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Deutchman, HarryDavenport Conference 02 ~ John 8;32-36

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you like in heaven when they sing the throng of Moses and the land. I've never heard, really never heard that Mr. King has fear of evil. Could you turn with me to John the eighth chapter? John chapter eight. We shall read from verses thirty-two. John eight, thirty-six, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed. and were never in bondage to any man. How saith thou ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, verily, verily I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abide us ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Shall we pray? Blessed Spirit of God, we praise thee for the gift of the Father and the Son being given unto us when we came to know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We pray that He will be glorified this evening. O our God, we pray that those who may not know of the real world that surrounds them, that the eyes of their understanding might be open and see instead of fantasy come into reality. We wait on thee, our Father. because thy mercy and grace is still operative until this day of grace shall be closed. We ask it our Father, in thy dear Son's name for his sake. Amen. We are still in our bicentennial year. And as I was ministering in Atlanta, Georgia, I was asked to give the bicentennial message. And as the flag was there, I took hold of it. And I mentioned the fact that were it not for this country where I as a Jew have enjoyed freedom without overt persecution that we experienced in Poland, if this country did not have the freedom, the liberty that we can enjoy, where would I be, where would you be? But I am thinking of a liberty that even though the body may be saved, from being persecuted, I am thinking of the anguish of soul which affects the body no matter what condition of liberty it might enjoy. And here, as I read these verses of Scripture, I began to realize that freedom must be an essential character of life if life is to have any meaning at all. But the question that I would ask is what kind of freedom? If there is freedom without law, it produces anarchy. If there is law without freedom, it produces slavery. The answer that can reconcile all things and truly give us liberty is found in Paul's epistle where he constantly in every epistle has a phrase called in Christ. You cannot read the New Testament epistles of Paul. without seeing it over and over again in Christ. An organism outside of its environment cannot live. Therefore, man is the organism and God is that environment. God created man that man in the environment of his Creator might live to enjoy God forever. There are some of you here, I don't know who you are, and I'm glad I don't know who you are, who may have committed themselves to a mental proposition that was given to them in the Scriptures and yet never born again. Because Christ is not merely a mental proposition, but a Savior of the individual who recognized that he's a sinner before a holy God. Therefore, sin enters, and what happens? the organism fell out of its proper environment and as man was no longer related to God as he was before he fell that man became fragmented he became broken and he has never been able to put himself together never in history Man's history, no matter how he has tried academically, morally, and in every other aspect of life, could not really put himself together. He is fragmented. What does that man need? That man needs to come back to his environment. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You are here this evening, and you are just as lost as those who have come to Bible school and seminary, preparing themselves for Christian work. And as they began to realize there was only a mental accident without truly a heartfelt necessity, it's the reason why they came to know Christ as personal Savior. They were never born from above. Along that line, the result in coming to the Lord Jesus Christ will give you a threefold rest. That's why our Lord said, he did not say, come unto me and all will be well, but come unto me and I will give you rest. Because man needs that rest, what the air is to my lungs, the presence of God means to my soul. I can only live as I breathe him, and as I breathe him, I so to speak ingest him, and as I ingest him, I am in him, and he is in me, even as he said in the seventeenth chapter of John, Father, that they may be one in us, as thou art in me, and I in thee. that they might be one in us. The reason why you may be so anemic spiritually is because you're dying for the lack of true oxygen, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you are breathing the atmosphere of those things that seem to be enjoyable, palatable, But as we read in Hebrews the eleventh chapter, he would rather suffer with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now whatever you are enjoying outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's only for a season, and it's not well-seasoned. Because sooner or later, when it is too late, You may realize that the heart has become hardened. The conscience has become feared, and there is no desire whatsoever. When my mother passed away about eight months ago, and my sister six months prior to that, for years we tried to witness, but they said nothing. They didn't want it. They didn't want it. As Mother said, I'm living in a fantasy world. And you who know not Christ might say that we believers are living in a fantasy world. But it isn't we who are living in a fantasy world. You are the one who is living in such worlds about Christ. You still fantasize the fact that there is no sin in your life. You still fantasize the fact that there is no hell to be faced. You still fantasize the fact that there is no God and no judgment. It is you who are living in a fantasy world, not the born-again sight of God. Coming back, when you come unto him who said, I will give you rest, he will give you rest of mine. He will give you rest of conscience, and He will give you rest of will. Why do you need that threefold rest? Because everyone of you, without Christ, everyone is a child of Adam. And you came forth with his nature, willful, The shortest definition of sin is, I will. And as it has been pointed out this morning, five times in Isaiah the fourteenth chapter, I will, I will make my throne above the stars of God. I will do this. I will, I will. Just as the shortest definition of sin is, I will. the shortest definition of righteousness is thy will, he said. Therefore it's a matter in a battle of wills this evening. I dare say I cannot believe that everyone is born from birth. You may have committed yourself, as I said, to a logical proposition where scripture has been opened and you see the logic of it, but in the parable of the Sower, some of the seed fell on stony ground. And the second hearer is that hearer to whom it seems wonderful, logical, and he swiftly accepts it. But when persecution comes, when flesh is come, when the word of God is made very, what do I say, cut to the line and tailored not according to his desires, then he does what John six, six, six tells us they walk no more with him. You may be that type of a believer. The Word of God coming in, but there's a sledge rock, and the Word of God cannot go deeply within the soul so that it takes you downward and bears the fruit of the Spirit upward. You need rest for the mind. Why? Man has lost the light of God. And according to John the first chapter, we read there in the prologue in verses one on that he is the one who lightens everyone who comes into the world. He is the only one who can take that dark mind with which you were born and give that mind light. And we notice the understanding became void of God. That is why, whether I hear this evening, others and manifold at times, when the Word of God was given, you listened, you heard, you felt it was respectable and right to come, you went out, you feel that everything is well with you, but never once Did you ever get a glimpse of the real world? Never. You never saw beyond this materialistic world system when there is truly the true world encompassing us around. That is why when Elisha was prophet and his servant said, Master, they are coming against us. What shall we do? Elijah said, Lord, open the young man's eyes. And when his eyes were opened, what did he see? He saw the host of God all around the mountain there. We do not see the real world. This is not the real world. It sees with the outer eye. It sees with the outer soul. It gratifies all the human senses, and therefore the human being is content to believe that this is the real world. But his understanding became void of God from the moment he was born. The mind, what happens with it? The mind lost its true environment. Where do we see that in the Word of God? we see it in Ephesians the fourth chapter. In Ephesians chapter four, verses eighteen and nineteen, we read this. First in verse seventeen, he is telling them, Paul is telling them, this I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that he henceforth walked not as other Gentiles walked in the emptiness of their mind. Why is the mind empty? Because having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God to the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Being past feelings have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. When it says they're who, being past feelings, where the Lord God is not operating in their mind, they do not know him, and they've tried religiously and in every other way to know him, but through the right way, They said, well, what to you? I'll give myself over to the real me, so to speak, and think about myself. And therefore, man, that man is inverted instead of extroverted Godhood. Along that line, Romans the first chapter we read in the book of Romans, as to why the wrath of God is upon mankind. He has given us threefold revelation of himself. He gave a revelation of himself in nature. He gave a revelation of himself in conscience. He gave a revelation of himself in the Word of God. The heathen, when they saw the works of God in nature, What did they do? Know in full well that it was not accidental, that behind us there was an architect. What did they do? Because of their darkened mind, they made little figures to convey this God who may all be seen. And the Word of God tells us, in Romans, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. And so is that this morning, young people, you've got a whole world before you, and you're standing on the brink of excitement. This world that's so fascinating, tantalizing, scintillating, and as you see it, always has so many beautiful bubbles with its sheen and roundedness that somehow run it to see them in the air. And here and there, you sort of want to follow, thinking that it's a rainbow that you will have in the pursuit of it. Once you touch it, it bursts, and there is nothing there. Therefore, what do we need? We need freedom for the mind. You are born in darkness and blindness in your mind, and all you know is this world, all you know are these things, all you know is that life is three score in ten if you live that long, and even with the uncertainty you are so blind in your mind that you cannot think of anything else but the light that you are living. Along that line there is only Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, that can free the mind and set it at liberty. And we saw that in John the eighth chapter and verse thirty-two when he said, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. What is truth? Truth is abstract. Do you know why truth is abstract? Because it is relative. And why is truth relative making it abstract? Because every man becomes a law unto himself in the thinking process. And at last truth has become concrete. It's no longer an intangible thing. Truth has been made concrete because it has been personified in a person. The Lord Jesus Christ, He said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I couldn't help all morning and afternoon. Look at this. And here's what I saw. I was on shore. truth coming by me. I am the truth. And no matter how religiously I read the philosophers, no matter how I yearn in Hebrew school to learn the truth, I had to be brought so low that I didn't know what life was about. And a man promised to buy me a meal. I was that hungry if I would go to church with him. I never went to church. But I was hungry. He brought me a meal. And when the message was given at the church to the open door by Mel Svater, I didn't know what he said. And now, in retrospect, I realized the Spirit of God was breaking me. I came forward not knowing why I did so. And then the Lord implanted himself within my heart. And I began to know true it was in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is later. Not only does he emancipate the mind, but he also gives liberty and freedom to the conscience. I dare say, as in my case and myriads of other cases, the reason why there is so much bodily affliction is because of the mental process and the guilty conscience and its work on the various parts of our body. And that's why Christian science has had its heyday but is gradually dying. but there must be liberty for the conscience. My body cannot function as it should, unless my mind and my conscience are set at liberty. When the conscience comes to birth, conscience came to birth in the Garden of Eden. When sin took place, conscience was formed. And conscience knew that they had done wrong, because Adam and Eve was a very reflection of their Creator. And He, the Creator, was His kind of glory. That glory that was a momentous faith, I personally believe, were on the naked bodies of Adam and Eve. And all that could be seen was the glory of their Creator as they looked at each other. As soon as sin entered, the glory was gone, the connection was broken. They saw their nakedness. They began to sew bikinis, that's the word. They sewed bikinis. And as they did so, they tried to hide themselves from the presence of God. And that's what you have been doing in your conscience, covering it up constantly. covering it up. Along that line, what did God do? He gave the law, the Decalogue, the commandment. Why did He give them? Because He knew that man could not keep them. Then why did He give them? To disturb the conscience. That's why He gave them. And He gave that law to make The outward form of the law worked within that conscience to make us realize how exceedingly sinful it is. That is why if you are not born to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is only one thing that you will do with that law. You will pull it down to size and you will feel that you are doing the best you can. But if you have broken one law, you have broken them all. And the law was given to show man, using Israel on the platform of history, the law was given to show man how impossible it is to be like God himself. For in that law is the very character of God. Read the commandments and you will find the very character of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world and he took to his deity a humanity and he became the man Christ Jesus, there the second Adam, the last Adam was fulfilling the law. All that God was in his character was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ, who really is our Savior and Lord. In that Lord is the character of God, and when a nation made a deal with Jehovah, bring us into the land, and we will show you that we deserve all that you are giving to us, the Lord and made a covenant with them, they made a covenant with the Lord, and the reason he gave them that Lord to show that they would break it. Being that they would break it, he would have to break this covenant. So the law was given to disturb the conscience, and along that line with regard to a disturbed conscience, the Word of God tells us definitely who can liberate that conscience. When you turn with me, and by the way, this is the book that we will be studying for the week that I have the privilege of being with you. Look at Hebrews the ninth chapter. In Hebrews chapter nine, verse fourteen, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who to the eternal spirit, all for themselves without spot to God, purge your conscience, from dead works by coming to the chapel, or going to church, or being religious, and those things will never help. How? Your conscience being purged from dead work, then you are able to serve the living God. What did the Lord Jesus Christ do? Look at Hebrews, the first chapter. And in the first chapter of Hebrews, look at verse three. Who being the brightness of His glory and the express essence of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins when when he offered himself with us but unto God he purged our sins then what happened he sat down on the right hand of God if you are a Roman Catholic Might I say unto you, this epistle speaks about priesthood, where priesthood in the Old Testament had to do the same thing over and over again, offer up animal sacrifices for the sinner. It did something for the external man, but it never touched him internally. So here, this book, Hebrews, is about the only book that tells us what the Lord Jesus Christ is constantly doing in this book. He's on the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercessions for us this hard week. And as has been brought out during the conference, when the accuser of the brethren, who accuses us day and night before the throne of God, there he is. showing that He is our righteousness. No individual here can ever be saved in themselves. They have to have that perfect representative that is equal to the very holiness of God. And only the man Christ Jesus was able to meet all the qualifications. You cannot be saved in yourself and of yourself. You can only be saved through representation. When you accept him, then there's a declaration of independence from the world, the flesh, and the flesh. So we notice it's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Along that line, turn with me to Romans the fifth chapter. And in Romans chapter five, We read this. Therefore, verse one, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But on what foundation? Look at verse nine. Much more. then, being now justified by his love, we shall be saved from wrath through him. When John the Baptist was here, he cried out, Repent from the wrath to come. And the answer to consent that wrath that can be escaped is, Right here. We are saved through faith in his blood. We are saved from the wrath to come. And when we shall study the epistles to the Hebrews, there is only one thing left for the child of God, as he faces eternity. And that is the good things to come. The good things to come. I say unto you, you are forfeiting the lot. when you're gambling with your soul. Then I want you to notice there is liberty also for the will. For the mind we need truth. For the conscience we need his blood. For the will what do we need? Here is what we need. First of all, passions are supreme in you and in me. We are ruled by our passion. Our will as a regulated force in us is crippled. And it's our passion that carries the will with it so that we have no control over ourselves. Man's will by nature is not free, it is a slave of fear and desire. you're always fearing, you're always desiring outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. A man, a young man, an older man, a young woman, an older woman might know what is right and yet not do it. Why? What's wrong? Why do they do what's right? Because they are afraid of public opinion. And the righteous thing that should be done is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed blood for the remission of your sin. But you are afraid of public opinion. You are afraid of what your schoolmates might say, what your neighbor might say, the job you might lose, or the sensoriousness of being rejected from the society in which you move commercially and socially. And that's why you may know what's right and not do it. On the other hand, you might know what's wrong and yet do it. Why? Because you feel. that unless you do this thing, you fear that you might lose some kind of pleasure. So you're wrong from what's right and what's wrong. Your will is enslaved because your passions have the upper hand. It's your passions that are controlling your life. Along that line, sin. in the life of an individual where the will cannot do anything the individual still says, I can do this. I can so control my sin nature and I could will it not to sin. But might I say, will your sin nature not to sin from now till Tuesday the one thing you can never get rid of? And that is the inclination that's in there to sin. Get it? The inclination to sin is always there. You can never get rid of it. And so long as the Lord God knows that one has not accepted his son and his precious blood that was shed, the blood feeding of his poured out life, the holy victim for the guilty sinner, proven that the life was laid down by the blood that was shed for that sinner, if he refuses it, that individual is still a sinner by inclination. And no matter how he tries to force his will to dominate the sin nature within him, he cannot. The inclination is always there. If any man says he has not sinned, he makes God a liar, and the truth is not in him. Along that line, what the will needs is not strengthening but liberating. That's what it means. And who can liberate that will? When I come to Romans the fifth chapter, when it speaks about the man, who has been justified by faith through the blood of the Lord Jesus, putting here a trust in the atonement work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse five tells me this, And hope makes not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad, or like an avalanche poured into our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. And you know what happens when the love of God is poured into our being by the Spirit of God. The love of God so overcomes us that our wills become liberated. We give it over unto him and we do exactly what we want him to do. And when we feel willingly what he wants us to do, then the will is liberated. The angelic hosts in heaven, they are liberated, they are free, because they do exactly what they want to do. And so it is, if you know not the Lord Jesus Christ, you are blind in your thinking, you are seared in your conscience, and the will is enslaved by the passion that you will. If the sun shall make you free, then ye shall be free indeed. Never in the declaration of our independence that was signed a little over two hundred years ago can it match this declaration of independence. What will you do with Jesus? Neutral? You cannot be. Someday your heart will be asking, what will he do with me? What has he ever done against you for your rejecting him, whether gently or ruthlessly? He has been constantly waiting, constantly waiting. to be wanted. And may you this evening come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will liberate you in your mind, in your conscience, and in your will. For me to give an invitation, it would beflattened to my flesh to see you come forward. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to ask the Spirit of God to do his work, only he can convict of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. And our Father, as we come before thee this evening, may thy Spirit so deal with the ones who know thee not, thinking they do, but merely gave mental assent than hard conviction and personal acceptance give them no rest until they find rest for their minds, their wills, through the blood of the Lord Jesus who cleanses and purges that conscience. We commit them, as they are sitting there, just as they are without one's leave, but that thy blood were shed for thee, and that he fitly come to him, wanting to say, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. We ask it our Father in Jesus' name, for his sake and for their souls' welfare. Amen.