualities.
Number one,.
It is in the true, living Christ. His person and His works. And not a false idea of Christ. Not another Christ, but the Christ of God from the Scriptures. And it is Christ alone, His works, that saves.
Actually, I've heard it before in commentary, that if anyone earned his way to heaven, it's Christ as a man.
He earned.
He was the only one that earned salvation, folks. No one else could do that. He is our salvation. So it is the work of Jesus Christ, His person, His atoning work, His atonement on the cross, that is completely sufficient for salvation alone.
But faith is not alone.
It has good fruits.
Fruits of righteousness. In contrast, let me mention this, the Roman Catholics, Roman Catholicism, and other religions of the world, add good works of some sort to gain salvation. We know you cannot add or subtract anything from the gospel.
It is pure. It stands as it is. And that's why, literally, I tremble every time I open this word because it is so holy and it is so pure. And I don't need to defile it and mess it up whatsoever. I like what MacArthur said, it's like a chef bringing a meal, bringing it just like it is, as God has prepared it.
The ministers is basically sharing it and giving it.
As it is.
And as it stands in its purity. Third, the gospel is an abiding faith that causes the individual to obey Jesus. Jesus said this is how one would know that we love Him, by obeying Him. We obey His commandments.
We obey Christ. Faith in Christ is the root. Obedience.
Is the fruit.
Let me read one more thing and one more section in closing. 1 John chapter 3. And I believe this will give a conclusion to today's message. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God.
Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know, we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.
For everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He's pure. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness. And you know that it was that He, I'm sorry, He was manifested to take away our sins.
In Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous.
He who sins, and what He's talking about here, practicing, practicing sin. He who sins is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning. And for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Whoever has been born of God does not sin for His seed remains in Him. For He cannot sin, it doesn't mean sinless perfection, He's basically talking about practicing. Because He has not, He has been born of God.
In this the children of God and the children of devil, the devil are manifest. And here it is. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. Nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another.
Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.
And he who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Let me continue. By this we know love because he laid down his life for us and we also ought to lay down our lives.
For the brethren.
Whoever has this world's goods, sees his brother in need, sounds like James, doesn't it? And shuts up his heart from him. How does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and truth.
And by this we know that we are of the truth. And we shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
And whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment that we should believe on the name of the Lord Jesus, on His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandment.
Now, He who keeps His commandments abides in Him. And He abides in Him. And by this we know. How many times He says we know? We know. We know. This was written to encourage God's people, to those that battle their assurance of salvation.
By this we know that He abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given us. Praise His name. Amen and amen. Please bow with me in prayer. Father, we thank You so much for Your Word that goes forth and it does not return void.
Lord, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces, it cuts, it divides, yet it's a healing balm to our souls. Lord, may we always examine ourselves, as Paul says in Your Word, as to whether we are in the faith to test ourselves.
We must do the testing. As You said, Lord, do You not know, as through Paul, do You not know Yourselves that Jesus Christ is in You? Unless indeed You are disqualified. But I trust that You will know that we are not disqualified.
Lord, we thank You for Your Word that gives us that assurance. And Lord, may we come to this great blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste, glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchased of God, born of Your Spirit, washed in His blood.
We thank You, Lord, for salvation in Jesus Christ. And Lord, we thank You that this salvation also has good works to it, fruits of righteousness. It has the fruit unto You, unto holiness. And help us, Lord, by the Spirit, as these heavy words have come to our hearts and our ears today, and You have blessed our ears and hearts that we can hear this.
Lord, You desire us to be more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ in our speech, our living, our thinking. Lord, we fall so short of this every day. Help us, Lord. Cleanse us, wash us, sanctify us through and through in the Word.
And Lord, that at the end, we can hear You say, Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord. Not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus has done. We thank You for this time of worship, Lord.
May all honor, praise, and glory be unto You. In Jesus' name, amen.