JESUS SETS MEN FREE
John 8:31-59
Key verse: 8:31,32
“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
Thank God for blessing our Spring Bible Conference with the greatest news of all time, that Jesus has risen! Praise God for raising up testimony speakers who told us about the wonderful grace of Jesus towards their life. May God use them and us to be resurrection witnesses by feeding Jesus’ sheep through 1:1 Bible study.
This morning’s passage is actual a continuation of the previous passage in which Jesus frees a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. The Pharisees had brought this woman to Jesus in order to use her as bait to trap Jesus and have a basis for accusing him. However, they failed to trap Jesus and instead they could only leave his presence when his words to them revealed that they were not without sin. Still, the woman felt condemned as a slave to her sinful nature, specifically her sins of adultery, until Jesus said to her, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Then in order not to leave her or anyone like us without clear direction once we leave our lives of sin he said to her and to the people, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” To the people whom Jesus spoke to and to us here this morning, these are the words of real freedom and truth. The key is to hold to these teachings of Jesus so that we may be the true disciples of Jesus and the children of the light. As we hear Jesus’ words, we can either accept them by holding onto them or reject them. If we accept them and hold onto them, we can be Jesus’ disciples and the children of the light who know truth and who experience real freedom. If we reject them, then we become the children of the devil who remain in slavery to sin.
This morning I pray that you may make room in your heart for Jesus words and really hear them. I pray that through this message God may give you a new attitude towards his word so that you may with all your heart hold onto Jesus’ teaching as a matter of number one priority in your life. May God bless you to know the truth and experience real freedom as children of the light and as the true children of Abraham.
Part 1. The Way to Become the True Children of Abraham (31-41)
Let’s read verses 31-32, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
Jesus had just given a long message on who he was, the light of the world (8:12) and where he had come from and where he was going. To those who challenged him, such as the Pharisees, he desperately wanted to help them to come into the light and to have salvation. He said in 8:23-24, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”
As Jesus spoke, many put their faith in him and believed according to verse 30. However, Jesus was not satisfied with just superficial faith. This is because Jesus knew that many who believed, believed just the miracles themselves such as the healings for example or when he fed the large crowd of over 5,000 people with only five loaves and two fish. In that situation., Jesus really wanted them to connect that great miracle to who he was, the Son of God. In that way they could know him and worship him and have salvation. However, instead of coming to him and following him to learn from him and really be his disciples, they only wanted to make him king of bread. Then when Jesus gave them the teaching, “Don’t work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (6:27) and that the work of God is to believe in the one he has sent (6:29) they did not hear him but said to him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?” They just wanted to see another miraculous sign. They didn’t seem to listen with listening ears. Then when he further taught them that he was the bread of life (6:35) and that in order to have eternal life they must eat his flesh and drink his blood (6:54) they said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” They grumbled and complained and many even turned back and no longer followed him (6:66).
It is a good thing to believe the miracles that Jesus did because this should be play a big part in helping us come to have initial or beginning faith in Jesus. The miracles prove that Jesus is the promised Messiah from Scripture. However, we should not just keep looking for miracles and ignore his teachings. If we are to truly be Jesus’ disciple we need to have a certain attitude towards what he says.
What does it mean to be a disciple? It simply means to learn from the teacher and to follow or copy the teacher’s lifestyle. According to Jesus how can we prove to him that we are really his disciples? What does he say? He says to hold to his teaching. To be a disciple of Jesus means what? It means that we must hold to his teaching. What picture does this word give you? The word hold implies to grasp firmly without letting go. This takes effort on our part.
For our spiritual life this means continuing in our faith reading the Bible daily and learning from it with a humble attitude. Colossians 2:6-7 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Holding to Jesus’ teaching especially means to respect and obey it and put it into practice in all times whether in good times or bad times. Sometimes if all is going well we think that our faith is strong. But when we encounter a difficult time or some kind of a trial, we seem to drift away and forget God’s word and become totally engrossed in our problem. In our time of trials we must learn to hold onto Jesus’ teaching so we may experience his tender love and mercy and his power to deliver us.
We know from history, that when Jesus’ disciples held onto Jesus’ words, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15) that the gospel of Jesus spread from Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. This command looked ridiculous to the disciples who were just ordinary people and who seemed only concerned with themselves and just to survive day to day. How could they go into all the world? They only knew Hebrew. They didn’t know one word of Spanish or Arabic. However, when they held onto Jesus words, it became possible. They encountered many hardships and persecutions when they held onto Jesus’ words, but it was accomplished.
The disciples proved that they were really Jesus’ disciples in this way. They held onto Jesus’ teaching as the Christ even as a matter of life and death. Throughout history, many people have heard the words of Jesus. However, they have gone in one ear and out the other. This shows that though they might have gone to church or even a Bible Conference and had Bible study, they weren’t Jesus’ disciples. For example, many people like to hear what the Bible says. They take different parts of the Bible out of context to suit their own ideas and desires.
I read that Thomas Jefferson made up his own Bible by cutting parts of the Bible out and leaving out others. He liked its moral teachings but could not accept the absoluteness of the gospel that Jesus is the only way to salvation. It is still the same even today. People like to hear what the Bible says because of its moral teachings. Some say it is a guide to life. But they miss the point because when they read the words of Jesus that reveal their sins or when they hear Jesus’ words that say, ‘If anyone wants to come after me they must deny themselves…’ or when they hear about the absoluteness of God such as only believing in Jesus will save you, nothing else or no one else and no other religion. These people really don’t hold onto Jesus’ words at all, they really aren’t his disciple. We can call these people “butterfly believers” because they like to fly around and taste what is good, but don’t really want to struggle to accept Jesus’ words and make the effort to hold onto what he says.
The point here is that holding to Jesus’ teachings means to really hold onto it with all your strength. It means not compromising over it with your feelings and emotions. Jesus wants us to really be his disciples. Someone once mentioned that holding onto something by using an example of a pit bull. When a pit bull bites it really holds on with its powerful jaws, it will not let go. We need the attitude of a pit bull and hold to Jesus’ teachings.
Shepherdess Mary Jagun has this attitude towards God’s word these days. She wants to be a doctor missionary by any means, however it looked impossible because she needed to solve her visa problem and get admitted into medical school. However, she made the effort and held onto God’s word. Now she is admitted to UMAB this fall. She can be a doctor missionary one day if she continues to hold onto Jesus’ word.
. What is the result of holding to Jesus’ teaching? Look again at verse 32, “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Wow, Jesus said we would know the truth. Is there anyone who doesn’t want to know the truth? As human beings, we seek to know the truth. We want to know why we are here on earth and what the meaning of life is. Sometimes when we are in a conversation with a friend or a family member we will say, “C’mon, tell me the truth. Did so-and –so really say that? Stop pulling my leg and tell me the truth.”
However, this truth Jesus talks about here in verse 32 is not an idea or a philosophy. Truth is an unchanging thing. Truth is also universally good to everyone. This truth can only be the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said in 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life…” When we hold to Jesus’ teaching we come to know him who is the embodiment of truth. In this world of lies it is very refreshing to know that we can go to Jesus Christ and know the truth about all things.
For example, we can know that we are not in this world just to sweat and toil and struggle and fight with people and work hard for perishing things. We know that we are here to enjoy God and know him better, and to one day return to our Father God in heaven and see his glory.
What especially happens when we come to know the truth? Jesus said in verse 32, then the truth will set you free. What kind of freedom is Jesus talking about here? Freedom from sin of course. Here we can learn what real freedom is. From a human perspective, freedom has many different meanings. Some my say freedom is to do anything you want and go wherever you want to go such as racing down the highway in a convertible sports car at 100 miles an hour. Others might say, freedom is to move out of my parents house and live where I want to live and not be told what to do by my parents. Some parents my say real freedom is finally to have their children grown up and living independent lives away from home. Still others may say freedom is to have a lot of money and be financially secure and able to buy many things. Many people think freedom is to be treated as equals. Martin Luther King had a great vision for his people to be free from prejudice and to be treated as the same as white people. His great speech at the Lincoln Memorial inspired many people. America is still known as the land of the free. This is a freedom that many people died for in the past and the freedom that brings many foreigners to come to this country and to try and make a new life for themselves.
However, all these physical things and social reforms don’t set us free. They are temporary and give us the false illusion of what real freedom is. We need freedom from sin. Sin took away man’s freedom and made him a slave.
The Apostle Paul recognized this when he struggled to live by the Law of God without having faith in Jesus. He said in Romans 7:14-21, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do---this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
Later he confessed in Romans 7:24-25, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God---through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Only Jesus sets us free because he died on the cross to remove all our sins that made us prisoners and salves of sin. He took away all our guilt and shame and condemnation. Like the woman Jesus freed from self-condemnation because of her sins of adultery, Jesus frees us when we believe him and make the further effort to hold to his teaching.
This is because Jesus’ words work supernaturally when we obey them. It transforms us and makes us holy. It makes us fearless resurrection witnesses. It enables us to love like Jesus. It has powerful potential to make us fruitful 30, 60 and even 100 times more if we preservere in it.. When we hold to his teachings, we come to know him as the giver of real freedom. Then we are not bound by anyone or anything. We have no fears at all. We have no prejudices or complaints. We become full of grace and full of truth able to love anyone and serve anyone. We come to know him as the one who will raise us from the dead and give us the promised eternal kingdom of God. May God help you to hold to Jesus’ teaching so that you may experience real freedom in Christ and grow as a disciple of Christ.
How did the Jews respond to Jesus’ words? Let’s read verse 33, “They answered him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?’” They couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying to them because of their pride in being Abraham’s physical descendants. They thought that they had never been slaves to anyone. However, they were wrong because they had been slaves in Egypt and later in their history they had been slaves to the Babylonians in the Babylonian captivity. Now they were under Roman occupation in their own land.
Despite their spiritual pride Jesus wanted to help them come to the truth and be saved. Let’s read verses 34-36, “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus taught them that they could have a permanent place in heaven being part of the family of God if they believed that Jesus was the Son of God.
Jesus knew their pride had hindered them from coming to the truth to be saved. They thought they were superior to anyone. They were proud to keep their identity. This in one sense is good because it enabled them to keep their identity even when they scattered among the nations and were persecuted. But now they were not listening to Jesus. They did not want to learn from Jesus. They were rejecting God’s love and had murderous desires in their hearts. Jesus rebuked them in verse 37 with their proud statement that they were Abraham’s descendants. He said in verses 39-40, “…If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you re determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.” What are the things Abraham did? Abraham listened to God’s word of promise and obeyed. When God told him to get up and go and leave his family and his houselhold and his country and go to some unknown place, he got up and left his retirement life and his membership at the Ur of Chaldeans Golf and Country Club to start a new life of faith. He trusted God and believed God’s word when his human condition was as good as dead. When God rebuked him for being complacent he did not get angry and reject God’s word. Instead, he repented and circumcised himself and his household when God commanded him. Finally, Abraham showed his love for God by getting ready to sacrifice his son Isaac, the promised son. Thus, Abraham showed that he loved God more than his very own son. He absolutely held to God’s word.
It is easy for Christians to have the same attitude as these Jews. Spiritual pride can hinder us and blind us. Spiritual pride can make us lazy and useless. Finally, spiritual pride can even make us reject God’s servants and become full of evil desires. This is why we all have to think seriously about our attitude towards Jesus’ words. Are we making room in our hearts for God’s word? Or are we tired of God’s word and letting spiritual pride and complacency come in and desires for other things choke out the word of God?
May God help us to seriously think about this so that we do not become like the Jews here who blindly rejected Jesus. In verse 41, the Jews became offended by what Jesus said. They claimed that God was their Father. However, they were not doing the things God the Father would have them to do.
Part 2. The Children of the Devil. (42-47)
In these verses, Jesus rebukes the Jews even further by saying that their father is the devil. Why did he say these things? What proves here that they are the children of the devil? First of all, they do not love Jesus who is God in the flesh. Look at verse 42, “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.”
Secondly, they were doing the things the devil does. That is lie and murder. Look at verse 44, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Thirdly, they were the children of the devil because they did not hear what Jesus had to say. Look at verse 47, “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
All what Jesus is saying seems rather cutting and direct. To call someone the child of the devil seems too much for someone to hear, it seems too offensive.. However, Jesus spoke these words to them so that they might be saved. He spoke such words to be very clear to those who reject him. In the world of faith there is no middle ground. When we read the Bible and study the Bible we see that man lost fellowship with God because he listened to the devil’s lies and did not hold onto and respect and know the words of God. Adam and Eve took the word of God too lightly!
There are many people who do not think diligent and prayerful Bible study is very important. They think it is OK to know what it says, just a little or superificially. “Oh, yeah, I know that story. Don’t tell me again about it.” I knew one person who memorized the whole book of Romans. He also like to carry around the Bible with Greek and Hebrew words and their translations. However, he never accepted Jesus and Jesus’ word and became a slave to adultery. This is because he allowed spiritual pride to come to his heart. He never really listened or learned from his Bible teacher and instead only argued with him. Then the devil tempted him and he gave in.. When we take the words of Jesus too lightly, our hearts become uncommitted to the truth and we are led away into lies by the voice of the devil. The longer we keep rejecting Jesus’ words and Jesus himself, the more we keep sinning and the more we become children of the devil. Even those who appear moral and successful in our eyes, if they reject Jesus and dishonor his words, are children of the devil.
May God help you to hear what he says and hold to his teachings so that you may be set free from the devil’s lies and live in freedom as a child of the truth
Part 3. Jesus’ Claim’s About Himself (48-59)
What Jesus told the Jews greatly offended them. Instead of repenting when hearing Jesus’ rebuke in love and shepherd heart, they called him names. Look at verse 48, “The Jews answered him, ‘Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” By calling him a Samaritan they were calling him an inferior human being to them. By calling him demon-possessed they were saying that he was a crazy man, a psycho.
Jesus did not give up on the Jews. He told them that he came to honor the Father and to glorify the Father. He further told them in verse 51, “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” Wow, what an incredible statement the Jews thought. Now they thought he was really a psycho and a crazy man. But what Jesus said is true because Jesus’ words are the words of eternal life; they are life giving words. When we believe and hold to his teachings we will be saved.
The Jews exclaimed in verse 53, “Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” Jesus had to teach them what he meant. But first he had to teach them about Abraham’s faith. Look at verse 56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
Abraham’s faith was based on God’s promises to him. When Abraham believed and held onto God’s promises his faith grew. When Abraham made a mistake or when he felt lonely or discouraged, God came to him and gave him his promises. Then Abraham believed God’s promises because God’s promises gave him hope and vision. They helped Abraham to see the distant future and to know what the work of God was and what God would do. God had told him, “And through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed…” (Gen.22:18)
. When he held onto God’s promises, God began to open his spiritual eyes to see the coming of Jesus. When Abraham saw this, he was full of joy. Though his human condition didn’t seem to match God’s promises, he believed the Almighty power of God and saw the hope of all men, Jesus. We, too can have Abraham’s joy when we hold to Jesus’ teaching. We can have real joy and see great things and future things as we make room in our heart and keep Jesus word like true disciples of Jesus.
The Jews were blinded and didn’t couldn’t believe. They said in verse 57, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!” To this, Jesus gave them one of the greatest statements known about himself as being God. Look at verse 58, “I tell you the truth, Jesus answered, before Abraham was born, I am!”
The “I am” is the eternal and everlasting and unchanging God. When God first appeared to Moses at the burning bush he said that he is “I AM” this is the name. He said “I am who I am…” (Ex.3) The Jews response to Jesus was to try and stone him because they thought he was being blasphemous.
It is unfortunate that the Jews here rejected Jesus’ words and Jesus himself. They became children of the devil and slaves to murderous thoughts. They were not free at all. We can chose today whether we want to become a child of the light a true disciple of Jesus or a child of the devil by making a new commitment to hold to Jesus’ teaching. It is how we respond to Jesus’ teaching. Do I want to make a commitment to Jesus and hold to his words or do I want to remain in my slavery to my sins my whole life and wander around with no truth in my heart my whole life?
This is up to us. We heard at the Conference how Missionary Moses Chun lived as a slave of fatalism because his parents were poor and had no higher education. He tried to solve his fatalism by studying hard. But this didn’t work. But when he held to Jesus teachings and committed to Jesus he was set free of fatalism. Now he is a very happy man in Jesus. I was once a slave to the running demon. I ran and ran a lot many miles and many marathons because I wanted to be healthy and live a long time. I was a afraid of death so I ran as if death were chasing me. However, I was never free, I ran scared everyday. However, when I believed in Jesus according to 1 Cor.15:3,4 and held to God’s promise that those who believed in him shall not perish but have eternal life, I experienced freedom from the fear of death. Jesus’ words freed me from the running demon and from the fear of death.
My God wake up your spirit and help you to make a great effort to hold to Jesus’ teaching so you may know Jesus himself who sets you free. May you taste true freedom from sin through Jesus Christ.