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Monthly Archives: November 2024

Worship in spirit and in truth, John 8:48-59    

Nov

24

2024

thebeachfellowship

Well today’s message is going to be a little bit different than usual.  I’m not going to expound the text, line by line, word by word as I would typically do. But today I want to focus on just a few points that Jesus makes at the end of this dialogue that we have been looking at for several weeks and try to make an application for us here this morning.

Almost every week that we have been studying John, I have quoted the same verse of scripture at some point during my message.  Any guesses which verse that would be?  Let’s assume that is a rhetorical question.  The verse of scripture I quote almost every week is from John 4:24  “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Now I have done that deliberately.  Most of the signage for our church says “Worship on the beach!” And so I would hope that is why you are here this morning.  To worship God. I hope that is your purpose. But we are not the only people who are worshipping this morning.  There are churches all over this county that claim to be worshipping God. There are seemingly a lot of different options out there for people who want to worship God.

However, I want to remind you that at the very beginning of the Bible, God makes it clear that He is not obligated to accept our worship, unless we worship Him as He desires.  As He designed it.  In Genesis 4, Cain and Abel come to present their offerings to the Lord.  You know the story.  Cain brought the fruit of his labor, the best of his crops, and Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions.  That means that he brought animal sacrifices, blood sacrifices. And it says that the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.

And that shows that God did not accept Cain’s worship, but He accepted Abel’s worship.  That was God’s prerogative, wasn’t it?  But what was Cain’s response?  He became angry, and in his anger he sinned and murdered his brother.  

Now we find a very similar situation presented here in this passage today.  The Jews were very religious, they had a system of worship by which they believed they could please God, by which they thought they could  become acceptable to God, and yet Jesus said it did not please God.  In fact He says that they are still in their sins, and so they become angry, and end up plotting to murder Christ, and finally succeed in murdering Him 6 months later. 

The question then is how are we to worship God?  How do you know that He accepts your worship?  How does your worship make you acceptable to God? I’ve been speaking about this for weeks now to some degree or another. I would assume that most of us consider ourselves Christians.  But if I were to take a survey of 100 Christians about what they base their faith on, I would not be surprised to find that there would be dozens of different answers.  

There are millions of professing Christians around this country that are attempting to worship God this morning.  You happen to be here.  But how do you know what is true?  How do you know what is acceptable worship and what is not?  Why should you believe what I am telling you?  Does it really matter how or where you worship?  Does it really matter if you go to church or which church? Does the content of the worship service really matter?  Won’t God just accept you if you are sincere?  Does God really care how you worship Him?

Well, I would say that most of those questions can be answered by Jesus’s statement which I quoted from a moment ago, “God is Spirit, and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Note that He says you MUST worship Him in spirit and in truth.  It’s not optional, it’s not conditional.  He is stating the requirements for acceptable worship. Yet I must say I don’t think most professing Christians really believe that.  I think they have this idea that God is going to accept their worship however they may present it.  And yet I would point out again that illustration of Cain and Abel.  I believe that this was placed at the beginning of the scriptures for a reason,  that we might recognize that God has certain standards and requirements for worship.  And if God does not accept your worship, then I am afraid I have to tell you some bad news.  It’s the same news that Jesus told the Jews in this passage three different times.  Jesus said, “You will seek Me, but you will not find Me, and so as a consequence you will die in your sins.” And to add insult to injury, over and over again, particularly in vs.47 and again in vs.55, Jesus said you don’t know God.  In spite of their worship, they didn’t know God, and as a result they would die in their sins.

Now why would Jesus say something so dreadful to these very religious people, who were in the temple worshipping God at that very moment?  In fact, they had been there for a week long religious festival, night and day worshipping God.  And yet Jesus has the audacity to tell them that they are going to die in their sins.  That their worship was useless. Why would He say such a harsh thing as that?  These people were sincere.  They were worshipping God.  They were in church for a week.  Doesn’t that count?

I’ll tell you why Jesus said that.  First He said it because He loved them.  If He didn’t love them, He wouldn’t warn them of their impending doom, would He?  But because He loved them, He told them they were still in their sins. We hear all the time, love the sinner, hate the sin. But the Bible teaches that if you love the sinner, you will expose their sin.   People get offended though when you tell them that they are a sinner.  Just like Cain, the natural man gets angry at the idea he is a sinner.  But God’s desire is to save you from the condemnation of sin, and He cannot do that unless you first recognize that you are a sinner.  

But there is another reason that Jesus said that they were going to die in their sins.  And that is because they did not know the truth. Jesus said in vs 32, “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Some people think that freedom means that they can come to God any way they want, just as they are. But that is not what Jesus is teaching.  The freedom Jesus is speaking of is freedom from their sins. In other words, if they knew the truth, it would set them free from the penalty and enslavement of their sins. But these Jews didn’t accept the truth, because it did not fit into their paradigm of religion.  So Jesus said in vs.40, “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.”  So just like Cain, they plot to murder Jesus, because they didn’t like the fact that God had rejected their worship.

So verse 32 then where Jesus said “you will know the truth and the truth will make you free” correlates to the quote from chapter 4:24, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  If you neglect the truth, or reject the truth, or ignore the truth, then your worship of God is in vain.  It doesn’t matter how sincere it is, it doesn’t matter how emotional you may be about it, it doesn’t matter how beautiful you may think the service may be, or how inspiring it may seem to you. If it is not truth, then it is not accepted by God, and as such you are still in your sins.  

Do you understand that folks?  I’m talking to you folks here today right now.  I’m not talking about the Jews 2000 years ago. I’m talking to 21st century Christians right here in this community. I’m telling you by the authority of God’s word that if your worship of God is not according to the truth, then your worship is in vain and you will die in your sins.

So what is truth? That’s the logical next question, isn’t it?  Well, Jesus has the answer to that question as well.  First of all, right in vs 31 He says that His words are truth: “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  Back in vs.14 at the beginning of this dialogue, He says, “My testimony is true.”  In John 17:17, Jesus says, “Your word is truth.”  And note another tremendous verse, which connects truth and the spirit together as we saw earlier that both are required. In John 6:63 Jesus says “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

So then we know the truth by the word of God.  And the word of God is spirit and truth which gives life. So if we are going to do what Jesus said, and worship God in spirit and in truth, then we must worship according to the word of God, which is the gospel of Christ. So God reveals how we must worship Him in His word.  

There is an important principle of hermeneutics, (hermeneutics means the interpretation of the Bible) and it’s called the principle of first mention.  How that works is that you find the first time a word or phrase is used, and that becomes a template for how you are to understand that usage throughout the Bible. And the first time worship is mentioned is found is in Genesis 22.  Abraham has been told by God to offer up his son Isaac on the altar.  To sacrifice his son.  And so He gets up early in the morning, and his servants and Isaac go to the mountain that God has appointed. And seeing the mountain in the distance, Abraham says to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

Can you imagine that?  God told him to sacrifice his son, he has a knife to slit his son’s throat, he has the wood to make the fire, and his plan is to sacrifice his son in order to obey God.  And Abraham calls that worship.  Now that’s heavy. Think about that for a moment. And compare that definition of worship to most concepts of modern worship today.  There is no comparison.  There is no correlation.  Listening to a band play music and clapping your hands does not quite equate to sacrificing one’s own son whom you love with all your heart.  There is no comparison.  

Actually there is a comparison by contrast.  And that is in Genesis 22 as well. As Abraham bound his son on the altar and raised the knife to kill his son, God provided a ram caught in a thicket at the last moment. God pointed out the ram which was provided to be Isaac’s substitute.  And that was a picture of the sinless substitute that God would provide for the sin of the world so that sinners condemned to death might be made acceptable to God. So that their sins might be taken away. 

I believe that event is what Jesus is referring to in vs.56.  Jesus said, ”Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”  I think that Abraham was given the insight at that moment, that there would come the Lamb of God who would die in our place, as our substitute, so that we might be saved from the wrath of God against sin.  Abraham saw Christ’s day prefigured in the ram that he slew and laid on the altar.  And Abraham rejoiced, not only because Isaac was spared, but also because he understood the fulfillment of the prophecy given before Isaac was born, which was that through his seed would come One from whom the whole world would be blessed.

So before you can begin to worship in spirit and in truth, your sins have to be dealt with.  And God has provided a substitute to pay the penalty of death that we all deserve because all have sinned, and none of us are righteous.  So that is the first step in worshipping God.  Believing who Jesus is, and what He came to do, and accepting His sacrifice for your sins, that you may be counted as righteous through Jesus Christ.  

Listen, that is the basis for our salvation.  We cannot come to God without a sacrifice. Because the penalty that God requires for sin is death.  Romans 3:23 says “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  There are two essential elements in obtaining that salvation which Christ paid for.  Two essential elements; faith and repentance.  Faith is believing who Jesus is; the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and repentance is confessing and turning from your sins and asking God for forgiveness. 

 In the book of Acts, we see that the apostles taught that faith and repentance were necessary, Acts 20:21says they were “solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:25  “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”  Jesus and the disciples went about preaching repentance and the necessity to believe in Christ. So repentance and faith are the twin pillars of our faith.

Now I will tell you what most modern worshippers get wrong.  They emphasize faith, but not repentance.  They say believe in God, but they don’t say repent of your sins.  I would suggest that the word sin is an anathema in most churches today. They don’t want to offend anyone. Instead, sin is accepted, it’s even condoned in many churches.  But I will say this, without repentance from sin, there can be no salvation.  And without the appropriation of Christ’s sacrifice to cover your sin, there can be no worship. There can be no fellowship with God.  There can be no acceptance from God.  

That’s why Jesus kept emphasizing to those Jewish religious leaders that they would die in their sins, because they would not accept the One who came to pay the penalty of their sin.  Now how do you know what is sin?  It must be found in God’s word.  God’s word defines sin.  God’s law defines sin. Not society, not the culture, not some religious figurehead.  No one can define sin but God. Sin is anything that does not conform to the nature of God.  And God has written His word that we might know sin, that sin would become even more sinful. 

Yet how many churches today are trying to accommodate society’s definitions of lifestyle, of behavior?  In their efforts to appeal to the world, they accept the world’s definitions of marriage, for instance, when it is in opposition to God’s definitions in His word.  I have to say that if they are changing God’s definition of sin then they are not worshipping God in spirit and in truth.  They are worshipping God in vain. They are still in their sins.

Notice how Jesus keeps refocusing on this aspect of God’s word is truth, and that His words are God’s words.  John 8:43-47,  “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.  You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

So the bottom line is that He says, you don’t believe my word because you are from your father the devil who is the father of lies.  So instead of believing my word, you believe a lie. Since you are not of God, you don’t accept My word.  I would suggest this is evident in Christianity today; that those that do not believe God’s word is the truth, have no use for God’s word.  That is why many churches today rarely refer to the word of God.  They rarely preach the word.  They rarely teach the word.  Instead they sing some songs, watch a couple of videos, maybe watch a skit, and then the pastor ends up telling a couple of funny stories at the end, and everyone goes home feeling vaguely entertained and self righteous.  

So I will summarize so far; if the church does not preach faith and repentance, then they are not worshipping God in truth.  And if the church does not preach the word, then they are not of the truth.  I don’t care how entertaining it is. They have forsaken the truth, and as such are apostate.

Here is what the religious apostates believe: that God is love, and that sin is ok. That God accepts them in their sin. And so they hate anyone who preaches against sin.  This is the difference between true religion and false religion.  False religion does not deal with sin and claims all that is necessary is a relationship with God, and true religion recognizes that sin must be dealt with in order to have fellowship with God.

I want to point out another statement Jesus made in vs.50 “But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.”  This is another way that they should have recognized that Jesus was speaking the truth.  He did not seek His own glory, but He sought to glorify the Father in all that He did.  

And I would suggest that this is a way that Christians can discern those who speak or teach the truth.  If a church or a worship service is geared so that it brings glory to the people who are conducting it, then you need to be suspect of whether or not they are of the truth.  I’m going to be very candid with you for a moment.  I don’t do this to bring glory to myself.  I don’t do this for fame.  I don’t do this to bring some sort of honor to myself.  To be frank, I’m often humiliated as a pastor.  But I think that is the method God employs to able to use me. 

There was a time in my life when I had a certain degree of fame when I was in the antique business. I was on a national television show about antiques for a few years as an appraiser.  And I received  a lot of recognition from people in my field at that time in my life.  I thought that God could use me from that platform and from my success to bring people to the Lord. But God had to take me down a few pegs in my pride in order to be able to use me for His glory and not my own.  So I didn’t chose this ministry because I thought it would make me popular or well liked.  If anything, the more people listen to me, the more enemies I seem to make.  

But I will say that I am in good company.  Jesus said in John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”  And I believe that is because I try to preach the truth of God’s word.  We obviously don’t have a whole lot else to offer you folks here.  I don’t tell jokes very well.  We don’t have a cool band.  We don’t have skits or interpretive dancing.  But what we do is preach the truth of God’s word without apology and as the central focus of our worship.  And I believe that the word of God is truth, and that only the truth will set you free. Some people are offended by that.  And as a result they get mad when I preach on sin, and the need for repentance.  But I would also hope that there are going to be some that will believe, and will respond to the truth, and will commit to this church.

Sometimes I find myself praying the prayer of Elijah as he contended with the priests of Baal in 1Kings 18:36.  He prayed, ““O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.”  I pray that God will show that I have done these things according to HIs word.  And that God will turn the hearts of His people back again.

Well, I warned you that I was going to go on a bit of a tangent today.  And so I’m going to wrap this up with one last point.  And that is the principle found in vs.51, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” Death is the universal consequence of sin.  But for those who believe in Christ’s word, and keep His word, they will not see that consequence of death. Their body will die, but their spirit will live forever with Christ.

So you want to worship Him in spirit and in truth?  Then you will keep His word.  Jesus emphasizes this over and over again.  This key principle is found in vs.31, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Listen,1 Samuel 15:22 says, “to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.”   To obey is better than coming with songs and hymns. Isaiah 29:13 says, “Then the Lord said,’Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.”  And because of that false worship, God says He will turn away from them. God wants obedience from the heart.  To obey is to love the Lord. Jesus said in John 14:15  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

Notice that phrase, “their reverence consists of tradition learned by rote.” Jesus is speaking of rituals and ceremonies that may have their origin in worship, but they have become external rituals that have not affected their hearts. Just watch a Catholic or Episcopal service and I think that you will definitely see the correlation to what Jesus is speaking of. 

Now, I don’t have a lot of time to show you every reference this morning, but over and over again Jesus says “continue in my word”, or “keep my word,”  or “keep my commandments.”  In fact, as an example to us,  Jesus Himself keeps the word.  That was the measure of His truthfulness that the Jews should have recognized.  He says in vs55 “and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word.”  

And I would suggest that this is the way we know that someone knows the Lord as well.  They keep the word of God.  If they don’t keep the word of God, then they don’t know God.  1John 2:3, 5  “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” … 5 “but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.” 

That’s the reality of true worship.  It’s sacrificing your prerogatives, your rights, your purposes, to obey the word of God.  It’s putting Christ first in your life.  True worship requires that you bring to God the offering of yourself.  Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  

That’s all I have for you this morning.  Worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.  Nothing else counts.  Anything less than the truth is a lie.  God desires truth in the innermost being.  And we do that by being conformed to God’s word.  Simply lay the template of the gospel over your life, and follow the commands of God as He laid them out in His word.  It starts with a sacrifice, Jesus substitionary death on the cross, and it ends with another sacrifice, presenting your body as a living and holy sacrifice.  Acceptable to God. That is your spiritual service of worship. That is how we are made free.  Let us pray.

Posted in Sermons | Tags: beach chuch, worship on the beach |

Characteristics of a child of God, John 8:37-47     

Nov

17

2024

thebeachfellowship

I have noticed that some people really value their ancestry.  Their heritage means a lot to them. They usually have done all sorts of research into their family tree.  And perhaps your family history should be remembered and valued.  But then again I think some people put way too much emphasis on some great thing they can claim their great great grand daddy did, and they feel that somehow validates them in some unique way. 

It’s kind of like those people that believe in reincarnation.  Whenever you hear someone claim to have been reincarnated, it’s interesting that they always claim to have discovered that they were somebody great in their past life.  There are a lot of people that claim to be the reincarnation of Napoleon or Cleopatra, for instance.  I read about one guy who believed he was the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.  He didn’t look anything like her though. Phil Collins, the rock singer, said that he is the reincarnation of a survivor of the Alamo.  Amazing.  And looking around on the internet you can find more than a few  people who claim to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.  I guess these poor confused people want to find some way to add importance to their lives.

But I guess everyone would like to know if they are related to anyone famous. I found out something interesting about my own ancestry a while back, which in light of those previously mentioned people is going to sound like I too am trying to add importance to my life, and maybe I am. But my nephew supposedly traced our lineage back to Scotland, and found that our line came from one of the daughters of Robert the Bruce, a Scottish king that was featured in the movie Braveheart.  I have to admit, I found that a little bit exciting for a while as I thought about it.  But the truth is, one of my ancestors that lived over 700 years ago has very little to do with my life today.  

But for the Jews, their ancestry meant a lot. They, of course, claimed their lineage from Abraham. And being descended from the line of Abraham they could rightly claim the benefits of God’s covenantal people.  Their property, their ancestral lands, were divided according to their tribe, according to the sons of Jacob, the son of Isaac, who was the Son of Abraham.  So for a Jew living in the first century, being a descendant of Abraham was a matter not only of religion, but nationality, property and even to some degree determined their livelihood.  

Now this week as we look at these claims by the Jews to be children of Abraham,  we need to remember that we are jumping into the middle  an ongoing teaching session that Jesus was having with the Jews, which occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles, which lasted for several days.  We have looked at various elements of this discourse for the last several weeks.  All of it was occurring in the temple during this feast which has tens of thousands of people in attendance.  And last week, we saw that Jesus delivered this great statement at one point in the discussion, saying, that if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 

Now Jesus wasn’t talking about freedom from slavery, or freedom from Roman oppression, but He was speaking of spiritual freedom, freedom from the enslavement of sin.  And three times in the previous section Jesus said they were still enslaved to their sin, and as such they would die in their sins.  The Jews, who had already hated Him enough to want to put Him to death, were enraged by this accusation.  So they argue that they couldn’t go to hell as sinners, because they were descendants of Abraham.

You see, the rabbis taught that no son of Abraham would enter into hell.  They believed that their father Abraham was actually posted at the gate of Hades to make sure that no circumcised person would enter there.  Justin Martyr, in the Dialogue of Trypho in the second century, argued with a Jewish man who said this about the Jews; “They who are the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, shall in any case, even if they be sinners and unbelieving and disobedient toward God, share in the eternal kingdom.”  So this was their belief, that due to the covenant of God with Abraham, they inherited eternal life with God, and escaped hell, simply due to their being a descendent of Abraham.  

So in vs.33, the Jews in response to Christ say, “we are Abraham’s descendants.”  They said that as a defense of their freedom, possibly referring to their religious freedom.  And three times in this passage before us today, the Jews are going to claim their heritage as a defense against what Christ was teaching.  They have three claims they make, and as we look at them you will notice that they are progressive in their claims.  First, they claim to be the physical seed or physical descendants of Abraham, which Jesus says is true in vs.37.  Secondly, they claim to be the spiritual seed of Abraham, which Jesus says is not true.  And thirdly, they claim to be the children of God, which Jesus again demonstrates is not true.  So Jesus agrees with the first claim, and then just debunks the second two, exposing the falseness of their claims. 

And I would just like to make a parallel to people in our culture today.  Most people in America today claim to be Christian.  A recent Pew research study showed that 70% of Americans claim to be Christians.  At the very least that should mean that they believe in God, they believe in Jesus, and they believe in an afterlife in heaven.  But I’m afraid that for the majority of those claiming Christianity, they are not unlike those Jews.   When we examine the basis for their claims, we find that the number one reason is that they were raised to be Christians.  They were raised in a home where Christianity was taught, or at least accepted by parents who believed in God.  So most people I believe would claim their heritage as a basis for their Christianity.

Secondly, for a lot of people, their claim to Christianity is based on their church affiliation.  You could equate the nation of Israel with the church in many respects.  And so spiritually, many in our culture claim their Christianity based on their church association.  They not only were raised to believe in God, but to belong to a particular denomination; whether it be Catholic, or Episcopal, or Presbyterian or Baptist or whatever, and they find their identification in the rituals and ceremonies and community of their church.  And as the Jews were required to be circumcised in order to belong to their church, many denominations require people to be baptized as a mark of belonging to their church.  

And then thirdly, as a result of the first two reasons, most people in that 70% would believe that they were children of God. And as such they believe they would escape any judgment that might fall on the world.  Rather than Abraham standing at the gate of Hades, they might expect Saint Peter to be checking credentials at the gate of heaven.  But I’m afraid that in light of what Jesus is teaching today, we will discover that what Jesus is talking about is not being made a child of God through physical means, but by being born as a child of God by spiritual means. And so the requirements which were true for the Jews are true for us as well.  

Now let’s look briefly at each of those claims of the Jews. So number one, they claim to be Abraham’s descendants in vs.33.  That’s their defense against Christ’s charge that they would die in their sins.  So Jesus’ response is in vs. 37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.”  Jesus agrees that they are the physical descendants of Abraham, through Isaac and then Jacob, and then the 12 sons of Jacob, constituting the nation of Israel.  

But though Jesus acknowledges their physical relationship, He says that there is something amiss.  What is wrong about their claim is that they were seeking to kill Him, because they did not believe His word. This is a very important principle by the way.  You cannot say you believe in Christ, but not believe His word.  Christ’s word is inseparable from His entity.  It’s like the old adage, “a man’s word is his bond.”  Or like my Dad used to say, “you may not have much in this world, but the most valuable thing you possess is your name.  Don’t dishonor your family name.”  The principle that he was trying to teach was that if you gave your word, you better keep it.  Your word was who you were.  It was your character, your reputation, your nature.  

There is an effort by liberal theologians today to try to redefine who Jesus was, irrespective of His word.  They want to claim to believe in Jesus, but deny the authority or reliability of God’s word.  And what Jesus is teaching here is that HIs reliability, even His deity, is authenticated by His word.  So we either have to believe what Christ taught, or dismiss Him altogether.  Jesus Christ was the Word, He was in the beginning with God, and He was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and His word is truth.  That is why Jesus said in vs. 31, “if you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine.”

So Jesus says, though you might be physical descendants of Abraham, yet your deeds are witness that you are not the spiritual children of Abraham, and further evidence is that you do not accept My word. So spiritually speaking, your lineage is worthless because it hasn’t affected your spiritual condition. Literally, in vs 37 He is saying, “my word makes no progress in you.”  It’s the same idea as what He said was the evidence of a true disciple; you will continue in His word.  A characteristic of a true Christian then is that you have an appetite for His word.  I would hope that is the reason that you are here this morning.  I hope it’s not just to fulfill some sense of obligation.  I hope it is to drink and eat of God’s word.  

And not only is it necessary to accept the word, but the word is a sanctifying agent in your life.  It changes you.  It is the means by which God speaks to you and the Holy Spirit guides you.  It is making progress in you.  The word of God is progressively doing the work of sanctification in you, changing you into the image of Jesus Christ.  

But that isn’t the evidence in these Jews lives, according to Christ.  So He says in vs. 38, “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.” In other words, you have no interest in things which come from My Father, you are only interested in things that come from your father.  So Jesus is saying that their lineage says one thing, but their actions say another.  Listen, our actions speak louder than our words.  I had a young man come up after a service some time ago who talked to me about his conversion.  He related how as a teenager, a self righteous man acting in hypocrisy in the church had really turned him off on the church.  But later in his college years, he came across some believers who really practiced what they preached, and that testimony was the catalyst for him coming to the Lord.  When he saw the reality of what they claimed lived out in their lives, then it made an impact on him.  

So the Jews respond to Jesus again in vs.39, claiming once again to be the children of Abraham, and I think they are claiming not only physical descendancy, but now they are also claiming spiritually to be sons of Abraham.  They say in vs.39, “Abraham is our father.”  See, I think they realized that Jesus was saying they had another father, and so they are refuting that, asserting once again that Abraham was their father spiritually as well as physically. 

Jesus answers, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham.”  What are the deeds of Abraham?  Well, 3 times in the New Testament, in Romans 4, Galatians 3, and James 2, it says “Abraham believed God, and He counted it to Him as righteousness.”  When God spoke to Abraham, he believed God. It doesn’t say that Abraham believed in God.  But that Abraham believed God. That is, Abraham believed God’s word. Jesus says I am speaking to you the words of God, but you don’t believe them.  Therefore you are not children of Abraham, because Abraham believed God. Jesus said,  “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.”

You know what else can be said about Abraham?  Abraham obeyed God. Hebrews 11:8 says,  “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”  Listen, we are saved by faith.  But faith is more than just lip service.  It takes little to no faith to say you believe God, but it takes faith to act on that belief.  It takes active faith to leave all and to follow Him, as the disciples did.  God wants more than just lip service.  That’s what’s wrong with a lot of the modern praise and worship movement in churches today.  They are projecting this image of this narcissistic God that just wants to hear us tell Him how great He is all the time.  That’s not the image of God we see in the Bible.  But Jesus said “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”  To obey is better than sacrifice, it’s better than praise.  To obey is the evidence of your faith.  

So in vs.41, Jesus said, “You are doing the deeds of your father.” See, to whom you belong, you obey.  Not whom you claim to be, but  who you act like reveals who you belong to.  That’s what Paul said in Romans 6:16 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”  That’s the same thing Jesus said in vs.34, “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”  

So twice now Jesus has alluded to another father whom they are obedient to.  And it is not God the Father but another father. Their response is very interesting.  They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication.”  And here’s where they make the final claim: “We have one Father: God.”  Not only are we the physical children of Abraham, the spiritual children of Abraham, but we are the spiritual children of God.  Because we’re not born of fornication. 

Now some commentators say that the Jews are claiming by this statement that they had not worshipped idols.  Idol worship was associated with fornication, which produced illegitimate children. So many feel that fornication was closely associated with idolatry and that was the meaning of what the Jews had to say.  But I think it was because they wanted to besmirch Jesus’  own pedigree, and they had ascertained incorrectly that He had been born out of wedlock, saying He was not Joseph’s biological son.  So I think that this is more than likely a slam on Him and on HIs sinlessness.  Because as we see in vs.46, Jesus asks, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?”  Well, they couldn’t prove His Illegitimate birth, of course.  But they would have loved to believe that He was born in sin, and thus eliminated from any consideration that He could be God in the flesh.  

And that highlights the significance of Jesus being born of the Holy Spirit who came upon the virgin Mary.  He was born of the Spirit so that the sin nature of Adam did not pass on to Him.  But He was born of God  So Jesus was born sinless, and He remained sinless.  And therefore He was able to be the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

So Jesus says if you were the spiritual children of God, you would love Me. Vs.42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.”

To love God then is to love Christ, because He is the physical manifestation of God in the flesh.  Hebrews 1:3 says that He is the exact representation of God. So it’s impossible to love God and not love Christ.  And how is that love for God expressed?  Well, we just said it earlier, we believe His word, and we are obedient to His word.  And I would add to that you do not love the world.  The world being synonymous with the realm of Satan. Jesus continually refers to Satan as the ruler of this world. So in 1John 2:15 it says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  

That love for the world, the love of the things of Satan is the characteristic of those that are not of the Father, but are children of the devil.  That’s the next point that Jesus makes, the clarification of who their real father is.  Vs.43 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Listen, physically we exhibit the characteristics of our parents, don’t we?  That’s natural.  You pass on your physical characteristics to your children.  I would even say that we pass on more than just physical characteristics, we pass on some of our personality, some of our intelligence, and then as our children grow up, we pass on many of our habits, our personal tastes for certain things, even the way we talk.  All those things are greatly influenced by our parents.  Most of us are horrified to realize as we get older how much like our parents we are.  We thought we were so different.  And yet it turns out that we end up to be very much like our parents.  

Well, Jesus is saying, if you love God and are a child of God, then you will take on the characteristics of your Father.  But if you love the world, and the things of the world, then you will take on the characteristics of the ruler of this world, that is the devil.  And it’s interesting to note the characteristics of Satan which Jesus points out.  He was a liar, He says, and the father of lies.  There is no truth in Him.  What a contrast to Christ who is the truth, and who speaks the truth of God.  Satan is a liar and entraps mankind by his lies.  But Christ is the truth, and His truth sets men free.

You remember the first time we see Satan in Genesis, he comes to Eve with a lie.  And she believed it, and then obeyed it, and was entrapped by it. And as a result of her and Adam’s sin, the entire human race is trapped in the bondage of sin.  And Jesus adds to that he is a murderer. What that means is that in that first deception, Satan brought about the murder of the entire human race.  Because sin brings forth death.  From Adam’s sin, came about the murder of all men, of which Satan bears much responsibility.  Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

So Jesus expresses that contrast again by saying in vs. 45 “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”  You could simplify that statement by saying, the way to determine a child of the devil is he doesn’t believe the truth, he doesn’t love Christ.  And the way to determine a child of God is he loves the truth, he loves Christ.

The summary of this principle Christ is teaching is found starting in vs.46, Jesus says, ”Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”  

Jesus could ask that question, “which of you convicts Me of sin”, because it was apparent to all that He was guilty of no sin.  And that fact alone was validation that He was the Son of God.  There is no prophet of any religion that can honestly say that he is not guilty of any sin.  No one on earth can honestly claim to be sinless.  And even if we did have the audacity to claim sinlessness, you better believe someone could convict you of sin, because your life reveals evidence of your sin.  Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And Romans 3:10 says that there is none righteous, not even one.  No one can claim sinlessness.  So for Christ to be able to say that, and for them to be silent in response to that claim, was further testimony that He was the Son of God.

And yet irregardless of the truth, they choose not to believe Him.  They reject His words as the word of God, and Jesus said that is because they are not of God.  They are not the children of God.  They may have been descendants of Abraham, they may have been members of the nation of Israel, but their sinful deeds were evidence that they were of their father the devil.

Listen, to what evidence is your claim to Christianity?  Is it to your heritage?  Is it to your church membership?  Is it to your nationality?  Is it to some religious ceremony?  I would submit to you today, that as Jesus said in Matthew 7, by their fruits you shall know them.  If you are of your Father in heaven, then you will do the works of the Father.  You will love Christ, and love His body, the church, and you will love and obey His word.  And your life will be evidence of your faith.  

But if you love the world, and the things of the world, and you do not love the word of God, nor the things of God, then it is evident that you are of another father.  The good news is that there is a way to be adopted into the family of God.  Gal. 3:26 says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” And then in vs. 29 ‘And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

Today adoption as a child of God is offered to you.  Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins by HIs blood on the cross.  That those who believe in Him might receive His righteousness, and our sins would be transferred to Him, the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And having been made righteous by faith in Christ, we are made the children of God by redemption.  The offer is open today to all who will call upon Him in faith and repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, and confess Jesus as Lord.  I pray that today is the day of your salvation.  Don’t trust in anything else, but in Christ’s righteousness alone.  

Posted in Sermons | Tags: beach church, worship on the beach |

The Source of Freedom is the Truth, John 8:31-36

Nov

10

2024

thebeachfellowship

The idea of freedom, or the principle of being free, is one that is particularly indigenous to Americans.  It’s not limited to Americans, of course, but much of our history is based on the premise that man is designed to be free.  Our country was founded on that principle.  As the Constitution declares, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Liberty means the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views. 

So the American Revolution was fought over those truths, that we had a right to be free from tyranny.  And to some extent the Civil War continued that fight, eventually taking on the context of freedom from slavery.  Then in the 1960’s, we experienced a cultural revolution called the Hippie Movement, which espoused the idea of freedom from social mores. However, not all the freedoms that generation sought were necessarily based on truth, as history has made evident. But nonetheless, the entire history of the United States has this search for freedom interwoven in it’s story, from generation to generation.

Yet after 300 years, I would suggest that we are still trying to come to grips as a nation with the notion of freedom.  We are still trying  to obtain it. For that matter, we are still trying to define it.  And so it is to that question that we come to today.  What is freedom, and how does one really achieve it?

Well, I believe that this passage teaches us the answer to that question.  The blueprint for freedom was written long before the Constitution of the United States.  And it’s author was no less than Jesus Christ.  I believe that this passage before us today is one of the most important in the gospel.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that this is the heart of the gospel.  

Making freedom a reality was the purpose of Jesus Christ’s visitation to Earth.  In His first message that He preached, He quoted from Isaiah concerning Himself, saying that this prophecy  was fulfilled that day in their presence.  This is what He read from the scriptures prophesying about Himself.  He read from Isaiah 61:1 which says, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.”

The obvious question then is how was that freedom realized?  What does it look like?  Is He talking about social freedom, or political freedom, or freedom from slavery, or spiritual freedom?  Because there are people that have interpreted these statements in all those various ways.  But remember, Jesus said that they that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.  So we cannot just apply any template we want to these statements.  We must apply them according to the truth.  

Well, I suggest that Jesus is speaking primarily about spiritual freedom.  But I will add to that the caveat that the spiritual is the fountain from which all other freedoms flow.  You can attempt to find freedom outside of the spiritual, but I would suggest that if you do that, then you are being deceived.  You are still held captive, still enslaved.  Jesus says  that in our text in vs. 34, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”  So until you take care of the spiritual issue of sin and become free in that regard, you cannot know any other freedom.  You are still in your sins, and as such, you are still held captive by the devil, and are a slave of sin.

That is why three times in the previous passage we looked at last week, three times Jesus says to the Jews, that they would die in their sins.  Because they had rejected the truth, and as a result, they were still in their sins, still enslaved. 

So what is the solution then?  Jesus said if you are going to know freedom, then you must first know the truth.  Jesus said in vs.32, that when you know the truth, then the truth will make you free.  So knowing the truth is paramount to becoming free.  You cannot be free and live a lie. As became evident in the Hippy Movement, things that they thought provided freedom, like drugs and sex, only served to further enslave them, because they were not founded on the truth.  And I would suggest that many of the new social mores which are being expounded today are simply more of the same kind of deceit; they promise freedom, but they only will produce greater bondage. 

And that was the scheme of Satan from the beginning wasn’t it? To lie against the truth and as such enslave men to sin.  Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden to seduce mankind to sin by telling a lie, by selling Eve an untruth.  As Jesus says in our text in vs. 44, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

So Satan, in his rage against God – his rage that God would choose to shower His affection on man, and make man in God’s image, according to God’s likeness, when Satan himself had desired to be like the Most High and was rejected – so Satan came to man disguised as a creature of God, and he deceived the woman by making her think something evil was good, and he invoked her to pride because she desired to be autonomous like God, and as such mankind fell from their sinless state in God’s presence just as Satan had also fallen.  And mankind has been in bondage to that lie all throughout the history of the world.

That is why Jesus calls him the father of lies. And he did not stop with that lie, but he has sold the world a lie ever since.  Satan, who controls the world system, has so engineered the world so that according to 2Peter 2:19, he is “promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”  What he means is that they are being promised freedom but instead they end up becoming slaves of sin.

So what is truth?  Well, to start with, God is truth.  Truth is defined in God and by God and there is no truth apart from God. In Isaiah 45:19 God says, “I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right.” Psalm 119:160 says, “The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.”  And vs. 142 of the same Psalm says “your law is truth.”  And one more, Numbers 23:19 says “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

Now I cannot overstate this doctrine.  God is the source of all truth.  His word establishes the standard of truth.  All philosophy, all science, all the wisdom of man must be examined in the light of God’s truth, and only when it conforms to God’s truth, is it true.  As Paul said in Romans 3:4, “Let God be found true, though everyman found a liar.”

So as God is truth, Jesus also is truth.  As we have seen in our studies in recent weeks, Jesus speaks the things of God, He does the works of God, He does nothing that the Father isn’t doing.  So if God is truth, then HIs Son is truth.  In fact, Jesus says that He is the personification of truth in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Notice in that verse, that Jesus doesn’t say He sometimes speaks the truth, but that He is the  truth.  That means nothing less than perfect truth comes from God.  And as Jesus personifies the Word of God, then He is the truth of God, and no one can come to God except through Him.  One must come to accept Christ’s word, in order to come to God.  God has chosen to reveal Himself in His Son.  And what God has revealed is truth.  So coming to know the truth, will make you truly free. 

Now we saw that in vs.30, many people listening to Him had come to believe in Him.  That simply means that they believed that He was speaking the truth.  They believed that He had come from the Father.  Vs.26 Jesus had said, “He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.”  So some people listening to that believed in Him.  Some did not, as we see in the later verses.  But some did believe Him. And I think that means that they became Christians at that point.  Some commentators think that these people were superficial believers.  They didn’t really want to follow Christ, but they just acknowledged that what He said was true.  I don’t buy that.  I think that what Jesus was saying was so radical, so outrageous, that they had to either acknowledge Him as a lunatic, or acknowledge Him as God come in the flesh.  So when John says twice that some believed in Him, I think they truly had their eyes opened to the truth, and they believed in Him and they were saved. That is the way that we are saved, we are justified by faith in Christ. Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So then now that some have been justified by faith, then in vs.31, Jesus speaks of the next step in salvation, and that is sanctification.  There are three phases in salvation; there is justification, then sanctification, and finally glorification.  All must exist for salvation to exist.  If you are justified, and then you are sanctified, but there is no glorification, no eternal life, no heaven, then your salvation is worthless, isn’t it? Paul said in 1Cor. 15:19 “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”  And the same thing is true of the other two phases in our salvation.  If we are not justified, then our attempts at  sanctification through works can never save us, can they?  Because Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  So if you skip over justification by grace, and try to become sanctified by works, then you cannot be saved.  And by the same measure, justification without sanctification is worthless. As James said, “faith without works is dead.”  And Hebrews 12:14 warns us that without sanctification, no one will see the Lord. All three then are necessary for salvation. 

That’s why Jesus turns to those people, the people that had believed in Him, who believed that He was the Son of God, who were justified by faith, and to them Jesus said, ““If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  Now I believe that these people were saved by faith in Him, as I said.  And so Jesus now is instructing them how to be His true disciples.  That is the consequence of truly being saved.  We not only believe, but we follow.  We join Him, fellowship with Him, allow Him to teach us as we go through each day and every circumstance.  It’s not just “I have faith, so I’m saved, and now I can go on with my life and do what I want to do, live like I want to live.”  It’s not like Jesus is now my genie and so He’s going to make sure that everything I do works out.  He’s going to keep me safe as I go about my business.  

No, that’s not discipleship.  A true disciple recognizes that Jesus is the source of life, the source of truth, the way to God, and so he follows Jesus wherever He leads us.  Most Christians today have it backwards.  They think salvation entitles them to have God follow me around and work out any difficulties I might encounter, but stay far enough behind me so as to not hinder my freedom to do what I want to do.  That’s not biblical discipleship.  Christ doesn’t follow me, but I need to follow Christ.  

How do we do that practically speaking?  Well, Jesus says how, He says you do it by continuing in His word.  He’s talking about relying on the word of God for your day to day situations.  This is the way of sanctification.  Read the word, and apply the word.  That’s called wisdom by the way. Wisdom is the application of knowledge.  So we don’t just become hearers of the word, but doers of it.  

Jesus said in His high priestly prayer to God in John 17:17, speaking of His disciples, He prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”  That’s a tremendous doctrine.  The word then is the sanctifying agent in my life. It’s like the old adage, “sin will keep you from the Bible, or the Bible will keep you from sin.”  David in Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

Here is the thing that Jesus is teaching at this point.  Justification is taking away the penalty of sin.  Sanctification is taking away the power of sin.  And one day, glorification will take away the presence of sin.  But let’s just focus on sanctification for a moment.  Sanctification is deliverance from the power of sin.  This is the true freedom that Christ brings.  It’s not just taking away the penalty of sin but leaving us to live in sin.  That would not be true freedom.  Christ gives us the power over sin, the power to be delivered from sin.  That is the hope of Christianity in this life.  That we have victory over sin.

Now the reality is that as long as we are in the body and living in a fallen world we are going to feel some of the effects of occasional sin. No one is going to achieve sinless perfection this side of glorification.  But as a Christian we can be delivered from continual sin.  That is the meaning of the word used there for sin. It is continual, habitual sin.  That’s the good news that Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 61 which we quoted earlier; “the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.”

That’s the same thing that the old hymn Rock of Ages is talking about when it says, that the blood of Christ will “be of sin the double cure, save from wrath, and make me pure.”  That double cure is speaking of being saved from the wrath of God, and then the sanctification that produces purity towards God.  Justification and sanctification.  

So that is the path of sanctification.  Sanctification is progressive, by the way.  There is a sense in which we are sanctified, consecrated, and set apart at salvation by the blood of Christ.  That is positional sanctification whereby we have been set apart from the world for good works.  But there is also practical sanctification, and that comes from continuing in the word.  As God reveals truth to you through His word, then you apply that truth and it becomes a sanctifying agent that works to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. That is why the text doesn’t just say the truth sets you free.  That’s true, but it’s not once and done.  It’s continually making you free.  Each day continuing to apply the word, and that continuance working in us that which is pleasing to God.  That’s discipleship.  Sanctification is discipleship.  

And that’s God’s goal for His church. When Christ commissioned the church, He said go into all the world and make disciples.  Not just believers.  But followers of Christ in conduct and in truth which is doctrine.

Well the Jews answered Jesus back by saying, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”  Now first of all, I don’t believe that this “they”  who John refers to are the same people that became saved.  I think these people are the Jewish religious leaders who have been having this running debate with Christ all throughout this whole passage.  Because these people obviously do not believe in Him.  They accuse Him of being a liar, and in vs.41 they even accuse Him of being born of fornication, of being illegitimate.  So obviously these cannot be those who believed that He was the Son of God.

But the really confusing part was what they said.  They said they had never been enslaved to anyone, when in fact, they had been enslaved numerous times, starting with Egypt and then in Babylon and they were under a form of bondage even then to the Romans.  So it is difficult to know what they were talking about. Except for to note the irony that when you are enslaved to a lie, the lie is that you are not enslaved. Many times I meet people who are obviously weighted down under the bondage of sin, and yet they extol the virtues of their freedom.  I suppose there is no lie like the lie you tell yourself.  

That is the curse of sin which brings condemnation.  To refuse to acknowledge it and thus refuse to repent of it.  For instance, to be an alcoholic and deny it is obvious folly to everyone but the alcoholic.  But that is very often the case.  They say, “I can take it or leave it.”  But in actuality, they only take it.   Perhaps that unwillingness to face their sin caused them to deny their enslavement and to blind themselves to their reality.

So Jesus gave an answer designed to prove HIs point.  He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”  Again, this is speaking of habitual, continual sin.  In other words, if you are living in sin, then you are obviously a slave of sin, and you have not been set free.  You may tell yourself you are free, you may tell others that you are free, but your actions say otherwise.  You are still in your sins, and you will die in your sins, unless you believe in Him, which Jesus said meant to continue in His word and follow Him.

And then Jesus says, “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.”  What Jesus is saying was in response to their claim as Abraham’s children.  He is saying that their actions demonstrate that they are not Abraham’s children, because Abraham’s children are the children of faith.  They believe God and He counts it to them as righteousness.  But these men demonstrate that they are not Abraham’s children because they are not children of faith.  So Jesus says that they are slaves.  And like Ishmael in the house of Abraham, they will not inherit the blessing of the son Isaac.  They will not stay in the house forever, because they are not true sons.  These men had a temporary stay in the household of God in the sense that they belonged to the tribe of Israel.  But when they were judged according to their works, they were found to be doers of wickedness, and thus slaves of wickedness, and not sons of righteousness.  

That was the judgment.  But thank God Jesus doesn’t stop with the judgment.  He offers once again salvation.  He says in vs.36, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  This is the reality of salvation, that we are truly free if Christ has made us free.  If the spirit of man has been freed, then he is free inwardly, in a way that no earthly chains can contain.  Because if Christ has made us free, then we have fellowship with God in a realm that cannot be ascertained by those who are not free in Christ.  

In a simplified way of looking at slavery and freedom, we might say that those who are slaves have someone else take advantage of their labors.  If they make money, it’s not really theirs to enjoy, it’s their masters.  If they have possessions, they are not really theirs to keep, for they are their masters.  The master owns everything that the slave has.  Such is the reality of the lie that Satan has foisted upon the world.  He has promised that you can enjoy the fruits of a sinful life.  but the fact is, that he owns all that you do.  All that you do in that world ends up being left behind when you die in your sins and face an eternity in hell.  

But if the Son shall make you free, then not only are you made free, but you receive the adoption as sons, and consequently you receive an inheritance that will never fade away, reserved in heaven for you.  As a result of that hope, we know that our labor is not in vain. That what we do in this world will be used for the glory of God.  So we find our freedom in service to God, knowing that He keeps track of our works, and will reward us in the day of our glorification.  

Listen, today is the favorable year of the Lord.  Today the Lord offers freedom from the captivity of sin that has kept you hostage.  The Lord is ready to save all that call upon Him.  Believe in the truth and be saved.  That is the offer extended to you today.  Receive all that God has prepared for those that love Him.  Or continue to believe the lie of this world and you will die in your sins.  There is a very clear choice, and the choice is yours.  There are two paths, two possibilities before you today; the truth and the lie.  God is the author of truth, and Satan is the author of lies. One path leads to freedom, and the other path leads to further enslavement. I pray you will believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. May today be the day that you are made free indeed.

Posted in Sermons | Tags: beach church, worship on the beach |

The litmus test of heaven, John 8:21-30   

Nov

3

2024

thebeachfellowship

Today is the Lord’s Day.  It is the day when Christians worship the Lord.  It is the day set aside each week to honor Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for us so that we might be truly free. Jesus Himself said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends.” The remarkable thing about Christ’s sacrifice is that He did not just lay down His life for His friends, but He laid down His life for His enemies.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”Jesus said He did not come to save the righteous, but sinners.  Sinners are by definition the enemy of God who is holy and righteous.

The essential fact of the gospel that is so often missed however, is that all men are sinners.  Romans 3:10 says, ”THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;  THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;  ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”  That’s the bad news.

The good news however, is found just a couple of chapters later in Romans 5:8 which I read to you a moment ago;  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

But a lot of people are so offended at hearing Romans 3:10 that they never get to know the benefits of Romans 5:8.  They are so offended that the Bible says that all men are condemned because of their sinfulness, that they never come to know the salvation that is offered through Christ’s death as our substitute.  But the fact is, that if you do not acknowledge your need for forgiveness from your sins, and trust in Christ’s atonement on the cross as the propitiation for your sins, then you cannot know the freedom from condemnation that comes through salvation.

Now that is really the crux of the passage we have before us today. This exchange between the Jewish leaders and Jesus which is recorded here for us is due to the fact that the Jewish leadership trusted in their own righteousness and rejected salvation through Christ. As a matter of review,  Jesus had been preaching in the temple for a week at this point, during the weeklong celebration known as the Feast of Tabernacles.  And He has presented through many different messages the truth of the gospel.  That truth simply stated was that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the eternal God come to Earth in human form, so that men might have the spiritual life that God offers to them that believe in Him.

And Jesus has used a couple of metaphors to illustrate that truth,  which we have looked at in detail in previous weeks. In the first metaphor He says He is the source of living water which if anyone drinks of, out of their innermost being will spring up living water. Then His other incredible claim is that He was the light of the world, and that the world was in darkness, but for those that follow Him, they will have the light of life.  In both of those metaphors, Jesus is teaching that He is the source of life, abundant life through the Spirit of God, and He gives it to those who believe in Him.

But at every point that Jesus makes in His messages during the Feast, the Jewish religious leaders want to find fault with Him and argue over some technicality.  And at the heart of their response is their fervent belief that they did not need a spiritual Savior.  They believed that they were inherently good people.  They were obviously very religious people.  They thought that they knew what the scriptures taught.  They thought that they had been given entry into the kingdom of God through their heritage and that they insured it by their adherence to certain laws such as circumcision and keeping the Sabbath. 

In many respects, they were not unlike many Americans today.  According to a recent Pew Research survey, 70% of Americans claim to be Christians.  They believe in God.  They go to church on somewhat of a regular basis.  They believe in the golden rule.  They have a few Bibles in their possession.  They are what we would call “good people.”  And the real danger for these people is that they have never come face to face with their sinfulness and as such have rejected the idea that they need a Savior.

This was the predicament of the Jews who listened to Jesus that day.  He had told them repeatedly that He had come from the Father in heaven and as such had been doing the works of the Father and speaking the words of the Father, shining the light of the truth unto the world so that men might have life.  But they had repeatedly rejected His claims. Therefore Jesus says in vs. 21, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.”

Their response is that of disdain, again missing the significance of what He is preaching, and focusing instead on trying to discredit Him.  So they respond with dripping sarcasm, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”  I think there is even a hint in their response of their intention to kill Him, but they phrase it as if He will commit suicide.  Suicide by the way in Jewish culture of that period, was considered the most egregious sin, and they believed that the bottom level of Hades was reserved for those who committed suicide.  

The question must be asked – why do they have such hatred towards Christ?  I’ll tell you the answer. It’s the same answer that Jesus gave for their hatred in John 7:7, He says, “[the world] hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.” It’s the same hatred we see vented towards those who proclaim the truth today; it’s because of the conviction of sin.  If you dare call anyone a sinner today, or suggest that the Bible condemns certain activities as sinful, then you are going to be the object of intense hatred.  And by the way, this doesn’t just come from atheists, it also comes from those claiming Christianity.  The late Bishop Desmond Tutu said that he would rather spend eternity in hell than a minute in a homophobic heaven. Well, he just might have gotten his wish. Because that statement reveals his hatred towards God. Jesus said that God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.  That means that God gets to make the rules, not us.  We must worship who He is, and not who we want Him to be.  The world does not get to define God.  God has defined Himself in His word.  And we must love God more than we love the world. 1John 2:15-16 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

The essential principle that Bishop Tutu fails to understand is that God’s law is a reflection of God’s nature. It is how He reveals His holiness.  I read another quote by Bishop Tutu in which he said, “We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.”  I have news for him,  God’s standards are anything but low.  God’s standard is absolute perfection.  And there is only one person that has been able to meet God’s standard, and that is Jesus Christ.  All the rest of mankind is dead in their trespasses and sin. That is why Jesus says three times in this passage, “you will die in your sins.” Unless you repent and call in faith upon Jesus Christ – that is the only way for your sin to be forgiven.  

And listen, your sin is not forgiven because God just decided one day to get with it – just go along with the culture and forget about all that sin stuff,  just live and let live.  No, God still counts sin.  God did not do away with the requirements of the law.  Jesus kept every law perfectly so that He might be the blameless, spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  No, God didn’t stop counting sin, He just counted it against Christ.  He transferred our sin upon Jesus and beat Him for it with a whip within an inch of death.  He transferred our sin upon His Holy Righteous Only Begotten Son, and pounded nails into His hands and feet and let Him hang on a rough cross for hours bleeding to death.  He transferred our sin upon Jesus and let Him die and descend into Hades to pay the penalty for sin.  He transferred our sin upon Jesus so He could pay the price of our sin, and only when His justice was satisfied could He transfer Christ’s righteousness upon us.  God’s standards are anything but low.  No one comes to heaven, to the Father, except through Jesus Christ and by His righteousness alone.

So in spite of their unbelief and sarcasm,  once again Jesus shows compassion by restating His warning to the religious leaders. In vs.23 He says, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”  

Now what Christ has done is give a litmus test of sorts for belonging to the kingdom of heaven.  That was the primary message of Christ.  He was preaching about the kingdom of heaven.  And the Jewish leaders recognized that the requirement of citizenship was righteousness.  So Jesus is in effect giving a litmus test for righteousness.  He says they are of the world, and as such they are still in their sins, and they will suffer the consequences of that sin, which is death.  How do you know whether someone is of the world or of heaven?  How do you recognize those belonging to the kingdom of darkness, and those belonging to the kingdom of heaven?  I mean, anyone can claim to be of the kingdom of heaven, can’t they?  People all over the world claim to be of the kingdom of heaven.  We already said that 70% of Americans claim to be Christians, that is, belonging to the kingdom of heaven.  So how do you know? What is the evidence? 

Well, to find out the truth, I’m not going to quote Desmond Tutu, but instead quote the Apostle John once again.  As we read earlier, 1John 2:15-16 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

And Paul says virtually the same thing, that those who are of the world set their mind on worldly things.  In Phil. 3:18-19 he says,  “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,  whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”

That’s the litmus test.  If you love the world, if your focus is on worldly things, if your passions are in the world, if your pride is in the things of the world, then you are of the world.  You cannot serve God and mammon.  That’s why James says, show me your faith by your works.  Show me.  Don’t tell me.  You say you have faith, but show me your faith.  Faith is not an intellectual exercise, by which we gain heaven.  Faith is an exercise by which the will of heaven is worked out in my life.  Where God’s will supersedes our will.  Faith is praying, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

That’s the litmus test.  That is why Jesus was able to point to His works as the litmus test that proved He was sent from God.  Three times in this little passage He says that He does the works of God, as evidence that He is not of this world, but of God.  Look at vs.26, “the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.”  Then again in vs.28, “I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.” And third, vs.29, “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

It’s noteworthy that Jesus categorizes things in threes. Three times He says “You will die in your sins.”  And three times Jesus says He does the works of God. The principle is clear; if you are of the world, then you will die in your sins.  If you do the works of God, then it’s evident that you are of the kingdom of heaven.

 Now I hope no one here today tries to weasel out of this principle of your works being evidence of where your heart is by saying that Jesus did the works of God, but grace makes us free to do whatever we want. Grace is the means by which our guilt and punishment are expunged. And grace is the means by which we are given the Holy Spirit to lead us in paths of righteousness. But all through the New Testament we are told to imitate Christ.   Peter said in 1Peter 1:15-16  “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;  because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”  And again in 1Peter 2:21 he says, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” We are to follow the pattern that Jesus laid down for us. That is what it means to be a disciple by the way.  We follow the pattern of Christ. As He did, so do we.  That’s what Jesus is saying in vs.31, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.”  To continue in His word is to continue in obedience to His word.

And Paul also makes it clear in Ephesians that we are saved to do the works of Christ. Eph. 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” So the principle that Jesus is teaching is clear, how you live illustrates where your citizenship is.  Is your citizenship in heaven?  Then you will be about your Father’s business.  A ceremonial tip of the hat once every couple of weeks is not indicative of where your citizenship is.  Jesus said in Luke 12:34  “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

You know what disturbs me though is when Christians, who have been set free from the enslavement to the world by the death of Christ, try to keep one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God.  They claim to be a citizen of heaven, but their priorities are all about the world. Everything seems to take priority over the things of God. I worry about such people. 

That reminds me of the prophet Elijah, who seeing the double mindedness of the Israelites, who worshipped the idols of the world while claiming to be the people of God.  And so he cries out to them in 1 Kings 18, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions?  If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.”  If you say you are the Lord’s people, then serve the Lord with your whole heart.  But if you are people of the world, then continue to serve the world.  But don’t think you can live in two places at once.

Well, back in our text, the Jews respond to Jesus’ words with more sarcasm, more condescension, saying “Who are You?”  In a more modern way of speaking they may have said, “Who do you think You are? We have to believe in You or we die in our sins?  Just who do You think You are?”  That question was obviously intended to be sarcasm as well, but nevertheless, Jesus responds to them by saying, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?” 

What had He been saying from the beginning?  Well, let’s remember what Jesus has said so far;  that He was the Messiah, He was the Son of God, He was the resurrection and the life, He was the Temple of God, that God has given Him the power to execute all judgment, that He is the source of eternal life,  that He was the one of whom Moses wrote, that He was the bread of life which came down out of heaven, that He has seen the Father, that He had the words of eternal life, that He was the supply of the water of life, and that He was the light of the world.  I think it’s pretty clear who He was.

But since they asked, Jesus gives them another clue.  In vs 28 He says, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”  Now what is Jesus referring to in this statement?  I believe that He is speaking of going to the cross, being lifted up as the serpent was lifted up on the pole in the wilderness.  Jesus is saying, when you see Me lifted up on the cross, then you will know that I am He.  

What a tremendous statement.  Not only was His life indicative of His deity, and not only was His words indicative of His deity, but His sacrifice for sinners was the ultimate indication of His deity.  The crucifixion was the expression of God’s love for the world.  And the magnanimity of that act revealed a love that could only be that of God. I’m reminded of the centurion who seeing Jesus give up His Spirit on the cross said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

But sadly, many of those who were debating with Him would still not recognize Him even when He was lifted up.  They should have seen the parallel with the serpent in the wilderness which Moses lifted up for the healing of sting of vipers upon the Israelites.  And they should have understood that the serpent on a pole symbolized that there would come One who would be lifted up on a pole for the healing of the sins of the world. And perhaps some did make that connection  during the crucifixion such as the centurion.  But as I have pointed out before, I believe that by the time of the crucifixion, the scribes and Pharisees and the priesthood not only knew that He was the Son of God, but they deliberately, purposefully put Him to death because they hated Him so much by that point that their hatred had blinded them.

And that is born out by the fact that He says, when I am lifted up, then you will know that I am He.  Now in the Greek there is not the pronoun He. It is simply “that I Am.”  And many theologians suggest that He is making a direct reference to the same “I AM that I AM” which spoke to Moses out of the burning bush.  This is the name that God gave Moses to tell the Israelites and Pharaoh who it was that gave him his authority.  It was the name of God that refused conventional definitions.  So in answer to the Jews question of “Who are You?”  Jesus  answered, “When you see Me lifted up, then you will know that I am the I AM.” He is telling them who He is in terms that they were very familiar with.  

See, for the Jews, Moses was their guy.  He was the greatest prophet.  In fact, the Sadducees only recognized the writings of Moses, nothing else.  So it’s interesting that in every evidence that Jesus gives to His deity He uses something that happened during the life of Moses.  He was the source of water from the rock.  He was the manna from heaven.  He was the pillar of fire over the tabernacle.  He was the serpent lifted up on the tree.  And He was the I AM from the burning bush.  Yet these champions of the law of Moses would not accept what He was saying, because they believed that  they were justified by the law of Moses.  

But Paul tells us that the law was not given to be a stepladder to heaven.  But the  law was given to be a tutor to lead us to Christ.  The law was given so that our sin became even more sinful.  Even more apparent.  But when Jesus showed them that, in the Sermon on the Mount for instance, then they became indignant, and rejected the idea that they were sinners.  And that disdain of the need for forgiveness would condemn them to die in their sins.

From our perspective though it should be clear, that Jesus was not only sent from God to be all the things that we stated earlier like the light of the world, and the source of eternal life, etc, but the characteristic that really completes the picture is that He is the Savior of the world.  This is the basis for John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  

Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is the exact representation of God. So as Jesus declares that He is Savior, it completes the picture. It completes the picture of God.  God is holy, righteous and just.  God is the judge of the earth.  God is the source of life.  And God is also the Savior of the world because God loved the world.  He loved His creation.  But for God’s love to be enacted, His justice had to be satisfied.  God’s law had to be upheld.  And so God sent Jesus to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God through Christ.  

Well, for a few people in Jesus’ hearing that day, the light suddenly came on.  They saw the light of the truth.  So it says in vs.30 that as He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.  I can only pray that someone here today has suddenly had the light of truth dawn in their hearts.  You recognize that you are a sinner in need of a Savior.  And perhaps you have come to believe that Jesus Christ is the sinless Son of God who gave Himself in your place on the cross so that you might be saved.  If that is you, then simply call on Jesus to save you, believing in all that He says He is, and God promises that He  will transfer you  from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of heaven.  You will become a citizen of heaven, but even more than that, you will be made a son of God by adoption.  And as the result of that adoption, you are guaranteed an inheritance in glory and eternal life.  I pray that today will be the day of your salvation.   

Posted in Sermons | Tags: beach church, church on the beach, worship on the beach |

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