THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!
John 8:31-36
Introduction: We see in this passage a reality we face when
we seek to share the truth with unbelievers. They are in darkness and don’t see
the depth of their need. People prize their supposed freedom. They believe they
are free, free to make their own choices, free to do as they please. We’ve seen
in John that Jesus is the Truth. In Jn 1:14 we saw, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full
of grace and truth.” And then in 1:17 we are told, “…the law was
given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Later in
the Gospel Jesus will say, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one
comes to the Father but by me.” As He
stands before Pilate, we see this exchange…
Pilate said
to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am
a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the
world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth
listens to my voice." 38
Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" (John 18:37-38).
The truth is, apart from Christ, we are
slaves. But don’t we have free will? Well,
we are free to choose, but since
apart from Christ our hearts are “deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked…”; since there is “none that does good, not even one…”; since
without him we are “dead in our trespasses and sins…”; left to ourselves
we will always choose amiss, motivated by the flesh and deceived by the devil. Everyone
wants to be free, that’s a given. The issue is that people apart from the
liberating work of Christ are slaves and they don’t realize it. They are slaves
to sin.
The
Big Idea:
Abiding in the Word of Christ we grow in the knowledge of truth and experience
true freedom as His disciples. We’ll take two verses at a time…
I. Faith, Followers,
Truth, and Freedom (8:31-32). “So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word,
you are truly My disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.’" Look first at
Jesus’ words in v.31…
“If you abide in my word then you are truly
my disciples…”
“Truly” refers back to the previous
verse (8:30) and the “many” who “believed.” It implies not all
who in some sense “believe” are necessarily true disciples of Jesus. Remember
the caution expressed by James, “You believe that God is one, you do well,
the demons also believe and tremble.”
We also saw in John 2:23-25…
“Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the
feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He
did. 24 But Jesus did not entrust
Himself to them, because He knew all men,
25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He
knew what was in man.”
They
too “believed” in some sense, but Jesus knew their hearts, so he didn’t “entrust
himself ” to them (this is the same verb that is translated “believe”
in the first part of the verse, they said that they believed in Jesus,
but he knew their hearts, so he didn’t believe them! John is interested in true faith, the faith that saves
(see Jn 20:30-31). What does it mean to believe in Jesus? As we’ve
looked at “faith” in John we’ve seen at least three essential elements of the
faith that saves: 1) knowledge, 2) assent, and 3) trust, and he is calling his
readers to understand the truth about who Jesus is, agree that he is our only
hope of salvation, and finally to trust Him as Savior and Lord.
First, we have to know the truth,
we need the right information about who Jesus is, and what He has done for us.
Faith requires knowledge of the truth. The God who is has spoken.
We have to be in His Word to know what God says about us, about our need, and
about Jesus. Through the written Word we know about the Living Word, Jesus!
It also requires assent, we have
to agree with the facts that Scripture reveals. What does the Bible say
about humans, about our need, what does it tell us about God? What are the facts about Jesus and what he
has done for us? Will we admit that we are sinners, and that Jesus is the only
way to God? That’s step one, but do we acknowledge and agree with the revealed
truth of the Word? We can’t pick and choose, we need to be in the word on a
regular and systematic basis, seeking out the whole council of God.
Finally, true saving faith requires trust,
it means that we must put our faith in Jesus alone and in His finished work
on our behalf as our only hope of salvation. We exercise faith over small
issues all the time. When you get in a car with another driver, you trust them
to keep the car under control. You’re trusting the guy behind you to follow the
rules! You get on an airplane you trust
the pilot, and the mechanics, and the air traffic controllers. You have surgery you trust the medical team
to keep you alive, and do their job well. It’s one thing to say you trust
someone, it’s another to get in the car or the airplane or to let them put that
IV in your arm and put you to sleep! The
faith that saves means we have put our trust in Jesus alone for our salvation.
In the Evangelism Explosion ministry we would use a question to help people
focus in on that idea: If you were to die tonight and stand before God and He
were to ask you “Why should I let you into my heaven?”, what would you say? It’s not a trick question but a lot of people
respond, they are good people, they live by the ten commandments, or do their
best to keep the “golden rule.” Our only hope is that “Christ died for our
sins… was buried… and was raised again the third day…” The hymn writer said
it well, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to His cross I cling.” “Jesus
paid it all,” That is the faith that saves…
Jesus said, “…if you abide in my Word…” Abiding,
continuing in God’s word, is not a condition of being a genuine disciple;
it is an evidence of it. If we really view this book as the Word of God,
we need to avail ourselves of every opportunity to feed on it and to be
nourished by it. And we’ll want to do it!
Peter
speaks to that when he urges his readers to “long for the pure milk of the Word….” (I Peter 2:2). Do you truly
cherish time in the Word? I thought of the scene in the movie the “Chariots of Fire,”
where Eric Liddel said that when he ran, he felt the “pleasure of God.” I think
each of us can be assured of God’s pleasure if we love the Word, delighting to
read it, to hear God’s voice teaching us and revealing Himself to us, showing
us how we can live. Love is a choice, and the more time we spend with something
we love that love grows and deepens. If a loved one is away on a trip, and a
letter comes in the mail, what do you do? You don’t put it in your “to do”
basket. You open it and read it, hanging on every word. I have a quiet time in
the morning and I love it, I look forward to it. Reading and praying and
hearing God through His word.
If we continue in the Word we’ll be
seeking more and more to “learn the word” since it is God’s revelation
to us, and as such a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths, so we come to
the light. We have opportunities to learn, to continue in the word, throughout
the week. Sunday morning is a time for worship, and an aspect of that is the teaching
of the Word. In some respects it is the primary “teaching time” that we have as
a church. We put an outline in the bulletin to allow you to take notes (or write
down questions), by doing so you give your brain one more avenue to assimilate
the truth. On Thursday night we discuss the study questions in the bulletin and
then have a time of prayer. I’ve been putting the text of the weekly sermons on
my blog in case you missed something on Sunday AM, not an exact transcript of
the Sunday AM message, but the basis of the sermon. There are over 200 sermons posted
that I’ve preached since I’ve been here. The idea is that our “learning” can be
enhanced and continue throughout the week.
We also have two excellent adult Sunday School
classes, as well as classes for teens and children (that is in addition to
AWANA on Wednesday night and Youth Group Friday night). Our community Bible
Studies usually meet monthly, and are another opportunity to learn together.
Of
course we encourage you to adopt a regular, systematic, program for your own
Bible reading. Some of our people read a chapter a day, some follow a program
to read through the Bible in a year. There are a lot of different reading
programs and you can certainly find one that works for you. I remember hearing
Howard Hendricks say, “Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives,” and another, “This
book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” The Apostle
Paul said,
“Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in
all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in
your hearts to God…” (Col 3:16).
That admonition is for every believer. “Learning”
is not something that is restricted to Bible college or seminary classes. Academics
have a place, but there is no better school for our faith than the local church
and walking with God in our daily life. There is no way that three or four years
in a Bible College or seminary should be valued more than a lifetime of study
of the Bible in the local church and in our daily Christian life. But we do need to be students, “learning the
Word” by every means possible, it does require effort. If we love the Word and
learn the Word, then we will be prepared and equipped to…
Live
the Word: James made this clear when he talked about faith: faith without
works is dead being by itself. We
are to be “doers of the Word, and not hearers only who delude themselves.”
Jesus says here, “If you abide [that is, “continue”] in my Word…” If you love the Word, learn the Word, and
live the Word, you continue in it, and Jesus says “then you are my disciples indeed.”
Jesus goes on to say, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free…” Know the truth starts with knowing the Gospel, the
revelation of who Jesus is and what he came to do on our behalf. Paul said, “I
determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” It’s only through the truth that we are set
free. The Gospel sets us free, free to obey, free to live in the light of His
truth. That is the *Big
Idea: Abiding in the Word of Christ we grow in the knowledge of truth and
experience true freedom as His disciples.
II. False Freedom and Slavery (8:33-34). “They answered Him, ‘We are offspring of Abraham,
and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become
free’? 34 Jesus answered
them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to
sin.’” We’ll move more quickly
through these verses…
Why did the people here balk at the
teaching of Jesus? If he is talking about being set free through His Word, it
implies that people are enslaved. In the context it means that everyone, apart
from the saving grace of God, is a slave of sin. People think they are
free, they make their own rules and are the masters of their own fate. Yes, the
Jews of Jesus’ day they were descendants of freed slaves: their forefathers had
been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years – but were freed through the Exodus. There
was the Babylonian Captivity, but God had returned them to the land,
right? And now, the Romans! They might
be a thorn in their side but they would not admit to being any man’s slaves.
Jesus explains that their slavery is
spiritual: The ESV says, “…whoever practices sin is a slave of sin…” (34).
They are slaves of sin. He is not saying that every human that commits a
sin (or sins) is a slave of sin. The verbal form and context implies a
continual, habitual, practicing of sin.
Those who continue in sin, by their action reveal they are slaves to it.
It is similar to Paul’s contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit
of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Of the works of the flesh Paul says, “…those
who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal
5:21). We also read
in 1 John 3:6-8 that…
“Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him
nor known Him. 7 Little
children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous. 8 He
who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the
devil.
If we continue in sin,
without change, without evidence of repentance, without growth in our Christian
life, we show we are still slaves, whether or not we recognize it.
One symptom of slavery to sin is
avoiding the Word. It’s too boring to read. It’s too hard to understand and
too tiring to listen to. I’d rather watch TV or play a video game, or sleep in.
We can love things, but if we don’t love the Word and are not interested
in learning the Word, there is no way that we are going to live the
Word. We love the Word, because it is God’s Word, given to us as a lamp
to our feet and a light to our path. We read it eagerly, because we know
His way is best, He loves us, and we can trust Him.
Calvin said that “the greater the mass
of vices anyone is buried under, the more fiercely… does he extoll free
will.” Augustine spoke about how slavery
to sin is the worse form of slavery when he said, “…at times a man’s slave,
worn out by the commands of an unfeeling master, finds rest in flight. Whither
can the servant of sin flee? Himself he carries with him wherever he flees… The
pleasure passes away; the sin remains. What delighted is gone; the sting
remains behind. Evil bondage!” (cited by Leon Morris, John, 406-407).
Apart from saving faith in Jesus all humans are slaves to sin… The Big Idea is
that *Abiding in the Word of Christ we grow in the knowledge of truth and
experience true freedom as His disciples.
III. The Promise of Sonship and genuine freedom (8:35-36). "The slave does
not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if
the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
The point is that their confidence in their physical descent
from Abraham is an illusion. Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 3:9, “…and do
not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father';
for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to
Abraham.” God isn’t interested primarily in our physical lineage, but rather in the
object of our faith. As slaves, they have no
basis for confidence that they have an eternal place in God’s house. On the
contrary, “…a slave does not abide in the house forever…” That kind of
residence in God’s house requires being part of God’s family, it requires being
a child of the King.
John
uses two different words for a “child.” He usually reserves the word huios, “son,” for Jesus. Believers are tekna, “children,” of God. He is emphasizing that Jesus has a unique
relationship with the Father. As the Son, He has the authority to free
from slavery all who turn to Him in faith. “If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed.” Because of who Jesus is, God the Son,
He has unique and absolute authority to free us from bondage to sin, to make us
children of the King, free to obey. Free to be sure of our eternal home, our
residence and inheritance in our Father’s house. Free to experience the
abundant life He want us to have, that He died to provide.
What is God
saying to me in this passage?
*Abiding in the
Word of Christ, continuing in His Word, we grow in the knowledge of truth and
experience true freedom as His disciples. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you are free indeed!
What would God have me to do in response to this passage?
1) Every human, apart from Christ is
a slave to sin. Through the Word we can experience “life” and genuinely be
free, freed by the Truth to know the Truth, free to obey God, free to
experience the abundant life of blessing Christ wants us to have. The first
step is to come in faith, to believe. Have you trusted Him as your Savior and
Lord? Call on the name of the Lord and be saved, and then you will be truly
free, free to walk in obedience to the Truth!
2) Believer, let’s not be complacent.
We should long for the pure milk of the Word, that we might grow thereby. Let’s
determine to be students of the Word, let the Word of Christ dwell richly
within you. “Disciple” means “learner.” Is it your desire to continue
in His word, to Love the Word, to Learn the Word, and to Live the Word? His
Word is truth. Let’s walk in it! AMEN.
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