WHAT IS FREEDOM?
JOHN 8:31 32
READ TEXT PRAY
Sam is an 18 year old girl from the novel In Country. Her father was killed in Vietnam, and she is struggling to learn more about him...and what the war was like.
She lives with her uncle (her mother's brother) who is also a Vietnam vet...who lets her do pretty much as she pleases. Sam smokes marijuana occasionally...is sexually active...eats junk food most of the time...and stays out all night if she feels like it.
Maybe my feelings about her character reflect my age...but it seems to me that she is ruining her life. Yet I'll bet the average 18 year old would think Sam is in the best of all worlds because she is free... free to make her own rules and decisions with no parents interfering.
Is she really free? WHAT IS FREEDOM? That's what this passage is all about. This whole chapter is interesting as we see the progression of events that take place. In the first 11 verses we have the story of the woman caught in adultery...
And after a very profound statement, all the men slink away with their tails between their legs. The next time Jesus spoke to the people the Pharisees were there challenging Him. They weren't about to let themselves be shown up and put in their place like had just happened, at least attempting to redeem themselves in the eyes of the people.
But once again Jesus spoke to them and in the process many put their faith in Him. Jesus now turns to those who believed Him and yet were somehow convinced that they were free...and in fact had never been in bondage to any man.
Their pride blinded them to the facts. They were in bondage to the Egyptians in the time of Moses...they were taken captive by the Babylonians...even now they were under subjection to the Romans. But Jesus tells of a kind of slavery that is far worse than any physical captivity.
Jesus shows them three things that I want to show you about freedom... the source of freedom...a symptom of freedom..and a sequel to freedom.
„ªFirst of all the source„«...Where does freedom come from? Jesus says that it comes from knowing the truth. But that does me little good because it goes from one word that is difficult to interpret to another that is probable even harder to define.
Pilate, at Jesus' trial asked the question "What is truth?" But the Scriptures never give the answer that Jesus gave...if in fact He responded to Pilate. And the world asks the same question today.
We have so much information thrown at us every day it's mind boggling. And much of it is designed to sell something. Manufacturers want to sell their products...politicians want to sell themselves...T.V. shows want to sell time...and how do we know what is true among all this?
It's amazing how much of what we see and hear that we actually somehow believe. I may have told you already of my favorite commercial on T.V. but it bears repeating...
Girl w/ cover girl face...Scientific America...hair looked like it washed up on a beach...teeth looked crooked and dull...complexion in rough shape...Why don't the boys like me? Friend...need this certain deodorant...
Silly...yet each of us, at least at times, so much want to believe that some of these things could be true for us that we fall for it. Whether it is some product or key to fast financial success or whatever. It's hard to determine what is really true any more.
There have been two theories down through the ages that have been more important than all the rest. The first one says that truth is an absolute standard up in heaven somewhere, but things down here can never quite reach that standard.
Up in heaven somewhere is the perfect flower, the perfect tree, the perfect man or woman. We can see them in our mind...but with our physical eyes there is nothing that ever measures up to that perfection.
The second theory says that truth is what we see with our eyes and touch with our hands. This is the truth theory behind science. If you can do it in a laboratory, it's true. And I have to say that this is the theory that is striking our country and the world.
Well, the problem with the first theory is that it is always entirely abstract...or it exists only in the mind. Truth is always beyond our reach...it is something we can never really see or experience.
The problem with the second theory, the truth theory of science, is that truth changes. It used to be "true" that the sun revolved around the earth...but later it was disproved.
It used to be true that the smallest particles of matter were called atoms...now we know that inside the nucleus of an atom there are different kinds of particles, most of them not made of matter at all.
What will be true in thirty years?......We don't know, because science constantly changes...and so scientific truth is always changing.
But the truth that Jesus spoke of is consistent and constant...because it comes from God. Look at verse 28...(READ)
God will never leave us in a difficult or hopeless situation. Jesus said that God's unchanging truth would be evident even when His enemies had crucified Him.
Even when, from the outset, it doesn't look like God will come through or that maybe He blew it this time...the truth of His word prevails.
And God's truth is also consistent...it isn't one thing in heaven and another on earth...because He demonstrated His truth in the real world by sending Jesus as a human.
When we know Jesus and His words...when He lives in our hearts...then we have known the only constant, consistent truth that there is in the universe...and that is the source of freedom.
2. Jesus also points out a symptom of freedom...(READ v. 34 36)
According to Jesus, freedom is demonstrated by sin free living. But not everyone would agree with that.
Just recently the movie „ªWall Street„« was on, and in that movie the hero says that freedom is being rich enough so that other people can't waste your time...freedom to fly whenever you get ready because you own your own plane...on and on...
Sam, from „ªIn Country„« would say "freedom from restrictions" and when I was a teenager I would have probably said the same thing. Today, more and more people are defining freedom as finding yourself...
Discovering that you had a past life as Cleopatra...or maybe even as a lizard...discovering that you can do time travel in your mind...or that the pyramids give you special powers. But just how free do these things make us?
The man in „ªWall Street„« was trapped in the end by the wealth he thought would set him free...because in his struggle to protect his wealth, he broke the law and wound up in prison. Not much freedom there.
If statistics hold true, Sam is also trapped to an unsatisfactory life of chemical dependency, divorce, and ultimate ruin. "Finding yourself" comes closer to freedom...but the question is, "What do you do with yourself when you find it?
When we examine ourselves honestly, and in the light of God's Word, we find that we are sinners...and who can deny that fact? Romans 3:23... But yet many somehow convince themselves that they're not really all that bad.
Others realize their sinfulness, and yet find all kinds of ways to escape responsibility for what they are. "If it wasn't for this person, or these circumstances...
But the only way to be free is to face yourself and your own sinfulness and turn it over to God...asking Him for help. And it isn't a "one time takes care of it all" event...but a lifelong struggle to face the facts and draw on God's power to improve.
That's what keeps us from having the revival that God wants us to experience. We allow that freedom that we once may have had to slowly deteriorate and fall back into a bondage that can be even worse than at first.
How...by not keeping up with God. He is not a God that sets us free and then plops us in a pew somewhere for everyone to admire. Freedom is something that is !alive„Ç, that is exciting, that is precious and meaningful...and very valuable...something that if taken for granted can be let slip away.
I served during two wars, and during this last one I saw first hand the price that freedom can require. In the world today we can never take freedom for granted...and the same is true spiritually. The moment we get comfortable and satisfied we are setting ourselves up for a bondage that is far worse than any chain or cell could bring.
We so quickly will admit that we may have faults or shortcomings, and that doesn't sound so bad...but to God much of what we soft soap and downplay, and make almost acceptable simply by changing the label...is really sin.
And God can't forgive it...if we can't recognize it and bring it to Him in repentance.
3. That is a struggle...one that lasts a lifetime. But when this life is over...freedom has a sequel. For those who stick it out, who persevere, freedom here brings freedom hereafter...a life beyond this life where we will truly be free from sin and death.
In this life we struggle to free ourselves from anger...and hatred... from prejudice...and greed...and laziness...and lust...and all the other parts of our own nature...that sinful part of us that still remains while we are here on earth.
But Jesus promises us that we will be free from the struggle and all the temptations of sin. There is already a victory celebration planned for those who take God at His word and are faithful.
Won't that be great. I remember when my unit left the Persian Gulf, some three months after the fighting was over, and we arrived in Philadelphia. It was really something.
People everywhere...many who weren't even there to meet anyone in particular...they just came out to welcome us home. There were flags, and yellow ribbons, and balloons, and confetti...everyone was shouting and saying ..."Welcome Home...great job...we're glad you made it...
But that won't hold a candle to the celebration that will take place when we make it to heaven...and the multitudes of people from all the ages will be there...and we'll get to hear the Master say, "Well done, Welcome Home!
Doesn't that get you stirred up...at least a little. To know that we have a celebration in store for us that goes beyond our wildest dreams? The Scriptures say that all the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner comes to Christ. What do you think it will be like when we all get there?
But we should be experiencing at least a part of that now...right here in the midst of all the trials and difficulties and problems that we face.
When I arrived in Philadelphia from the Persian Gulf I still had a lot of problems. I had to deal with many of the things I saw and experienced over in the desert...
I had family problems, and financial problems, and an uncertain future as far as the world is concerned. But I was free, and my freedom was real...and I was proud that I was part of the fight to set others free even though I didn't understand all that was going on.
You see, freedom for me is something that I don't take for granted. You may laugh but I could care less, because I still get a lump in my throat when I hear the pledge of allegiance...and our flag is something that is very precious to me...still cry when I hear the Lee Greenwood song, God Bless the USA. Our freedom means that much to me.
But there is a freedom that is far greater...so much so that I can't describe it. It is the freedom that comes from knowing the truth, and you know the truth about yourself and the world when you have a !personal, living„Ç relationship with Jesus Christ.
And I don't mean some stale, old memory of something that happened five years or fifty years ago. I mean something that is still alive and real, and precious...and yes, exciting!
Jesus said that we can be set free from sin...given the power to overcome our weaknesses through Christ. And some day, in God's plan and by His grace, we'll be given an eternal victory over sin in heaven. And that's Freedom! Anything else is a poor imitation.
How about you...have you truly experienced real Freedom? Freedom doesn't mean you'll never have troubles, or difficulties, or suffer loss...
But it does mean that you'll never be a slave to the things of the world. Jesus said, "Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed." And this morning He is here to do just that. All you have to do is accept Him and His plan for your life.
