Bible Lesson 189

The Truth of the Gospel John 8:30-32

As Jesus Spoke these words, many believe in Him, Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”.

“The Gospel is not merely a message of deliverance, it is also a rule of conduct. It is not merely Theology, it is also ethics. Like some of the ancient municipal charters, the grant of privileges a proclamation of freedom is also the sovereign code which imposes duties and shapes life. Alexander MacLaren

In this lesson we want to make sure that the gospel that saved us, is the Gospel that saves. Believe me there are many pseudo-gospels out there; and they will woo many away from God, instead of pointing you to the cross of Christ, that saves. God did not give us the gospel for us to tinker with or change or sweeten up, so that sinners would like it. There are many little sermonettes out there that will cause a group of sinners to grow, but those sinners will go to hell for eternity, and that’s the reason that somebody has to stand in the middle of the road, and shout, and even anger some, to keep them from ending up on the wrong side of God at the judgment.

Preaching is worth nothing to anyone if it is an exercise in making people comfortable and building a false sense of unity in the congregation. When ever God saves a person that person will have unity with those who have obtained like precious faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (2nd Peter 1:1). Christianity is not a feel good type of religion, Christianity is proof of the love of God toward those who have received Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior.

Those who are truly saved have heard or read the truth of the Word of God (Gospel), and have had the hand of God on and in their lives. God gives a true Christian multiplied Grace and peace in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. He has given them or us, all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue’then we are partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, (2nd Peter 1:2-4).

To make sure that we all are reading off of the same page and that we really understand what those verses there in 2nd Peter 1:1-4, let’s state them in the language of our day. What those verses say to us is that in Salvation we all begin at the same place, we are all lost and going to hell, dead in trespass and sin and under the wrath of God. We all have the same problem, we are condemned and there is only one way out, and that is that we must be awakened from our death-state and granted by God, because of His Grace, the knowledge of God, and our hearts desire to be forgiven. Then we must submit to the Lordship of Christ.

Oh, I know that there is a group out there that believe that you can be saved but refuse the Lordship of Christ, but they are not saved people, because My Bible says that Christ is Lord and we recognize that if, and when we are saved, Romans 10:9-10, which reads “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” That is stated with other scripture in mind since it does not state, at least to the carnal mind enough to convince them that, that either Christ will be Lord over all, or Christ won’t be Lord at all!

Now, we need to be careful when we preach the truth even, because there are many who like to take what is said and scramble it in their thought process and then think that they are saved when they still do not know the truth.

We quoted Romans 10:9-10, a few lines ago, some read that or hear it preached but not explained and they think that they are saved because they say that they have told someone (preacher) that they believed when they don’t really know what believe means. What that means there in Romans chapter 6, is much more than what we mean when we say believe. The Greek word that is translated believe there, does not speak of a mental belief, it speaks of a heart belief, and that means that you have heard the truth and received it as truth, you believe it to the extent that you trust Christ and His Word on the cross to be all that is necessary for your salvation, and you have determined to live the life that Jesus sets down for you by obeying all that you know the Bible says. Our words faith and belief are both from the root word Pistis, and it carries with it the sense of commitment, trust, agree, assure, obey, persuade, yield, and all of that becomes the motivation for you life. You not only say that you believe but you truly believe the Bible, you trust your eternal life to Christ, you agree with all of the Bible as written, you obey all you know, you are persuaded, that the Word of God and the Will of God is what is right, you have yielded your life to Christ, and the life that you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me, (Galatians 2:20b NKJV). Knowing what you are doing when you profess Christ in salvation is much different than joining some group that calls themselves a church. We can compare the truly saved person, as a living human being, versus the professor, without possession of Chris, as a robot.

That’s the difference between eternal bliss in heaven, and eternal torment and pain in hell. Just think, when a person knows the truth and is regenerated by God and justified and sanctified, saved, He has had the hand of God on and in his life, and mark my words?.That makes a radical difference! With that said, let’s move now to the scripture reference that we used for this lesson and that was John 8:30-32. Those scriptures tell us about a sermon that Jesus preached to a group of Jews, Jesus had preached that He was destined to die and would go away (back to heaven from whence He had come), He then told them, that unless they believed in Him they would die in their sins?.and those who heard it believed in Him. Of course we are talking about Jesus Christ, the God-Man, who knew the hearts of all of them and so He did not invite them to join his church, like almost a hundred percent of preachers in our day would do, instead Christ exhorted them to abide in His word and be His disciples. He told them further that if they remained true to his commandment ?to abide in his word,’ that they would know the truth and the truth would make them free.” Jesus went on in verses 34-36, that they would have to break free from the slavery of sin, to become a Son, Therefore if the Son (Jesus Christ) makes them free, they would be free indeed. The question now became ?would they all continue to believe, would they all trust Christ, would they abide or live in Him? Absolutely not, just as in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:18-23), some seed fell on the pathway, some on stony places, some among thorns, and some on good ground. The only seed that produced (salvation), was that that fell on good ground. It’s the same way with preaching to day, and that’s the reason that Jesus Christ tells us that only a few will be saved, (Matthew 7:13-14). Now, I know that many eyes will pop open when you read what I just wrote, that only a few people in the enormous numbers that will hear the gospel, will be truly saved and go to heaven, but we must know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, in order to be Christians. Remember it is the truth that sets you free! So seek the truth at all costs. Remember also that the Word of God tells us that it will be those who have overcome, and kept the Word, who will receive the reward of heaven, (Revelation 2:26).

The question now becomes what about you and I, do we know the truth as written in the Word of God, the Bible, or do we know the revised, rewritten, changed and made acceptable to sinners version that so many preachers today preach every Sunday? Do we really understand sin and what it has done and is doing to people all over the world? Sin is not just what we do, it is who we are, unless we know the truth and have been set free by that knowledge; and as a result of knowing the truth and being saved we are using the Word of God as our guide. We all were sinners when we were born to the flesh, but some of us ?a lot fewer than we think have found the truth, and been born again by God and we are now?.Not sinners but Saints (Romans 1:7). If you are a layman whose preacher continually puts forth as fact, that everybody are sinners and he is the worst preacher in the bunch.

I ask you who but a sinner would want a preacher like that. The Bible, through the Apostle Paul, exhorts all who are saved to, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1). The question always becomes, “Well, can a Christian really live above sin?” The answer is absolutely yes, the fact is that we have been encouraged for so long to sin, that we think that we cannot. Read 1st John 2:1 and be encouraged to live without sin, in His power. 1st John 1:2 says “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” That verse of scripture along with others makes sin a possibility, not a probability; because sin breaks our intimacy with God. Think about the Jews?.who thought that they did not need Christ and His Cross to make them righteous; then think of people in our day, who for the most part think that since their Pastor and teachers all say that we are all sinners who cannot walk a moment without sin; and so, they are happy and comfortable, and lost and going to hell in their sin.

Apparently we have forgotten much of the Bible so let’s do some remedial study right now. Let’s remember that God made Adam in God’s image and Adam was perfect, until He disobeyed God’s command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, (Genesis 2:16-17). The moment that Adam ate of that tree He lost the image of God or at least a very critical aspect of it because he was separated from God, put out of Paradise. His nature of rebellion passed to all of his progeny (you and I and everyone born to the flesh). That’s the position we are in unless and until God does a supernatural work in our lives and saves us and makes us that New Creature in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-10). Adam was the first Adam but He failed God by disobeying His command, not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That put us all at risk of hell?but God has an eternal plan, so Adam did not bushwhack God, God knew that Adam would fail so his plan took that into consideration and God has and will continue to us everyone who is born to play out His eternal plan to save a people. He told us in the Third Chapter of Genesis verse 15, that there was a Messiah, a Savior in His plan. Those of us who are ever saved, are drawn by the Father to the Son, and we comply with God as He creates us anew.

We die to the old Adam which is in the flesh, and put on the New man which is Christ. Is that what you have been taught about sin and salvation, about Adam, and Christ, about that new man that is put on after we put off the old Adam? Now, do you believe that God has the power in His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ to cause you to be able to walk without sin in your life? If you don’t believe it and trust what He did to empower you to live like He lived (sinless), then you probably have not believe unto salvation. That should not frighten you, because you are still alive and as long as you are alive, God is open to do business with you, but it is always on His terms. If we could chose how we would be saved and when and what we would do, we would probably mess it up just like most of our lives today are not what God created us to be. God did not create Adam to be a farmer who had made the earth his enemy, that would develop thistles and thorns and actually resist Adam’s efforts to feed his family. Adam was like God and Christ IS God and we are in Him and He is in us, if we are saved, we are like Christ. Our problem is not that we lack anything that would allow us to live holy lives, it is that we do not intend to attempt to live that way; because if we did, it would offend our preacher. If you are reading this and you haven’t figured out that I am offended by preachers who preach that Satan and sin is more powerful that God, then let me shout it to you. It offends me that anyone could be that arrogant as to stand in a pulpit, and concede to the devil by saying that we cannot live above sin. This is not the first time and it will definitely won’t be the last time that I condemn it, unless God calls me home.

I have fought this type of cowardice, and denial of God’s power for a long time and I have stood against some high powered Pastors who were guilty of it, and had them argue with me that human nature has proven that man cannot live above sin. I normally ask them what sin they are guilty of and they all say the same thing?”Oh, I don’t know right off but I know that I am guilty of something.” I always say to them tell me what sin you are guilty of so I can rebuke you and get you back on track with God. I even had a talk with the Pastor of one of the larger churches in the south, and he told me that God did not intend to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. When he said that I asked him what Bible he was using because my Bible, said the God sent angels to get Lot and his family out of the city, so that God could burn it and the sodomites up. Needless to say, He had no answer but the Bible was not given to man for his correction, instead it was given to make man acceptable to God.

Now let’s get to the place where we must come to if are ever to begin to reach the hearts and minds of those that God elected in eternity past. We must stop our agreeing with those who preach a lie and we must stop going along to get along. God does not mind if you begin to learn His Word in context and then begin to correct anyone who would speak and corrupt it. I say God won’t mind because I know that He commands it. Look at 1st Timothy 5:19, where God is instructing us about the Elders (teachers) of the church, and God says when one of them commit’s a sin by erring on the Scripture, we are to rebuke them in the presence of all, that those who heard the error will know the truth. I believe that it was Charles H. Spurgeon who said ” we do not do God any favors when we sit under preaching that is in error. The important thing here is to study to make ourselves acceptable to God, by knowing the truth so that we can recognize error when we hear it.

Do not think that this is something new because it began to happen soon after the Savior, Jesus Christ died on the cross, to redeem those who would obey Him (Hebrews 5:8-9), and I will now insert what John Bunyan had to say about it back in the 1600’s. As a friend of mine has mentioned, “it was bad in Bunyan’s day, but I think ten thousand times worse today”. Bunyan said “And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2nd Timothy2:19). But this is a day that was never read of, a day wherein conversion is frequent without repentance; such a conversion as it is; and therefore doth the Church of God now swarm with them that religiously name the name of Christ and yet depart not from iniquity. Alas! All homes, all tables, all shops have hanging up in them the sign of the want of repentance (Ecclesiastes 7:27-28).

To say nothing of the talk of the beds and backs of most that profess; by which of these is it one of a thousand for men, and for women one in ten thousand, do show that they have repentance? No marvel, then, that the name of Christ is so frequently mentioned there, where iniquity dwells; yea, reigns, and that with the consent of the mind. I would not be austere, but were wearing of gold, putting on of apparel, dressing up houses, decking of children, learning of compliment, boldness in women, worse in men, wanton behavior, lascivious words, and tempting carriages, signs of repentance, then I must say the fruits of repentance swarm in our land; but if these be none of the fruits of repentance, than, O the multitude of professors that religiously name the name of Christ and do not depart from iniquity. John Bunyan (1628-1688). I close by exhorting you to think deeply about what this lesson has said and I have proven by quoting the Scriptures.

Until next time,

may God bless and keep you

This is Bro. Bob