Sermon: "The Free Life" - John 8:31-47

I want to invite you to read along as these words are read into your hearing the Gospel of John chapter 8 verse 31 through 47 reads so jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him if you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free 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 jesus answered them truly truly I say to you everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin the slave does not remain in the house forever the son remains forever so if the son sets you free you will be free indeed I know that your offspring of Abraham yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do not and you do what you have heard from your father verse 39 they answered him Abraham is our Father jesus said to them if you were Abraham's children you would be doing what Abraham did but now you seek to kill me a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God this is not what Abraham did you are doing what your father did they said to him we were not born of sexual immorality we have one father even God jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me for I came from God and I am here I came not of my own accord but he sent me why do you not understand what I say it is because you cannot bear to hear my word you are of your father the devil and you your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks out of his own character where he is a liar and the father of lies but because I tell you the truth you do not believe me which one of you convicts me of sin if I tell you the truth why do you not believe me whoever is of God hears the words of God the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God this is the word of the Lord together thanks be to God let us pray our God our Father we thank you for your word and all the promises contained therein we ask you O God to grant us understanding let this word your word not fall upon deaf ears this morning but sanctify us in it we pray O Lord and I ask that you would help me empower me Lord as I declare what thus saith the Lord may my words be yours and what is not of you let it fall to the ground and Jesus name we pray amen well as a kid growing up and I'm sure some of you can testify to this as well once you got to the pray playground you were free as soon as you got out of your parents car you zip for that wood mulch or that padded ground where the big fort was the merry-go-round and the slides and you thought that everything was all hunky-dory you thought that it was all good you thought that your shackles were released you could do whatever you want on the playground because it was your domain it was your territory and at last you were in your kingdom as a little kid that's part of my story not hazard a guess that it's some of your story in fact I'd say that it's some of the youngsters story in here this morning as well and this speaks to the perceptions that we have about freedom we tend to think that freedom is this sort of unfettered unshackled unhinge unchained our experience where we can go and do whatever we want to do no rules we don't have to pay attention to any authorities we at last can indulge all of our pleasures but quickly discover when you get to the playground that if you jump off the merry-go-round while it's spinning you're going to have problems quickly you realize that if you don't hold on to the swing while you're being pushed you're gonna have problems quickly you realize why they tell you not to jump off of a 12-foot fort or you'll have problems you see beloved our perception about freedom is oftentimes skewed our perceptions about freedom freedom oftentimes off-base we have the idea of that freedom without any bounds freedom without any guidelines it's true freedom and in so doing we tend to miss out on God's blessings but what we'll see here in this text this morning is that Jesus corrects our perception of our freedom Jesus doesn't Jesus challenges us to think about freedom slightly different Jesus challenges us to think about the free life as the life of one where we desire to do what's best for us what we desire to do what God wants us to do indeed that is true freedom we'll see this morning and I want to propose three sections for our time this morning the free life the slave life and the slave master the free life the slave life and the slave master if you look at verse 31 we'll see the free life Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him if you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free Jesus is talking to the same bunch from verse 30 if you'll remember Jesus said some hard things about being the light of the world Jesus has a way about himself that causes people some discomfort Jesus tends to make these bold claims about himself that causes people to want to kill him and at the end of his discourse on I'm the light of the world in verse 30 it says as he was saying these things many believed in him so now in verse 31 he is talking to that same bunch and he tells them that this idea of freedom is conditional it says if you abide in my word that word there abide means if you remain if you dwell in if you continue in my word you are truly my disciples and so we say here for one second well I thought that all we had to do was believe I thought God saved us and I thought he keeps us and now I hear Jesus saying if you remain in my word well yes you have that right but it's both in you see the call to discipleship is not just one moment the call to discipleship is lifelong as David Kim would say we believe every day we continue believing every day of our single life it's not that I just one day walk the aisle and I believe that jesus is my Lord and Savior and it's said and done that's only part of the reality Jesus says if you continue in that if you continue walking in me if you remain in me if you abide in me then that is fruit that you are my disciple so there's a bit of a condition there we're not advocating for works righteousness but what Jesus is not advocating for either is fatalism it's not that we believe in whatever will be will be know Jesus says you trusted me and you remain in me as a testimony that you are my disciple he says abide in me that means to remain in him and what is the result of abiding in Christ it says here you will know the truth and the truth will set you free so we do have this moment where we trust that for some it's clear and distinct for others it's a period of time God works in their heart and a nickel drops over time but Jesus says if you remain in him if you abide in him in him if you walk in the ways of the Lord you will come to know more and more about what God wants for your life we will understand how to appropriate God's word for our life more and more we will understand how to walk wise in God's ways the more we do the dance if you will of faith repentance and obedience the more we will come to understand about God too often we're convinced that once I believe in the moment that everything is said and done that there's no work to be done in my life but Jesus comes against that Jesus says no remain in me continue trusting in me continue turning from yourself and continue walking in my ways it may not always personally feel like the right thing to do you might even have to take a step of faith against what your own feelings tell you to do and that's the call to discipleship we walk by faith not by sight and Jesus says to remain in me and it doesn't always seem like the right thing to do but it is part of that good old process of becoming a disciple of growing and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ he said you will know the truth that is you will perceive you will understand we actually have to read the word listen to the word listen to the preached word study the word pay attention to the word take heed of the word the word is a means of grace it is one of the ways that God communicates His grace to us it is one of the ways that we discover what God wants of us as followers of Christ and if we remain in Christ we will come to understand this in more deep ways it will set us free what does Christ mean by free so again I said yes there is a moment where we trust for some it's more distinct than others but as we abide in Christ the guilt of our sin dissipates more and more as we abide in Christ we take we will break patterns in our life more and more a friend once told me discipleship is more like an epic saga more so than a quick hour and 30 minute so if you invite me which I love dearly so if you invite me out to a movie make sure it's at least an hour and 45 minutes because I hate short movies I love long long drawn-out films with drama where you can see the character development over time why because it is as it closely it is closer to the pattern of reality than the quick snippet you see development over time and that is the process of discipleship God calls us and we abide in him we remain in him and slowly sometimes for others it's faster the patterns of sin the habits of sin in our life begin to break in other words beloved we have not arrived yet the minute you think that you've arrived you're misunderstanding your discipleship there is no holiness to perfection this side of glory we are all broken we all walk with a limp all needing Jesus every single day of our life that's why says remain in me abide in me Jesus tells us in John 15 apart from me you can do nothing so then freedom beloved is not doing what you wish but it's wishing to do what God wants it's wishing to do what you should do that beloved is freedom Christ says remain in me and you will understand what this freedom is they say to him we are the offspring of Abraham and never and have never been enslaved to anyone how is it that you say you will become free again here we have an issue with the Pharisees pushing back at Jesus Jesus comes off with them freedom and they profess that Abraham is their father we don't need to be saved now there is a sense in which the Pharisees and the crowd that is standing here at this moment did have a special position before God they to them Paul says were the covenants to them we're the promises made and through them came the Messiah ethnically speaking so they did have a special standing before God but what they are missing here is that your ethnic heritage can not save you I was in Birmingham on a trip in being an evangelist beloved never stopped being evangelist you got to be an evangelist even when you're on vacation ok I was sharing with this man he asked me what I did tell my pastor and of course you know my next question was what tell me where you are spiritually what do you think about church etc siddur he said oh yeah he said yeah my mom's a longtime member at the Methodist Church downtown over 60 years I didn't ask about your mom asked about you you see the Pharisees were saying Jesus was telling the Pharisees you need to be set free you need to know the truth and the Pharisees will say well wait a minute Jesus will okay because our ethnic heritage tells us that we're good we got this figured out Jesus you can tell that freedom self to other people my mom's been a longtime member at the church my granddaddy has been an usher for years my father is an elder but Jesus says are you free have you appropriated the truth do you understand what it means to be free you see the Pharisees walked in the arrogant ways and dependent upon their heritage they depended upon their heritage so consequently they thought they didn't need to be spiritually liberated from their sin they weren't looking for a messiah to deliver them from bondage to sin they were looking for a messiah that would restore them politically they were looking for a messiah that would get their king in the office they wanted their agenda promoted and beloved the indictment is out on the church liberal independent and conservative there's a nuff lashing to go around for everybody too often we are caught up in thinking that Jesus ultimately came to get the king and all earthly King in office that we want when in fact what Jesus came to do was deliver us to himself the real king no matter who's in office we're wrapped up in this political stuff and I'm not saying that our faith shouldn't be brought to bear on our voting our faith godless and everything that we do but if we think that Jesus is obsessing over who we want in the office we are sadly mistaken if we think that somehow we can get Jesus on our side we are sadly mistaken if that were the case there would be no letter of 1st and 2nd Peter to the Christians who were suffering under Neronian persecution Jesus says suffer for doing right okaythis possible to still be delivered and free even if you're under a and oppressive regime and I'm not saying that God does not care so don't hear me saying that either I'm not saying that we should just let the world go to a hell in a handbasket I'm not saying that we shouldn't call the government to do what is right but what I am saying is that we got to be careful that we're not saving people to a political ideology instead of Jesus the Pharisees did not think they need to be set free we got that figured out just get us the right earthly king in office restore us to the glorious days restores to the power that we want that's what the Pharisees were obsessing over not their salvation but their political liberation beloved do we see our need this morning to be free that's an important question do you see your need to be freed from bondage to slavery do you see that Jesus freed you if you are in Christ from your bondage to slavery that's the question this morning we all have to wrestle with this idea that we were enslaved and we could not save ourselves and only Jesus did what we could not do I tell you this morning I need Jesus every day of my life don't you think for one second because I'm standing up here preaching the Word of God that I don't need to remain that I don't need to abide that I don't need to dwell in the presence of God that I don't need to hear the preached word that I don't need to read the word that I don't need to look to my heavenly father to draw strength I need itself to I need you to pray for me because I'm a disciple of Christ as well I have not arrived I have not I have not attained to holiness of perfection okay I have to remain as well as you're under Shepard there's only one Shepherd that got it right perfectly and that's Jesus Christ do we see our need for him beloved do we see that we must remain in Christ are we desperate but Jesus are we desperate I want to say another thing about this a lot of times we we trick ourselves into thinking that we don't need him because not only are we concerned about political and earthly things overly concerned about it but we engage in self and works righteousness and self-righteousness like that of the Pharisees and we miss one of the most obvious idols in our own life the person we see in the mirror every day we miss that when we walk in self-righteousness we're worshiping ourselves if in effect what we are saying is that I've done enough god I've got this sorted out I don't need your liberation it's one of the most obvious idols but the hardest one to see the idol of self that's why self-righteousness and works righteousness is a subtle danger if we think we arrive and oftentimes we're just starting do you see your need for Jesus this morning beloved not only do we see the free life but we see the slave life here verse 34 jesus answered them truly truly I say to you everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin the slave does not remain in the house forever the son remains forever so Jesus says well here let me give you the nature of what the slave life is perhaps you think you've arrived perhaps you think there's no sin in your life that needs to be addressed well Jesus says that anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin now does that mean that we are all enslaved and all in shackles no that's not what Jesus is saying but in the first place we all should be humbled because that means that none of us have got it figured out Jew and Gentile alike Paul tells us this in Romans chapter 2 and he tells us in Romans chapter 3 that no one seeks the Lord I don't care what your ethnic heritage is I don't care what your socio-economic background is I don't care what your level of education is we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and be if not for God you would not desire to serve God so we've got to get that established and what he's saying by everyone who commit sin he's talking about everyone who regularly indulges in the life of disobedience and loves the lifestyle that is in opposition to the Father so anyone who regularly misses God's mark and delights in it this is what Jesus is referencing he's talking about anyone who commits sin anyone whose life is patterned after disobedience he's enslaved to sin anyone that challenges us to think about our whole life what is my life how is how is my life regularly characterized it does not mean perfection so let me free you up don't walk and fear here because first john 8 tells us that if anyone says he does not sin he's deceived and the truth is not in him so everyone sins everyone falls short everyone misses God's mark but what he's saying here is you are enslaved to sin sin has domination over you if you enjoy basking in it so the idea is if you are freely doing what you want to do it may not actually be what you should be doing you might be deceived you my tire on eclis or paradoxically be truly enslaved so Jesus tells us here that anyone who commits sin and we have a beautiful illustration of this with the people of God in Exodus there arose a pharaoh who knew not Joseph and he and he intensified the burden of labor upon them and their cry reached the heavens they were incapable of delivering themselves the Egyptian regime under pharaoh typifies evil incarnate they typify evil okay they typify it pharaoh increase the labor the burden of being under his regime and they could not liberate themselves here comes God saying that I will do for you what you cannot do for yourself that's what being enslaved the sin is it's being unable to rescue yourself Paul tells us this that anyone who presents yourselves in Romans 16 Romans 6:16 presents yourselves as obedience as obedient slaves you are a slave to the one who you obey then he tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that you are under the Prince of the power of the air you are dead that you walked and that you are walking in trespasses that you're walking in trespasses and you are unable to save yourself that's the testimony of the Christian we could not save ourselves we were enslaved we were under sins Dominion as it were that's what it means to be enslaved the slave does not remain in the house forever the son remains forever so if the son sets you free you will be free indeed the slave life is characterized by being subject to dismissal at any time if you will remember hagar was a slave in the house of abraham and sarah and she was expelled but the true children remained the true children remain the Pharisees needed to take heed of that Jesus is alluding to this don't think that because you have an ethnic heritage that you are safe that's what Jesus is cautioning them up remember that Sabra was expelled Oh Hagar was expelled only the true children remain in the house Isaac was a child of promise and Isaac typifies our salvation saved by the miraculous work of the Spirit those are the true children of God beloved there's only one perfect son that is why Jesus can say if the son sets you free you will be free indeed there's only one perfect son Jesus Christ his consummate son in the house of God and it's through him and we are adopted into the family of God it is through Jesus Christ that we are set free but here this not only are we set free from sins power not only are we set free from our guilt not only our sins forgiven but we are brought into the family of God so not only does God say here let me liberate you from the oppressor God says I'm going to bring you into my house and if I bring you into my house you will never be expelled all the true children of God who are rescued by God who for whom God did but they could not do for themselves are kept by God in the house for all eternity so it's not that God set you free and then you've got to figure out how to remain in God's house know it it all works together by God from first to last God rescues you God brings you into the house and God keeps you in the house you abide in Christ ultimately because God is keeping you it's a beautiful dance we keep on because we are kept by God ultimately but if you are slave you are not permanently in the house don't depend on your own works we see here the nature of slavery Jesus tells them at the sunset verse 37 I know that you are lost ring of Abraham yet you seek to kill me because my words find no place in you the nature of bondage when one is a slave he is hostile to Christ he rejects the Word of God he rejects the word of truth he or she rejects the words of life dr. Bruce walky Old Testament professor said ignorant of the Word of God is the beginning of rebellion beloved these are the words of life this is God's revelation for how we may know him this is how we may come into saving relationship with the true and living God hostility to Christ hostility hostility to his word probably means may very well mean most likely means that you are a slave and that you have not been set free so then we asked a question this morning are you shackled or have you been liberated are you hostile to the Word of God are you hostile to the people of God are you freely doing all that you want or do you find yourself desiring to do all that you should this is a great question of self-examination that the text proposed to us this morning we see here the slave master lastly verse 39 they answered him Abraham is our Father jesus said to them if you were Abraham's children you would be doing what Abraham did verses 39 and 40 they still claim that Abraham is their father but their works were contrary to that of Abraham if you go back flip a few pages back in redemptive history Abraham was characterized by faith Abraham was characterized by obedience Abraham was characterized by trusting God albeit imperfectly trusting God and by doing right and trusting God with the outcome that's the life of a pilgrim that's the life of Christians we trust God we do what God asks of us and we trust in what the results sometimes it's going to work out how we want it sometimes it's going to work out with a little bit of suffering but ultimately it will work out the way God wants it the way God has designed if we keep walking we keep trust and we keep obeying and one sense is not rocket science in one sense it is complex another sense is simple Abraham trusting obey God Abraham was hospitable to God's visitors Genesis 18 but look at the ones who claim to be Abraham's children they're hostile to God's profit they're hostile to the son of God Donn tells us you cannot love God without loving the son you can't get the father without the son if you want the son if you want the father you've got to have the son first the son comes to reveal the will of the father a lot of times people want God without Jesus you can't the father won't let you he won't let you have him without his son this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased listen to him you can have you can if you want the Father you must come through Jesus his beloved son their works for contrary look at their personal attack on Jesus we were not born of sexual immorality look at them what they're doing is attacking and defaming Jesus because they think that he's an illegitimate bastard child because his mom was the Virgin Mary so they are that they're poking at Jesus right now they're attacking his heritage they're attacking his character how can you say that God is your father and you don't even have a legitimate daddy is what they were saying essentially my goodness look how hostile they were to Christ verse 42 if god were your father you would love me where I came from God and I am here I came not of my own accord but he sent me you see jesus does the bidding of the father verse 44 you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desire if we start if you notice from 31 on what Jesus says your father your father your father he sort of veils it and as we get down to verse 44 he tells them candidly your father is the devil if you are hostile to me if you are hostile to my people then your father is the devil God is not your father you hate Christ you hate his people the devil is your father that's what Jesus tells these Pharisees point-blank they both sent about their heritage their boasting about Abraham being their father no indeed Jesus tells them that your master is the devil the slave is the slave to sin has as his master the devil you are not in Christ you are under the power of the Prince of the air you are not in Christ you are under the power of the enemy you're under the power of the devil Paul says that enrollment in Ephesians chapter 2 you're dead in your trespasses and your desire your desires to do is building you actually want to make him happy that's a sign that you are under the slave master when you desire to do his works then you know that you are not in the household of faith Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that has now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we were by nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind look what John tells us look what Paul tells us you're in bondage if you're not in Christ you're not truly free my friend hear me this morning you're free if you're in Christ you're free if you're a slave to Christ if you're free from Christ in your slave to the devil you're under his Dominion you're under his power look at the profile of the master Jesus says here that he was a murderer from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth because the truth is not in him Jesus has taken us all the way back to the Garden God's design was life the devil came along as a liar who desires death and said hath God really said God knows that you will be like him you won't die and then when we turn the page to Genesis chapter 4 we see that sin is crouching at Cain's door the enemy and sights him to kill his righteous brother Abel the devil has been a liar the devil has been a murderer from the beginning the devil has been hostile to God from the beginning the devil has been hostile to the people of God from the beginning he is real he has power but he's on a chain he mine and the same spirit that was at work that cost came to kill his brother is the same spirit that's at work in these Pharisees wanting them to kill Jesus well over there is a real enemy of the church the enemy has workers there are demons there are dark forces there are dark powers and he is the master of this realm he's alive from the beginning he is the originator originator of lies he is the author of confusion it all flows out of his being it is who he is he is evil incarnate Jesus says which of you convicts me of sin I tell you the truth while you do not believe whoever is of God hears the words of God the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God and he comes back up here and says that his word has no there's no room for his word in them they can't bear it they don't want to hear the word and there's no room because their hearts are hardened to the things of God ignorant to the Word of God is the beginning of rebellion ignorant to God's truth about freedom probably means that you are enslaved to the enemy of God but beloved there's good news this morning because if you rewind the pages of redemptive history and you go back to genesis 3:15 God promises that the seed of the woman will destroy the serpent the seed of the woman will crush the Serpent's head in other words what God was saying is that we win I win and we see this victory pronounced at the cross when Jesus Christ by his death defeated the enemy of death so that death for the believer is just a passing point to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus by his death on the cross put two open shame the dark forces of the world Jesus by his resurrection proved to Satan to lose Jesus by his ascension demonstrates that I indeed am king beloved we win the enemy has been defeated he has a little bit of time on earth right now he's been granted a little bit of power to cause confusion he's been granted some opportunity to keep people enslaved but heaven's house is after his own God says that I have the power to deliver you from your bondage to sin Jesus Christ says that by my death I will free you by me becoming a sin-offering I will free you from your sin this morning Jesus says to you if you are enslaved jesus su if you are in shackled trusted me and I will set you free and if the son sets you free you will be free indeed Jesus says to all of us this morning well place our trust in him as Lord and Savior hear me my child hear me my little siblings you have been freed and there's a place in God's house for you and you will never be cast out beloved what is our motivation this morning other than the grace of God to abide in Christ we keep on remaining in Christ because Christ keeps us we keep pursuing him because he pursued us first I ask you this morning are you free if you want to know that freedom of walking in the household of faith if you want to know that freedom of having a relationship with the true and living God then place your trust in his son because he said if the son sets you free you will be free indeed let us pray our God now father we thank you for your goodness and mercy toward us

Channel: Christ United Fellowship

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Length: 37min 22sec (2242 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 27 2017