The Demands of Discipleship
The Cost of Freedom in Christ
John 8:31-37
• There is no price for salvation.
• No amount of money will buy it.
♬ Nothing good have I done to deserve God’s own son, I’m not worthy of the scars in his hands,
Yet he chose the road to Calvary to die in my stand, Why he loved me I can’t understand.
• But there are responsibilities that come with faith.
• There are evidences and apparent fruit of true faith.
ILLUS: I have had cars in which the gas hand was not accurate. You can’t ALWAYS tell the temperature of the engine or the gas in the tank or the oil pressure in the engine by the instruments. But most of the time you can. You can’t always judge the heart by the life, but Jesus did say, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
• Some people argue for what they call “simple faith.”
• If you mean a salvation with no demands upon the recipient, then that is not simple faith. That is CHEAP faith!
• Today, we will look at Jesus’ own teaching on the subject:
MY TRANSLATION:
John 8:31 - 37 Therefore Jesus was saying to the Jews which had believed in Him, If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples. 32 And you shall know the truth and the truth shall free you. 33 They answered him, We are Abraham’s seed and we have never been enslaved: How are you saying that you will become free? 34 Jesus answered them, Truly, truly I say to you that every one doing sin is the slave of sin. 35 And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 If the Son therefore shall free you, you shall really be free. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s seed, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you.
CONTEXT:
• The great annual Feast of Tabernacles (John 7) has just ended.
• Jesus remains in Jerusalem.
• All of chapters 7:1 to 10:21 take place around this feast.
• In chapter 8:1-11, Jesus talks with the woman caught in adultery.
• In 8:12-20 He proclaims that He is the light of the World.
• In 8:21-30, He declares that He is the only way to Heaven.
• He showed them how he was different! In comparison to the Jews, they have . . .
Different Destinations
Different natures.
Different obedience to the Father.
• In the last verse before our passage today, we see that many “believed” on Jesus.
• But was it saving faith?
• Jesus Himself answers the question!
INTRODUCTION:
• In our text this morning, the Jews thought that they were free.
• They thought that they knew their father.
• They were proud of their freedom and their father.
• But they were wrong! Dead wrong.
• Jesus is speaking to a group which believed in Him, but not on Him.
QUOTE: They believed him (cf. 6:30) as to his claims to being the Messiah with their own interpretation (6:15), but they did not commit themselves to him and may represent only one element of those in verse 30. (RWP)
An Argument About Freedom (31-37)
I. Jesus’ Demands: The Prerequisite for Freedom (31,32)
A. Requirements For Freedom (31)
[31] Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
1. Believing
• Faith is the starting place.
• Without faith it is impossible to believe God!
• But anyone can claim to have faith.
• For faith to be proven, there must be evidence.
2. Continuing
• Works are not necessary for faith, but they are natural results of faith.
ILLUS: Some beg to differ with our Presbyterian friends on the terminology “Perseverance of the Saints.” They prefer to use “eternal security.” Yet when we look in the Bible, we find that perseverance is the better term. God’s saints assuredly will persevere!
• It is at this point that I must oppose many of the mega church ministries of today.
• They are talking people only half way.
• They may believe in Jesus, but there is little emphasis on the demands Jesus placed upon those who would follow Him!
QUOTE: “The question is not wheter Mr. Fosdick is winning men, but whether the thing to which he is winning them is Christianity.” (Fundamentalist Presbyterian thinker, J. Gresham Machen)
Romans 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
ILLUS: If you walk out into the parking lot this evening and someone says to you, "How do I get to Atlanta?"
You say, "Well, get in your car." Well, that’s good advice. That’s the start of it. But you also need to say, "Start your car and head south and a little bit east ..." and give more detailed directions to see them through to the destination they have named.
The beginning of evangelism is the information about Jesus Christ, how to get into him and to him; but there is much more. Evangelism is persuading a person to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
-- Leith Anderson, "Making More Disciples," Preaching Today,
B. Results of Freedom (32)
[32] And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
1. Knowledge of the Truth (Facts)
• How sad it was to see the people in Iraq dependent on the facts from Baghdad Bob!
1) Jesus is the Source of Truth
2) Jesus is the Standard of Truth
• Some want to understand every minutiae of prophecy and other biblical depths before they will come to Christ.
• There will be parts of the Bible you will die without understanding!
• But if you will come to Jesus, and place your faith in Him, you will know what is most important ... FREEDOM in Christ!
2. Freedom from the Bondage of Sin
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
QUOTE: Jesus does not give us freedom to do what we want, but freedom to follow God. As we seek to serve God, Jesus’ perfect truth frees us to be all that God meant us to be. (Life Application Bible)
II. Jews’ Denial: The Pretense of Freedom (33-35, 37)
A. The Arrogance of the Jews (33)
[33] They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Galatians 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
How ridiculous Their Denial.
1. They Forgot Their Physical Bondage
a. Their Past Enslavements
• The Egyptian Enslavement
• The Babylonian Captivity
• The Syrian Oppression
b. Their Present Enslavements
• Roman Occupation
• Heavy taxation
• Interference in their religious and cultural life.
• Even as they speak they are in bondage.
2. They Forgot Their Spiritual Bondage
• Sin has the power to bind just as much as any chain!
• Their faithlessness gave testimony to their bondage.
Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
B. The Answer of Jesus (34 -35, 37)
1. Concerning Their Slavery (34 -35)
a. Their Sin: They Are in Bondage Because of Their Sinning (34A)
[34] Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin
1 John 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
1 John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
b. Their Servanthood: They are in Bondage Because of Their Servanthood (34B-35)
[34] Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. [35] And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Whosoever - In Romans, we see a universal offer of salvation. Here, there is a universal application of condemnation.
ILLUS: He uses an illustration of the main house at a slave plantation. Some may work in the house, but they don’t sleep there! The slave can be thrown out suddenly, with no notice, at the whim of the owner!
Genesis 21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
QUOTE: There is something very interesting and very suggestive here. Sometimes when a man is rebuked for doing something wrong or warned against such a thing, his answer is: "Surely I can do what I like with my own life." But the point is that the man who sins does not do what he likes; he does what sin likes. A man can let a habit get such a grip of him that he cannot break it. He can allow a pleasure to master him so completely that he cannot do without it. He can let some self-indulgence so dominate him that he is powerless to break away from it. He can get into such a state that in the end, as Seneca said, he hates and loves his sins at one and the same time. So far from doing what he likes, the sinner has lost the power to do what he likes. He is a slave to the habits, the self-indulgences, the wrong pleasures which have mastered him. This is precisely Jesus’s point. No man who sins can ever be said to be free. (DSB)
QUOTE: But it was another slavery of which Jesus was speaking. "Everyone," he said, "who commits sin is the slave of sin." Jesus was reiterating a principle which the wise Greeks had stated again and again. The Stoics said: "Only the wise man is free; the foolish man is a slave." Socrates had demanded: "How can you call a man free when his pleasures rule over him?" (DSB)
2. Concerning Their Seed (37)
a. Truth of Their History (37a)
[37] I know that ye are Abraham’s seed;
ILLUS: Robert Sheffey’s aunt - “You were born a Christian.”
b. Trouble of Their Heart (37b)
[37b] but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
• I wonder how many historical Christians we have verses heart Christians!
III. Jesus’ Declaration: The Promise of Freedom (36)
[36] If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
A. The Source of This Freedom
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
B. The Satisfaction of This Freedom
• Some may say, What’s the big deal?
• Oh, if we could leave here tonight, leave our home, and go see men.
• Men in crack cocaine houses with children starving at home.
• Men at home with a heart, hooked on alcohol.
ILLUS: Have you ever been coming back home on a trip that seemed to last forever. You say, oh if I were already home. Imagine someone in the depth of sin, desperately wanting to be out of its bondage, yet not even hoping that things could ever change. Dear sir, I am glad I can offer you hope! Dear lady, I can show you one that can take you out of the mess that you are now in!
• How good freedom must seem.
• THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT DO NOT CHERISH FREEDOM ARE THOSE THAT HAVE IT!
• Every Christian hearing my voice should drop to their knees in gratitude for the goodness of God in your life!
CONCLUSION:
When the Berlin wall fell, the West German government gave each East German citizen the equivalent of about one hundred U.S. dollars. The citizens of East Berlin, some of which lived in high rise apartments which had afforded a view of life on the other side, came through the wall and walked the streets in utter amazement! Finally, freedom! Dear friend, perhaps you have watched others who seem to have it all together. I am telling you, Christ offers to you the same life, the same hope.
Dear church member, listen to the admonition of the apostle Paul:
2 Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
ILLUS: 7832. Lesson From Edison’s Plant Fire
Thomas A. Edison’s plant was on fire. As he helplessly watched it burn, taking his costly experiments up in flames, he called his son Charles. “Come!” he said. “You’ll never see anything like this again!” Then he called his wife. As the three stood gazing, Edison said, “There go all our mistakes. Now we can start over afresh.” In two weeks he started rebuilding the plant, and it was not long before he invented the phonograph. —Gospel Herald
