Apply Within

Guest (Male): But Jesus failed in nothing. God Almighty in human flesh failed in nothing. He's the only one who could say what he just said here: "I always do those things that please the Father." I can't say that. Can you? God's most devoted servants—King David was a man after God's own heart—did he always do the things that pleased the Father? No, he failed. Have I always done things that please the Father? No.

Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the Word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply his word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. We see the simplicity of salvation as our study of John continues in chapter 8, verse 31. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Jesus is the only one in all of eternity who will be able to say, "I always do the things that please my Father." That's amazing. And as Jesus spoke these words, many believed on him. Many believed because they believe he's the Messiah. How are you saved, everyone? How are you saved?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 17:3, 17:17, gotta go with it. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved. He came here that we might be saved. He's headed for the cross right now as he's teaching these people, to pay for the sin of the world, for mine and yours, for theirs, if they will surrender their hearts to believe.

Paul will write to Titus, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." It's by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. That's how I got saved. And as Jesus spoke these words, many believed. So verse 31: "Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed," truly my disciples. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

He said that to those who believed in him, not to the people that were saying, "This guy's crazy. Where's he going? Is he going to commit suicide?" Some believed. So here's Jesus now teaching us discipleship 101. I know that you like to sit together and go through a six-week course on discipleship. I know that, and you've got these books and you're getting together and you're reading through the books. But here you go—I'd take it straight from God right here. This is so simple.

Discipleship 101: Jesus says to those who believed on him right there, "If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed," or truly. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." To be a true disciple or a disciple indeed—discipleship 101, write it down or underline it, it's easy—you must commit yourself completely to Jesus. That's a disciple indeed, truly.

You must commit yourself to Jesus. The true disciple abides in Jesus Christ and abides in the word. To abide in the word means to be continuously in the Word of God. That doesn't mean you're reading it while you're driving—that would be crazy, you'd crash. But you get the point, don't you? You're remaining in the Word of God.

That's what he's saying to you, everybody. This is discipleship 101. To those that believed in him, he said, "If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed." Because a true disciple, a disciple indeed, they've committed their hearts to God. They don't know anything. These people are brand new. They don't know. He's not telling them, "Okay, by next Thursday I want you to have this memorized." That's not what's happening at all. He's just saying stay in the word.

As you go through, you'll find another thing toward Hebrews—just go look it up—but go through the New Testament and you're going to find that we shouldn't forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner or practice of some is. Why? Because we really encourage one another, if we're not eating each other alive usually. We do.

Do you know how easy it is to get out of fellowship with other believers? You get busy, you get tired, you get sick, you get tired and sick, and then you haven't been to church in two weeks, and two weeks turns to four, and pretty soon you don't go to church at all. Are you going to go to heaven? Yes, it's by grace through faith. Are you going to get beat up a lot along the way? A whole lot more, yeah.

Because we encourage one another. We're supposed to be building each other up. The church today pretty much practices eating each other alive. Form a circle and have a firing squad, and somebody's bound to get hit. And that's how we do it. It's dangerous; it's not God's way. But he wants us to remain in his word and take him at his word. When he says it, believe that's what he's saying. Study it, make sure that's what he's saying, and walk in it.

"If you continue in my word, then you're my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Abide in the word means to continue in it. It's easy to get out of the habit of reading your Bible. Good—there are good habits and there are bad habits. That's a good habit. Keep reading your Bible. But if you're reading it for time—ready, go, done—normally if you do that, you don't know what you just read. Someone says, "What did you read?" "I don't know." "Was it in the Old Testament or New?" "I'm not really sure." Well okay, slow down then.

I had a young man tell me, "I don't read very well. I guess they didn't teach me in school or I didn't pay attention. I read so slow." I said, "Okay, well..." He said, "I read it and none of it sticks." I said, "Okay, open it to Psalm 23 tomorrow morning. Read the first verse: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And just meditate on that. Chew it up like a cow chews its cud. Just chew on that all day. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd."

Just think about it all day. You'll remember what you read. And it'll start, you'll start going, "The Lord is my shepherd. A shepherd, what does a shepherd do?" Just think it through. It's not that you've got to get six chapters under your belt or you haven't read your Bible today. This is not a magic talisman—if I read enough, I'm going to have a good day; if I don't, I'm going to have a bad day. We're not superstitious. That's just not how it works.

So if you want to read the Bible in 30 minutes, okay. You want to read it in a year? A lot of people love to get those "read in one year" plans. I tell people to do that, and I say that's great. But I used to try to do that too, but you know what? I was having to read five, six, seven chapters a day. You know what was sticking with me, don't you? Nothing. But I read them, and so I could check it off. And at the end of the year, man, I've read the Bible in a year. And it counted for nothing, but I was proud. Slow down, read your Bible, and listen to what God is saying. It's good for you. Stay in fellowship. Stay in fellowship.

To be a true disciple, a disciple indeed, commit yourself to Jesus Christ. This is not just something I did because I felt bad about my life. This is something where you've been born again by grace through faith. You have new life now in Jesus Christ. It's not something you do from time to time when you're bummed or if there's really no good game on or something. This is what we do. This is our priority. This is what we're all about. It is a life of walking by the power of God's Holy Spirit and abiding in the Lord and abiding in his word.

And make sure that you get this. Now when I say it, it kind of confuses you, but make sure you get this: You are not saved by abiding in his word; you abide in his word because you are saved. Did that make sense? I'll say it again: You are not saved by abiding in his word; you're abiding in his word because you are saved. You're going to stay in his word. A true disciple, he says, "If you continue in my word, then you're truly my disciples."

You see, so I'll say it one more time: You're not saved by abiding in his word; you abide in his word because you are saved. You're not saved by going to church and staying in fellowship with other believers; you stay in fellowship with other believers because you are saved. See the difference? I know it's complicated.

Every true disciple will know the truth, Jesus said. Every disciple indeed will know the truth, and the truth shall make him or her, the disciple, free. Are they free? He says they're not. The verse I'm reading says in verse 32, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." What do you mean we're not free? No, you're not free. You're in bondage, the bondage of ignorance. You don't quite know what God says and what he doesn't say. You don't quite know, do we do this as Christians or do we not? You just don't know. And so you're in bondage to that.

Once you realize you're free, you're completely free. Otherwise, you've got questions all the time. Can Christians do this, or if we do that, is it a sin? If you're still there at that question stage, you're still young in the Lord. Because when you start to grow up some, your questions change. We don't say, "Can we do this, is it a sin?" We don't ask that anymore. You know what we say? "What does God want me to do? Even if it's not a sin, if God would rather have me doing something else, then what does he want me to do?" Notice the difference in heart.

They were in bondage because of ignorance. They were in bondage because of error. They were being taught false doctrine by the Pharisees. They were in bondage of their own sin. They were under the bondage of the law. Christians today, I know a lot of Christians who still try to live under the law and "is it okay if we do this" or "is it okay"—they're in bondage to that. They're not free. They're in bondage to superstitions. And Jesus says every true disciple, "You shall know the truth if you abide in my word, and the truth shall make you free."

Pastor MacDonald says this: Those who truly know the Lord Jesus are delivered from their sin. They're delivered. They walk in the light and are led by the power of God's Holy Spirit. And they continue by God's grace. That's how it's done.

Let's go to verse 33 here. They answered and they said, because now he just said, "You shall know the truth, the truth will make you free," they answered, "We are Abraham's seed. We're children of Abraham. We were never in bondage to any man. How can you say you shall be made free?" Jesus answered and said, "Truly, truly I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is in bondage to sin, is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth forever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."

Oh, put that all together. That's great. They're immediately offended. "What do you mean in bondage? We're free already. You're saying we're not free? We are Abraham's children. We've never been in bondage." Now listen to that. Did you hear that? We've never been in bondage to any man. Really? Really? I've read the Old Testament, and they've been in bondage to Egypt, to Assyria, to Babylon, to Persia, to Greece. They are now under the iron boot of Rome. They're not free. They're clueless.

Yeah, you've been in bondage to about everybody in town for the last over a thousand years or so. And take note, everyone, the ones saying, "We're Abraham's children, we're not in bondage to anybody, we're direct descendants of Abraham, we're free," take note, they have no clue that they are in bondage to their own sin.

Just like I didn't know before I got saved. I didn't know. I thought I was happy, healthy, and whole. Did you? Before you had Jesus, you're just walking around in the dark going, "Boy, we're having a blast." And then the Holy Spirit got your attention and you surrendered. You said, "I am a sinner, I am. I never thought of it before." And then the Lord came into your heart. Remember all that?

Jesus says this, they say, "We're not in bondage, we've never been in bondage." I tell you the truth. And when he says "I tell you the truth," let me say it in American: Let me set you straight. Whoever practices sin is a slave to sin, in bondage to sin. The servant, right, your servant of sin, the servant doesn't abide in the house forever. Right? The servant may serve in the house, but the servant doesn't stay there forever. The Son, or the child, the family, stays there forever. Get the point?

"The servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth it forever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." Right now you are a servant. You're a servant to sin. He told them that it was, let's just say it in American, it is not enough that you are literally descended from Father Abraham. That's not enough to get you out from under sin.

They must know the deliverer. They've got to know the deliverance from the power of sin that Abraham knew. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He was saved by grace through faith. Jesus is telling them this: He is the true son of Abraham. In other words, he came through the lineage and he is sinless. He's not in bondage to sin. So if the Son sets you free, you're free indeed.

Get the point? Jesus says the servant doesn't abide there forever. And if you're wondering what does that mean, he is referring to Father Abraham. And these people are saying, "We're direct descendants from Abraham." So Jesus goes back to Abraham. And it would be, you could look it up later in Genesis 21, you'll see this: The servant doesn't abide forever, but the Son does.

Isaac and Ishmael. Who was the son of promise? Isaac. Who was the servant? Ishmael, the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, right? Which one got sent away? Not the son of the promise. Because Jesus is, when he says that I'm a descendant of Abraham, what he's saying is "I am the specific son of promise that Abraham was promised, Messiah." Right? But what happened to Ishmael? The servant doesn't stay in the house forever. He got sent away. He was probably about 16 to 17 years old. Remember that? God was showing you the picture. Isaac the true son remained in the house forever. Ishmael the servant's son was sent away.

When men and women believe this message, when they hear it and receive Jesus into their heart, they are set free by Jesus Christ himself. What do you mean set free? Set at liberty because of the new birth. And they go on from there in fellowship with one another, in fellowship with the Lord, staying in the word, staying in fellowship, walking in the power of God's Holy Spirit, learning and growing. They are not dominated by the lust of the flesh. They're walking freely as children of God.

When you've got someone who belongs to Jesus—you've heard me say this, God's word says it—you don't give them a list of do's and don'ts. You don't have to. You just don't have to. You just say, "Walk with the Lord, trust the Lord." And people say, "Well, we can't trust so-and-so." Hey, we can't trust anybody; we trust Jesus. And we'll help our brothers and sisters, but we are not their judge. Because we have to judge righteous judgment, and God sees the heart and we don't. We have to be careful of all that.

If you continue, Jesus says, in a lifestyle of sin, you are a servant of sin. True? You're in bondage to sin. Not one of us that's a true believer—I hope I can speak for true believers—not one of us goes through one day without sinning. Right? Can you admit that with me? Am I the only one? I feel bad now. You guys are good. Not one of us goes through one day without sinning. But the child of God, the one that has been saved by grace through faith, will come to the Father daily, hourly, sometimes every five minutes, right, to confess. True?

Why do we do that? We know we're saved by grace through faith. We know he still loves us, right? But we want to confess it to our Father. True? And on the other hand, the child of the devil will never do that. You know, before I got saved, I never stopped and thought, "I should probably confess the language that I use in the military." No, I just used it; everybody used it. It flowed; it was beautiful. It never crossed your mind anything was wrong with it. That's how you talk.

I remember going home after being over on the far side of the world and coming home and I was telling my parents and my little brother and you know my brothers were all there and I was telling them about some of the things that I had seen. After about seven straight minutes of talking, I'm looking at everybody and they're all stunned. And I'm thinking, "What? What?" And my dad smiled and said, "You might want to watch your language, son." I'd see it roll off the tip so smooth that it was filthy and foul, but I didn't even notice it. That's how you talk.

Then you come to Jesus Christ and something comes out of your mouth and you go, "Whoa, where'd that come from? Probably from my heart. Lord, help me please." Right? True? That's what Jesus is saying right there. Son sets you free, you're free indeed. You're saved by grace through faith. He loves you. But we're going to run to our Father all the time. We're going to confess, tell him.

So you say, "Well, I'm a mess." Well good, it's good to know that we're a mess. But God has fixed the mess. And what amazes me is I can't see half of what's wrong with me. Probably you can't see half of what's wrong with you or you'd probably be scared to death that he wouldn't love you anymore. He does, he loves you. But he is working in your heart. He's not going to change your personality—hate to bum you out. He's working on your character. He's changing your heart.

We're going to grow. And that's what Jesus is promising to them. I'll read it again. To those that believe, he said, "If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, the truth shall make you free." And then verse 34: "Truly, truly I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. The servant does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." It's by God's grace.

If you recognize that "I am lost," then Jesus says, "Come to me." You've got to believe first that you are a sinner. In other words, if you don't think you're a sinner, what's to be saved from? Like those people: "We're not in bondage." Yes, you are. You're in bondage to all kinds of things, especially sin. But if God speaks to your heart, then you just take your heart to the Lord and say, "Come into my heart, Lord. Wash me. Save me."

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM. You can download today's message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. That's NorthCountryChapel.com/studies.

If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho 83854, or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851. Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the livestream of our services, or to find out more about church events. If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse by verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel. God bless you.