Abide In The Word

“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 you are 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 what you have heard from your father.' They

answered him, 'Abraham is our father.' Jesus said to them, 'If you were

Abraham's children, you would be doing the works 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 the works 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 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, for he is a

liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe

me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell 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'" (John 8:31-47, ESV).

Again, our place, the City of Legazpi, is threatened by the eruption of Mayon Volcano.

Who among you have seen or experienced before its eruption?

And more number of times you have watched the awesome or fearsome

(depending where you are watching it) sight, when you stayed in this place

for a longer time.

Sometimes, I would crack a joke to a visitor in our place that he could only

say that he came and stayed in Legazpi, if he witnessed the eruption of

Mayon. (Of course, I said that to encourage him or her to visit us again.)

Perhaps, we could also say that to know something about Jesus and think we believe in him does not mean we really believe and we are now His followers. We need to abide in His Word, according to Jesus.

So today, we have our topic… ABIDE IN THE WORD…, as we focus on our text (John 8:31-47).

Jesus said, “You are truly my disciples, if you abide in my Word.” But, as we abide, as we stay, remain or hold to His Word, we also experience blessings. What are those?

We are familiar with the writer of the Gospel of John. He was the Apostle

John, who described himself in the book as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

He wanted to emphasize it, that he mentioned it five times throughout the book.

Just before our text, John related that Jesus was speaking to the Jews. And many believed in Him (verse 32).

The falsity of their belief, however, was pointed out by Jesus in verses 31-

47, as recorded by John. Their belief was self-generated that they were just

living a sinful life. According to Jesus, their spiritual father was the devil and

their intention was to harm, even to kill Him. Actually, they could not

understand what He was saying, for they were not interested in it. They

didn’t really believe Him, for they had not believed what He said.

But, if we study carefully the same verses, we could also learn some

blessings of those who abide in the Word of Jesus -- the Word of God. What are those blessings?

I – Blessing of KNOWING JESUS AS LIBERATOR (vv. 31-36).

We read verses 31-36, “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