John Chapter 8:20-32

You think back on something that really went wrong. Let me ask you a question. At that moment in time, were you submitted to the truths of this Bible or perhaps had you come out from under it? My answer is the same.

When I come out from under biblical authority, I experience bondage and regrets. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. D.A.

Brown is with us in the studio today. He's one of David's associate pastors. Glad to have you here, brother. Bob, I'm excited to be here and I'm excited about John chapter 8, where we're reminded in following Christ, it's not enough to simply believe the truths of the Bible. We must surrender to those very truths.

In this situation, D.A., surrender is actually victory. And let's hear more about that as David McGee continues with part two of his teaching, Meekness is Not Weakness. So John chapter 8, verse 20. These words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple.

And no one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come. Then Jesus said to them again, I'm going away and you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.

So the Jews said, will he kill himself? Because he says, where I go, you cannot come. And he said to them, you are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world.

I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. See, there it is again that Jesus is representing himself as the exclusive way to heaven. There's only one way, folks. As a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus and you believe in Jesus, it's not up to you to say, well, there's many ways to heaven. You can't say that because Jesus didn't say that. Jesus said there's one way. Jesus didn't say that. Jesus said there's one way. And either you're a follower of Jesus or you're not. And if you tell somebody or you represent that there's many ways to heaven, then you're misrepresenting Jesus who you claim to follow. And maybe you sit there and you think, well, that's kind of judgmental and narrow-minded to say that there's only one way.

Look, I'm grateful there's one way. God can judge. You know why?

Because he knows everything. You and I, we don't know everything. So for us to try to sit in a place of going, well, that's wrong and that's wrong and this is right and that's, you know, outside of the Bible, you can't do that.

You can't do that. God's a merciful God. God's a loving God.

I don't know how this works out. And, you know, and people want to talk about, well, what about the pygmies in Africa? You know, you ever noticed people always want to talk about a lot of weird things when you start talking about them and Jesus? What about the pygmies in Africa? Can God make a rock?

He can't move. And they get into all these, but you know what? That's not even the question. And when people, you know, I got a good reply when somebody says, hey, you know, what about the pygmies in Africa? I don't know about the pygmies in Africa. I know that I'm sitting here talking to you about Jesus. So if you really got a heart to minister to the pygmies in Africa, you go ahead and accept Jesus gets saved and then you can go over and tell them since you've got such a burden for him. Praise God. But Jesus is saying, you know what? This is, if you don't believe I am he, you will die on your sins. And Jesus knows they're going to play a part in his crucifixion.

But you know what? Sometimes being a Christian means you got to say things that, oh, you might not even want to say, but people need to hear them. They need to hear them. And that's difficult sometimes. My job as a pastor puts me in that place frequently where I know what somebody needs to hear and also know they might get mad and they might get offended, but they need to hear. So I got to say it.

I've had some wonderful experiences doing that, and I've had some rather hard experiences, but it's still the truth that I have to tell them. And that should describe you too. Verse 25, then they said to him, who are you?

Oh, man, that's the question. Then who are you? Who is Jesus to you? Oh, I know who Jesus is to me, but who is Jesus to you?

Was he just a good man, good teacher, that whole trip? Or do you understand he was the son of God? Who died to save men and women from their sins? Who is Jesus to you? And Jesus said to them, just what I have been saying to you from the beginning, I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true.

And I speak to the world those things which I heard from him. You understand Jesus could have sat there that day and listed every sin, every one of these guys, every man, every man, every man, every man, every man, every man, every man, every sin, every one of these guys in that audience had ever committed, but he didn't do it. You know why? Because he knew there was no benefit. They weren't listening. They weren't listening. Understand when you're talking to somebody about the Lord, keep the main thing the main thing.

And if they're not listening, they're not listening. Don't try to kick the door down. Guys, we're not vacuum cleaner salesmen.

I mean, if you sell vacuums, God bless you. I didn't mean the, you know, but don't, don't kick the door down because you may ruin it for the next person because the spirit of God can convict and open that door for you. They did not understand that he spoke to them of the father. Then Jesus said to them, when you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am he. And then I do nothing of myself, but as my father taught me, I speak these things.

It's an amazing thing here. Jesus is speaking when he says when you lift up the son of man, son of man was a messianic term describing the Messiah. When you hear that, it's speaking about Jesus being the Messiah.

But he says here, if I am lifted up, now there's an interesting thing. Guys, this is a Jewish nation, Jewish people. How did they execute people? Usually they stone them with rocks.

They hit them with rocks until not little bitty rocks, the big rocks. But see in about 20 AD, they lost the right of execution. In other words, the Jewish people were no longer allowed to put people on trial and judge them to the point of execution. They couldn't put somebody to death. Then, you know, Jerusalem was under siege about 50 years later in 70 AD and the Jewish nation ceased to be.

Why do I talk about this? Because in the entire Jewish history of 3,500 years, there was only a small span of 50 years where somebody that was a Jew would have been crucified between 20 AD and 70 AD. And it was in this time period that Jesus was crucified.

It's yet another amazing fulfillment of prophecy here. And again, remember, as we've talked about before, people have said, well, the Jews killed Jesus. No, our sins are what killed Jesus. Jesus saw us under the bondage of our sins and decided that he would rather die for us than for us to have no way out. The Jewish people didn't kill Jesus. And the Romans, who actually physically crucified him, they weren't really the responsible party for his death.

It was you and I. I know that's hard to take when you see depictions of the crucifixion, but that's the reality. And Jesus is, amazingly enough, he's sitting here trying to win these people to the Lord who he knows are going to play a part in his crucifixion. Jesus, you are amazing.

He's amazing. Verse 29, and he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. As he spoke these words, many believed in him. Verse 31, then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. Verse 32, and you shall know that you know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Awesome two verses. This is another one that people quote, and the truth shall make you free. And they quote that little snippet. And it's interesting. Usually when they're quoting it, they're talking about any truth whatsoever.

I've found if you use this in a generic sense, it disqualifies the verse. At different points in my life, I've come across some certain truth or something, and guess what? It didn't set me free. You know, if a doctor comes in and goes, well, there's something wrong with you. There's something wrong with your brain. There's something wrong with your heart.

All thanks. That's truth, and it set me free. See, that doesn't work. So obviously, there's a classification here. There's a qualification. There's a prerequisite or a requirement, if you will, for this passage. And Jesus gives it to us. He says, if, if. Now, guys, we believe this is the book.

This is the literal word of God. This is our instruction manual. Let me ask you something. Well, let me put it like this.

I have up here my car instruction manual, which, to be honest, I've never read. Give me a minute. No. Okay.

There's this light coming on in my car. Okay. Let me see what this is.

There's a thing in here. Let's see. Look in the index.

Idiot lights. Okay. That's on page.

Okay. Oh, it says I need oil. It says I need oil. Oh, but, you know, there's so many different versions of oil, and it's all so confusing about the versions of oil. You know, I'm not going to listen to that, you know, because really, there's, I mean, 10W of 40, 50, 30, 5W, all that. There's so many. Who can know what the right oil is? I know.

I'll just cut a little piece of tape and stick it over the light, and that way, the light won't bother me anymore. Does that sound? No.

Does that sound right? But people say that about the Bible. There's so many different versions of the Bible. Who can know? This is an accurate representation of the original manuscripts, which date back.

The Hebrew Scriptures go back 2,300 years ago. We know that. Oh, but there's another light that's going on. See what that light is. Oh, it's a fuel light.

It says here I need gas. That is so narrow-minded. Golly. I mean, empty to one is not necessarily empty to somebody else. I'm just going to keep driving. And if I run out of gas, I'll just call a pastor to help me, even though I didn't look at the light and listen to what the light was saying. See, we don't treat any other instruction manual the way we treat the Bible.

Why is that? Because there's parts of the Bible that, quite frankly, they convict us, don't they? Well, I don't like that part. See, that's part of the thing here.

We go through the Bible verse by verse. If you don't like a part, chances are we're going to get through it. And I'm not picking on you. That's the cool thing. See, you can't sit there and go, he picked this sermon just for me because, you know, I asked him for his help. And look what he does.

No, no, I'm not picking on anybody. I'm just reading through the book. But it says, if, if. What does it say, if? It says, if you continue or abide or stay in my word. Whose word? His word. Not your word, not in any words, but his words. And where do you find his words? You find them in this book.

You cannot reliably find the words of Jesus in any other book, in the other manuscript. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A.

Brown. Hey, Bob, we're excited about God's word going forth with Pastor David, and we want to pray for some people in these cities where we're broadcasting today. Butford, Gainesville, Macon, Milledgeville, Savannah, Snellville, and Thomasville, Georgia. God, we thank you for the people listening today in these areas. We pray that they would be encouraged in your word. They would realize that you want to bless them. Lord, you have a good plan for them. God, we pray for those who are sick in the area that you would please heal them.

And Lord, we pray for the pastors and the churches, that they would be ignited and all the good plans you have for them and sharing your word throughout their city. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, brother. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. New Living Translation has this verse. Jesus said to the people who believed in him, you are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. So one of the keys to being free is staying in the word and obeying the teachings.

So that's our next life lesson. Stay in the word and obey the teachings of Jesus. Stay in the word and obey the teachings of Jesus. What does that mean if you don't do them? It means you're not a disciple. That's not my definition. That's his definition. If you don't do the sayings of, and I'm not talking about living a perfect life.

None of us live a perfect life. But that should be our goal is to be obedient to scripture and to follow Jesus. And if you're not interested in that, then you're not a disciple.

Oh yeah, if you died and went, if you died, you'd go to heaven, you know, just barely, but you'd go to heaven. But is that all you want? See, I want, I want more. I want this freedom, this maximum freedom that Jesus is speaking here.

I want this. And if you're not operating in this, guess what? You're not really free. You're not operating in the freedom that God wants to provide for you and to you. So the second prerequisite is if you do this, then you're a disciple. And we've spoken of the stages of spiritual growth, about being unsaved and then getting saved and then moving to being a disciple. So if you stay in the word and you are a doer of the word, then you shall know the truth. Does this mean that you can't know the truth until you do these other things?

Apparently. Now you may get partial revelation, but God's not going to keep speaking truth to you deeper and deeper and deeper, deeper truth while you're not listening up here. God wants to speak to you. He wants to give you truth. He wants you to act on that truth. And biblical truth is a lot like baby food, you know, and you know, some of us need ensure or milk and some of us need the little baby food stuff. And some of us are eating T-bones.

God desires progress. You know, it's so cute to see a little baby with a bottle in the nursery, you know. It'd be kind of weird if somebody on the next row over from you had a bottle in here, wouldn't it? I'm going to go get me something to drink here. It's got a lid. They said, I got to have a lid.

That would be weird. Why? Because we're supposed to be maturing. We're not supposed to be staying on milk.

We're on drink milk for a season. And it says, know the truth. Now this is an interesting word. It's the same Greek word, Genesco, that's used in Matthew chapter one, verse 25. And it says, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son. And he called his name Jesus.

And same word in Luke 134, then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be? Seeing I know not a man. It's not talking about just knowing guys.

This is where some of us might've missed the curve. It's not just knowing about the truth. It's knowing in an intimate way, the truth. So you can go out here in the road and stand in the middle of the road and you can know that you're going to get hit by a truck if you don't move. But your knowledge, if it doesn't affect your behavior, it's not going to affect the outcome. So if you know that a truck is coming, what should that lead you to do? It should lead you to get out of the road.

Well, if you know the truths of the Bible, it should begin to affect your behavior. And what is this book to you? What is this book to you? See, we as a group of believers, we believe this is the literal word of God. God breathed.

Theonostos. This has the power to change lives. And that's why here we give it such a place of prominence in our teaching and in our lives. But what is it to you? Do you think the Bible is a good book filled with good stories and good morals and stuff like that? Or is it the final authority on life, on love, on living, on giving, on marriage, on child raising and all these things?

You have to decide. But if you say you believe it and your actions don't line up with those beliefs, then somebody should challenge you, friend. Somebody should challenge you on that.

I would challenge you on that. See, you find freedom in God's Word like you never had before. Jesus Himself had freedom. Freedom like we can't even understand the freedom that Jesus had. And yet He said, you know what? I don't do anything that the Father doesn't want me to do. That's amazing, isn't it? Because that is so contrary to what we think and the way we act.

Jesus had such freedom. He said, you know what? I decide where I lay my life down. Nobody takes it from me. I lay it down.

And then I will decide when to pick it up again. That's something none of us can say. But Jesus could say it. But you know why it's so foreign? It's because from the time we wake up in the morning until the time we go to bed at night, we are hammered by propaganda that says freedom is entirely something different than what it really is. We are hammered with freedom that, oh, it's this to be free. It's that to be free. Oh, you got to come out from all that, you know, all the legalism of the Bible. That's where you experience true freedom. Get out from under that. And then you'll experience true freedom.

Friends, family, your attention, please. I've done that before. I've come out from under the truths of the Bible. And I experienced a lot of things, but let me tell you, freedom was not one of them.

The world says, well, you do this. Do what you want to sexually. Experience freedom.

Do what you want to do with drugs, with alcohol. But you know what? That doesn't lead to freedom. You know what it leads to? Bondage beyond belief. Three Bs.

Bondage beyond belief. You talk to people. You talk to people that have done drugs or been promiscuous sexually or drank. Oh, and I'm not talking about you young people.

I'm not talking about other young people who may be flirting with the lines. I'm talking about people who gave themselves over to it and ask them if they were free. Do you feel freedom? No, you felt bondage is what you feel.

As you no longer even decide what your day looks like. But the bondage that you're under and that you're in decides what you do that day. That's not freedom. Oh, but you're lied to.

We're all lied to. Oh, that's freedom. Get out from under there. You know, as a parent, I want my kids to be free. And I also know that certain things will hurt them. And I don't want them to experience those things. So we have rules in the house. Don't do this and don't do that because I want you to be free.

I don't want you to come up under bondage. Well, if I, as an earthly father does this, don't you think our heavenly father wants to do this in our life? He wants to give us freedom.

The question is, are you tasting this freedom? And guys, as a church, if we come out from underneath this book, all because it's an old book, right? And why don't everything in there is old? Why should churches still teach it? Because it's God's truth to us. This is the greatest message that humans have ever heard. And if we no longer are sharing this book, we're useless.

Oh, you know what? We're worse than useless. If a church is no longer sharing this book, they're not neutral. Now they're working against us. See, because if you're no longer helping the hurting, guess what? You're hurting the helping.

If you're no longer helping the hurting, you're now hurting the helping. And the moment we get away from this book, we don't have anything to offer. If we get away from this book, friend, I can't present Jesus and God's truth with you out from underneath this book. The life lesson here is it's not enough to believe the truths of the Bible. You must surrender to the truths of the Bible. It's not enough to believe the truths of the Bible. You must surrender to the truths of the Bible. And if you say that you believe the Bible, but you're not surrendered to it, I challenge that.

I don't think you believe it. Because if you believe it, you will surrender to it. See, this is another one of those times where I say hard things in a loving way because this is what we need to hear. This is what we need to understand as a church is that we're about this book. It's God's truth.

And you can experience maximum freedom applying these truths to your life. And some of you may have been saved, but you're operating in bondage and you're going, where's the joy? Where's the peace?

Where's the love? Because you haven't surrendered to the truths in this book. Do you want to live in freedom? You can't. Do you want to live a life with no regrets?

You can't. Sitting here this morning, if you think back on something that really went wrong, that really something bad happened, let me ask you a question. At that moment in time, were you submitted to biblical authority? Were you walking and being surrendered to the truths of this Bible or perhaps had you come out from under it?

My answer is the same. When I come out from under biblical authority, I experience bondage and regrets. The Lord desires you to live in this freedom starting today, not tomorrow, not next week, today. Don't harden your heart. Surrender to the truths of God's Word and experience freedom like you've never experienced it before in your life.

Don't run from it. God wants you to be free. God desires for you to be free.

Quit picking up the chains. You know the truth, abiding in the Word, being the disciples, and you'll be set free. If you're not sure that you've asked the Lord to forgive you of your sins or maybe you've been wandering or running, this could be your morning.

If you've been running, you may have experienced a lot of things, but freedom probably hasn't been one of them. And see, the thing about Jesus, the thing about God's Word is it demands a response. You can't just hear it and not respond because if you don't respond, that's turning down the freedoms that Jesus paid such a precious, precious price for you to have. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again.

Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him and He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. You are the greatest God. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12-515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. That sounds good, Pastor DA.

And again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's home church, The Bridge, in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.