Transcript
Today we are back in the 8th chapter of John. This is our fourth lesson in this chapter, and I think we have at least two more after this. There is very much here to look at, and I don’t want to rush through it too quickly. And, even though we have slowed down quite a bit in this chapter, there are still things here I have not really spent a lot of time on. But I am hoping to give attention to the key elements.
Today we will be looking at verses 31 to 38. But I will back up and start reading at verse 28. I invite you to open your Bible and turn there with me to John chapter 8. Let me read the passage to you. John writes:
John 8 (English Standard Version) 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
31 So Jesus said to the 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.” 33 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. 35 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. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
Let us pray.
The Context: Universal Sinfulness
Well today we are coming to a very famous passage of scripture. And I already read it to you: Jesus said, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And we are going to look at that verse in our lesson today. But before we do, let’s look at the context all around it, and see what this passage is telling us.
And even before that, let me just remind you of where we are overall within the Gospel of John. Since chapter 7, we have entered the section where John is sharing the story of Jesus’ escalating conflict with the Jewish leaders. And this conflict is slowly building up until they put together the plot to finally kill Jesus. We will see that as we get into chapters 10 and 11.
And the stories that John is sharing in this section have a theme to them. And one of the themes is that they are all dealing with the universal sinfulness of mankind. And that nature of sin. Back in chapter 7, Jesus said the works of the whole world were evil. And he said no one kept the law, meaning the law of Moses, the God-given law of how people should interact with each other and with God. Then at the start of this 8th chapter, Jesus told the crowd, whoever is without sin, cast the first stone. Again, pointing towards the universal sinfulness of mankind. And as the conflict keeps escalating, Jesus told the crowd that unless they believed he was the savior, they would die in their sins.
And now today in this lesson, we see Jesus telling the people they are in fact slaves to sin. We read that in verse 34:
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
Slaves to Sin
Everyone who practices sin… is a slave to sin. And other translations would say, whoever commits sin, is a slave to sin. When sin is committed, we become a slave to sin. And if we consider this in light of what else Jesus has already said about sin, it paints a pretty bleak picture. Because he has already pointed out the universal sinfulness of mankind multiple times. Everyone has sinned. No one keeps the law of God. And unless people accept Jesus, they will die in their sin. And here, in verse 34, we are being told that mankind is actually slaves to sin.
If we went to Romans chapter 6, the Apostle Paul talks about what this means. You might remember that from our series on the book of Romans. And so let’s pause and consider that for just a moment. What does it mean to be a slave to sin? What are the implications of that statement?
If someone is a slave, it means they are not free. Someone or something owns them, and possesses them. They are not their own master. And in this case, sin would be the master. Sin has control over the slave. And when someone is a slave, there is no way to get free on their own. There is no way to escape. They are trapped, stuck, serving a master who has power over them.
And so what Jesus is saying here, is that mankind has been trapped as slaves to sin. Sin controls mankind, and mankind has no means of his own to escape.
And as we think about that again, we know this to be true. Just through experience. Mankind, whether in big ways or small ways, has all committed sin. Jealousy, greed, hate, sinful desires, selfishness, pride, maliciousness. In big ways or small ways, everyone has those things. And they are born that way. No one has to teach the children to be selfish or jealous. It comes naturally.
And out of these things flows everything that is wrong with human society. And for thousands of years, no one has been able to fix it. For thousands of years, human society has found no solution to these problems. They made prisons for the worst offenders. They have schools to educate people. They write laws and set up organizations and courts to try and keep peace in the world. But there is still murder. There is still war. There is still divorces. There are still people abusing their wives. There are still people stealing and extorting. There are still greedy men who exploit the weak. There is still poverty. There is still unfairness. There is still striving. All of these things go on to the present day. And all of fallen mankind, in some way, participates. Mankind is a slave to sin. For all his toils and all his work, mankind cannot break free of it.
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
And sin, when it has finished with us, it will kill us. Just like Jesus said, they would die in their sins. The situation is bleak. But mankind has this way of putting his head in the sand. Of being able to blind himself or herself to the reality of his condition. Because it’s not a happy thing to think about. It’s a really dark thing to think about. And people generally don’t like to think about dark or unpleasant things. Especially dark or unpleasant things about themselves. People generally seek to avoid unpleasant things, and that includes unpleasant thoughts.
And maybe that is one of the reasons the crowd here this day does not want to hear what Jesus is saying. Because to hear and process what he is saying would mean that they have to hear, and process, and accept a very unpleasant truth about themselves. Which is the fact that they are sinners, incapable of keeping the law of God, who are slaves to sin, and without a savior, they are people who will die in their sins. That is precisely what Jesus has told them.
But he has not said that without giving them a way out. Because every time he has said these things, he has put alongside it the remedy. He tells the problem, but he also tells the remedy for the problem. The remedy for sin is a savior. And he is that savior.
Abiding in His Word
Now let’s take a few minutes to examine these verses one at a time. Verse 30:
30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
So, as this confrontation is escalating, there is an element of people in the crowd who are entering the initial stage of believing. His words are appealing to them. And they are entertaining the idea that he could be the messiah. For some, it is because of the signs and wonders – and we saw some of them in the last chapter. But some are also believing because his words have appealed to them. And Jesus, here in this section, is addressing the people who have begun to believe his words. Verse 31:
31 So Jesus said to the 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.”
Now the first thing we notice here is that Jesus puts a responsibility here to the people who are believing him. To be his disciple, they have to abide in his word. And, as we think about that just a bit, it’s important here that we notice that this is not specifically about salvation that Jesus is talking about here. Because we know, salvation comes with believing. So this is something beyond salvation Jesus is now pointing to. This is a step beyond saving faith. This is becoming one of his true disciples. And this is very similar to what Jesus said back in verse 12. If we follow him, we will have the light of life. If we abide in his words, we are truly his disciples.
To truly understand, to truly have the light of life, to truly walk in his ways, to truly be his disciple – we are going to have to abide in his word. We are going to have to follow him.
And not everyone does that. You remember that Jesus gave the parable of the Sower, and he sowed seed on the good ground, and on the rocky ground, and on the ground that was full of weeds. And all three of the plants sprouted and grew. But the plant on the rocky ground wilted when the sun came up. And the plant in the weedy soil got choked out. And only the plant in the good soil grew and bore fruit.
And that is an illustration of the lives of people who believe in Jesus and his word. Some are choked out by weeds. Some are wilted by the hot sun. And some grow into fruitful plants. God planted them all. They are all his plants. But only one grew up into a healthy, productive plant. Not everyone becomes a follower or a disciple, not everyone grows into a healthy and fruitful and productive plant. And that concept lays right at the heart of what Jesus is saying.
31 …“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,”
If they don’t abide in his word, then the weeds will choke them out – and there were lots of angry Pharisee weeds growing there that were ready to choke them out.
31 …“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,”
And if they did that, if they abide in his words, if they took what he said to heart, and truly sought to understand what he said, and they followed his pattern… Then something would happen. And that is verse 32. This is what would happen if they abode in his word. He said:
32 “…and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Freedom From Sin
Now, here when Jesus first says this, it’s not completely apparent what he means. What does he mean by truth? And what does he mean by freedom? Because, in a very general sense, we know that knowledge is empowering. Understanding something is liberating. Knowing how to do things and how to make things work, can open doors that will make our lives better and freer.
And it can even free us from lies. We all know that we came from a cult that had as its foundation certain stories. Stories about William Branham, and stories about the cloud in Arizona, and stories about angels visiting him and giving him special revelations. But, when we actually start to investigate those things, we found out those stories were not true. And when we found the truth, it set us free. Not freedom to live in sin or abandon faith in God. But freedom to break away from a false religion. And freedom from all the false ideas and false rules that had been invented by the system of false religion.
We discovered the truth, and the truth set us free. And from our own experience, we know what Jesus is saying to be true, in a broad and a general sense.
But, as we read these verses, and the conversation Jesus has with these Jewish people, it becomes very apparent that Jesus here has something much more specific in mind. There is a specific truth and specific freedom Jesus has in mind. And let’s read on, and see what it is. Verse 33:
33 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’?”
So there is the question. What do you mean, when you say we will be free? What kind of freedom are you talking about? They are asking, specifically, in what sense are they going to be free. Because, in their mind, they already have freedom. And, as we will read on into the next lesson, we are going to see that there is actually pride and hubris that lays behind this question they are asking. Because, even as they say that, we can just observe that what they are saying is not true.
The offspring of Abraham have been slaves. They were slaves in Egypt. They were slaves in Babylon. They were slaves to Assyria. And even now, they are being ruled by the Romans. They are not a free people, in the natural sense. And the mere way they say this and ask the question, betrays a delusion in their minds.
33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.”
That is a delusion. That is not true. But that is what they say, and then they ask the question.
“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.”
That is the answer. This is the freedom Jesus was talking about. The truth will give freedom to his disciples, his followers. And the freedom it will give them, is freedom from sin.
Just let that sink in a bit. When Jesus said the truth will set you free, it wasn’t freedom in general. But he specifically had in mind, freedom from sin. Jesus had not come to set them free from the Romans. But he had come to set them free from sin.
And I’m pointing that out to you, so that you can see for yourselves that Jesus is talking about freedom from sin. And I do that because this is a verse that is easily abused. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free, that is a verse easily abused. It’s a verse commonly abused by the message preachers. You can take the word truth, and you can make it mean about anything you want. And you can take the word freedom and you can make it mean about anything you want. But when Jesus was using that phrase here in the Gospel of John, what he had in mind was the truth setting people free from sin.
And that does not mean, in a reasonable and rational way, we can’t see and understand that truth in general can give us freedom in many other ways. But it does mean that is not what Jesus is talking about here.
Freedom in Three Stages
Now, let’s think about this a little bit more. What does it mean to be set free from sin? What does that mean? The best answer to that, is to read how the Apostle Paul explained it in the book of Romans. And freedom from sin comes in three ways:
There is freedom from the penalty of sin. There is freedom from the power of sin. And there is freedom from the presence of sin.
Let me say that again. Freedom from penalty. Freedom from the power. And freedom from the presence.
The truth, following Jesus, and being his disciple, it will give us freedom from all three of those things. But that freedom doesn’t all come at once. It is gradual, it comes with time. And I would point you back to our series on Romans if you want to look at the time we went over that in detail.
But the moment we are saved, from that very moment we are free from the penalty of sin. And the penalty of sin is death. The moment we are saved, we receive eternal life, and the penalty of sin is totally removed – we are free.
Then as we walk this Christian life, from that moment we are saved, the Holy Spirit is setting us free from the power of sin. When we are planted in the good soil, as we grow into a productive, healthy, fruitful Christian. As we abide in Christ’s word. As we are following him. The Holy Spirit sets us free from the power of sin. And that is a journey we are on for life. Paul explained how that there is a war raging within, he even explained his own inner struggle. How he wanted to do good, but he could not, because his flesh would overpower his will. There is a struggle between the fallen nature, or the flesh, and the divine nature, or the spirit. But the truth will set us free. The truth will give the spirit power over the flesh. And even though that struggle can remain for our entire lives, the power over sin is given us by the Holy Spirit. We have the power to say no to sin, because we are not its slave anymore.
And then, finally, when the end comes. Whether it ends in our death, or whether it ends with the coming of Jesus – then at the very last, we will be free from the presence of sin. Sin will totally be removed from the world.
And only then will we finally be totally free from sin in every way. Because between now and then – even if every Christian did live a perfectly sinless life – the rest of the world around us certainly is not. And the sin they commit is going to harm us, whether we like it or not. There will still be war, there will still be theft, there will still be murder, there will still be greed and everything else. And those things are going to impact us. It is going to take leaving this world, or Jesus coming again, to finally fix that. And to finally eliminate the very presence of sin.
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 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.”
Freedom from sin. From its penalty, its power, and its presence. And that freedom comes in stages.
Jesus is the Truth
Now there is one more thing I want to consider here before I close. And it is truth. Jesus said the truth will set you free. And as we looked at his explanation, we understand he means free from sin. But what about the truth? What would his explanation indicate the truth is, which he is talking about? Because, just like he is not talking about freedom in general, he is also not talking about truth in general.
The truth will set you free. What is the truth that these people keep refusing to believe? What is the specific truth Jesus is talking about here? The answer to that is also here in verse 36. Let me read it one more time.
36 “…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. So, this is very straight forward. The freedom is freedom from sin. And the truth that sets us free is Jesus. We are set free by the Son of God. That is the truth. And as Jesus even will go on to tell us, he is the truth. Jesus is the truth that will set us free from sin. The truth of who he is, the truth of what he came for. That truth will set you free.
And it sets us free in both a passive and an active way. In a passive way, because believing in Jesus as our savior imputes his righteousness to us. But also in an active way, because Jesus as the truth, actively went to the cross to atone for our sins and set us free. The truth died for our sins. The truth rose the third day. The truth ascended into heaven. And any truth that did not do those things, is not a truth that can save you. Any truth that did not do those things, cannot set you free from sin. Jesus is the truth, he is the way, and he is the life.
Verse 37:
37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
Closing Prayer
Amen. With that I will close. Come back next time, and we will pick up here where we left off. Until then, may God bless you all. Let me close here in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word and for the truth we have heard today. Thank You that through Jesus Christ we can be set free—free from the penalty of sin, free from its power, and given the hope of complete freedom in Your presence one day.
Lord, help us to abide in Your Word and to follow Christ faithfully as true disciples. Give us hearts that love truth and courage to walk in the light You have given us. We pray for all those still bound in spiritual darkness and deception. Open their eyes, break every chain, and lead them into the freedom that is found only in Jesus.
Strengthen each one of us to walk in Your truth, to grow in Your grace, and to live as people who have truly been set free by the Son. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.