John

[0:00] Father, sing hymn 989 to the tune Hilborough 157.

[0:14] Hymn 989. Ye captive souls in fetters bound who feel your misery, the way to liberty is found, the Son shall make you free.

[0:27] Hear the Redeemer's gracious call. Poor captives, come to me. Into my arms for freedom fall. Come and I'll make you free.

[0:40] Hymn 989. Hymn 989. by this Don't�.

[1:30] Bill. Jesus Christ, O Lord, the captives come to me.

[1:44] In truth, O Lord, the captives come to me.

[2:06] O Lord, the captives come to me.

[2:27] This is the one's appointed time.

[2:39] He has to be to me. This is the one's appointed time.

[3:02] The book shall be the one's appointed time. The book shall be the one's appointed time.

[3:22] This is the one's appointed time. Give us my soul for every soul.

[3:44] Let me first step and be. Let me first keep my conscience clean.

[4:05] Let me first step and be. Let me first step and be.

[4:27] I will read again the subject we had before us this morning. And though I will read both verses, I shall pay attention more particularly to the second of those verses.

[4:38] So we come to the gospel according to John, chapter 8, verses 31 and 32.

[4:55] Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.

[5:08] And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. May we truly be favored to realize what this really means in Christian experience.

[5:37] As I have often said in the scriptures, there are certainties. There is nothing else but certainties. Whether it is certain in regard to condemnation, whether it is certain in regard to salvation, the word of God has a clear ring, and a powerful ring, so that as people listen or read the scriptures, they may see the clarity which is presented to them, and accept their minds are dulled, and their hearts rigid in opposition, they may find a blessing indeed.

[6:20] Just referring to the morning subject, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.

[6:35] It is only the disciples of Jesus Christ that will come into the fullness and excellency of this second verse. But it will be a privilege indeed, and a blessing in our souls, if we are able to be witnesses, and to be able to testify to the truth that we have before us in this verse, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

[7:03] Of course there was a time, and has been a time in all our lives, when we have not known the truth. And perhaps we have been in that place, where we have anticipated, as God has given us grace, that we may know the truth.

[7:20] And how encouraging is this word, and ye shall know the truth. Satan may attack us sometimes, that we shall never know the truth.

[7:33] And that everything, after all, is very doubtful, and the truth is something which is already fallen in the streets, so that equity cannot enter, and how unlikely it is that you will know the truth.

[7:49] When all these suggestions have penetrated our mind and disturbed our equanimity, then what a word for God to speak and for his voice to be heard above all voices.

[8:06] In the world there are many voices, many voices which are discouraging. But when God speaks, then what he says is truth indeed, and has an effect which will sweep away all the lies that have been whispered in your ears by many voices.

[8:32] When Pilate said, what is truth, he was a hypocrite. He wasn't interested in the truth. But there are others, God's children born again of the Spirit, who are reaching out after truth.

[8:51] Is it so that you, that are here this evening, will be able to testify that you are reaching out after truth? In some things, you know, we have to discover we shall not make any progress standing still.

[9:10] And yet, there is a fearfulness that arises in our hearts, lest we should move and move in the wrong direction.

[9:26] In the word of God, we have truth concerning this. I would remind you of that scripture, he that believeth shall not make haste.

[9:40] Satan is all for rush. And he will try to rush you on. And come to some conclusion, which is not the right conclusion at all.

[9:57] But despite this, this word will stand out, so to speak, in golden letters. Ye shall know the truth.

[10:12] There are many points that could be considered relative to the truth itself. And we shall just mention one or two this evening, which will, if you know them, be of tremendous benefit.

[10:30] And you will know that you have the truth because it will make you free. Bondage is the atmosphere of the whole world.

[10:47] There are many people who think that they are free. But in actual fact, they are in bondage to Satan. And though they do not realize it, they are a slave to Satan.

[11:03] And though it may appear that they are free to do this and that, yet they are not so. They are free to sin. But blessed be God, if God overrules that freedom and brings it into, so to speak, a cage, so that there are limitations.

[11:25] And perhaps you will hear the words in the book of Job, Hitherto shall thou come and no further. But ye shall know the truth.

[11:39] Know it. Perhaps objections have already arisen in some minds that they are not capable.

[11:53] They haven't got the brain. They haven't got the ability to know the truth because the truth is so deep and far beyond them. If you should be in that place, and maybe you feel that you are speaking the truth when you say that, it will not prevent the accomplishment of this word, and ye shall know the truth.

[12:17] Which is one thing to know the truth in respect to many things in this life. Although we so often see in scientific and academic circles, what is believed today is overthrown tomorrow, so to speak.

[12:39] And so, the truth that was apparently solid yesterday, fails in its solidity today.

[12:52] But when we come to think spiritual, truth will stand. And some of us who have been in the way of truth for many years know that the truth is standing.

[13:15] It is the same as when we first were brought into it. And we believe it will be the same even unto the end.

[13:27] It may be that some may say, is there no progress in truth? That is quite so. There is progress in truth.

[13:39] Because the word of God tells us, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And there will be an increasing depth of knowledge in regard to the truth.

[13:54] Very simply expressed, we may think of the words that John the Baptist voiced in the chapter that we read. And that is, he must increase and I must decrease.

[14:10] And that is a very important point. The great I has, so to speak, put many a person in chains.

[14:22] They have not realized it, but so it is. And they have only discovered it when God has taken things in hand and brought them to know the truth as it really is.

[14:35] He must increase, I must decrease. The Lord Jesus Christ is a liberator from everything adverse to the truth itself.

[14:49] The truth. What a word, the truth. How are we searching after truth? Amidst all the errors that abound, on every hand amongst all sorts of religions and cults, how can we assess the truth?

[15:11] Well, this is a wonderful thing. If we should be surrounded with seven devils as one man was in the scriptures.

[15:22] And doubtless that was because he was so confused in regard to the truth itself. But in the end, the Lord cast out the devils, all the devils of imagination in the natural mind, conclusions that are reached sometimes by weighing up pros and cons, so to speak.

[15:50] And then the Lord comes and casts out the devils, cast out all your cogitations, and brings you to the feet of Jesus and be clothed in your right mind.

[16:03] Certainly that man, as he sat at the feet of Jesus, was proving these words. He knew the truth. The truth was before him.

[16:15] Christ is the embodiment of truth. And the words that God speaks, they are spirit and they are life. And this is one of the points that we may well consider relative to the truth itself.

[16:30] It is living truth. And as it is living truth, it will have an effect upon our souls. And it will have the effect, certainly, of bringing forth the light and showing us what it is to be a true disciple of Jesus.

[16:54] And the truth, in their connection, will be a discovery of our own helplessness.

[17:06] When I was a boy, there was a hymn which used to run through my mind, I don't quite know why, but it ran through my mind very often.

[17:20] Jesus is a mighty Saviour. Helpful souls have here a friend. He has borne their misbehaviour, and his mercies know no end.

[17:33] O ye helpless, come and on his grace depend. That was the only verse I knew, and why I knew it, I cannot tell you.

[17:44] But there was a fullness of truth in it. And subsequently, as the years came by, God's purposes were to be fulfilled. So I proved the glorious and rich truth that is contained in the hymn, Jesus is a mighty Saviour.

[18:03] The truth may be divided into two particular points. In the first place, that we know and discover and are persuaded of our own helplessness.

[18:19] Very, very few people, even in religious circles, will admit that they are helpless. That they can do nothing to contribute to their salvation.

[18:33] But the truth. They are captivated with this thought of helping God to save them.

[18:44] But God, in his wonderful teaching, The truth. The truth. Shows through the preaching of the gospel, And also through the living experience proceeding from the gospel, that the truth is a living truth.

[19:03] It is a truth which will bring into souls condemnation. and at the same time they will not be left there because if you've got a living truth and that enters into your soul as a condemning truth then it will be a terrible experience but it may be that through such dark waters another truth is emphasized in our soul's experience and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free we shall never think about being saved unless we are lost but if we feel lost if we feel that we've wandered so to speak in no man's land if we feel that there's no way out if we feel that we are withdrawn from everybody else I feel said one forsaken and alone I hear the line roar and every door is shut but one and that is mercy's door you shall know the truth is this what we understand by knowing the truth well it is a prerequisite to know the glorious truth that is contained in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ but remember these words and know that they may come forcibly into your own heart this evening you shall know the truth you know sometimes sentences have different meanings because of the emphasis based on various words so let me point let me introduce the point here and you shall know the truth now if I put the emphasis on the second word ye shall know the truth then the word is spoken to you and then we may prove the emphasis on the second word ye shall here again there is a certainty which also links itself to ye ye shall but what follows shall and so therefore if we should pronounce it ye shall know then there's a different emphasis but nevertheless it's an expansion of the various points concerning the word the sentence and as we go on and ye shall know the truth you've got a composite point here which is the full promise of God so then but that is not the end because as the verse goes on and the truth shall make you free now if the truth is to be of any benefit to you then it's got to be living truth it's got to really be a truth that pierces we turn to the epistle to the Hebrews and there we read in the fourth chapter the point concerning the sword of the spirit for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart turning to Jeremiah we shall read that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it and the truth about ourselves may and can and probably will be demoralizing especially if we patted ourselves upon the back and and looked at ourselves with a very favorable view and thought

[23:04] that we were much better than most people yet suddenly to have the living truth penetrating into our hearts and the word of God being used as an instrument and a sharp edge sharper than any two-edged sword to show us a distinction between soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is manifesting in sight neither is there any creature that is not manifested in his sight but all things are naked and open up the eyes of him with whom we have to do when you all come into an experience like this it's going to come to you in such a way that you cannot doubt it because the very trouble is within you you cannot get away from it you realize that you have been deceiving yourselves all perhaps through many years deceiving yourselves and thinking that there's some good in you no good in self

[24:22] I find though after I've sought it well the hidden treasure of my mind is sin and death and hell but all this is a preparation for you to seek after some deliverance from this powerful knowledge that has suddenly come into your hearts and what is this it is a question rising up is there any hope and very often we may hear the voice of Satan himself there is no hope there is no hope you were well savable at one time salvable at one time because at least you had some righteousness but now you haven't got any and if you are going to stand before God you must stand before him in perfect righteousness now you've lost all that you've got so the person may well begin to think that their case is beyond beyond hope and this will transfer our thinking to perhaps a situation where in which we should be very much troubled but we've got to remember that all this time if we are born again of the spirit if our names are written in heaven

[25:53] God is watching over us and he is our teacher and let us remember that none teaches like him I suppose it is a possibility in syllabuses in education today that there are circumstances which arise and perhaps the teachers think they might dare to overlook or forget one part of the syllabus not realizing they ought to that the syllabus is made out very very carefully now perhaps you as a pupil might have thought why are we learning this and why are we learning that it seems useless waste of time you might think that even as a Christian born again sometimes as the activity of your natural mind seems to get in the driving seat sometimes why am I learning this why has this come upon me could we see how all was good where room for credence tis my faith and not by sight

[27:11] Christians yield obedience now there are certainly witnesses amongst us who would be able to testify that not one thing has been unnecessary in their lives afflictions trials persecutions terrors of the law distressing circumstances in the family and so on and so forth yet all these things have been so necessary to bring you to a situation where you're going to listen to the truth you're in the truth now you see that you're a condemned person you can see that you have no strength at all or ever into ruin run whatever you do so you seem to have made a mistake are you coming to know the truth under these circumstances God is producing a very necessary preparation that you may see that you're helpless that you're drifting down the stream and it's going faster and faster and you have no power to swim against it and if God should give you a glimpse of the end of it where there is that broad road which leads to destruction and the people are going on as fast as they possibly can go and all of a sudden they disappear and where they've disappeared into the bottomless pit and they never realized that there was a bottomless pit in front of them but with the people of

[28:53] God a great and wonderful experience is theirs God suddenly takes hold of them and you will know if God takes hold of you because your course will be different and your ways will be different and your thinking will be different and your desires will be different and what's more you will pray be praying unto God very differently we will find that what you consider to be prayer is not necessarily acceptable to God we find that one of our hymns speaks about prayer and he says it says in one of the verses prayer is the burden of a sigh the upward glancing of an eye when God is near and those that are seeking after truth will have a burden to carry and will seek unto

[29:56] God that they may be relieved of that burden he shall know the truth or if some of you might be standing so to speak upon the wayside and looking on and perhaps in distress of mind shall I ever come to know the truth well the word of God says this and he shall know the truth and he shall know the truth and just go through this verse and put the emphasis on each word as you come to it and then you become the person involved and you are the person who is to receive the certainty of God's promises but what is the truth the truth that is most important to any of us is the truth concerning salvation many people are occupied with everything but salvation they have their ambitions in life and their objectives that they seek to obtain and this absorbs their mind that the real truth is obscured and we find that in a very simple way the one man in the promise in the

[31:22] Proverbs Lemuel you know he he comes to this point in the last but one chapter in the book of Proverbs and he says the 30th chapter he says two things have I required of thee deny me them not before I die now it's wonderful to be scaled down to two things be no far from me vanity and lies give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me suitable to me and the reason lest I befall and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my

[32:26] God in vain the truth in a very simple way brought to to this man Agar the son of Jakey he is the man in question and he comes down to two things the two things when you lay the emphasis is just this that he might be in a situation where he would deny God and say who is the Lord and if he was poor he might take the name of God in vain and it may be that some of you have been in that situation where you have been deeply concerned lest you would be in the grasp of the devil and he would lead you into a way that is not good now you shall know the truth know the truth in the 14th of

[33:30] John we read the Lord Jesus testified I am the way the truth and the life we should never separate the one from the other but God hath joined together let not man put asunder so therefore we must join the way to the truth and and the truth to that which will be our stability in life so then the life the truth and the life truth is not something that we read about in the book and leave it there truth is something that we walk out and certainly if we are Christian people we shall walk out the truth the apostle Paul says in one of his letters we are a living epistle known and read of all men let us think about that part of the truth but when people look at us they're reading us and they're reading really what we say it doesn't agree with what we do how many there are that say one thing and do another but you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free that the

[35:06] Lord Jesus Christ himself is the way the truth and the life if the truth then is surrounded by the way on the one hand and the life on the other it just shows us that we that this truth is a very important and central word just let us look for a moment or two about Jesus as the way Jesus is the way to God there is no other way to God now this brings before us another thought and that is that God is holy furthermore God is not to be under any circumstances trifled with he is holy rigid in all things as the eternal God and as he appears to many general the way but there is a way and that way is through

[36:15] Jesus Christ do you see and feel that you have got this truth that you can't get afraid from that sin is separated between you and your God now is there any possibility of knowing the truth yes you will know it in the way and the Lord Jesus said himself I am the way I am the way to God I am the way whereby you may get to heaven and what does he mean by the way he means by the way that he himself has walked that way which shall secure the salvation of his people in the end sometimes I have looked at those words in the scriptures in the new testament which speaks of they all they run in a race they run all but one obtaineth a prize sometimes

[37:21] I looked at that in this light Jesus Christ is the head and the people of God are his body the church now we can listen to what the apostle tells us in writing to the Hebrews wherefore seeing we are accomplished with so great a crowd of witnesses let us know every weight and the thing which so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race is set before us looking unto Jesus and where are you going to look are you not going to look you will be if you are taught of the spirit and know the truth but Jesus has won the race Jesus has won the race and he is the head and he can't be in heaven and leave you behind if you are part of his body so the race is not to the swift or to the strong but the weak take the prey and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free it is a wonderful consideration to feel not just to think about it but to feel that you are free free from doubt shall I say free from fear relative to your eternal victory one of the

[38:48] Puritans I just forget his name at the moment he writes about this race and he draws a point like this there are the runners all lined up all geared up to run the race word he said before them and as the race is about to start a man suddenly appears and comes to him and he said here's the prize here's the prize when a man pretests and says I haven't run the race yet no says the man I won it for you and here's the prize now that's the truth we may make all sorts of endeavors and be ever so disappointed and troubled and say that we just have to fail but does the

[39:52] Lord Jesus Christ admit that you are not run the race even and if you did you would be so full of obstacles and it would find your weakness in so many ways but here's the prize here's the prize and what is the prize eternal life eternal life for the beginning of the race you know sometimes it does appear that people think that eternal life begins when we cross out of time into eternity but according to the scripture eternal life begins when God pickens your soul into life you have a life that will never die and a faith that will never die and hope that will never die and love that will never die and an objective view of things that will never die it may sometimes have various storms come across and and and intermiss so that you cannot see things clearly but when the mist have rolled away you can see you can see things clearly again and you shall know the truth the truth that you're on the way to heaven the truth that the victory is yours already and and also that you're being prepared by the trials of the way for the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that faded not away and ye shall know the truth are you learning the truth blessed be

[41:30] God if you are if you can say yes I'm learning the truth it's very faithful to my flesh but it's very glorious to my spirit and the hope that I shall one day see the Lord Jesus face to face will be the joy of my heart and that's what I'm aiming for now now there are many that seem to be running a race but is their objective to see Jesus as he is is their objective to see their vision completely cleared now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face then shall we know even as we are known and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free now here is the point in this last course that will assure you that you have known the truth that God has led you into the truth because you feel a free person you feel those things which have held you those those sins have held you they've gone

[42:37] I know sometimes you may not think of some things as being realistic I remember I remember we used to have those lines when we seek to find our sins our sins shall now be found but the time came in my life when I found it was perfectly true it was perfectly true when God blots out your sins sins you can't find them again because he has cast them into the depths of the sea and will remember them no more forever now this is the truth your unbelief may meditate against it and your doubtful mind may say but this cannot be for me and who has said so if God has said to you and ye shall know the truth then what

[43:39] God has told you he will perform and he will bring you to that glorious place when the house of this earthy tabernacle is dissolved we have a house of God not made with hands eternal in heavens and we should remember those wonderful words which are very familiar to many people in the 14th chapter of John let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions and I'm telling you the truth if it were not so I would have told you now it's worth thinking about if it were not so I would have told you that there aren't any mansions in heaven but I'm telling you the truth and furthermore I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again I will come again not leave you to wander and find heaven as best you can

[44:41] I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also knowing Christ is being made free free to wait upon him in every moment of distress free let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need and what is it that makes that way possible in the Hebrews we are told how this is possible though I've already referred to one part of the chapter and there's the fourth chapter and then we come to this seeing then that we have a great high priest in his Christ the son of God let us hold fast our profession for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched for the people of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin and because we have an advocate if any man sin we have an advocate with the father even

[45:59] Jesus Christ and do remember that Jesus Christ has already gone before and he waits to receive his people into glory itself so may we be found having this truth not entered into its fullness but this truth in our hearts the truth of hope the basis of hope the source of hope which comes forth from the Lord Jesus Christ himself because I live ye shall live also do we believe in a living Christ do we believe our life is hid with Christ in God behind the reach of harm then ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free you see dear friends if Christ has died for you if he washed if he has clothed you with his righteousness then you will be received it may be that your mind has been in this part sometimes if

[47:05] I ask him to receive me when he say me nay not that earth and heaven have passed away no then there will be no necessity for you because he will have received you now it is a point where our friends sometimes as they are vexed with triumphant cares and all sorts of doubts concerning the future will he receive me he won't receive you as you are but he will receive you in the righteousness of Christ and he will receive you washed in the blood of the lamb and any consequence we find the hymn so suitable as they draw near their journey's end their precious is their heavenly friend and when in death they bow their head he is precious and a dying bit because Jesus ready stands to save you and to receive you this is the truth and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free free have you been in prison some people have what a wonderful thing it is to be made free you can just imagine the wonderful deliverance that

[48:32] Peter realized when he was in prison and the angel of the Lord came and broke off the chains that were holding him and led him through the prison doors and he came out and he was a free man and why was he a free man he was a free man because he went to a certain house and they had been praying for his release now there may be some some of your friends who are in trouble they cannot seem to get free they're in prison Satan seems to have the victory over them are we praying for them but you will remember that when when the maid went to the door she heard Peter's voice she didn't open the door because she was so overjoyed that Peter was standing there and she went and told the others that Peter was at the door and they said they are mad mad he's not at the door sometimes we pray like that don't we and think that what we are thinking in regard to an answer it cannot come this way but

[49:45] God works miracles he has done all through the generations and he's still working miracles today and whatever problem you may have be assured that it's not beyond God to deliver if any of those that may burden your spirits are in prison in the prison of this world yet God is able to undo their chains God is able to deliver them for he who hath delivered and doth deliver in whom we trust will yet deliver us so then here is the certain word you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free

[50:57] God God God God of all power shows you the truth in your soul and growing near to the throne of grace he's listening and he's listening to deliver you he's listening to deliver you from all your enemies he's listening that he might hear your prayers surely that is a wonderful and truthful expression of one who said that were a thing I could not bear did sell not hear and answer prayer but a prayer hearing answering God supports me under every load and have you not found that you have been led into the truth to discover that wonderful benefit and blessing to the church of God and the word of God says that ye may come home to someone this evening ye shall know the truth whatever your fears are but ye shall and if God has you know the truth and the truth shall make you free and this is the way and the manner by which you will know that you do know the truth because you're free you're free not free to sin but free to worship

[52:06] God free to adore the lamb free to call upon God in the day of your trouble free to come to him when all others flee from you no help you find from any quarter but you're free to come to the feet of Jesus Christ and say as the publican said oh God be merciful to me a sinner you're free to come with that prayer in your heart with the certainty of being accepted in the beloved then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him if ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed and disciples of Jesus Christ and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free now what a wonderful benefit this will be if

[53:10] God was to say to you I'm going to work it out I'm going to work it out in your life and you are going to find that there is nothing between us we find in Isaiah's prophecy the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save nor is heavy that it cannot hear but it is your sins which are separated between you and your God but here is the truth you will come to the point where God will take all that out of the way absolve you from your sins and make your welcome guest into the banquet of the Lord himself which is spoken so wonderfully in the Song of Solomon and his case matter of joy as the apple tree among the trees they would so is my beloved among the sons I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste he brought me into his banqueting house and his banner over me was love and surely there will be something which will bring you into this place where you are free you are freed by his love his love that caused him made him willing to die for you and now free that you may receive of that love into your own soul he we love him because he first loved us but we leave the subject may the lord command his blessing and make the application for

[54:49] Jesus sake amen we close the worship this evening with hymn 52 to the tune 3 8 35 hymn 52 the gospel the gospel brings tidings to each wounded soul that Jesus the saviour can make it quite whole and what makes the gospel most precious to me it holds forth salvation so perfectly free the gospel declares that God sending his son to die for poor sinners gave all things in one this too makes the gospel most precious to me because tis a gospel as full as tis free hymn 52

[55:51] SZ ...

[56:13] come or come And what makes this close blue and that's close to me, each close to salvation and that will keep free.

[56:40] Because the evil's eyes without sin, behold it's a bountyful golden으로examined.

[57:04] Jesus makes the gospel as precious to thee.

[57:17] Because is it gospel as well as take free?

[57:30] Since Jesus has saved me and loved me too, I came to do the things I gave to shine, But that my spirit is faithful to me, Let us bear my love in his perfectly free.

[58:22] And now, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, And the Father's love, the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, Be with us now and evermore.

[58:46] Amen.