Christ the Liberator, John 8:31-36
Introduction
You and I – we – are born into this lives wearing slaves shackles. They aren’t visible. We can’t see them because they are the shackles of sin. The Bible teaches us that all of us have received a sinful nature from our parents.
Our parents received it from their parents and they received it from theirs. Psalms 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” (NKJV)
Sin is not only about the actual act of committing a wrong act. It is also about having a disposition toward committing sin. Sin is not primarily of a problem of the hands which commit the acts, it is a first and foremost a problem of the heart.
We do not simply do the wrong things, our hearts are bent toward sin from birth and we spend all of our life wading through the consequences of sin in our lives.
How does a worm get inside an apple? Perhaps you think the worm burrows in from the outside. No, scientists have discovered that the worm comes from the inside. But, how does he get in there?
Simple; an insect lays an egg in the apple blossom. Sometime later the worm hatches in the heart of the apple, then eats his way out.
Sin, like the worm, begins in the heart and works out through the person’s thoughts, word and actions. For this reason, David once wrote, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
Transition
Sin is not an easy word for a Pastor to say. It makes all of us feel uncomfortable to talk about our sin. But avoiding the topic won’t make it go away will it? There is an ancient proverb which says, “A scab is a scab, even if you smear honey on it.”
Sin is not an easy subject, be we aren’t afraid to deal with tough subjects are we? If we are to grow, we must deal with the tough subjects of the Christian life.
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (NKJV) Today, let us engage the truth free from fear and as we do, let us grow in the grace of God in our lives.
Scripture
John 8:31-36 says, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (NKJV)
Scriptural Exposition
Have you ever seen a young boy learning to use a hammer and nails? My 2 year old son Sebastian loves to help me whenever I am working around the parsonage.
He even has his own little plastic hammer that he uses as I use the real one.
Sometimes I will let him try to hit the nail with his plastic hammer. He will put everything he has into hitting the nail. He will grunt and huff and puff. He gets really serious about hitting as hard as he can!
When Sebastian hits the nail with his plastic hammer though, very little happens. In fact, he is more likely to hurt himself or his hammer than he is to actually cause any real work to be done!
So it is with us as well. All of our efforts to change our own hearts, all of our efforts to get free from the things that hold us captive, are just like a little boy hitting a nail with a plastic hammer.
In our own strength we do not have the power to drive the nails of this life. We hit the nails of addiction with our plastic hammers and nothing changes. We hit the nails of bitterness and nothing happens.
We hit the nails of our sin and our strength is simply not enough to have a visible affect. We scar our plastic hammers, our well intentioned efforts prove futile.
It is not so with the word of God! The word of God is the real hammer for this life. The word of God has the power to drive the nails of this life. When we apply the word of God to the bondages in our lives, we find the strength to overcome them.
When we apply the word of God to the things in our lives which keep us shackled, we find freedom. In John 10:10 Jesus says, “have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (NKJV)
Christianity is not simply an eternal retirement plan! The power of God is the power the change your life, right here, right now, today.
Galatians 5:1 says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” (NKJV)
The book of Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul to the church of Galatia, a district in Asia Minor. The church at Galatia had fallen into legalism. They were influenced by a faction of early Christianity known as the “Judaizers.”
These were Christians who wanted to take the church back into the practice of Judaic ceremonial laws. They taught that the strict observance of ceremonial laws was an essential part of salvation.
Paul explains that we should not put on the yoke of bondage of legalism. At the Cross Jesus proclaimed liberty to the captives. The purpose of the Cross was to grant us salvation by faith, not to enslave us to more laws and ceremonies.
Oh, that we would never let our Christianity become nothing more than a set of rituals and laws! Jesus Christ came to set us free from sin and its consequences, not to enslave us to a new set of laws!
If we are to live free from sin we have to allow our hearts to be filled with the grace of God. It is as we allow the love of Christ to fill us that we are set free. The price of our sin has been paid.
Here we stand, shackled in chains that have been unlocked, prisoners to guilt and shame for sins which have been forgiven.
Those who are living for God out of feelings of guilt are like pardoned criminals who refuse to leave the perceived security of their prison cells.
When I was growing up I had a neighbor for a couple of years who was an older man. When he was young he had spent time in some of the toughest prisons in California.
He used to tell me about how a lot of prisoners grew so used to the regiment of prison life that they would actually find themselves missing it after they had been released back into free society.
Rather than live free lives in the liberty they had been given, they would actually long for the false security and comfort of the shackles.
Conclusion
While sin does affect other people, it affects us the most. Sin, all kinds of sin, has the power to enslave us. It takes dominion over us and controls us. It binds us and turns us into slaves.
It is only through the power of Christ – the liberator – in our lives that we can find freedom from the dominion of sin in our lives. It is only as we bring our shackles to Christ that we are set free.
It is only as we live in the freedom of the liberty which Christ has given us that we find the power to live free from sin.
Those who are motivated in their Christian life by guilt will never truly be free from sin. Their hearts will always be enslaved to sin and to legalism. Both have the power to enslave you because both deny the grace of God.
When we love pleasure and things more than God, we fall into a trap and become enslaved to sin, when we try to free ourselves from sin by being legalistic, we fall into a different, but equally enslaving snare.
The yoke of legalism is just as heavy as the yoke of sin. Legalism is the result of a faith fueled by sin. It is the natural expression of a heart enslaved by sin to enslave others into legalistic obligation.
When we cast off both though, by learning to be content, by casting of obligation in favor of love, by being peacemakers in our lives and in the world…
When we learn to live lives motivated by a close, intimate relationship with God, then Christ – the liberator – can set us free from sin and legalism.
Those who love freely love more deeply. Those who walk in liberty walk closer to God. Those who are motivated in their Christian life by the fear of God tend to sell the power of grace for the lie of legalism.
Today, let us recommit ourselves to the power of grace. John 8:36 says, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (NKJV)
