I want you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter number eight. That was just a little prelude there for you. That was free, I won't charge you for that. John chapter number eight. When you found your place, stand with us. We'll reverence the word of God as we read it together. John chapter number eight. Going to begin reading in verse number 28. And the Bible says, then said Jesus unto them, when you have lifted up the son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. And he spake these words, or as he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, we be Abraham's seed. And we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, You shall be free indeed. Father, we come before your presence tonight and we thank you, Lord, for the good word of God. And Lord, I pray that now as I attempt to preach your word that you would fill me with the Holy Ghost and give me unction to preach this hour. Lord, I stand where no preacher would ever dare stand alone. So God, would you Help us here tonight and enable us to preach with the power of God. Lord, take our words and Lord, I pray that our personality and our charisma and our excitement about the things of God would be lost in the word of God. I pray that you would allow those that are here tonight with an ear to hear. to hear what the Word of God is saying. Lord, I pray that you would speak beyond the ability of man. And Lord, you would grant a hearing that is beyond the ability of the flesh. Lord, God, help us here tonight. Lord, I pray you'd set sinners free. Lord, I pray tonight would be the night that somebody would call upon your name, and Lord, they'd be able to rejoice and leave this place saying that Jesus set me free. And we'll thank you for what you do. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated. I want to preach out of John chapter number eight this evening on these verses. And with the help of the Lord, I want to preach on this thought. He set me free. He set me free. And when you look at this passage, you understand that there's quite a bit that's going on in these verses, and you'll find that when chapter 8 opens up, that this is where the scribes and the Pharisees bring that one that was caught in the very act of adultery. And the Lord Jesus stoops down and begins to ride in the sand there in the dirt. And they began to go away one at a time until there are no accusers left. And he tells her, there woman, where are the accusers? And he says, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Then he begins to give this discourse as he speaks with his disciples, again saying in verse 12, he says, I am the light of the world. He begins to develop that thought that he is the light. and in him is no darkness, and that he has come to bear witness of the Father, and that he and the Father are one. And as he begins to develop this thought of the I am statement of life, we come to these verses that we've read in you here and here this evening. And Jesus said unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. We find here that Jesus is relating to these Jews and these folk that are there before him, that he is God in the flesh. He's making the claims of deity. He's saying that I am that I am. And here he reveals himself as being the light of the world. And you realize that light is synonymous with truth. And so Jesus is making a declaration that I am the truth. I believe there's another place in John where he did that. He said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. And no man cometh under the Father but by me. And we find that Jesus here is making this declaration. And in the midst of this declaration, we find that all of a sudden it breaks out. And God starts a moving. And folks are getting saved. And there's certain Jews there that are believing. I'm glad when Jesus is present. I'm glad when the light of the glorious gospel's being shed abroad, that God is able to reach down even into the midst of a religious crowd and pluck out those that'll call upon his name and in simple faith believe and take him at his word. We find that taking place here. And I wanna share just a few thoughts about that. I want you to notice, first of all, the declaration of truth. The declaration of truth. He says in verse 31, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth. and the truth shall make you free. What a declaration of truth. What a declaration of the gospel, that if you would but believe the words of the Son of God, you can be made free, set free from your sin and the bondage of iniquity. Oh, the declaration of truth. What did he declare in this great declaration of truth? What is it that the declaration of truth is? I mean, that's what we're here this week doing, isn't it? We're here this week preaching the gospel. I know that for some of you, you're saved. It's a revival meeting, and that to me is one of the greatest struggles, Brother Craig, as a preacher. as how do you feed the flock and try to exhort the saints to revival, and yet at the same time try to plug away at preaching the gospel and calling sinners unto repentance. But I find that whenever we come together in these meetings, if we'll just do our best to lift up Christ, he'll accomplish the work that needs to be done. We find in the declaration of truth that there is a declaration of the gospel. Well, what does the gospel declare, pray tell? Well, it declares, first of all, a revelation that God has revealed himself. I see in verse number 28, we find the word said, then said Jesus. Again, in verse number 28, Verse number 31, it says, then said Jesus to the Jews. Again, he goes on and he says that if you continue my word, then y'all are my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And he is telling us that he has revealed himself through his word. I want to say to you tonight, there is no revelation of God outside of this book. We've got a lot of folk today that say they're looking for a sign, or they're looking for a wonder, or oh, if God would just give them something whereby they could trust him, they could believe what he said. Oh, beloved, he's done give it. And it's right here in the canon of scripture. And if you don't take God's word on the subject, friend, you'll die in your sin and unbelief. You got to understand that the declaration of the gospel, the declaration of truth is a declaration of the revelation of almighty God that he has given concerning himself. We find in that revelation, he reveals to us the word of God. The scripture, thus hath God said, and thus hath God said. You realize that God has revealed himself right here in this book. And if you're gonna know God, you're gonna have to know him through his word. Not only do we see the revelation of scripture, but right here in this text, we see he reveals a sacrifice. He reveals the revelation of sacrifice. You realize he says in verse 28, when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, oh beloved, he chose his words very carefully. And the Lord Jesus never said anything just to take up time or space on the precious record of his word. But what he said had a purpose to it. And beloved, when he says, when you've lifted me up, when you've lifted up the Son of Man, it's a reference to John 3 and verse 14, when he said that even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Beloved, he's not talking about just as preachers, us preaching and lifting up Christ and making much of him, but he's talking about the Son of God being lifted up between heaven and earth on an old rugged cross. You see this cross behind me and how it's been lifted up. Well, Jesus was lifted up on a cross similar to that, where he hung between heaven and earth, and he gave his life as a ransom for many. He was the sacrifice for sin that God required, and he was the only substitute that could meet the need of humanity, and he did it in himself on the cross of Calvary, where he died for sin, and he died for sinners. we see the revelation of sacrifice. Oh, listen to me. We find here the declaration of the gospel is a revelation of the scripture. And in the declaration of the gospel is the revelation of the sacrifice. God's Son being made sin for them that were wicked and ungodly. He who knew no sin, the Bible says, was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah, what a Savior. That means you don't have to remain in your sin. That means you don't have to die in your unrighteousness. If you're lost here tonight, you're in the bondage of sin. You're in the bonds of iniquity. You're on your way to hell with unrighteousness. You'll deserve the punishment of God in eternity forever if you die in your sinful state and condition. But God's saying to you tonight, you don't have to die a sinner. You don't have to die in unrighteousness. Jesus Christ became sin so that you can be made the righteousness of God, be declared just before a holy God, and the annuals of heaven. A revelation of sacrifice. I wanna say the gospel though is also a revelation of submission. He says here, I do nothing of myself, but as my father hath taught me, I speak these things. Here Jesus is, he's given a declaration of truth, a declaration of the gospel, and in the gospel declaration, he reveals the word of God, he reveals the sacrifice of God, but he also reveals the submission of God, how that Christ submitted to the will of the Father. And beloved, he is setting forth an example for every sinner that's ever going to come to Christ by faith, is they're gonna have to come on their knees, they're gonna have to submit to the authority of Almighty God. They're gonna have to bow before His Lordship and say, God, I surrender all. Have you ever surrendered all? Have you ever submitted to the Lordship of Christ? Said, Lord, take my life and let it be consecrated unto thee. Oh, we find the revelation of submission here, but also we find in this text the revelation of sovereignty. Oh yes, a revelation of sovereignty. We find here the Father and the Son working together in perfect agreement to fulfill and to carry out the plan of the gospel of the grace of God. I want to say this thing is not, this thing of the gospel is not plan B. It's not a backup plan, but it's been the plan of God to redeem sinful men from before the foundations of the world. John said in Revelation, when he saw that great number, that ocean of people around the throne, he said they looked and beheld a lamb that had been slain before the foundation of the world. He said, I looked and beheld the sacrifice for sin, and I saw in that sacrifice the plan and the decree of God from eternity past, that he would provide himself a lamb, as he told Abraham, and that the seed of the woman would be at enmity with the serpent, and it would bruise his heel, but he would bruise its head, and thanks be to God, when Jesus came, he did, he crushed the head of the serpent, and he brought victory to those that were in bondage. There's a declaration of sovereignty. You're gonna have to bow to the lordship of Jesus Christ and his sovereign rule over your life, his right to rule your life. then we see a revelation of salvation. And he goes on to say this. He says, in verse 30, as he spake these words, many believed on him. A revelation of salvation. You realize salvation does not come by any other way outside of faith and the Son of God. Thank God Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for what? Righteousness. "'The just shall live by faith,' Habakkuk said." Again, the book of Romans, Paul would quote that same thought, "'The just shall live by faith.'" In the book of Galatians to a bunch of legalists who were trying to work their way into a better standing before God, he said, "'The just shall live by faith.'" I wanna say tonight, friend, if you're trying to stake your salvation in anything other than the finished work of Jesus Christ and faith in what he accomplished on Calvary's cross, your stake is in the wrong place. You need to pull up that tent peg and you need to drive it down into the middle of the cross of Calvary and start trusting in your ability or what you can do and start trusting in Jesus Christ tonight. Declaration of truth here. We see that this gospel declaration, Jesus declared a revelation, but he also declared that there was sanctification. We find here that these Jews, they believed on him. Verse 31, then said Jesus to those Jews. Here, there's a separation taking place. Now there's two groups of people. There's those who have believed, and there's those who have rejected. There are those who have embraced, who have laid hold on eternal life, who had taken the gospel and made it their very own and said, Thou art our Lord and our Savior, and they've believed upon the Messiah that's come. And then there's that religious crowd that's still out there rejecting and saying, no, there must be a better way. This could not be the Messiah. This could not be the one that we have looked so long for. This could not be the anointed of God. And yet what I find so strange is that same crowds in our churches today, I'm not talking about the heathen, I'm not talking about the atheist or the agnostic, I'm not talking about that one out there that denies there's even a God. Oh beloved, that's the kind Paul preached to on Mars Hill and he preached unto them the unknown God and he started with creation and went all the way through redemption and preached Jesus Christ unto them. Beloved Jesus wasn't dealing with a group of people that had no knowledge of God or His Word. He was dealing with a bunch of religious Pharisees that had heard and read and had rehearsed the Old Testament time and time and time again, and they knew the Word of God like the back of their hand, but they had no heart knowledge. It was all in their head and they thought they had figured it out. And friend, they rejected the word of God when he came on the scene and began to reveal himself as the fulfillment of all that Old Testament prophecy that they felt like they really understood. I wonder tonight how many of you is there perhaps that's just religious. Got a head full of knowledge but there ain't nothing in your heart. You've got it all figured out and you know exactly how God's gonna save you, when he saves you. You've got it all figured out. You know what it's supposed to feel like, what it's supposed to look like, but the problem is there is that nothing ever happened to you. Friend, if you're not saved tonight, throw all your expectations out the door and surrender your heart and life to Jesus Christ right now and run to Jesus as the only hope of your salvation. Run to him as your only, as your only life preserver, that without Christ you'll go under. You're not holding on to anything else but him and him alone. Well, that's what we have here. There's a group that by the grace of God has just now immediately been separated from the rest of that crowd and he begins to speak to them directly. I wanna say God has a word for his people. He has a word for all, and there's a general call and the gospel call. We preach the gospel to every creature, and that's our responsibility as faithful, but I wanna say when you get saved, God has a special word for you. God's got some precious truths and some particular things and promises in his word that he'll reveal to you that he won't reveal to just everybody else. He begins to preach to those that have believed they were sanctified, set apart, called apart from the world, set free from their sin, combat the declaration of truth. He had a special word for them who had believed upon his name. Not only do we see sanctification here, we see a continuation. Beloved, I believe this is a part of the gospel that's not being preached a whole lot anymore. We'll talk about getting saved and repenting and believing and remembering a time and all those things are important. But beloved, if there ain't no fruit today to back up what you claim happened 10 years ago, you ought to take that profession of faith you've got and you ought to just throw it in the toilet and flush it down. Because it ain't doing you a bit of good to say God did something for you 10 or 15 or 25 years ago, but you're still living like the devil today and there's never in a change of heart or a change of mind or a change of direction. There's gotta be a continuation. He says in verse 31, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue, if you continue, if you continue, if you ever stop following Jesus, friend, your profession of faith is phony. I know that ain't popular. I know it ain't popular in our Baptist churches, want saved, always saved doctrine. Beloved, I believe if saved, always saved. You can claim everything you want and know as much of the word of God as these religious Pharisees, but beloved, if there is no change in your life and no continuation and following the things of God, you have no right to claim that you know him and the free pardon of sin. There's a continuation here. I see its function. The idea of this word to continue means to abide. It means to remain around one. And the idea here is he's saying, if you continue in my word, he goes on to say, you continue in my truth, in my doctrine, in my declaration. If you continue to follow in my footsteps, I mean, there's an aspect of this thing that when God saves you, you wanna get as close to him as you can and you're going to abide there. Continue right there with him. Where he goes, you wanna go. What he says to do, you wanna do. Think about the little kid's song that we sing. I'll go where you want me to go. I'll do what you want me to do. I'll be what you'd have me to be. I'll go, I'll do, I'll be. Beloved, that's what happens when the Lord saves you. That is a continuation. A hard following after Jesus. You can't get enough of him. It's exciting to serve him. You can't sing enough about him. You can't hear enough preaching about him. You can't testify enough about him. You know what's a problem? A lot of our churches and while we're twice dead, plucked up by the roots is we've just got tired of the good old gospel message, brother Craig. It just doesn't stir our hearts anymore. I mean, when you got days of our lives of playing at the house and you got old Garth Brooks of singing in low places and your mind's on the world, the things of God just doesn't seem to excite like it used to, friend. There ought to be an abiding of the child of God. We see its function, we see its foundation. He says, if you continue in my word, not in religion, Not in man's philosophies, ideologies. He's saying, you're gonna have to continue in my word. You're gonna have to be like those noble Bereans who search the scriptures to see if these things were so. I wanna ask you tonight, do you have a love in your heart for the word of God? If you don't, you might wanna check up. Because if you love Jesus, you'll love his word. And if you're following Jesus, you'll follow his word. This crowd makes me nervous who talks about, well, I don't know about what God's word says on the subject, but I know what I felt. I don't care what you felt. Your feelings will deceive you, friend. Your conscience will lead you astray, friend. You better believe what the word of God says. You better stake your claim on the fact of God's word. We find there's a foundation here and it's the word of God. It's the idea of adhering to, of conforming your life and basing it around the Word of God and using the Word of God as the building block, the corner piece, the foundation of your soul. Can you claim that tonight? Is the foundation of your life God's Word? He says if you're gonna continue, you're gonna have to have a foundation that is sure, that is settled, and it's the Word of God. If you continue in my words, what he's saying. Not only do we see the function and the foundation, we see the fruit. Look what he says. If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. We find there's going to be fruit as you continue. This idea of discipleship, making disciples, it's the idea of reproducing oneself. Paul told it to Timothy like this. Timothy, teach now those things that you have learned. Teach them to faithful men who will in turn teach others also. About four generations, if I count it right, Brother John, Paul teaching Timothy, Timothy teaching faithful men, faithful men teaching others who will teach others also. You understand that this thing is continuing because of God working in our life by his word and revelation. And if there's a continuation in our life, it will be seen by the fruit that will follow and God will begin to bless and add and multiply in the work and in the kingdom of God that he's put us to labor in. There's a continuation, fruit, that abounds. The verse of scripture God gave me when I was struggling with a call to preach is John 15, 16. For you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit. Bring forth fruit, bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. Whosoever ye shall ask a father in my name, he will give it to you. I want to say to you, if you continue, there's going to be some fruit. If there's no fruit, there's no continuation. Are you following the word of God tonight? Is it everything to you? Is it more important than anything else in this world? If not, friend, it may be that you are still in bondage to your sin. You've never been set free. You've heard the gospel and its general call and its general delivery, but it's never been made effectual to your heart. Oh, friend, if you're in that place tonight, my advice to you is find you a spot in the altar and wallow it out and beg God to have mercy on you, show you how sinful you are, Now, if you don't see yourself a sinner tonight, best thing you can do is get along with God and beg God to show you how wretched and depraved you are as a hell deserving sinner so that you might see how desperate you are and how much you need Christ. There's gonna be a continuation. Then he goes on, there's gonna be a liberation, verse 32. And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. I see the recognition of truth. He says, you shall know it's the idea to know someone intimately, to be of an intimate knowledge of one. He's saying when God sets you free, you're going to know something's happened in your life. You're going to be brought into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. You've met him for the first time and it's not like meeting any other man. but he is the God-man, the creator of the universe, the provider of your salvation, the sustainer of your soul, the coming king of glory. You've met the one who died for your sins and rose again, friend. You're gonna have an intimate knowledge of him. There's a recognition of that truth. He declared to them liberation. There's a reception of that truth. You shall know the truth the idea of that word again. It not only means an intimate knowledge, but it means to make your own This isn't what mama believes or daddy believes or grandma or grandpa or my husband or my wife? I'm not going to heaven based on what my wife knows about God I'm going to heaven, Brother Craig, based upon what God has revealed in my heart about himself, and he set me free when he did it, and there's a recognition of truth and a reception of truth that makes me not able to go back to the lifestyle I used to live, to the cesspools of sin I used to live in, and the bondage of sin I used to be in. I've been set free, and I don't have any desire to go back to that lifestyle, friend. There's a liberation, a declaration of liberation. Then we see the reward of that truth. He says, if you are free, you shall be free indeed. Certainly free, abundantly free. No question about it, set free. The declaration of truth, but notice with me secondly, the denial of truth. And what's so sad is tonight, this is where some of you are. This would rightly describe where some of you are currently at in your spiritual state. You've heard the gospel over and over and over and over again, but you continually deny and reject by your actions that you need the gospel. You say, well, preacher, I know I need help, but I just can't seem to find it. Beloved, if you really realized how needful you were, you wouldn't stop till you did find it. And if you realized how close this thing is to coming to an end and wrapping up, friend, you would redeem the time that you have because the days are evil. And you would do everything in your heart that you could to seek God. while he may be found, and call upon him while he's near. But I find the denial of truth in this text. Verse 33, and they answered him. Here's this crowd that didn't believe. This is this crowd that's not continuing. This is this crowd that's not been set free. This is this religious know-it-all crowd. And they say in verse number 33, they answered him, we be Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage. What a denial of truth. Do they realize who they are? Never in bondage to any man? What about Egypt? What about Babylon? What about Persia? What about Syria? What about in the immediate context, the Roman garrison that was looking down upon them, who they were in bondage to? And yet they had the audacity to say, we've never been in bondage to any man. You know, that's the song of the world. You'll go out and witness or preach the gospel to a sinner, and they'll look at you and say, I'm not lost. I'm not a sinner. What do you mean I need to be saved? In essence, they're saying, I've never been in bondage to any man. I've never been in bondage to anything. It's a denial of what God reveals about the sinful state and condition of humanity. Now I was thinking about what our sister we were fellowshipping today. And Sister Michelle was telling us about her sister when she was little. In the bathtub, five years old, told her mama she wanted to be saved. And her mama asked her, well, why do you want to be saved? Are you a sinner? And appalled like, she looked at her mama and said, I'm not a sinner. In her innocence, she didn't realize what she was and even why she needed to be saved. But what's so sad, that's understandable with a five-year-old. What's so sad is when you got a 25-year-old look you in the face and say, I'm not a sinner. What are you talking about? We have a denial of truth right here. This religious crowd denying to identify, not accepting the reality that they are sinners in need of a savior. Again, I bring it back. This may be where some of you are tonight. You're not willing to accept that you need a savior. And so you go on and you sin. And every now and then you get stirred in your heart, but you're not willing to fully accept the fact that you're a sinner and you need to be saved. They denied past failures. That speaks of the bondage of sin that they had experienced in their past. Israel, I mean, the Bible tells us that these things were given for our and samples, and you can go back to the Old Testament and read time and time and time and time and time and time and time again, where God would deliver them, set them free, bless them, and then they would turn their backs on God going to idolatry, and he would send in the Canaanites or the Philistines or one of the other conquering nations, and they would take them into captivity, and God would judge them, and then they would finally lift up their eyes, call upon the name of Jehovah. He would deliver them, bless them, set them up again, and before you know it, the cycle continued on and on and on and on. There was a denial of past failures. We have never been in bondage. Who is it here tonight? Do you deny any past failure? Well, I've never really been that bad preacher. I mean, I ain't the best, but you know, I know a lot of folk that's worse off than I am. They've done a lot of things I wouldn't do. I mean, I could take you down here to West Helena, Arkansas. We can go in some of these communities and find people that's a whole lot worse off than I am, preacher. I'm not really all that bad. You know what you're doing? You're denying your past failures. You're denying that God said you're a sinner and an alien by birth. and by choice, that you came from your mother's womb speaking lies, and as soon as you had the ability to, you rejected all knowledge that you'd been given of God, and you went headlong into sin and rebellion against God. You're denying what the Bible says about you, that you are totally depraved outside of God. They denied past failures. They denied present facts. that they were presently under the bondage and rule of the Roman Empire, that they were presently under the burden and the weight of sin, that they were only allowed to do what Roman law allowed them to do. I say to you, if you're here and you're lost tonight, you're under the burden of sin, and you're only allowed to do what the law of sin allows you to do, and being in bondage to sin, that means all you can do is sin. That's why a sinner sins, because he's a sinner. That's why a hog wallows in mud, because he's a hog. That's why a dog barks, because he's a dog. Asher could get on all fours and go to barking like a dog, but that don't make him a dog. But a dog barks because that's his nature, and he's a dog. And friend, you sin tonight, not because of anybody else or anything else. You sin tonight because of your own sinful nature that dictates to you that you must sin. And on your best day, at your very best, your righteousness is filthy rags and you're still a sinner in the sight of God because you are in bondage to sin. They denied the present facts. But then they also denied the problem that they were facing. And that was that if something didn't happen, Jewish culture was going to come to an end. And they thought more of their culture and their Judaism than they did of the God of heaven. And we see the bondage that sin brings us into and thinking that our old way of life will be enough to get us through. Hey, some of you I'm afraid that think whenever you die and stand before God, he's going to weigh out all the good and the bad and just maybe there'll be enough to tip the scales. Beloved, that is not the way it works. I had a man. And our church tell me one day we were having a work day. He told me, Brother Craig, he said, I'm not as bad as a lot of folk, even though I know I've done some bad stuff, but I'm just hoping when I get there, there'll be enough goodness in my life to tilt the scale in God's favor. And I said, man, If you wait till you get to heaven to see if your good works will tilt the scale in God's favor, you're going to be sorely disappointed. The only thing, Brother Craig, that'll tilt the scale in God's favor, the only thing that'll outweigh your mountain of sin and the debt of sin that you have occurred on your account is the blood of Jesus Christ and the righteousness of God in Him. The only hope you have tonight of being set free is looking to Jesus Christ and believing upon him. The denial of truth. Not only do I see the denial of truth and the declaration of truth, but I see the deadly truth. He says in verse 34, Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. and the servant abideth not in the house forever. What a deadly truth this is, that all are sinners, slaves, and suffering in a lost condition outside of the grace of God. He says here in verse number 34, I say unto you, whosoever committeth. I see here the practice of sin. May I say to you that if you have a habitual lifestyle of sin, you have no right to claim forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ. Because when you are saved by the grace of God and set free, you will not live like you used to live. You will not be in bondage to what you used to be held captive to. You will be set free. Here he said that he that has not believed He who has not looked upon the Son of God. This group that is over here that had believed that he spoke to specifically, now he's turned to this other crowd and he is saying to them that those that commit sin continually over and over and over again are the slaves of sin. There's the practice of it. What is the practice of sin? What's the practice of sin that's gonna take you to hell, sir? What is the habitual lifestyle of sin in your life, dear ma'am, that's gonna be the cause of you being cast into the lake of fire where there is a torment, where there is a gnashing of teeth, where there's a fire that is unquenched? What is it tonight that would cause you to lose your own soul? What is it in this world that's worth continuing? What sin is it that's worth your soul? What sin is it tonight that's worth rejecting the free gift of everlasting life that is given by Jesus Christ to all who believe? There was a practice of sin. He said that they committed over and over and over again, and that made them the servant of sin. In this text, we don't only see the practice of sin, but we see the prison of sin. See, a lot of people have in their mind that they're able to come and go, and you know, I can sin, but if I didn't want to sin, I don't have to sin, I can quit preacher. I mean, I'll quit one day, preacher. I'll stop sinning one day, I'll stop doing that, and I'll stop going there, and I'll stop watching this, and I'll stop drinking that, and one day, you know, I'll turn over a new leaf, and I'll be a better person. I can stop when I want to, oh no, friend. You don't realize how enslaved you are. You're a slave to sin. You're in the prison house of sin. That's what the word servant here means. Doulos, the Greek root word doulos, it carries the idea of having one's hands tied together and bound. For in Satan has taken you captive at his own will. And unless God steps down into your life and rescues you, you'll die and go to hell. Beloved, when he steps down in your life and begins to reveal himself, you better respond. You better call out. You better cry, have mercy upon me. Because he can leave you like he found you and go on his way. You don't have to save a soul. But I'm glad that all them that call upon his name, all that the father giveth to him shall come unto him. And he that cometh, he will in no wise cast out. He'll save your friend if you'll come to him. He said, you're the servants of sin. And then he says this, verse 35, and the servant abideth not in the house forever. There's a contrast made in this verse of a servant and a son. And no matter where a son goes, how far he goes, he'll always have a right back home, a place in the father's house. But a servant can be sold and sent away and never return. And beloved, this is speaking to the payment of sin. There's going to come a day when you're going to cease to abide under the graces and the mercies of God in this life, and you're going to be cast out into utter darkness where there is no mercy, where there is no grace, where you'll be in torment forever and ever and ever. The servant abideth not forever. If you're a slave to sin and you die in that state, one day you will be cast out of the good mercies and provisions of God and you will be cast into an eternity of condemnation and judgment where there'll be everlasting punishment. But there's yet a day of grace. There's yet an opportunity being extended to those who have yet to call upon the name of the Lord. There is yet hope for your soul, so long as your heart beats in your chest. And the deadly truth is that you are a sinner in the prison house of sin, and one day your time's gonna run out, and when it does, you're gonna die and go to a devil's hell. Well, you'll wait the judgment day at the white throne judgment, where God's gonna put you in the lake of fire forever and ever. But thanks be to God for the delivering truth. Verse 36, if the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And I'm glad in the midst of a deadly truth and a denial of truth, there's still a delivering truth tonight that Jesus has the power to set sinners free. And if you'll but look unto him and trust him with all your heart, friend, he can set you free too. A delivering truth. We see here in verse 36, if the son therefore, we see the Lord, we see the savior. This is a work that God has to do. It begins with God, but I want to say this for him. When God begins dealing with your heart, he begins wooing your soul. He begins convicting you of sin. You are responsible to respond to the wooing of God and run to Jesus with everything in you and cast yourself upon him and believe upon his name and find refuge for your soul. Stop running tonight. Stop continuing in your sin. If God's dealing with your heart, respond to him, trust him, look to him, call upon his name. It's a delivering truth. Not only we see the Lord, he says here, the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. There's a liberation here. True freedom. They boasted of a freedom that they did not have. We've never been enslaved. We've never been in bondage to any man. And yet here the Bible's telling us that there's a true freedom. There's true liberty that comes only through Jesus Christ. Paul would say in the book of Galatians, walk in the liberty wherein Christ has made you free. We're celebrating 50 years of the Indian mission this year. And that was the year of Jubilee in the book of Leviticus. And in the year of Jubilee, the trumpets were to blow and the land went back to the original owners of the land and slaves were set free and the ground was to lie unbroken and let it rest. And they would declare liberty throughout the land. And those slaves that were in bondage, they say before they were set free, there would be 10 days of feasting and celebration unto God that they were going to be set free. Hallelujah, we find a liberation here. And who the Son sets free shall be free indeed. Beloved, when He sets you free, there'll never be any sin, any entanglement in this world, no bondage that's ever able to take you out of the liberty that God puts you into. You'll be free indeed. Thought about what John 10, 10 tells us. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy, but I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. If you're not saved tonight, you do not have life. You are a slave in bondage to your sin. If you die, you're gonna die in your sin and bust hell wide open. And yet we find here the Bible says that whom the Son shall set free shall be free indeed, and to whom the Son shall give life, they'll have life more abundantly. God doesn't just go a part way, but when God does something, he goes all the way. It's not just freedom, but it's freedom indeed. It's not just life, but it's life more abundantly. I wonder tonight, has he ever set you free? Have you ever been set free from the bondage of sin and iniquity so that you might rejoice in the Lord and be glad therein? I want to say this, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter, I believe it's in chapter number eight, I'd have to go back and look now, my mind's drawn a blink, but he talks about how that we are no longer in bondage. Beloved God has set us free, and as his people, he expects us to continue in the liberty wherein we've been made free. I want to say this message tonight has been primarily to the lost. But if you're saved tonight, you ought to be able to rejoice in the joy of your salvation, knowing in whom you have believed and that you've been set free. But I'm afraid tonight that a lot of our church folk across this land, I'm not just saying here tonight, but everywhere, there's a lot of church folk that are in bondage tonight. They've gone back into sin. They've let some standard or conviction slide in their life. They've stopped reading the Word of God. They've not been faithful like they used to be, and they went back into bondage, and there is no joy in salvation anymore. You can preach on the gospel and how God redeems sinners and saves souls. You can talk about singing about all the good things of God, and we'll just sit there like a knot on a log, unaffected, unmoved, unconcerned, because we've put ourselves back into bondage. We're not walking in the liberty wherein Christ has made us free. I thought it was pretty interesting tonight. I didn't say a word. to Brother John, but he led us in a hymn that goes right in hand with my title tonight, He Set Me Free. And here in my notes, I've got words to that hymn. Once like a bird in prison I dwelt. No freedom from my sorrows I felt. Is that you tonight? Are you a bondage to your sorrow, to your sin? Is there no peace? Is there no joy? Do you find many of your nights to be sleepless nights because you don't have the peace of God that passes understanding? Are you still in bondage to your sin tonight? There's good news! Jesus can set you free. He goes on, he said, no freedom from my sorrow I felt, but Jesus came and he listened to me and glory to God, he set me free. Thanks be to God tonight, I've been set free. I don't have to sin anymore, Brother John. I don't, I don't have to sin. I ain't preaching sinless perfection. I wish it was true. I wish it was. But I'm telling you right now, I don't sin like I used to. And when I do sin, it makes me miserable. And I have to get right with God. I can't live in that state. Thanks be to God, he set me free. I'm not what I used to be, and I'm not where I used to be, but I've been set free by the power of the gospel. Jesus revealed himself to me one day, and I ran to him. I ran to him. I wonder tonight, if anyone here lost in bondage to sin, Jesus is dealing with your heart, would you not run to him tonight? He'll set you free. He'll liberate your soul. He'll take away the guilt of sin. He'll wash you and cleanse you and make you whole within. Look to him tonight as we bow our heads. God's dealt with your heart, I encourage you. Respond to the gospel. Maybe you're a sinner tonight. Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. See how he waits in the portals, he's calling.