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

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

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

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

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Two witnesses to the truth, John 8:13-20

There are many voices calling out for attention in the church today.  And there are perhaps as many messages as there are voices.  How are we to know which are true, and which are trustworthy?  Many of them sound convincing.  Many of them claim to be based on scripture. And yet many messages are at odds with one another.  So they cannot all be true.  If some are true, then others have to be false.  The great difficulty comes in discerning which are true and which are false. I believe that the Bible teaches us that the way to know

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I AM the Light of the world, John 8:12 

As I get older, it seems that my eyesight has gotten a lot weaker. But I have read somewhere that it is not that your eyesight necessarily gets weaker, which makes it difficult to read, or see clearly.  But as you age, your eyes do not receive light as well.  And I know that by experience.  I can hardly read with my glasses on when I am inside and don’t have a good light to read by.  But on a bright sunny day, I can read outside without my glasses on.   Light then, is a great metaphor for the

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Convicted, but not condemned, John 8:1-11    

For many churches today, the issues of sexuality and immorality are the defining issues of our times. And without a doubt, there are some very serious debates going on in the public arena which are having a great impact on our society, which I would say have already influenced our culture for the worse and will have tremendous negative consequences.  So I want to be clear at the outset that what we are going to say today about this particular response of Christ to  immorality does not diminish the tragic effect of these issues on our society.  God can forgive

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All who are thirsty, Come. John 7:25-53  

In this section of scripture, John records for us the highlights of what transpired on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and in that context, a few various remarks from those in attendance.  And though it’s possible to give a running commentary on those various statements and try to tie them together into a sermon of sorts, I wanted instead to focus on primarily one statement of Jesus found in vs.37-39, which I believe is the main point of Christ’s message. In this declaration, Jesus stood up in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as

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The truth will set you free, John 7:17-24  

I am going to put to the test your spiritual acumen this morning.  I know it’s early, and maybe you can’t think all that well first thing in the morning.  Todays message is not a story, maybe not so easy to understand, but nevertheless it is essential doctrine that must be understood and followed if we are going to be true disciples of Christ.  So consequently, I am not going to approach this text today in my typical fashion of exegeting each verse line by line, but I’m going to expound on a few verses from the text, not focusing

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True disciples versus false disciples, John 7:1-18

Though millions of people today claim to believe in Jesus, who are attracted to Jesus, yet Jesus Himself said that many are called but few are chosen, that many will seek to enter His kingdom but will not be able. Though many claim to be Christians, there is a tremendous difference between true and false disciples.  Two thousand years ago, even Jesus’ own family did not believe in Him and his own nation rejected Him and put Him to  death.  Even after feeding 15000 people and healing many of the sick in attendance, when He began to preach His gospel many

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I AM the bread of life, John 6:41-71    

We are considering today one of the great sermons of Christ. This message marks a turning point in the ministry of Jesus.  It reveals the moment when the multitudes that initially followed Him in response to His miracles, turned away and rejected Him when confronted with the truth of the gospel. Jesus was speaking to a large group of disciples, or followers, which included the twelve.  As verse 66 indicates, there were a large number of superficial disciples there, as well as His inner circle.  We know from studying the gospels that in most cases Jesus taught by using parables

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The spiritual vs. the physical kingdom, John 6:22-36

I think that quite often, the greatest difficulty in living the Christian life is being able to distinguish between the physical and the spiritual realities of our faith.  By that I mean, how does God operate in the physical realm, and how does God operate in the spiritual realm, and by extension, how are we to operate in both?  I have said from this pulpit repeatedly, that every physical healing or miracle presented in the gospels, is given to illustrate a spiritual principle.  For instance, what I mean by that is  when Jesus healed the paralyzed man, spiritually speaking He

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