of God to John's Gospel, and we're looking at this series of statements by the Lord where he refers to himself as the I Am. And in verse 58 of John 8, the Saviour says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. So we're looking then at this declaration under the heading, the eternal Christ, the eternal Christ. In this section, verses 30 to 59, there are repeated terms and phrases. So we have the repetition of the phrase, my word. verses 31, 37, and 43. And then the phrase, the truth, in verses 32, 40, and then verses 44 to six. Then there is the repetition of the idea of hearing, verses 40, 43, and 47. Now in the context, we note how in verse 31, there are those who apparently believed. Many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. And it is from that point that the Lord Jesus Christ engages in a polemical argument asserting his deity. There are some well-meaning Christians and they say they don't like all this argumentation, they don't like polemics, they think that doctrine is a bad thing. Well, if that were true, we wouldn't need half the Bible, for the Bible itself is full of argumentation, it's full of polemics. And here you have this polemical argument by the Lord. An argument that ends in the most dramatic way in verse 59. Then took they up stones to cast at him. That's how this argument came to conclusion. I want you to notice five things from this passage. First of all, true believing. this thing, this experience, this claim to believe, what is the actual evidence, confirmation and proof? What is the proof and evidence of faith, of believing? Well, the Lord says, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. In other words, a life of obedience. The word continue is an active verb, simply means having started, to keep on, to continue, to endure. Elsewhere, indeed, it is translated as abide, remain and endure so having begun to obey to continue a life of obedience that's the evidence the proof the confirmation of true belief the sphere of obedience is the word if ye continue in my word When the Lord Jesus Christ says, my word, he surely means all of the Bible and not just a little part of it. This is why it is absolutely crazy to have what is called red letter Bibles, to have, as it were, the words of Jesus in red, as though the rest is of less importance. All of the Bible, All of scripture is the word of Christ. Let me give you one example. In Colossians 3, Paul says, let the word of Christ dwell in you. And immediately, he quotes the Psalms. In other words, if you believe in Christ, you cannot unhitch the Old Testament. All of the Bible guides directs and commands the true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. You might say, well, what does that mean in practice? How does that work in reality? Well, in reality and practice, it means we use all of the Bible in seeking an answer to all of life's questions. Every decision and issue that we face in life, we use all of the Bible. Just because something isn't mentioned in the New Testament, doesn't mean there's no answer. If it isn't dealt with in the New Testament, it's because it's already dealt with in the Old Testament. If it's a matter of dispute in the Old Testament, it is therefore opened out and expanded in the New Testament. If it's not a matter of dispute, then it's not open, it's not explained further in the New Testament. So the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, is the whole word of Christ, and therefore all to be received. So true believing is to take the word of Christ, the Old and New Testament, and to obey it. But then secondly, verses 32 to 36, true freedom. In verse 32, the Lord gives that famous declaration that finds its usage in literature and other places throughout history. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Immediately, of course, there is the question, what is truth? And the Lord later on in John's Gospel gives the answer in John 14. I am the truth. So the truth is found in God. It is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. But what is astonishing is the reply of those who apparently believed. Verse 33, they answered him. We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou ye shall be made free? And of course, immediately you see how many people think. They ignore the obvious. At the obvious political, social and economic level, they were not free. At that moment in time, they were in bondage to the Roman Empire. So it was entirely false for them to say that they were never in bondage. They were already in bondage to Rome. However, the Lord is referring, as you can see from verse 34, to a worse bondage than that which is political. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. So he takes their idea of bondage, which they say they're not in bondage to anyone. And he says, you are in bondage. You're in bondage to sin. Here is the ultimate bondage. they are slaves of sin. And our Westminster Confession of Faith rightly states in Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 6 and in paragraph 2, by this sin that is of Adam and Eve, they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God and so became dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. That is what we mean by total depravity, wholly defiled. in all the faculties and parts of soul and body. And paragraph four, from this original corruption, whereby we, that is all the descendants of our first parents, are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, to precede all actual transgressions. In other words, in reality we are slaves. There is no free will. That is to say, utterly indisposed to good. Utterly disabled to good. Utterly made opposite to all good. So there's the negative. Complete inability. And then, of course, it is inclined to. So not only opposed to good, not only opposite to all good, but inclined to all evil. There's the true state of all mankind. There's the ultimate bondage. to be servants of sin. And there's only one who can free from that ultimate bondage. Verse 35, the son. He says, the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. Verse 35, he means the eternal son. And in verse 36, if the son, if this one who abides forever, if this son who is eternal make you free, then you shall be free indeed. The eternal son and the eternal son alone is able to bring that ultimate freedom from the ultimate bondage in which we are held. how many look at their external condition and believe that they are autonomous, free people. They say because we make decisions, we decide to do this and we decide to do that, are we not therefore free? The answer has to be no, because every decision is within the framework of being in bondage to sin. It's like living in a box. The lid is down. All the decisions that are made within the box are not ultimately an illustration of complete freedom. The Lord must come. The Lord must set us free. We are in chains to sin. And sinners ignore the metaphysical reality of their existence. They are sinners in bondage. And the glory of the eternal Christ is that the eternal Christ has brought freedom to his people. So that they're no longer opposed to good, inclined to evil, but there's been a dramatic revolution. They're now inclined to good. and opposed to evil, they have true freedom. So the first point then was true believing, obedience to the word, true freedom in Christ, through Christ, by Christ. Thirdly, verses 37 to 45, true sonship. true sonship. I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father, ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. They said, then said they to him, we be not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. They said, we are Abraham's seed, which of course the Lord does acknowledge that physically they were of the seed of Abraham. So genetically or genealogically, they could say, we can trace our lineage all the way back to Abraham. But while that was true physically, it was clearly not true spiritually. And the evidence is there in verse 37, ye seek to kill me. And the reason they seek to kill him is because my word hath no place in you. Note that point, my word hath no place in you. Here you see that which shapes a person's attitude to Christ. It is the Word of Christ that shapes our whole attitude to Christ. In other words, it is the Bible that shapes our thinking regarding to the Lord. There's no point in starting outside the Bible. You will never savingly understand the Lord unless you start inside the Bible. And if we start to argue with people outside the scriptures, we have already conceded the argument. If the starting point is outside the scripture, the end point will not be scripture. We must begin in our argument with the word of God. Now, of course, you might say, well, are these not Jews? Surely they had the Bible. Well, yes, they had the Bible physically. The Bible was there in every synagogue. The Bible was translated for many, many people. They heard the Bible read. The Bible was read consecutively every Lord's Day and every synagogue. That is why we continue the practice ordinarily of having the old and the New Testament read consecutively, as they read the scripture consecutively, even in the synagogue. But though they had the Bible physically, though they heard it with their physical ears, they did not believe the Bible. They did not understand it. So the Lord says, my word is not in you. My word hath no place in you. So they may have come on the Sabbath day and heard the word, but they promptly ignored or forgot the word. It was not part of their thinking, not part of their theology, not part of their life. And if they did believe the Bible, there is one evident proof. They would have seen that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Godhead. Verse 38, I speak that which I have seen with my Father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your Father. The connection is there between 37 and 38. Because my word hath no place in you, I speak that which I have seen with my Father. So the very words of Christ are the words of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. gives the Word of God. He is the second person of the Godhead. Look at verse 29. The Father hath not left me alone. Why is that? He that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. And then in verse 48, Verse 47, he that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. The Father is present in and with the Son. The Father loved the Son by sending, the Son loves by coming. The Father is eternally the Father of the Son. The Son is the eternally begotten Son. And I should say in passing that there is nothing more spiritually enriching and thrilling and satisfying than to consider this doctrine of the Trinity. The reason why we have such poor lowly sentimental thoughts of Christ is because we're barely supernaturalists. We've barely paused sufficiently long to consider the doctrine of the Trinity. What makes the Lord so grand, glorious and majestic? Remember one who said to the Lord, show us the Father. The Saviour said, have I been so long time with thee? And thou hast not seen the Father. He that hears the Son hears the Father. So the Son says, the Father sent me. The Father is with me. The Lord goes on to say, Abraham understood this because Abraham believed the truth. If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that had told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. He that hears the father loves the son. Therefore, Abraham heard the father and loved the son. He that hears God comes to the Son. Now comes the crucial point that the Lord makes to these people. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. You're of your father the devil. Here's the problem. They don't have true sonship. Abraham had true sonship. Abraham understood these things. Look at what the Lord says of himself. I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. This supernaturalness of the Trinity, the supernaturalness of the Son. Abraham understood these things. These people do not. because they're not true sons. So they want to kill the true son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They are children of the devil. There's the problem. Sinners are children of the devil. You're of your father, the devil. And their lifestyle reflects that, and the less of your father you will do. Why do sinners live as they do? They're simply doing what the devil himself does. They are copying Satan. So that's why we have lying and murdering in our country. He was a murderer from the beginning. Abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him. So there's no truth in a sinner. A sinner like Satan is a liar. And all the desires of the sinner are the desires of Satan. because we are totally depraved. We are opposite to all good, as our confession says, opposite to good, inclined to evil. Satan is opposite of good, he is wholly inclined to evil, therefore all his children are identical to Satan. The Lord is saying to these people, why do you not understand these things? I'll tell you why. Because you cannot hear my word. Earlier he said, my word hath no place in you. Now in verse 37, now he says, you cannot hear my word. There's a deafness. as well as an opposition to hearing the word. And why can they not hear? So why do they not understand? Because they cannot hear. Why can they not hear? Because Satan is their father, verse 44. You cannot hear because Satan is your father. Isn't this what Paul says in 2 Corinthians when he's dealing with the preaching of the gospel. He says that the God of this world had blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine onto them. So the preaching of the word of God throughout all the world comes to those who just cannot hear, because they are children of the devil. Why can they not hear? Because Satan is their father. Verse 44. Why do they not believe Christ? Because they believe the lies of Satan. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. The Lord speaks the truth. Verse 45. But you don't believe. True sonship then. has God as our Father and Christ as our Saviour. True Sanship believes and understands the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, what the Lord says of himself in verse 42 becomes a matter of great importance to the Christian. I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. So the whole doctrine of the Trinity, the whole plan of salvation that involves the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and salvation, the entire Trinity is glorified and magnified. True Sonship delights in this particular truth. True Sonship, 37 to 45. So with true believing, true freedom, true Sonship, and then fourthly, verses 46 to 50, true hearing. Verse 46 says, why do you not believe me? Verse 47, he that is of God, heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. So he that is of God hears God's word. What is a mark of a Christian? They want to hear physically. the Word of God. So that is why the public reading and the public preaching of the Word of God is so vitally important. And while we are thankful for this electronic means of communicating the Word of God, let me say to you quite frankly, it is not enough. There must be that public gathering around the Word of God to hear the word read and preached. Because he that is of God hears God's word. They do not hear because they're not of God. Well, of course, there is a question. Well, what is God's word? Well, naturally, we would say all of the Bible is God's word, which is absolutely true. But it's interesting in the context. Verse 31, my word. which is repeated in verse 37. And then in verse 38, it is the father's word. I speak that which I've seen with my father. So it is the father's word. And then in verse 45, it is the truth. And then in verse 47, it is God's words. And the staggering comment is given in verse 46. Which of you convinced me of sin? Now, the Lord being sinless, the word therefore must always be a true word. It must be infallible and inerrant. And all that the Saviour has said, as recorded in the Bible, must be infallible. In other words, it must be true. And here in this verse, the Lord claims perfection, absolute holiness, sinlessness. And that absolute holiness is only possible because the Father and the Son are of the same substance and essence. Remember what he has said. I speak that which I've seen with my Father. I speak his words. I tell you the truth, verse 45. He that is of God heareth God's words. So we hear Christ, we hear God, we hear the Father when we hear the words. And the Saviour whom we hear is absolutely holy. He is sinless. But the Saviour is without sin because He is God. He is of the same substance and essence as the Father. What does John say in his epistle? That God is light. There is no darkness in Him. He is the God of truth. So what the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching you is this. He is teaching, in a sense, simplicity with respect to essence. He is without sin. Verse 49, I honour my Father. Trinity with respect to person. In verse 38, we go back to that verse, I speak that which I have seen with my Father. Here you're reminded that the acts of God are inseparable within the Trinity. So if the Father is holy, the Son is holy, If the Father does righteous works, the Son does righteous works, and the Spirit does righteous works. The acts of God are inseparable within the Trinity. The act of one person is the action of all three, even when one work or action is ascribed to one person of the Trinity. And over the centuries, theologians have used a phrase for this. It's called divine appropriations. In other words, we think of the works of the Lord, for example. It was the Lord who was conceived in the womb of Mary. and it is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. But we mustn't think that it's not the work of all three, though under this phrase of divine appropriations it is generally said to be the Spirit of God, but all three persons were involved. So you go through the whole of the life of Christ, go through the whole of Scripture and all the works of God, are the works of all three persons of the Godhead. Who made the world? Well, we're told God made the world, but we're also told that Christ made the world, and the Spirit made the world. What is ascribed to one is, in effect, the work of all three. So you may say, well, that's all very well. What has it got to do with true hearing? Well, the answer is this. If you hear Christ truly, then you will come to understand and believe this. In other words, you will hear God's word with a saving understanding. And that's the problem with these Jews. Apparently they believe. But the evidence that they didn't savingly believe is because they don't understand all this. In other words, all this theology is of no interest to them. They are basically pagans, though they are called Jews. How do you know a Christian? Well, a Christian has a fascination, a delight, and a joy to understand the person of God. So they have a delight in hearing the Word of God. As they hear the Word of God, they are hearing the Son, but they're also hearing the Father and the Spirit, because the Word is the Word of the Spirit, what the Spirit is saying to the church as we listen to the Lord. who preaches as his word is read and preached is the word of the Father. So there is a true hearing. So we have true believing, true freedom, true sonship, true hearing, and then fifthly, true life. True life. Verses 51 to 58. In verse 51, the Lord says, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. The response to what Christ says shows their complete ignorance, because they're still thinking physically, not spiritually. And so they reply with a physical argument. Physically, they say, Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, verses 52 and 53. And you see how they repeat the point to emphasize, but also shows us that they don't understand the argument. Abraham is dead, the prophets are dead. But notice how the Lord replies. He takes them again to the doctrine of God, the persons of the Godhead. If I honour myself, my honour is nothing. It is my Father that honoureth me. Of whom ye say that he is your God. In other words, he says, if this God were your God, ye would honour the Son. So in verse 54, the father honors the son. In verse 55, the son knows the father. I know him. If I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar just like you, he says. You are a liar. I cannot say a lie. I cannot tell a lie. I know him. And then he repeats it in verse 55. I know him and keep his saying. Here you have true obedience in the life of the son. In verse 40 he refers to his humanity. A man that has told you the truth. but He is also God. The Father is with me. I have seen the Father. I know the Father. The Father is in me. And yet, supernaturally, He is also a man. The Father honours the Son. If we know the Father, we will honour the Son. And that's what's wrong with these people. They don't have the Word of God within. If they heard the truth, if they knew the truth, if they believed the truth, they would honour the Son. The Son knows the Father. Because the Son knows the Father, He is a true and perfect and complete and sufficient revelation of God. He is a true revelation of the Father. If you want to know the Father, you must know the Son, Jesus Christ. And the Lord says, you know, Abraham understood all this, verse 56. So again, he reminds you of how much Abraham knew and understood. And I think that a comparison to contemporary evangelicals, Abraham knew more evangelical truth than some preachers and confessing Christians. Abraham understood this. Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. And notice he says to him, your father, Abraham. In other words, yes, physically, he is your father. They were indeed genealogically descendants of Abraham. But these people here were untrue to Abraham. And their reliance on Abraham was false. Notice two things here in verse 56. The first is Abraham's rejoicing. In other words, Abraham gloried, he exulted, he boasted He was full of joy. And second, the reason, Christ's day, the coming of Christ into the world. Now commentators all fall out over what even this phrase, my day, means. We'll take it in its normal, clear, and plain sense. The Lord coming into the world, the incarnation, the life, ministry, death and resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the ongoing work of Christ through his servants in the book of Acts. So the occasion of Abraham rejoicing and the content of Abraham rejoicing, the Lord is saying, here is the evidence of being a true descendant of Abraham. And of course, they think physically. Thou art not yet fifty. Hast thou seen Abraham? The Lord replies, Before Abraham was, I am. In other words, this eternal, infinite, independent, self-sufficient, perfect saviour of sinners is without beginning and without end. That's what he's saying when he says, I am. He is the eternal infinite, independent, self-sufficient, perfect, saviour of sinners, without beginning and without end. Abraham rejoiced to see my day, but these people did not. In verse 59, they took up stones to cast at him. Well, in light of those things set out, let's finish with some points of application. First of all, a note of sadness. The sadness is this. The default position of every sinner is Pelagianism. That is to say, Every sinner thinks they are good, free, autonomous, independent beings. But they are not. The lie of Pelagianism is to deceive sinners into thinking that they are free and decent and good and autonomous. The Lord destroys that Pelagian, semi-Pelagian, Arminian position by saying that all are sinners, that all are slaves to sin. Who can set the sinner free? Only Him who is eternal. You see, if we're not in bondage to sin, we don't need a saviour. We don't need the cross. We don't need anything if Pelagianism is true. But Pelagianism is a lie. That's why the Lord says, you're of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. Sinners are devilish. They are slaves to Satan. And we must not be fooled by the philosophies of our world. We must not be deceived by how people live and what people say. We must be guided in our understanding of our fellow man by the Lord, by scripture. Secondly, true faith. True faith is displayed in the Christian's life, and I put it this way, by imitating, as it were, the father and the son. By imitation. Look at verse 50. If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Verse 54. If I honour myself, my honour is nothing. It is my father that honoureth me. We imitate the father and the son. In this way, we imitate the son by listening to the son. As the son hears the father, so we hear the son. We imitate the father by honoring the son. The father loves the son. The father made the world for the son. The father made the world to seek a bride for the son. And the father loves those who love his son. But the father hates those who don't love the son. That is why hell is eternal. The father pouring out his hatred upon all sinners who refuse to love his son. For the father sent the son into the world to save sinners. We live in a world of imitations and imitators. We have plastic that can be made to look like mahogany, but it's only imitation. And many imitate celebrities, and celebrities are like plastic. They pretend to be what they're not. We have millions of people who imitate celebrities. They want to read about them. the gossip. They follow the magazines weekly to follow their, to read about their celebrities. They want the lifestyle of the celebrity. How many are fooled by film stars, musicians, pop singers, but they're all fake. True faith imitates the Father, is like the Father in honouring the Son, is like the Son in hearing the Son. In other words, the Christian is like Christ. Who are you following? Who are you copying? Who are you imitating? And then thirdly, Abraham rejoiced and was glad. Let me ask you very simply, are you glad that Christ has come into the world? Are you glad that Christ has given us the Bible? Are you glad that Christ has called you to himself? Are you glad that Christ has brought you to understanding him? Do you have the gladness of Abraham? in your soul. Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he saw it and was glad. Do you know this gladness, this rejoicing? May the Lord bless these words to your hearts.