John 8:31-38 "Believing Unbelievers" - Dr. Steven J. Lawson

well thank you Mark I certainly am grateful for this privilege and opportunity to be able to preach the Word of God on these Sundays and though no one is hardly here other than I see six people here nevertheless the Lord is here and preachers ultimately preach to an audience of one we preach for God's approval we preach for God's a men's and for God's affirmation and so I'm very mindful of that in settings like this this is Mother's Day and I do not have a typical Mother's Day sermon I told you last year on Mother's Day that I when I first graduated from seminary and was committed to preaching the Word of God verse by verse three books in the Bible it came to Mother's Day and I decided you know what this church is committed to sequential exposition I'm going to preach the next passage no matter what the Hallmark holiday greeting card is and so that Mother's Day I preached on the of Babylon so it was a very much of a liberal arts education for me to to not do that again the flowers on the altar wilted as I announced my passage so I do have a rather challenging message to bring to you even on Mother's Day and so maybe I can soften it a bit by just expressing my gratitude to those of you who are mothers I do have my wife here this morning who's the mother of my children our children and she is the greatest mom I know and I have two of my sons here who have come to support her on Mother's Day so I have three of the six of us who are here happy Mother's Day to you well as I come to the passage to preach as I always do I want to invite you to take your Bible and turn with me to the Gospel of John John chapter 8 and the title of this message is believing unbelievers and that may sound a bit like an oxymoron but you'll understand what I mean by that as I read this passage and then will by God's grace open it up to you I hope you have your Bible open and I do want to greet the Trinity Bible church family wherever you are as you're watching this and I do want to greet our many extended friends wherever you are around the country and overseas who are joining in as we look at this passage John chapter 8 I want to begin reading in verse 31 so Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed him 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 they answered him we are Abraham's descendants and you have and have never been enslaved to anyone how is it that you say you will become free jesus answered them truly truly I say to you everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin the slave does not remain in the house forever the son does remain forever so if the son makes you free you will be free indeed I know that you are Abraham's descendants yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you I speak the things which I have seen with my father therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father may the Lord give us true understanding of this passage and how it relates to our lives let's go to the Lord in prayer father again we thank you for your word which we believe to be your very word that is living and active sharper than any two-edged sword I pray that this living book would speak words of truth to us that you'd give us ears to hear and eyes to see use me as an instrument that you have picked up to use to give a clear explanation of this passage and even a persuasive application as well so Lord we commit now this time to you ask that your spirit would minister to our hearts and souls in Jesus name Amen as I said the title of this message is believing unbelievers the hardest person in the world to reach with the gospel is someone who thinks he is saved but he is not they do not know that they do not know they live in a world of spiritual self-deception they have eyes to see but they cannot see they have ears to hear but they cannot hear they believe but they do not believe they believe Jesus they just have never believed in Jesus they're like people who receive an inoculation with a disease they have just enough of the disease to build up a resistance against receiving the real thing that is the way many are today they have just enough religion and just enough knowledge of the truth to prevent them from receiving salvation and the grace of God they have built up a resistance against receiving the gospel because of their over exposure to it they are believing unbelievers they believe but they do not believe this is exactly where Jesus finds himself in these verses he is addressing a vast crowd of religious people who presume that they believe but in reality they do not believe we find ourselves in the midst of this very lengthy narrative that covers virtually the entirety of John chapter 7 in John chapter 8 there's no other place in all four Gospels where there is such an extended narrative that is layered out and obviously the Holy Spirit is wanting to draw our attention to the importance of what it's taking place in this narrative let me say this again there is no other place in the Gospels where there is such a lengthy unfolding of an account from the earthly life of Christ like there is here today we are confining confining ourselves to verses 31 to 38 and to walk us through this text I have five headings that I want to set before you that will be like pillars that will uphold our understanding of this passage the first thing I want you to note at the beginning of verse 31 is the counterfeits addressed the counterfeits address this section begins with Jesus addressing those who had a non saving faith the first half of verse 31 so Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed him now initially this certainly seems like they were true believers and in fact in the previous verse in verse 30 they were those who truly believed in him but as we come to verse 30 with a more careful look at this I think that we will see that they were counterfeit believers why would I say this and this is very important because it unlocks our understanding really of the rest of these verses that we will look at today we cannot make a wrong turn at the first traffic light which will send us in totally the wrong direction we must make the right diagonals why at the beginning of verse 3 when we read they had believed him why these were not true believers well number one the contrast with verse 30 and verse 30 says they believed in him at the beginning of verse 31 it says they simply believed him there's a vast difference between believing Jesus what he says and believing in Jesus in his person in other words these to whom Jesus is speaking here accepted the veracity and the truthfulness of his words they just were uncommitted toward him that I'm gonna say it again they believed Jesus verse 31 they had not believed in Jesus as in verse 30 that's the first reason that I would bring your attention second is the further statements that they will make and verse 33 they say we are Abraham's descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone that's not the talk of a saved person that is someone who is still delusional about their own spiritual state they obviously are trusting in their own religious heritage and their own family upbringing if you will as Abraham's descendants to merit a right standing before God and they claim they've never been enslaved to anyone by their own words they reveal their lost condition but then third further what Jesus will say in this section in verse 31 he says if you continue in my word then you are truly disciples of mine meaning disciples in reality and the clear implication is they were not continuing in his word also in verse 36 he says if the son makes you free you will be free indeed clearly they had not yet been made free and in verse 37 of everything here jesus said you seek to kill me that's not the reaction of a true believer to the Lord Jesus Christ and then there's a fourth reason why what it's recorded it to be in verse 31 it's not referring to a true believer and is the larger theme of the Gospel of John and you need to understand that in going through the Gospel of John there is a series of contrasts between true believers and false believers and there is this polarization that is taking place through the Gospel of John and the Gospel of John as you know was given that people might believe in Jesus the theme verse for the entire book of John is John 20 verse 30 and 31 therefore many signs jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name this whole gospel is about believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and so the Apostle John as he writes this gospel is intentionally making a contrast between those who truly believe and those who have not actually believed so that it would be clear what is true saving faith it's just like in the US Treasury if you want to see what a counterfeit bill looks like you study the real dollar bill and the contrast is so obvious that's what the Apostle John is laying out so let me just I want to take a moment because this is so important that we see this I want to take us to three passages if you turn back to John chapter 2 and verse 23 John chapter 2 and verse 23 this is very foundational in our understanding of even what true conversion is and in John chapter two and verse 23 there's a play on words that is taking place I want you to see this now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast many believed in his name now you would think these are true believers they even believed in his name observing the signs which he was doing except look in the next verse but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them free knew all men the word entrusting in verse 24 is the very same greek word that has translated believed in verse 23 pistou Oh in other words they were believing in Jesus Jesus was not believing in them because their faith in Jesus was a false faith it wasn't a true faith it was simply they were caught up in the signs and miracles that Jesus was performing at the end of verse 23 so that's the very first stark contrast we see between true faith and non saving faith and then when we come to john chapter 6 we read in verse 66 this startling statement as a result of this many of his disciples withdrew and we're not walking with him any more these disciples were not true disciples they were just caught up in the crowd and the excitement and the feeding of the 5,000 and the miracles and the stimulation of jesus teaching and and a part of being part of a movement etc but they had no personal saving relationship with jesus christ they didn't want to eat his flesh and drink his blood as he required earlier and then on top of that in verses 70 and 71 in John 6 or look at verse 69 this is Peter's statement we have believed and come to have come to know that you are the Holy One of God jesus answered them did I not choose you the twelve and yet one of you is a devil now he meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot for he one of the twelve was going to betray him even within the twelve there are eleven true believers and there is one false believer Judas who hung himself and went to his own place in Acts chapter one he was very religious and was a part of the group who heard the word he was even involved in serving the Lord yet he was not a true believer John is intentionally drawing to our attention as he presents the life and the works of Christ this contrast between the true and the false and then one more text to take you to is John 15 and verse 6 as Jesus is in the Upper Room Judas has just slipped out of the room and gone into the darkness and in John 15 and verse 6 we read if anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned the reference to Judas who had just left the upper room he was a disciple just not a truly saved disciple so why do I take all of this time at the first half of the first verse to belabor this well because it's the true interpretation of this number one number two without understanding this will not understand this the following verses but number three why belabor this it's because churches today are filled with people just like this they believe Jesus they believe the Bible they just don't believe in Jesus unto salvation they are just like these Jews here in John 8:31 they are conservative they are Bible believing they are church-going they are morally straight people who believe every word that Jesus said they just have never committed their life to them to him they have never burned their bridges behind them and I wonder if this could be true of you I want to press the question to you have you only believed Jesus or have you truly believed in Jesus even into Jesus the answer to that question could be the difference of heaven and hell for you may you truly believe in Jesus so that is the counterfeits addressed at least second to the commitment required the commitment required as Jesus now speaks he says if you continue in my word now that word if should leap off the page this is the condition for true saving faith something that they do not have if you continue in my word this word continue is a Greek word that means to remain to stay abide remain stay and abide and there are two distinguishing marks of the one who continues in my word I want to make this very simple two distinguishing marks number one is obedience to continue in the word is really for the word to continue in you and your lie is now marked by this desire to keep the Word of God it's because you have a new heart that desires to please God and obedience pleases God true saving faith is in on the big picture obedient faith second distinguishing mark is perseverance which it comes through in the word the idea comes through in the word continue if you continue in my word the idea is the word doesn't just go in one ear and out the other you continue in the word you walk with the Lord on the path marked out by the word and it is a life long obedience in the same direction you stay in the word you remain in the word that is what Jesus is saying and it is a mark of every true disciple of Jesus Christ this is not some higher level Saturday morning special Bible study group that you work your way up to this is true of every single Christian if you continue in my word notice what he goes on to say then you are truly disciples the word truly means surely certainly you're not merely disciples you're truly disciples I need to remind you that the term Christian has not yet been invented that does not happen until acts 11 verse 26 and even at that it was a term of derision that the world through at the early disciples was scorned at this point no one's called a Christian and this point everyone's called a disciple if you're a believer you're a disciple and the term disciple may means literally a learner a student and a false disciple merely learns but never receives it a true disciple learns and embraces it and clings to it and continues in it as this verse so clearly says he says in verse 32 and in the word and the very first word in verse 32 is very important because it connects all this together it's not or it's and and you will know the truth the word know here is the Greek word that means really to love you will know with love the truth the word know here this greek word means a personal relationship with it means a wholehearted commitment to that that's what the word know here means ganach go and you will know the truth more than just an intellectual head knowledge of the truth I mean James 2:19 says the demons believe and they tremble in fear know there is a love for the truth and a continuing in the truth and a living the truth and an obeying of the truth out of a heart of love for Christ that is the mark of the true disciple he says and you will not you may could be should be no you will because of the work of grace that has taken place in the heart and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free a couple things to draw to your attention there truth always has the definite article in front of it the truth because there's only one truth and that's God's truth there's it's never a truth and it also indicates that the truth of God all hangs together there's a solidarity of the truth of God it all fits together like a perfectly woven tapestry that the truth never contradicts itself it's it it hangs together as one body of truth it's always the truth the truth will make you free and that is to say before you know the truth and believe in Christ you are not free you lived in bondage to sin and it is your commitment to Jesus Christ on the basis of the truth that makes you free that liberates you from your incarceration to sin and it releases you from the chains and the shackles of sin so this is the commitment that Jesus requires to be one of his true disciples that we must be those who are learners of the truth and we must be those who are followers and obey errs of the truth or we're not a true disciple of Jesus Christ the one who issues the call sets the terms and these are his terms this leads third to the carnality revealed in verse 33 these false disciples responded immediately it's kind of like poking a dog with a stick I mean this really pricked their conscience these false disciples responded immediately which only further reveals their lost condition the more they talk the more they reveal that they don't know the Lord in other words they could mask it if they just kept their mouth shut but as they talk now they showed they don't know the Lord so we read in verse 33 they answered him these false disciples surd him we are Abraham's disciples or descendants rather we're it's used by birth and when we grew up in the temple we learned the Shema hear o Israel the Lord your God is one God we learned the Ten Commandments why are you talking to us like this we grew up in a very Jewish home a very Jewish religious setting in fact we can trace our family line all the way back to Abraham we are Abraham's descendants as if that would give them a right standing before God and then they add and this even further and Deitz them and have never yet been enslaved to anyone in other words how could the truth free us if we don't need to be free how can the truth free us if we're not in bondage they had zero self awareness of their own spiritual condition let me say that again they had zero self awareness of their own spiritual condition Jesus would call them later in Matthew 23 blind leaders of the blind they have no concept that they've ever been enslaved number one to sin everyone born into this world was born in a state of slavery to sin that's why you have to be born again but they even say to anyone which would indicate a person they can only think on a political level they can only think on a physical worldly level they totally missed the point of the spiritual level but even if we took even if we look at their answer from a political or worldly answer let's just stop from them they have been enslaved they're the Egyptians to the assyrians to the Babylonians and at this very moment they are enslaved to the Romans who have now taken control of Israel and have occupied Israel and they're so delusional they say we've never been a slave to anyone how can you be so blind to yourself that the universe thirty-three they say to Jesus how is it that you say you will become free if they're saying how can you say this to us of all people they do not know that they do not know and you can't get there from here until you know where you stand with God no one can be saved until they know they're lost and they have no knowledge of where they stand with the Lord even as the Lord himself is speaking to them this leads to number four the conversions sought and Jesus is so long-suffering and is so intent for them to come to him Jesus does not break this off yet and next week we will see that Jesus will begin to play hardball with them in a much more stringent way but here in verse 34 to 36 the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is extended to them yet one more time jesus answered them how gracious of Jesus to even answer them truly truly I say to you I want to pause here for just a moment truly truly literally out of the Greek is amen amen what the word I'm in is here translated truly truly and it just means that of all the things that I'll ever say to you this is of utmost importance and you must pay attention to what I'm about to say to you truly truly amen amen Jesus is a mening his own sermon in a sense it is not that some things that Jesus said were truer everything he said was infallibly true it's that some things he said were more important and he would flag those with truly truly I say to you Jesus could not be more direct more personal more straightforward as he says I say to you everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin now let's just pause here for a moment this this is gonna require just some unpacking when he says commit everyone who commits sin this is in the present tense and the importance of the present tense means that Jesus is talking about listen to these words that I'm going to say now habitual lifestyle it refers to a continual pattern of life it's referring to a state of living it's not talking about individual incidences in a person's life is talking about the big picture the macro picture of their life they live in a life of sin that's what this means it means they love to sin they love their sin and they live to sin everyone who is swimming in a pool of sin and the word sin means to miss the mark is the slave of sin you sin because you're a slave of sin a slave is someone who is in bondage to a master a slave is someone who has a master over him who has authority to command him and tell him what to do and a slave of sin is someone who obeys the master which is sin and serves the master which is sin so he is Jesus is saying to them you have a cruel master who is sin who still dominates your life and controls your life that's why you act as you do and live as you do you are under the dominance of sin sin is a cruel tyrant sin is a ruthless dictator sin is a merciless despot sin is a vicious oppressor that imprisons people in the chains of sin the very sin that will destroy your life and damn your soul no slave ever had a crueler master than they have in sin these are very strong words Jesus is not some health wealth prosperity TV evangelist tossing out little bouquet of how to have your best life now now Jesus responds to them for the good of their soul that your problem is your sin it's what's inside of you and you keep wanting to talk about your family background and being a descendant of Abraham no your problem is you your problem is sin and so he says in verse 35 the slave does not remain in the house forever Jesus slightly changes the metaphor here though retains the same image the slave here means the slave of sin does not remain in the house referring to the house of Abraham forever though the slave will be removed from the place of blessing that accompanied Abraham the slave does not remain in the house forever and if you remain a slave of sin you will be removed from the place of blessing near the blessings of God as being a descendant of Abraham then he adds at the univers 35 the son does remain and what Jesus is saying to them you are slaves now you must become sons you are slaves of sin you must become a son of God and there's only one way to become a son of God and that is through the new birth where there would be a radical dramatic change of your heart from the inside out you will also find it interesting to note the last word in verse 35 remain is the very same word that is translated in verse 31 continue if you continue in my word the son does remain at the universe 35 it is the son who continues in the Word of God verse 36 so if the son capital s the son of God the Son of man so if the son makes you free and the son is the only one who can make you free from your enslavement to sin so if the son makes you free you will be free indeed that this is the glory of salvation it's more than just forgiveness of sin and God wipes the slate clean glorious as that is but the son comes into your prison cell and sees you in chained to your sin where you have lived your entire life in the darkness and the confinement of your sin in this prison cell and Jesus comes into your prison cell with the only key that can unlock your chains and he comes to you by his saving grace and he unlocks the chains and the chains fall off and you now at last are free you're not gonna remain in that prison cell how stupid is that like you now know the Lord but you're not gonna follow him out you know the Lord but you don't want to learn from him you now know the Lord but you don't want to follow him for the rest of your life you have no motive to obey Him now all he's done for you that you would choose to continue to live in this dark damp musty phal rat-infested cell it is inconceivable it is so illogical it makes zero sense to any rational human being no if the son sets you free you will be free indeed and you will arise and you will follow him for the rest of your life and you have no desire to go back to that hellhole of a prison cell you may strip and fall along the way and the Lord will pick you up and dust you off but you're never gonna live there anymore the change of life could not be any more obvious and radical you can try to air-condition that prison cell you can spray some perfume into that prison cell it's still a prison cell you need Jesus to set you free and that is what Jesus is saying to them now the importance of cross reference I got to take you to two cross references right now so hang with me come to Romans chapter 6 Romans chapter 6 which is just pulling on my lapels right now to read to you Romans chapter 6 and beginning in verse 16 through 18 please hear these these verses please be well taught in truth do you not know as he says that you've heard me say this a hundred times here 201 times whenever Paul says do you not know it introduces such an elementary basic truth that it is to be understood that you know this this is pre-kindergarten theology this is nursery school theology this hasn't even gotten to a wanna stage yet verse 16 do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience stop right there that's what slaves do slaves obey there is no slave who does not obey now as a slave you'll have one of two masters and you will obey one of those two masters and everyone on planet Earth is a slave of one of two masters do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience you are slaves of the one whom you obey so you can know who your master is by who you obey as a lifestyle now here are your two choices number one either of sin resulting in death or of obedience and what is to be implied here to Christ resulting in righteousness verse 17 but thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin does that sound like John 8:31 2:38 but thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin talking about before your conversion past tense you became please watch this obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed and having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness please feel free to say Amen everyone on planet Earth is a slave let that sink in no one is free to live however they want to live everyone is under obligation to obey their master and there are two masters in the world there is sin and Satan there is God and Jesus Christ and either you are an unbeliever and you obey sin and you now live in sin or you obey Jesus Christ and you live by grace and obedience from the heart to his teaching and there's no halfway house there's no other category those are the only two options and so Jesus says to those Pharisees into those religious leaders into that vast religious throng you are slaves of sin that's why your whole life is described as living in this prison cell of sin but if the Sun will set you free if you will but believe in me I will set you free and you will immediately begin to obey me from the heart no one is living a life of disobedience in the ultimate sense you either live in obedience to sin or you live in obedience to Christ now come to first John chapter 3 I just need to take you to one more text and this is really worth your turning first John chapter 3 I want to look at verse 6 8 and 9 very quickly first John three verse six and as I read this I know you've got your eye on the that this verse I just have to say this the Gospel of John is written that you would know how to believe that you would believe first John is written so that you can know if you really have believed okay first John 5:13 is the key verse in first John that you may know that you have eternal life so the whole argument of 1st John is to give the necessary evidences of the one who is born again did you hear that so there are about eight Evon evidences this is just one of those eight verse six no one who abides in him the word abides is the same word that we saw in John 8:31 continue it's the Greek word Meno m en o Meno it means to abide to stay or to remain no one who abides in him and that and that's another way of saying no one who believes in him sins now before we go to the wrong interpretation of this this does not mean that a believer never sins sins is in the present tenth again and is referring to a habitual lifestyle and ongoing pursuit of life that dominates who you are and controls who you are no one who abides in him lives a life in sin no one who sins meaning lives in it loves it has seen him or knows him let me just tell you that's pretty black-and-white stuff and I'm not going to censor the word of God now look at verse eight I all right I have to read verse seven you want me to verse seven little children that's the way of his endear he's John's like ninety everyone's a little child at this point little children make sure no one deceives you like someone could try to throw you a curve ball at this point and think oh you can be a believer but still live in sin and still practice and sin don't let anyone beguile you and sell you that swampland make sure no one deceives you the one who practices righteousness is righteous that means justified by faith has been declared righteous just as he is righteous now verse eight the one who practices sin is of the devil under the control of the devil of the devil's family is still in bondage to sin I mean this is so straightforward you would have to be very creative in your mind to misunderstand this and to plow around the boulder the one who practices sin is of the devil you're not of God you're of the devil you don't need a better this or that you need a savior for the devil has sinned from the beginning the Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil now verse 9 here is the knockout punch no one who is born of God practices sin because his seed abides in him and he cannot sin meaning he cannot practice sin because he is born of God what Jesus is saying in John chapter 8 is in perfect compliance with first John three in Romans chapter six and in fact John was discipled by Jesus and John was standing there that day at the Feast of Tabernacles and heard everything Jesus preached and John here is simply an echo chamber of the teaching of Jesus there are no fence travelers there's no one foot in one foot out there's no all talk but no walk that salvation is a dramatic makeover of your life if the Sun shall set you free you shall be free indeed now I can wrap this up very quickly come back to John a I just have two more verses John chapter 8 and verse 37 and 38 and then we'll call it a Sunday the last heading I want you to see is the conspiracy confronted in verse 37 I know that you are Abraham's descendants in other words I know that you are the physical descendants of Abraham the he'll be like saying today hey I know you're a Baptist I know you're a Presbyterian I know you're independent I know you're a Methodist I know your background and your upbringing I know you are Abraham's descendants and the fact is they were a physical Jew they just weren't a spiritual Jew not all Israel is Israel now notice what he says yet you seek to kill me let's just get this out in the open seek here it's very strong word means strong desire you you are you are hell-bent to kill me now here's the irony your did you're Abraham's descendants and you seek to kill me but geez look at verse 56 quickly for a second let your eye go across the page verse 56 your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad yea you're Abraham's descendant he looked forward to my day he longed to see the coming of my day and yet you want to kill me the very one that Abraham looked to and was glad so why do you seek to kill me it's very it's very simple this isn't rocket science this is very simple because my word has no place in you that's why my word is the saving message of the gospel of Jesus Christ my word has no place in you the only thing there is place for in you is hatred of me to murder me that's all that's in you is rank unbelief because my word has no place watch this in you my word just lays on the surface of your life and rattles around in your ear but it is not in you verse 38 and we're closed I speak these things I love the Lord Jesus Christ for 10,000 reasons but I love him because he's a straight-talking preacher there's no sugarcoating the message he man's up in the pulpit I love men like this heroic I speak the things which I have seen with my father therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father please catch the drift Jesus says I have a father and you have a father two different fathers therefore there are two different families therefore there are two different family resemblances and everyone in this family mimics their father and everyone in this family mimics their father and no children do not mimic their father there there is a top-down influence that comes and it's a part of the family resemblance so Jesus says I speak the things which I've seen with my father and my father is in heaven my father is the first person of the Trinity God the Father who is absolutely holy who is light and in him there is no darkness at all who all of his ways are are flawless and and perfect that's my father and the only thing that comes out of my mouth is what my father has taught me and told me in my incarnation and every word that you have heard from me has come straight from My Father to you now you reject me you are rejecting not just me you are rejecting my father now you have a different father and he tells us in verse 44 who that father is he says you are of your father the devil and the lost of him you shall do for he is a murderer and he is a liar and that's why you want to kill me because he is the father of all murders and he is the father of all lies and not only are you living in this prison cell this hellhole of a prison cell you also are in a family of rogues and thieves and murderers and all you can do is mimic your father the devil you don't need a better environment you don't need better conditions you don't need better this or that no matter where you go you're in the wrong family and that is why you need to be born again and the only way you can get out of this family you you may think you married into a bad family there's no family as bad as this family every lost person every pervert every sin dominated life is a part of this family and not only do you have sin as your master you have Satan as your father that's a one-two punch and over here you have God as your father who's full of grace and mercy and compassion over here it's hatred over here it's love over here you practice sin over here you practice righteousness and so the only way that you can as I've already said get out of that prison cell and change families is for the Sun to set you free and that is the glory of salvation it is the glory of conversion it is the glory of the new birth so how do we apply this to our lives and I know I've gone long this is worthy of this well I want to say something to those of us who are true disciples this should cause us to give thanks to God every moment of every day but you don't live in this cell of sin anymore and you once lived there some of you lived in there when you're in college some of you lived in there when you were in high school you should give praise and thanks to God that you don't live there anymore that the Lord Jesus Christ has set you free and you live over here on the other side of the tracks now if you're a true disciple of Jesus Christ you need to give thanks to God and you also need I don't want you to hear this you need to have spiritual discernment in your life because there are people who are around you who are living a life of sin and selfishness and self-righteousness and you may think they're in this family of God but I want to tell you if they are still practicing sin you need to have the discernment to know they still yet need to be saved because their life has never and you also need to know that there are still religious leaders today in churches and in pulpits who are just like these false converts of Pharisees who deceive their congregations with their watered-down preaching the last thing to those of you who are unconverted disciples I would just say to you may you delay no longer may you respond now while there's time may you open your eyes and may you awaken to where you are spiritually and may you make that decisive commitment of your life to Jesus Christ because that's the only way you're going to get out of this bondage to sin if the Sun shall set you free you shall be free indeed thank you for continuing to listen your patience but I believe the Lord has spoken through his word to every heart that has ears to hear let us pray our Father in Heaven how we thank you for the son the Lord Jesus Christ what a mighty Savior he is he alone could break the shackles he alone could set the prisoners free he alone can take sons of the devil and make them sons of God we just say in our heart hallelujah what a savior is the Lord Jesus Christ in his name we pray amen you

Channel: Trinity Bible

Views: 1,092

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Id: c1wIzDerBzA

Length: 64min 11sec (3851 seconds)

Published: Sun May 10 2020