The Truth Will Set You Free.

John 8:31-41

Truth and Freedom

We have already learned that faith alone does not guarantee salvation: "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. (John 6:64-66).

Saving faith must center in Christ Jesus Himself, not just His miracles or some teaching about Him. The remainder of this chapter tells you how truth will set you free from false faith - faith inadequate centered in attractive objects that often clamor for our attention – relationships, religion, and righteousness. True disciples are liberated from this error.

Christ Jesus makes it completely clear the terms of discipleship for those who believed Him. He does not seek short-term followers, easy starters, who will fall by the wayside. You must “abide” in His word if you are to be a part of His company. You must not only hear what He teaches, but abide in His Word, be at home in it! This means not only hearing, but obeying Him, sitting at His feet, living under His authority.

Only through this obedience will you know the truth. The deepest knowing comes only through doing, a constant theme in this Gospel. This means far more than learning and memorizing concepts which can then be verbalized. The discovery of truth comes in encountering and yielding to the One who is the Living Truth.

John 8:31-41
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 

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?" 

34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."

39 "Abraham is our father," they answered.

"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the things your own father does."

"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."

1. Freedom from Error (vs. 31-33)

It was foolish to rely on physical descent from Abraham, when spiritual kinship to the great patriarch was the real issue. 

Some of the Jews believed in Christ Jesus, But by the end of this meeting many would try to kill Him. If you will abide, stay, stick it out, endure in Christ Jesus and His message you are a true disciple, a true Christ Follower. 

It is not enough to just receive God's truth - you must retain and walk in it. And it is only when you receive the truth, love it, keep it, and walk in it, that you are a genuine disciple of Christ Jesus.

“you will know the truth,” - The Greek concept of truth emphasized reality; the Old Testament word translated “truth” had more to do with integrity or faithfulness to one's word or Character. Jewish thought characterized God as the Truth, so Christ Jesus' hearers realized that He refered specifically to God's truth in the Jewish sense. 

You will know the Truth which is Christ Jesus and He will confirm your belief in Him. While you can not be certain of most things, you will know the certainty of the Truth. This is the gracious promise of Christ Jesus (Who is Himself the Truth), to you who continue in His word, you will know the truth and it will be helpful, needful, and profitable for you. 

It was a maxim of the Jews, "That no man was free, but he who exercised himself in the meditation of the law." However the freedom offered by Christ Jesus is true freedom. 

Justification makes you free from the guilt of sin, by which you were bound over to the judgment of God. 

Sanctification makes you free from the bondage of corruption. 

Gospel truth frees you from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and the more heavy burdens of traditions. 

Christ Jesus' freedom makes you free from your spiritual enemies, free in the service of God, free to the privileges of sons and daughters, and free to enter the Jerusalem which is from above. - (from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

The Jews got all huffy with Christ Jesus after He said this. In their thinking, they have never been in bondage to anyone. They seemed to forget their bondage to the Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome.  

When banks train their clerks to spot counterfeit money, they

spend little time dealing with the counterfeit itself and a

lot of time focused on the characteristics and designs of

genuine currency. 

 

The Christian's handling of error should be like that. The more you know about God's truth, the easier it will be for you to spot untruth. Are you ready to be set free? Will you ask Christ Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour? 
 

2. Freedom from Sin (vs. 34-38)

Ancient philosophers often used “free” to mean free from false ideas or from concern; Judaism spoke of being free from sin. Jewish teachers believed that because Israel had the law, the evil impulse that made the Gentiles so sinful could not enslave them.

In popular Jewish belief, descendants from Abraham were virtually guarantee salvation. It was only the most wicked of sins that would keep them from salvation. 

For the Christian there is freedom from error and now you see you can have freedom from sin. What relationship does Christ Jesus have with the Father, and what difference does that make in His authority to proclaim truth? 

Everyone who sins – and that is everyone. Remeber what Paul said in Romans 3:23 - “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Show that they are slaves to sin. Those who are in an ongoing pattern of sinning, if you prefer to remain a slave to sin, there is no place in heaven for you. 

Being a member of Abraham's family – or Paul's, Peter's, Martin Luther's, or Billy Graham's – it makes no difference whatsoever. An earthly family, despite the power of its patriarch, offers no sonship in the heavenly kingdom. 

The slave can be put out of the house at any moment. It is not so with the children, who live in the Father’s house easily and comfortably. It is their home because they have been set free by the Son who now welcomes them as part of the family. Only by placing your faith in Christ Jesus can you hope to find a place in God's kingdom. Only Christ Jesus can give you freedom from sin.

There are two fathers spoken of, according to the two families into which the sons of men are divided - God and the devil (who is in no way on equal terms with God the Father). These two fathers are diametrically opposed one to the other.

No matter what they claimed, the Jewish leaders were not children of God or of Abraham. Their actions showed them to be children of the devil. What do you actions and words say about who your father is? 

Freedom from error, freedom from sin, and finally in this section John proclaimed that true disciples are liberated from unholy zeal. 
 

3. Freedom from Unholy Zeal (vs. 39-41)

The Jews responded to Christ Jesus words with hate and malice in their hearts. “We are not a mixed, misbegotten breed - our tribes and families have been kept distinct-we are descended from Abraham by his legal wife Sarah. We are no idolaters. In the spiritual sense of father and son, we are not an idolatrous race; because we acknowledge none as our spiritual father, and worship none as such, but the true God,” they answered. But the Jewish leaders were not hearing what Christ Jesus was saying. People are still not hearing what Christ Jesus is saying. 

Christ Jesus told the Jews that since Abraham served God and since He (Christ Jesus) is the Son of God, true children of Abraham should accept His message. Instead of accepting, they intended to kill this proclaimer of truth. Why? Because they behaved just like their father. And as I have already said their father was the devil. 

Here is the truth that no-one wants to hear. Without the forgiveness of your sins by Christ Jesus, the devil is your father. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12). 

No matter what you say, without Christ Jesus in the center of your life and belief, you are still bound by sin and following the father of sin, lies, and deceit; the devil. Christ Jesus is the Truth and a life centered in Him is the only way to experience salvation.

Conclusion: You can't read John's Gospel and believe in the universal brotherhood of man. Or believe in universalism (the idea that God will eventually save everyone), and the universal fatherhood of God (the idea that all people are children of God in the spiritual sense). These are lies, from the father of lies!

Man has bought into these lies because they sound so good, “God's not going to send anyone to hell, because when you come right down to it, we all worship the same God.” But it is not true. If you abide with Christ Jesus and He with you then you will know the Truth and He will set you free.