The Gospel Truth That Makes You Free (Part 2)

I'd like to continue our series through the Gospel of John.

The Gospel of John was speaking about the Gospel truth that makes you free. I'm going to try to wrap this up all together in this message and in this service today as we worship our

Lord. So please open your Bibles with me to John's Gospel, Chapter 8.

Chapter 8. And I will begin reading at verse 30 to verse 36.

I'm reading from the New King James Version. So hear the word of the living

God. The truth shall make you free.

Amen. As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. And then

Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him. If you abide in My word, you are

My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

They answered Him, We are Abraham's descendants, and we have never been in bondage to anyone.

How can you say you will be made free? And Jesus answered them,

Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

May God bless the reading of His word from our hearing of our ears to our hearts this morning.

Please bow with me as we seek our Lord's face and favor within this hour of worship as we hear

His word. Our Father and our great God, we come before Your presence this morning,

Lord. And we thank You so much for Your awesome truth of Your holy word.

Thank You, Father, for preserving it for us throughout the ages. It never returns void.

It accomplishes exactly what You have sent it to do. We pray,

Lord, it produces good fruit and as it falls on good ground. Father, we pray,

Lord, by Your grace and mercy through Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our

Advocate, our Great High Priest, and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, that,

Father, You would grant to us to open our minds, to open our hearts, to receive

Your truth, and that You will remove any distractions that would prevent us from beholding the

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and to behold His beauty, Lord. This is why we have come to gather together to worship

You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, Father, as David prayed in Psalm 19, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight,

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. And I pray this in Jesus' name and for Your glory.

Amen. John chapter 8 is a chapter that is full of contrasts and conflicts.

We've already seen this, but from verse 1 to verse 11, we see the contrast between grace and law.

And then in verse 12 to verse 20 in chapter 8, we have seen the contrast between light and darkness.

From verse 21 to verse 30, there's the contrast between life and death.

Here in our text today, from verse 31 to even taking it to verse 47, there's the contrast between freedom and bondage.

And in conclusion of this chapter, as we press on in this direction,

God willing, we see that there's a contrast between honor and dishonor.

In verse 48 to verse 59, from freedom of freedom and from bondage.

So what is freedom? Now, keep in mind that in context, these

Jews were thinking of political freedom. Spiritual as well.

But true freedom comes from God's truth. God's truth.

The passage follows a conflict where many came to believe Him, and I say, quote, believe.

Many believed in Him. But Jesus reveals that this belief is not enough.

It's not sufficient. What kind of belief did they have? True freedom comes by continuing and abiding in His Word.

His Word. It comes down to the words of Jesus. Verse 30, as He spoke these words, the words of Christ.

Christ uses an analogy of a slave versus a son in a household to explain that while a slave is not a permanent member, a son remains forever.

And it is the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who grants permanent freedom. But freedom from what?

And He explains this. Basically, freedom from sin.

Sin. While the world clings to its own uncertain wisdom, which is folly and foolishness, not really wisdom at all, true wisdom.

For true wisdom is the fear of the Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom. But the world's wisdom, which

Scripture describes from the book of James in James 3 .15, is earthly, natural, and demonic.

And the believers in Christ, we are all about truth.

It is the truth of God. Believers in Christ have been given in the Scriptures the rock -solid truth of God Himself.

We heard in Sunday School today, Brother Seth was unpacking those verses of Scripture. God Himself is the

God of truth. He declares that God is the God of truth. That Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

That Jesus is full of grace and truth. And the

Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The Bible is the

Word of truth. Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17 .17, sanctified them, speaking of His disciples, in the truth.

Your Word is truth. And like God Himself is truth,

His truth is eternal. And His truth is unchanging. Salvation comes from faith in the truth.

And that truth is in Jesus. Thus, we are redeemed.

And those that are redeemed are those who believe and know the truth. And in contrast, the unbelievers that are lost and dying in this world, and that are dead in their sins and their trespasses, and blind in death, unbelievers are those who are deprived of the truth.

They have gone astray from the truth, and are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Always learning. So we've got to be careful that it's not all head knowledge.

It must be heart knowledge to love the truth. It must, yes, permeate the mind, but it changes the heart.

The unbelievers oppose the truth. And Scripture continues to say in the

New Testament, as Paul says, they turn away their ears from the truth.

You can do a great study in this. The truth is all in Scripture. The truth is Scripture.

The truth is God. Believers, again, on the other hand, are to worship

God in spirit and truth. Be committed to the truth.

Obey the truth. Love the truth. Speak the truth in love. Walk in the truth.

In fact, truth is central to the existence of the mission of the church.

Very central. That's what we're about, folks, which is the pillar and support of the truth.

That's the church of the living God. The Apostle Paul's repeated command to young Timothy, he says this,

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.

Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

This was the exhortation he gave to Timothy, and it reflects the church's responsibility to protect the precious truths of the

Holy Scripture. So, beloved, the truth that brings spiritual freedom is the theme of this powerful passage that we have before us today.

And not everyone was hostile to Jesus. In verse 30 notes that as He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

Many believed in Him. And as I've already mentioned,

I'll mention it once again, it's very important for us to remember that in chapter 2, while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the

Passover, which is here during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which

He did. Notice what the verse says. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

He is the discerner of hearts. Christ Himself, the living truth, and also the written truth, discerns our hearts.

So, here there was a belief, but as soon will be evident, it was not saving faith.

It was a kind of faith that was not saving faith. It was merely the first step towards that saving faith, but it did not take root.

It did not bear good fruit. And that good fruit was missing.

And we're going to look at that good fruit a little bit. And as we look at this first point once again, the

Lord's goal in this section was to point them to the full saving faith in Himself.

But the type of faith that would truly set them free from sin is the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

And that faith is in the person and works of Jesus Christ. So, what are they to be set free from?

From sin, from death, from Satan, from hell, to that end.

But Jesus, as He began to explain and unpack these truths, as we see, everything turns around.

So, here we see the pathway to freedom. That's the first point.

We see in this verse, verse 31 and verse 32, then Jesus said to those Jews who believed,

If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

So, as we looked at this, in particular, at the last

Lord's Day, and believing Christ, what does it mean to believe in Christ? It is faith.

And faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in Him.

This is what He's speaking. He's speaking to those who believed in Him. But here, let us be careful to discern this, beloved.

As the Bible warns us time and time again, not all faith is saving faith.

Not all faith is living faith. There is some dead faith, as the book of James tells us.

Jesus would later describe these same Jews who had believed as those who were still slaves of sin.

In verse 34, they did not really love

Christ. Verse 42 says, 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. So there is a love for Christ connected to real saving faith.

Loving Jesus Christ for who He is. Then, actually,

Jesus confronts them, and He speaks to them.

Notice in verse 38, I speak what

I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.

He's speaking that they had another father. Verse 39, 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.

He goes on to say, 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. They said to Him, We were not born of fornication.

We have one Father, God. This is what they claimed. Jesus once again comes back, says to them,

If God were your father, you would love Me, as I already mentioned. 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 are not able to listen to My word.

Notice what Jesus says there. They were not able. And then

He says it. 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 is no truth in Him.

And when He speaks a lie, He speaks from His own resources. He is a liar and the father of it.

We see this all the way from Genesis. All the way through the whole entire word of God.

The father of all lies and how He, oh my, how He loves to twist the truth and cause confusion.

For God is not the author of confusion. So they were children of the devil.

They refused to believe in Christ. Verse 45 and 46. They blasphemed

Christ. Verse 48 to 52. And sought to even kill

Christ. Verse 37, verse 40, verse 59.

So these Jews who believed Him had an absolute false faith that was not genuine.

It was not living faith. Remember the exhortation that Paul gives.

I have to remind us of this and you've heard it quite often here from this pulpit.

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves.

We must do the examining. And Scripture shows us how to do this.

I would highly recommend go through the book of 1 John. Those tests are set before each one of us to do those tests.

Beloved, this is absolutely critical and very serious for our souls that we know and absolutely know whom we have believed in.

So, in Hebrews 10 .38, God declared, My righteous one shall live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. Thus, if you think of it, making a clear distinction between those who shrink back to destruction.

Why do they shrink back to destruction? Because their faith is not genuine.

They've never had the real genuine faith in the first place. This is why

John says they were not of us, they went out from us.

They were never of us in the first place. So, real faith and genuine does not shrink back.

It perseveres. It endures. And to those who have genuine faith to the preserving of the soul.

That's the writer of Hebrews. James 2 .17 notes that faith, if it has no works, is what?

Dead. Dead as a doornail. No action. It's dead.

And James is basically saying it will be seen through evidence of the way we act.

What we believe we act out. That's the way it works.

So, we are known by our fruits. Whether it be good or bad.

So true saving faith, since even the demons have a kind of faith, but it's not true saving faith, of course not.

They do not have a genuine faith. They know all about God. They've been there.

They've been to heaven. Especially Satan himself. He's one of the greatest theologians there are.

He can quote scripture and oh, he can misquote it. He's a master at it.

But genuine faith will always manifest itself in a person's changed life.

That's how it manifests itself. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 5 .17,

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new. A .W. Tozer said this, If we have been saved by grace, we will be changed by grace.

I'm telling you folks, just look around you. Look at people's behavior. Look at the way they think.

The way they talk. The way they talk is the way they think. Jesus says, What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart.

You see, there is a great distinction between, and we're not going to go through the book of James, we've already gone through it, but there's a few verses

I do want to point out. And I'm thinking here of Titus.

Titus, right after 2nd, you can find Titus right after 2nd

Timothy. It's part of the pastoral epistles. Chapter 2, our good brother

Don Curran preached a wonderful message on this text. And it says,

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us.

What teaches us? God's grace. This is what it teaches us. Denying ungodliness.

Worldly lust. That means desires. Worldly desires. We should live soberly, righteously, godly in this present age.

Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave

Himself for us, that He might redeem us. Buy us back. From the slave market of sin.

So we were in bondage to sin. He redeems us. He buys us. And He's purchased us with His precious blood.

This is what He says. Paul says, Redeem us from every lawless deed. Every lawless deed.

And purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority.

Let no one despise you. For by grace you've been saved.

Through faith, that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And then as you read on in chapter 2, right there

He speaks. Not of works, least any man should boast.

For we are His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That's the way we are to walk.

To walk. Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men that they may see what?

Your good works. And even in that it says that they may glorify your

Father which is in heaven. So the good works is to glorify God in heaven.

So another path to true freedom along with saving faith is also not only the saving true genuine faith, it's continuing in the word of God.

Abiding in the word of God. Remaining in the word of God. To remain in God's word.

Those whose faith is real, saving, trust in Jesus Christ.

Those who are truly actually in reality. Disciples of Jesus Christ will continue, will remain, will abide, will walk in that way.

They will love the Lord and they will love His people because they love the Lord's word. In both faith and obedience to His word.

Now keep in mind, in verse 31 in chapter 8, when

Jesus points that out, this is how we are to know those that are truly

His disciples indeed. Indeed, if you abide in My word. My word.

The present tense of the verb are suggests that Jesus was not telling them to the requirements for becoming a disciple.

He's not saying that. He did not say, if you continue

My word, you will become My genuine disciples. Instead, He declared that the nature of the true discipleship consists of continuing joyful obedience to His word.

Obedience is the fruit. Joyful obedience is the fruit.

Scripture regards, repeatedly I should say, affirms that not only those who obey

Jesus Christ are truly His disciples indeed, but those who love Him. And if you love

Him, we obey Him. And if you look in John chapter 14, there's some verses

I didn't get to last week, so I'm trying to pick this up. John 14, look at verse 15.

I'm going to read it to 24. Jesus says, if you love Me, keep My commandments. If you love

Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.

The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows

Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans.

I will come to you. It's a promise, folks. No matter what you're going through today, through the darkness of valleys, or hardships, or sorrows, the

Lord promises, He will be your Helper. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

He will come to you. Verse 19, a little while longer, and the world will see

Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. And at that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

And He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves Me. And He who loves

Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love Him and manifest Myself to Him. And here's a great question that Judas, not

Iscariot, said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest

Yourself to us and not to the world? What a question, folks. And Jesus gives a simple but an amazing, most powerful answer to this.

Jesus answered and said to them, If anyone loves

Me, he will keep My Word. No debate about it.

He will keep My Word. My Father will love him, and we, notice that, the

Trinity here, we, the Father and the Son specifically, but it's by the

Spirit, will come to Him, we will come to Him, and make our abode or home with Him.

Isn't that beautiful? God dwelling within us. And He who does not love

Me does not keep My words. That plain and simple. And the Word which you hear is not

Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. It doesn't get any more clear than that.

The Lord Jesus Christ makes that straight. And what an answer He gives to that wonderful question.

Well, you see it time and time again. If you go to John 15, look at verse 9 to 17.

Here you have the love and the joy perfected. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you.

Abide in My love. You can see this time and time again. Jesus says,

Abide in Me. How do you abide in His love? You abide in Christ. For He is love.

He who abides in Me and I in Him bears much fruit, for without Me you could do nothing. Verse 5.

Verse 10, If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept

My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, that your joy may be full.

Don't you love that? He speaks of His joy, then our joy. His joy becomes our joy.

And as Scripture says, the joy of the Lord is your strength. That's where your strength comes from, beloved.

From God's joy. Verse 12, This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

And He is serious when He says that. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do

I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.

For all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. Then He says this, wonderful verse here.

You did not choose Me. We would have never chosen Him, beloved. But He chose us.

But I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and do what? Bear fruit.

Bear fruit. And that your fruit should remain. Remain. And that whatever you ask the

Father in My name He may give it you. These things I command you. Again He says that you love one another.

That we love one another. This is how the world will know that we are the disciples of Jesus Christ. By the love you have toward one another.

And that comes by abiding in His Word. That's basically the point.

So it's the nature of true discipleship that consists of continual obedience to the

Word. If you jump over to 1 John chapter 2, He continues this. He continues this.

This same great important truth. In 1

John chapter 2. Notice verse 3. Now by this we know that we know

Him if we keep His commandments. He who says I know Him and does not keep

His commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in Him. That needs no commentary does it?

That's basically plain and simple. A lot of people go around and say I know Him, I know

Him. Jesus says if you don't keep John here said if you don't keep the commandments of Christ you're a liar.

The truth is not in Him. Verse 5. And whoever keeps His Word truly the love of God is perfected in him.

By this we know that we are in Him. Meanwhile, verse 6.

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

That doesn't mean perfection as Pastor MacArthur says. It's direction. It's direction.

Well, there you have pretty much the commands of our

Lord emphasized by the Apostle. One more, 1 John 5 .3 For this is the love of God that we keep

His commandments. Once again. So true faith, believing in Christ consists and loves the

Word of God and continues and remains, abides in His Word. So, verse 32.

Is this knowing the truth by abiding in His Word? This is knowing the truth. Abiding in His Word.

That is so critical. Absolutely paramount. Secondly, we see the pretense of freedom.

That's the pathway of freedom, pretense of freedom. The pretense of freedom is at verse look at verse 33 and 34 of John 8.

Then they answered, We are Abraham's descendants. They prided themselves of Abraham. We have never been in bondage to anyone.

How can you say you will be made free? Jesus answered them most assuredly, or truly, truly, or barely, barely, or amen, amen.

I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Stop right there.

These indignant, believing, so -called believing

Jews reject Jesus' offer of freedom outright.

Insisted that they were already free. Were free because of Abraham. They only had a form of godliness outright.

Just like Paul says of many Christians and even in his day. They denied the power thereof.

Right in front of them. Since they had been enslaved by Egypt.

Let's look at what they've been enslaved by. Egypt, I think of. Assyria. Who else?

Babylon. Medo -Persians. Greece, Syria.

And Rome. They must have been referring to spiritual, not political freedom.

Why? Why? Because they were secure. They were deceived.

But listen to this. They were secure because they identified themselves as Abraham's descendants.

Abraham's descendants. They were confident that though in a pagan bondage, nationally, spiritually, they were free.

That's what they were telling Jesus. That's why they said to Jesus, We're Abraham's descendants.

We have never been in bondage to anyone. Jesus comes back and sets it clear.

Before we get to that point. True freedom to which Jesus refers to does not come from racial or religious identity.

Listen very closely, folks. Hear the word of the living God. The Apostle Paul sits this straight in Romans chapter 2.

Verse 28 and 29. Let the word of God speak for this. For he is not a

Jew, for he is one outwardly. Nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.

Listen to this. Verse 29. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly.

And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit.

Not in the letter whose praise is not from men, but from God.

You see where Paul goes? To the heart. It's not of the letter.

It's of the spirit. And it changes the heart. Our Lord's reply in verse 34 is profound.

It's not only profound, it's simple. And it's devastating. Listen to what he says.

Most assuredly. Barely, barely. Truly, truly.

He puts the amen at the beginning of his sentence. Because he is the truth. Usually when the truth is spoken, what do we say?

Amen. But Jesus says amen, amen. Truly, truly.

He is putting an emphasis, a solemn and serious phrase to the front and the forefront.

That introduces a statement of great supreme importance. Now folks, everything

Jesus says is of great supreme importance. But when he says, and I believe

I got this from R .C. Sproul. When Jesus is saying amen, amen. Truly, truly.

Most assuredly, I say to you. It is of supreme importance. We better cut our ears off.

We better pay attention. So he says it here. Most assuredly,

I say to you. Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. What's that talking about?

The present tense of the participle translates commits. That word commits is important.

It views sin as a life principle. It is innate fallenness and wickedness within.

The heart is desperately wicked. And that's what we're dealing with when we talk to the lost.

They're deceived. I talked to someone yesterday at the pickle festival. He was a cousin.

He's a cousin of mine. Sad to say he thinks he's okay and he's a heathen. He drinks, eats, he marries.

God's not even on his forefront of his eyes. He does no fear of God. But yet, he was telling me yesterday, he has cancer in the bone.

His wife died. Dropped dead suddenly here a few months back.

And yet, he was telling me with the most assurance that he could think of, I don't worry about it.

He said, people come to me. I said, how do you deal with this? He said, I don't worry about it. I'm good. I'm good.

I'm alright. And he was telling me, he said, if I die, I'm going to go be with my mom and my wife.

And his mom was a godly Christian. Folks, it is so sad to see such deception.

That's why we must pray to the Lord for people that God would open their eyes, grant repentance, and the best thing we could do is throw ourselves to God because only

God can bring them to see their sin and break the fetters and the bondage of their sin.

They are the slave of sin. And by the way, let's look at it. It means that word commits, views sin.

We act that out. What we act out is what we truly believe. Despite of the pride, the self -righteousness, the pretense of freedom, these

Jews and the text, like many people, is by what a man is overcome.

By this he is enslaved, what Peter says in 2 Peter 2 .19.

Leonard Ravenhill said a statement like this, and it is so true, concerning sin.

There are two kinds of people in the world. Only two kinds. Not black or white.

Not rich or poor. But those that are either dead in sin or dead to sin.

Couldn't be said no better. You're dead in sin or dead to sin. You're a slave to sin or you're free from sin.

MacArthur defines a slave like this.

Quote, To be a slave is to be totally under the control of another and unable to free oneself.

Sin is like a cruel taskmaster. Controls every aspect of an unbeliever's life.

Enslaving that person to various lusts and pleasures, Titus 3 .3. And the bondage of iniquity,

Acts 8 .23. End quote. I love the way he ends it with Scripture.

Let the Scripture speaks. While these Jews thought religion and relationship to Abraham united them to God, they were deceived.

How many people we see this today? They somehow unite themselves to something of a blood royalty, a blood, and to their religion.

And religion damns people to hell. Only Christ can set them free.

Then Jesus points out to these self -deceived Jews that said they believed in Him that really they had no relationship to God whatsoever.

They haven't even started with God. That's what Christ was basically telling them. They're slaves to sin.

They were deceived about it. They desperately needed to be set free from their spiritual bondage.

Well folks, this is why Jesus came. If you go with me very quickly to Luke chapter 4, and this is a very familiar verse, a very text, a familiar passage

I should say. Jesus' first sermon when

He began His ministry. He's rejected at Nazareth. In chapter 4 of Luke, He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up and as His custom was,

He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, stood up to read. He read the Scriptures. Verse 17,

He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. This is Isaiah 16. And when

He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the

Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Listen closely.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty, again

He mentions liberty, those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the

Lord. Jesus' own purpose stopped right there because the next verse from Isaiah, from that chapter, says, and the day of vengeance of our

God. Folks, when Christ comes back, He's going to finish that sermon because it will be the day of vengeance.

But Jesus came to save. He's a Savior to the brokenhearted, to the poor because He says it, preach the gospel to the poor.

He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim the liberty to the captives, the recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty to those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the

Lord. What happened? He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant. He sat down.

I love this. The eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

He began to say to them, and this is what really got them smoking mad, today the

Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Only the Messiah would say something like that because it's a messianic portion of verse that speaks of the

Messiah that will do this. And to all who bore witness to Him, marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.

Gracious words, folks. And they said, Is this not Joseph's son? And He said to them,

You will surely say this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have done in Capernaum, do also here in your country.

Then He said, Assuredly I say to you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. And I tell you, truly many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a great famine throughout all the land.

But none of them was Elijah sent except to Zerubbath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow.

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elijah the prophet and none of them were cleansed except Naaman the

Syrian. Brother Ben did a great series on that. Verse 28, listen to what happened.

In Jesus' first sermon, this is the kind of reaction He got. So all those in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath, with rage.

That's the reception He got after this short sermon but powerful. He rose up to thrust them out of the city and they led them into the brow of the hill in which the city was built that they might throw

Him down over the cliff and then passing through the midst of them He went His way. That's the way they reacted. But this is what

He came to do. Spirit of the Lord was upon them. This was

His mission. Well, the third point is we've seen the path, the pretense, last and final, let's look at the promise.

The promise of freedom. This is the most glorious. The promise of freedom is found in verse 35 and 36.

A slave does not abide in the house forever but a son abides forever. Therefore if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Now to really understand this, there are many scriptures that are found in the epistles and especially

Galatians that I'd like for us to look at. Our Lord uses this analogy of slavery again to these two verses but for different purposes.

His statement is that the slave does not abide or remain in the house forever. What does it mean?

The son has permanent rights in this household. A slave does not.

You see, a son has the rights of the inheritance. A slave does not.

Even though the Jews were Abraham's descendants and not part of God's chosen nation, I'm sorry, that are part of God's chosen nation, they were like slaves but they were slaves to sin, not sons.

What is he talking about, not sons? Not sons of God. They were in danger of eternally forfeiting all the privileges that had been received.

And they did forfeit it. They did not inherit it. We see

Jesus makes this statement in Matthew chapter 8, very quickly. Look at this.

After Jesus heals the centurion's servant and He speaks to the centurion and He marveled that He said in verse 10 in chapter 8 that those who followed,

He said, Surely I say to you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.

I think Brother Keith brought this out. It's only the woman that was from Tyre. Yes, Tyre, a very heathenistic part of the country.

And here, in this part, they were outside of Israel. They were

Gentiles. But here is great faith. But what did

Jesus say in verse 11? I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out, and to outer darkness there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus said to the centurion, Go your way as you have believed, so let it be done to you. And it was. The gospel first came to the

Jew first, to the household of Israel, then it goes to the Gentiles, and that was

Jesus' intention. Wonderful. It is only those who receive

Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God, the Messiah, Lord and Savior, whether they are descended from Abraham or not, who are truly sons of the living

God. What does John 1 .12 say? But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right.

There it is. To become children of God to even those who believe on His name. Let's look at a few verses.

Go to Romans 8. Romans chapter 8. Here we see sonship through the

Spirit. Verse 12, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

For as many are as led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the

Spirit of bondage again to fear, but received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry,

Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

If children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified together.

Isn't it glorious to be a son of the living God? To be part of the kingdom of God?

Jump to Galatians chapter 3. A lot we're going to see from Galatians here.

I'm sorry, chapter 4. Chapter 4 is loaded.

I want to first read from 1 through 7, then we're going to revisit it again in closing. Now I say that the heir, as long as he's a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is a master of all.

But he is under guardians and stewards under the time appointed by the Father. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoptions as sons.

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,

Abba, Father. Once again, He says it. Therefore, you're no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Glorious, wonderful promise given there. And that's what

Jesus is referring to in verse 36. Jesus reiterated His promise of verse 32, declaring that those to whom the

Son makes free will be free indeed, and will, as the Son who rules over God's house, as Hebrews 3, 6 says,

Jesus Christ has the authority to release those who put their faith in Him from the bondage of sin and make them sons of God.

Though through Christ they are set free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8, 2.

And here's the glorious part, folks. And this is the icing on the cake.

This is the glories of it. Not only does He release them, but He also adopts them.

Folks, there's nothing more glorious than this. He not only sets us free,

He adopts us as His children and makes us part of God's very household.

J. I. Packer said this, and this is one of my favorite quotes by Packer. Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel.

The highest. The traitor is forgiven. He's brought in for supper and given the family name.

This is through the blood of Christ, folks. To be right with God, the judge, is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God, the

Father, is even greater. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Isn't that glorious?

Now look at Galatians 4. Look at 21 through 31 to get the right context here.

Paul the apostle brings out the analogy of two covenants. He says, tell me, he's speaking to these

Judaizers, okay? They're trying to mix law and grace. Doesn't mix. Sinai and Zion can't mix.

He says, tell me, in verse 21, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?

For it is written that Abraham had two sons. The one by a bondwoman, who was that?

Hagar. Hagar, right? The other by a free woman.

Sarah. You see that? He's given an illustration, analogy for a reason, folks.

These people were mixed up. These Judaizers were annulling the gospel by mixing law and grace.

But he who was the bondwoman was born according to the flesh. Because, as Brother Keith mentioned earlier,

Abraham did not trust God, and actually it was his wife that was pushing him for the promise, son.

They did not trust God. That was the bottom line. They got ahead of God. Because here they were in their old age, and they said, hold on, something's got to happen.

We've got to help God out. God don't need our help. He was of the born woman, was according to the flesh, and he was of the free woman through the promise.

Which things are symbolic? Paul says it. They're symbolic. For these are the two covenants.

Now here he's bringing out the two covenants. One was from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, the law.

He's got a great point that he's given to these Judaizers. Then he says, which is

Hagar? For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem, which it now is, and is in bondage with her children.

But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

For it is written, rejoice, O barren. He quotes scripture. He quotes the prophet here.

You who do not bear break forth and shout. You who are not in labor, for the desolate has many more children than she who has had a husband.

Verse 28, now we brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

You could even say Mount Zion. But as he who is born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now.

Still persecution going on there. Nevertheless, what does the scripture say?

I love, this is the apostle, and he even brings it to these Judaizers. What does the scripture say?

Cast out the bond woman and her son. For the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.

So then brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free. You see what he's saying?

And you know what he's saying, basically what Jesus is saying to these self -righteous

Jews that thought they believed. He says you have no right to the kingdom whatsoever.

No inheritance. That's what he's saying. Basically he's saying, but if you come to me,

I'll make you free. Jesus Christ. Because he fulfilled the law.

He who lives in sin is a slave to sin. And sincere belief by faith will save him.

Let me close with a quote by Spurgeon. In John chapter 8 verse 32 he comments here,

A savior later explains that he means freedom from sin. He who lives in sin is a slave of sin.

Sincere belief in the word of Christ leads to the emancipation from the tyrannical power of evil that dwells in our members and from the dominating power of the sin that rules in the customs of the world.

We will be free from our own prejudices, prides and lust. We will be free from the fear of others if we have sunk so low as almost to ask of the great one's permission to breathe.

We will break that irksome fetter. The truth known within our spirits will make a free man of us.

Up to now we may have been the bondman of self. The bondman of self.

We have inquired, what will this thing profit me? Thus the desire of self -antagonizement has ruled everything.

But, when Jesus our Lord, and through Jesus our

Lord, when? We will be free from this sordid motive.

May God help us in that. And one more word.

Here are the Scriptures from Romans 6. Paul says, what then shall we sin because we are under law, but under grace certainly not?

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey? You are the one slaves whom you obey.

Whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness.

But God be thanked that through you, I'm sorry, though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

And having been set free from sin, you become slaves of righteousness.

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

What fruit did you have then in the things which you are now ashamed?

For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness.

And the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Amen? Amen. Praise God. Please bow with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you so much for the promise, the promise that your

Son gives that we can be made free and whom the

Son sets free will be free indeed. Lord, I just want to read to myself and to the brothers and sisters here this wonderful, wonderful prayer of a disciple's renewal.

Our Lord and Savior, help me. I am so slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb.

I'm in the foothills when I should be on the heights. I am pained by my graceless heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the heavenly race, my solid conscience, my wasted hours, my unspent opportunities.

I am blind with light while light shines around me.

Take the scales from eyes, grind the dust, the evil heart of unbelief.

Make it my chiefest joy to study Thee, to meditate on Thee, to gaze on Thee, to sit like Mary at Thy feet, to lean like John at Thy breast, appeal like Peter to Thy love, and count like Paul all things done.

Lord, give me increase in progress and grace so that there may be more decision in my character, more vigor in my purposes, more elevation in my life, more fervor in my devotion, and more constancy in my zeal.

And as I have position in the world, keep me from making the world my position.

May I never see in the creature what can be found only in the

Creator. And let not faith cease from seeking Thee until it vanishes into sight.

Ride forth in me, O Thou King of kings and Lord of lords, that I may live victoriously and victory attain my end.