Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.heritagesermons.org/sermons/48763/the-knowledge-of-the-truth-in-jesus-quality-average/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] In complete dependence upon the Lord for his help I ask your attention to chapter 8 of the Gospel of John verse 32 The Gospel is recorded by John chapter 8 and verse 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free It will be the mercy of God on this day if the truth is to be preached I believe it could be said that it longs to be continually preached in these walls

[1:08] And I hope since this house of God was first built that in this place the truth has been preached And if there should have been any occasion in the last few years that it hasn't been May the Lord forgive And may we be brought into the truth And to know the freedom that this truth shall bring These words were spoken to believers As we read in the verse before If ye continue in my word Then are ye my disciples indeed And ye shall know the truth And the truth shall make you free There is a solemn opposite you know And that mankind by general assent

[2:12] Will believe a lie It is their nature so to do And especially too in We might call it religious circles There is only one truth And that comes from God And any other under the name of truth Or that just is purely and simply to misuse the word The only truth that is saving Gracious and glorious And brings freedom And blessing and comfort Must come from heaven It doesn't come from the lips of man Though he might speak it Because There is the truth here in this word The knowledge of the truth Not the truth in the letter Not the truth in the letter

[3:14] That is good and that is right And the Lord bless us with years to come If we are spared To have the truth in the letter But it isn't sufficient It's to know the truth To have the knowledge of it And that as it is revealed unto us And the effect of that knowledge And the fruit of that knowledge Knowledge is this That the truth shall make you free And it may be too That sometimes the dear Lord The spirit of truth Will make the truth Declared to you and I And nature will find it's unpalatable But it doesn't alter the truth But it doesn't alter the truth We've got an old nature That will only hear the truth So long as it doesn't upset us Or distress us Or trouble us

[4:16] But when the word of God With power and authority comes And that's where the truth is And then it is pleasing To the spirit That he shall make it profitable To our soul Then this old man This old nature Will rise up against the truth I've told you lots of times I believe some of us Have lived through the years Of this cause of truth But briefly There was somebody here once In the ministry of the Of the late dear pastor Who said to him Who said of his ministry I'm not as black as he paints My friends That's someone who doesn't like the truth Because the truth will reveal And the truth will upset old nature But the truth will abide And that's where the difference is

[5:18] The truth will abide And the Lord will use the truth For the good of his people And he will apply the truth And he will put power in the truth In the truth As it shall be heard by you And me And it shall According to his gracious mercy Use the truth For the good of our souls If the Lord teaches you This simple fact That you are a dying sinner And that you and I Must stand before the judgment seat Of Christ You won't want to hear anything But the truth You won't want to be couched up And settled and comforted Comforted with Those false comforts Of which men are so capable Of applying And Satan particularly

[6:20] But having to appear before The judgment seat of Christ It will be your desire To hear the truth And to know the truth And to realise the effect Of the truth The happiness that it brings Today my friends Is a sad day A dreadfully sad day When the truth is compromised with When there is flesh pleasing Discourses and sermons All to make the ears Of the world to Indeed be comforted And at all how solemn it is My friends There's two things in the In the religious world That you and I must pray against First of all That we shall never be deceived And secondly That we shall never be a deceiver Oh how rooted and grounded

[7:23] It surely is the ministry of sovereign grace In that very truth If you read Ezekiel In the prophecy of Ezekiel You know And I think it's 33 But I can't be sure The Lord speaks to Ezekiel the prophet And he says Son of man I have made thee a watchman Over the house of Israel Thou shalt hear the word at my mouth And warn them from me And he goes on to say And I can't quote the letter of it But he goes on to say That if you warn those of their sin And they take no notice Then their own blood is on their head But on the other hand If you do not warn And they die in their sin Then their blood is on your head

[8:24] Now my friends It is so evidently revealed In the word of God The need of the truth That it must be preached And though men will hear Or whether they will not It must be preached So that the servant of God Shall be free From the blood of all men Oh how awful it will be To come to that day When it shall be charged Against any man in a pulpit That he did not fulfill that word And preach the word In the truth of it Because he feared the frowns of men Because he courted their smiles But we as a land and nation Have gone from the truth And this day as I hear My friends There is going to be something Happened today That hasn't happened for centuries And that's how far we've gone from the truth

[9:28] There is a church service today There is a church service today in Sandringham And who is the preacher? The cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church That's who the preacher is today I knew not this This is not the reason or purpose for this text The Lord gave me this word two or three days ago But I felt when I heard those things My friends How far from the truth We are going as a nation And there the queen The first lady of the land If we might call her so Is to hear from the words Of an imposter What he will have her to hear The Lord knows my friends The duplicity of false religion But here today is this county Oh I believe my friends so solemnly Will come under the judgment of God

[10:30] Because this wickedness is going on in the midst Now therefore this is spoken therefore to believers Not to unbelievers This is spoken not to those who hate the truth And turn from it This is not those that are recorded in the 30th of Isaiah It just comes to my mind as I go on If you read sometime at your leisure The 30th of Isaiah And you'll find these words Now go write it before them in a table And note it in a book That it may be for the time to come forever and ever That this is a rebellious people Lying children Children that will not hear the law of the Lord Which say to the seers See not And to the prophets Prophesy not unto us right things Speak unto us smooth things Prophesy deceits

[11:32] And such to do today my friends Will stand before the judgment seat Of Jesus Christ And will be condemned for their work And ye shall know the truth And the truth shall make you free There is just this to say before we commence My friends The certainty to the people of God Ye shall know the truth Because the author of truth And the declarer of righteousness The Holy Ghost Will bring his people up Will nurture them Teach them Instruct them And comfort them Under the sound of the truth And they shall live on the truth And they shall find in the truth At times to be

[12:34] That it is unpalatable But they shall live under it And shall prosper under it And they shall be blessed under it And for eternity I think further down We may read the rest of the chapter tonight But yes in verse 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free Ye shall be free indeed Now the Lord help us to preach the word And the truth of the word In looking at this word I find in John 14 Those words of Jesus And they are to be read And they are to be understood What it is that they mean If I could only find them But it is this word

[13:36] Where the Lord Jesus said unto his disciples I am the way The truth And the life No man cometh unto the Father But by me So if the truth is to be preached It is to be the preaching of Jesus Christ Because by the preaching of Jesus Christ And the application of the truth To the good of one's immortal soul To the good of one's immortal soul Then shall be known this freedom Now I venture to say this also Before the Lord taught you by his spirit You're standing as a sinner You didn't know you was in captivity You didn't know you was in prison Let me just go back to Again the word of God Because if the ministry in this house of God Isn't supported by the word of God Then it is wrong

[14:39] Now the word of God will support the truth Because the word of God is the truth But in that chapter In Isaiah's prophecy Which speaks about the preaching of the gospel And you will find the effect of the preaching of the gospel The spirit of the Lord God is upon me Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted To proclaim liberty to the captives And the opening of the prison to them that abound To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God To comfort all that mourn To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion To give unto them beauty for ashes The oil of joy for mourning The garment of praise For the spirit of heaviness That they might be called trees of righteousness The planting of the Lord That he might be glorified

[15:42] Oh I say again my friends Till the Lord began to teach you A little of your old self You didn't know he was in prison And therefore you didn't know the freedom That the truth will bring And ye shall know the truth And oh how that truth By the blessed spirit of God Applied with power and authority Brings you and I to the knowledge where we are We are in prison We are under captivity And we are shut up into that place Until the same blessed comforter Shall come and speak the truth Into your soul And deliver you And set you free And ye shall know the truth And the truth shall make you free Or is there not And you that fear the Lord

[16:44] And I hope all of you come under that Blessed description Has not the word of God brought you into trouble sometimes Has it not formed in your heart A realisation that there is something wrong That indwelling sin lives there That this old man is nothing more Than dust from the earth And sinful dust at that And has no Shall have no union with grace Nor mercy Nor the comforts of the gospel Has not the truth brought this to light That you are sinners Do you know it has done so From Adam's day to this And it will do Until time shall be no more The application of the truth By the blessed spirit The knowledge of the truth How many years did we read about sin and salvation How many years did we sit under the gospel preaching And heard it

[17:47] Until we got tired of hearing it in our unregenerate state And how often has the poor minister been accosted by Satan As it were with this truth It's the same thing Week after week after week But that's the truth And if the Lord shines in your soul And reveals your sin He'll show you the truth of it And he'll bring you unto the knowledge of it And you'll fall under the evidence of it Go back to that godly man David When he sinned And I said it I think it was recently somewhere He sinned with indifference He sinned without feeling He sinned without mourning or distress This was a child of God This was the man who said Although my house be not so with God Yet thou hast made with me an everlasting covenant Ordered in all things and sure And yet you know you and I can sin without feeling

[18:52] It isn't always our conscience is touched But our conscience will be touched When the truth is declared And applied This is the knowledge of the truth That will bring distress Not the truth in its letter As I said We sat under it all the days of our life Heard all sorts of gospel Sermons and good discourses And solemn discourses But it never touched our conscience Because we didn't know the truth And because we was in Satan's prison And we were shut up in an unregenerate state Lifeless and dead and unfeeling But every vessel of mercy Shall know the truth And the truth to old nature Will be therefore distressing Disturbing and troubling And you'll want to turn from it And you'll want to go to something else Which will boost Or comfort or lift up the old flesh

[19:55] That's why the truth isn't preached my friends Because they accommodate the flesh too much And they lean towards the flesh These so called preachers And they rather the smile of man Than the frown of man And they like to send them home Comforted, supported and comfortable in their spirit My friends, if you're a sinner And God has taught you you're a sinner I said on Friday night The words, I was looking at a book I was looking at a book Where I believe it's John Kershaw Went and saw Huntington And Huntington said What a mercy that we're a poor sinner And he said there's a lot of poor sinners Who do not know it He said but what a mercy if you know That you know that you're a poor sinner Oh you shall know the truth And the Lord will declare it into your heart It's not what you hear from me Or any other preacher

[20:56] That will in its turn do you good It's what the spirit of truth will apply Of the truth of being a sinner You shall know it Every vessel of mercy will Every vessel of mercy will fall under the traps Well David was in that hard, hard case That hard place Where he could sin without being distressed But then God sent to him Nathan The prophet And we seem to be Saying these things recently quite often But so he presented to David This parable of the poor man And the little ewe lamb And oh how it raised up in David A wrath against such a rich man That should come and take all that was possessed Of a poor man And that's how hard his heart was

[21:59] And that's how he would have been left But for the finger of God was pointed And Nathan said Thou art the man Oh you shall know the truth You shall know the truth And the truth will hurt And the truth will distress And the truth will bring you into Great trouble in your soul That is what trouble in That is what soul trouble is My friends It's the realisation of the truth The wages of sin is death And it brings darkness and distress and sorrow We read the last part of Luke chapter 7 On Friday evening And there was this dear woman I keep mentioning her Well she's such a dear one isn't she She had a softened heart And she was where I want to be At the feet of Jesus And there she poured out her eyes In sorrow and distress

[23:01] And washed the dear Saviour's feet She knew the truth There was Christ In all his humility All his humanity And all his deity In the Pharisees house And there was her And you might say The only place that the poor woman could come to Before the holiness of Jesus At his feet She knew the truth Consoling herself You look at the case of the woman Who met Christ on the well Of Samaria And she went home Or she went to the city She was a well known woman Just the same as the one in Luke chapter 7 Well known for her sinfulness And she went back to the city Left the water pots And she said Come see a man Who told me all things That ever I did Is not this the Christ She knew the truth Think about that man That is so often spoken of

[24:03] As an example of grace The publican in the temple Whose prayer was God Be merciful to me a sinner He knew the truth Think of Simon the sorcerer Who he himself believed And was baptized And then offered money For the gift Of the Holy Spirit He knew not the truth How far can you go in religion How far can you go in profession How far my friends How far my friends Just as far as Satan will draw you And you shall know the truth And oh how often is the truth been preached then And it has been nothing but discomfort and distress It has brought you into this house of God In anticipation of hearing something profitable To your soul

[25:04] And instead of that The word's done nothing more than condemn you But it's been profitable Oh look not on those Times when you've come and gone The house of God with nothing And therefore You would say Well it is the most unprofitable day I've got nothing But if it's troubled you If you're a sinner And a praying soul Before the throne of grace You'll come back again And you'll come again to hear the truth Though it may condemn you Under the very sentence of it Ye shall know the truth Oh bless God for the Holy Ghost Bless God for those words of Jesus And you know sensible sinners will not Forget those words He shall teach you all things Not some things I've often said

[26:06] How faithful was the Lord's servant Moses In chapter 8 of Deuteronomy He said Remember all the way Of which the Lord thy God hath led thee These forty years in the wilderness Well has not shame Filled your Made your feelings in your soul When you remember the things that have gone on Before you Has it not brought you to shame Well we would love to remember the mercies of God Said these Jews We don't want to remember those rebellious times When we wish we were back in Egypt We would rather remember the times when Moses struck the rock and water came out We would rather remember the times when manna fell from heaven We would rather remember those times when the blood was put on the doorpost and lint them Oh let us not forget this rebellious Let us forget this rebellious heart they would say

[27:09] Or the times we spoke against God And spoke against Moses Well we would by nature forget all those things But Moses said I shall remember all the way And if the Lord is teaching you you'll remember the truth you know You'll remember the truth And ye shall know the truth It will impart knowledge And it won't be in your mind Will that knowledge be imparted only It will be in your very soul What did the dear Lord Jesus say in his intercessory prayer Another word so often quoted And this is life eternal Or put it another way This is the evidence of life eternal That they might know thee The only true God And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent We have always I suppose lived in days It's nothing new this time that we are going through

[28:14] Ever since the world has begun Ever since the world has begun There's always been those that would make the truth unpalatable Or put in its place something which is flesh pleasing Comforting to old nature Something that will give them something to settle down In their foolishness and sinfulness Comforted by what they've done Or what they've said Or what they've attained But when the truth by the Spirit is preached It is preached with power You know some of us have to mourn That we live in a day where the preaching Hasn't got the power that it used to have I hope it's got the authority Because if it isn't we shouldn't be where we are today But it just seems sometimes in this Most evil days in which our lots cast That the preaching of the word The power of it is withheld

[29:18] Not withdrawn but withheld But I tell you this If the Spirit speaks into your soul He'll speak it in power and life And authority And though you may not gain anything From the lips of man You'll profit under his discourse to your soul Well the Lord Jesus said The Holy Spirit will come The Father will send him in my name And he said I will pray the Father That he will send you another comforter Even the Spirit of truth And the effect of his teaching And he shall teach you all things Is that you shall know the truth My friends you'll always find people That don't want to know the truth Or put it another way They don't mind the truth As long as it doesn't condemn them They don't mind the truth If it's so satisfying to their old nature

[30:23] They don't want to have their nest urder They don't want to have some of those Things that they've relied upon Supported by and upheld by They don't want those things to be removed And they would continue in that condition Which will be so agreeable to nature That the Lord's people Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him You shall know the truth And oh my friends you'll bless God for the truth That it has been and shall be revealed to you And that it shall be imparted to your poor soul In the way of knowledge And in the way of understanding It will have an effect you know You'll, I'll tell you what you'll do You'll, we read about that poor woman Taken in adultery

[31:25] What it will do to you and me you know And the sooner it does the better You'll lay your stones down quickly When you know the truth You won't look at this one and that one And judge them as guilty You won't look at this one and that one And say well, there they are They go to chapel or church or whatever And there they are You won't look at the world and condemn them For their state and condition The Lord teach you the truth concerning yourself You won't have a stone to throw Not for a second Will you have a stone to throw What a mercy it will be if you could say There but for the grace of God Go I And you shall know the truth But then the blessed The blessed Work of the comforter you know Is not only on the negative side As people will call it

[32:28] The comforter is to declare the truth To every soul that is in Christ Jesus He shall bring them to know Their sinfulness and shame Their lust and ruined condition And the hopelessness of that case If you read the pilgrim's progress You will find that Christian and his companion Was shut up in the castle of giant despair And they were unable to bring themselves out Get themselves out There was no means that they felt of escape From his wrath and anger and possibly death itself Now I believe it was Saturday In their experience a Christian suddenly remembered he had a key He had a key And he used that key He called himself all the fools under the sun

[33:30] But he remembered that in his bosom was a key And that key brought him out of the prison And he said And you shall know the truth And the truth shall make you free And he said My friends The blessed spirit of God Whose work it is to quicken sinners into life It is his work to reveal the things of Jesus And to take of the things of Jesus And show them unto you And in so doing Raises up within the very soul of such This blessed freedom Or this desire for freedom This longing after freedom And this searching for freedom We read in that short Two or three verses in Isaiah Of what the spirit of the Lord will do

[34:35] Concerning the captives If you read Another word comes to me Oh in that blessed prophecy of Isaiah Oh rejoice in that blessed prophecy It is often called the gospel of Isaiah Chapter 45 Of the prophecy of Isaiah Where the Lord speaks of Cyrus But in that chapter 45 You will speak of Christ I have made the earth and created man upon it I even my hands Have stretched out the heavens And all their host have I commanded I have raised him up in righteousness That's not Cyrus you know He was a man who do not know the Lord This is Christ in prophecy I have raised him up in righteousness And I will direct all his ways He shall build my city

[35:37] And he shall let go my captives Not for price nor reward Sath the Lord of hosts Why will he do it? He will do it for love's sake You shall know the truth And the truth shall make you free And oh once the Lord through his spirit Has revealed to you the truth Respecting Christ And respecting his wondrous work Of salvation Him being a surety For his people Him being a substitute At the bar of God's justice Between a holy God And a poor sinner My friends you will go after the truth During Friday night I mentioned again that word In the 12th of Exodus About the blood being upon the doorpost and lintel And I don't know how many times I've read it And several times I've preached from it

[36:41] And some of you heard it numerous times From various ministers Do you know I suddenly saw something in it I've never seen it before And oh forgive me those who've heard it But I mentioned the Jew in the house The people of Israel in their houses And I mentioned that the blood was on the doorpost and lintel And then I said this And it just dropped in as it was Divine understanding That blood was between a sinner and a holy God Wasn't it?

[37:17] It was above their heads It was on the doorpost and lintel You must need to go under the lintel To get out of a house And that blood was on that lintel and doorpost My friends it was a holy God in heaven That was to judge for Israel The wickedness of Egypt And between the Jew Between the Israelite And between the Israelites God Was that blood It was their safety you said Indeed it was It was their security It was their protection But see where it was It wasn't on the ground It was above them It was between them and God in heaven The destroyed angel was sent from heaven To destroy the firstborn of the land At midnight And I say it very carefully my friends That's truth He shall destroy the firstborn of the land That the land of Israel That the land of Israel were under the safety of that blood

[38:20] It was above them It was between them And a holy and a just and righteous And a very angry God Oh that's the truth of that blood Oh doesn't it speak mercy and pardon and peace to sinners Isn't it descriptive Isn't it descriptive of the person of Christ?

[38:41] When you pray When you approach him Who is the mediator You're approaching one who stands between In garments dyed in blood Oh there is the truth my friends And you shall know the truth And it shall be revealed to you That there is one who stands between Who did stand between When the judgment of God was poured out upon The sinful nations of the world And the people of the world And every soul that drew breath in the world There was a people whose Safety was assured because one stood between Because that glorious person of Christ As he is between a sinner and a holy God As one has led of the Spirit into prayer The mediator His name is to be pleaded So it is in the way of salvation So it is in the provision of God for his dear people

[39:43] You shall know the truth Now the truth is There is a man that stands between And that blessed man stands between For his people's sake He stands at God's right hand The man Christ Jesus The mediator between God and men The man Christ Jesus You shall know the truth Bless God for that office And that place And that spot Where Jesus stands Oh the safety Oh the safety Oh the safety of such souls That are in Christ That he stands between Out of Christ almighty power Can do nothing but devour And Paul wrote didn't he Never mind what the poet wrote Truth as it is The Holy Spirit recalls the apostles words That for our God Is a consuming fire And you shall know the truth

[40:45] And the truth Shall make you free Amen If the Lord will We pray a prayer meeting on Wednesday evening And our pastor is engaged to preach next Lord's Day The closing hymn this morning is 1088 1088 Shepherd divine Our once relieved in this our evil day To all thy tempted followers Give the power to trust and pray Long as our fiery trials last

[41:48] Long as the cross we bear O let our souls on thee be cast In never-ceasing prayer In 1088rist hiesehen Ed.

[42:08] Prym Mare y bruv Thank you.

[42:44] The Father does not pray.

[42:56] The Father does not pray.

[43:13] The Father does not pray.

[43:43] The Father does not pray.

[44:13] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[44:25] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[44:37] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[44:49] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[45:01] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[45:13] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[45:25] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[45:39] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[45:51] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray.

[46:03] The Father does not pray. The Father does not pray. Pardon what has been spoken amiss. Lord be with us through this day. Grant us strength sufficient.

[46:16] And above all sufficient grace. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus. The love of God the Father.

[46:28]  The fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Remain with us now and always. Amen. Oh