Way back in the day when Katie and I were dating, I got this phone call from Katie. She was very excited. She had just purchased a discount coupon book for discounts on various restaurants in town, for only $25.00. If you are familiar with the Entertainment Coupon Book, then you know what I’m talking about - This coupon book was just like the Entertainment Book, except everything was free, completely free, absolutely, totally free,….at least that was the claim the cover of the coupon book made.
Free pizza, free doughnuts, free coffee, free breakfast, free tacos - Walk in the store, hand the clerk a coupon, get your free ice cream cone.
As a college tuition paying bachelor, I could’t believe my good fortune: A girlfriend with a coupon book for free food all over town. Incredible.
Now I have to admit, I thought the whole thing was a scam. I mean, who just gives away free stuff? So I didn’t think the coupon book would work.There had to be some catch, I told Katie that she had just kissed her $25 good bye. Katie was adamant that the coupon book worked, in fact, she claimed that had just picked up a free cup of coffee. Well, free coffee is one thing, but what about free pizza? No way.
So, to prove the coupon book worked, Katie insisted that we go out for some free pizza. Katie gave me the coupon book and said pick out any pizza place you want and we’ll meet there after work. I found a pizza place near my university that was in the coupon book called “Anthony’s Authentic Greek Pizza.”
I arrived at “Anthony’s Authentic Greek Pizza” first, so I figured I would just go ahead and order the pizza. I took out the coupon for free pizza and handed to the guy at the counter, he was a huge man with a heavy beard, and our interaction went like this:
“I have this coupon for free pizza, will this coupon work, here? I mean is the pizza really free?”
“Yes,” replied the pizza man in a heavy Greek accent, “Free pizza, with coupon.”
“So I don’t have to pay anything, the pizza is completely free?”
“Yes, free pizza.”
“OK, well I’ll have a large pepperoni pizza, with extra cheese.”
“Thank you, ten dollars, please.”
“Ten dollars! I thought you said the pizza was free with the coupon”
“Yes, free pizza, ten dollars.”
I’m not making this up…..
So, we went back and forth for some time, free pizza, ten dollars, free pizza, ten dollars and I explained seven different ways that, “Free pizza, ten dollars” is NOT free pizza.
Finally, another large man with a full beard joined the first large man with a beard behind the counter. The second man took the coupon, held it at arms length, and gave the coupon a long intense examination - after some time, he handed me the coupon and said, “Yes, you get free pizza, no problem.”
I said, “Finally, thank you so much…”
“That will be ten dollars please.”
I stood there in shock for a moment, “How about five dollars?”
“Deal! We make pizza, five dollars!”
Free. Today everyone seems to have their own definition of what free means. For example, when you as a Christian say you are free, what do you mean? When you say, “I am free in Christ,” Are you saying that you are emotionally released from past fears? Do you mean you are free from heavy the burden of difficult problems? When you say you are free in Christ, does this mean you can say and think whatever you desire; Does free in Christ mean you are free from a long list of religious rules?
What does Jesus say?
In our scripture today we see in verse 32, of John chapter 8 Jesus saying, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
I hear people quoting this verse all the time, “The truth will set you free.” It seems that most often, people takes this to mean - If you quit lying and tell the truth then you will be free from your current problems.
Is this really what Jesus means when He says, “The truth will set you free?”
Let’s by taking a poll this morning….
Raise your hand if you think Jesus was talking to unbelievers when he said - “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Raise you hand if you think Jesus was speaking to unbelievers here?
Well, if you are raising your hand, then you were not paying attention. Open you bibles to John Chapter 8, if you don’t have your bible open already - let’s look again at John 8:31-32.
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
So Jesus is speaking to believers, not unbelievers. “To the Jews who had believed him.”
The first thing we need to do here is see that these verses are placed in the context of believers. Jesus is not talking to pagans, Jesus is not talking to heathen, Jesus is talking to believers, people who agree with Jesus, people who would say, “Yes!”, if asked the question, “Do you believe in Jesus?” “Yes I believe in Jesus” - - Just like you and me.
When we read these verses this morning, you and I, we can place ourselves right there with these people in the bible Jesus is talking to. We can imagine ourselves sitting right there among these people listening to Jesus. We can take it here, that when Jesus speaks to these people here in these verses, Jesus is also speaking directly to you.
So when Jesus says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus, is speaking directly to you.
Listen up. These words that Jesus speaks, are meant for you, not just for ancient people two thousand years ago. Scripture is timeless. It is powerful. Scripture will profoundly impact your life. When you understand what the bible is teaching you, your perspective on life changes, you understand more of who God is and what God desires in your life...and then Jesus Christ can use you in a powerful way.
Here, Jesus is speaking to you, Jesus is saying that you, personally, can be free. This is an absolute statement that Jesus makes here. Jesus is not being philosophical here with these words, nor is this idle chatter. This is an incredible statement, you the believer, you who have so much going on in your life, you who have so much weighing you down….Jesus makes an absolute statement, YOU can be free.
We need to note, that when Jesus says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” Jesus is telling us what discipleship consists of, Jesus is not laying down a condition here - Jesus is NOT saying that holding to his teachings will result in knowing the truth; Instead Jesus is stating the fact that, abiding in Christ is the activity of a true disciple. In short what Jesus is emphasizing here is that his message about freedom is directed at those who believe.
So, in biblical terms. what does it mean to be free and how do I gain this freedom?
In biblical terms what does it mean to be free, how do I gain this freedom?
Again, we see in verse 31 that Jesus is speaking to believers. Jesus is speaking to people who are following him as rabbi, teacher, even the Christ. Yet though they believe, these believer’s are enslaved. This is quite curious, because if we believe in Jesus we are set free, so how can we be enslaved?
Again in verse 32 we see,” Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus is saying that we need to believe in the truth here, but, didn’t Jesus say in John 6, believe in me?
Which is it Jesus, do we believe in you, or do we believe in the in truth?
Sounds a bit contradictory, but, it is not contradictory at all. Why is that?
It is not contradictory Jesus himself is the Truth. Let me say that again, Jesus himself, is the truth.
When Pilot has Jesus standing before him, Pilot asks his famous question “What is truth?”
Remember, Jesus stands before Pilot and they have this conversation: (John 18:37-38),
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?”
Pilot asks his question in a philosophical way, essentially saying that truth is slippery, like many today people. Pilot feels that people will make up whatever definition suits their current agenda. I think Pilot has a valid point, watching ten minutes of Judge Judy on T.V. confirms what Pilot is saying, people are untruthful about the truth.
But, this is not where Jesus is going in his conversation with Pilot, nor is this where Jesus is going in our Scripture today. Jesus is not talking philosophy, Jesus is saying – either it is, or it isn’t, in other words, either you have the truth, or you do not - it is black and white, either - or, you have the truth, or the truth escapes you, there is no gray area.
So in this context, here in John chapter 8 – either you have truth or you do not. Not a variation of the truth, not your own personal definition of the truth, either you have the truth or you don’t, no middle ground, no slippery stuff.
Well, what about Pilot’s question, “What is truth?”
Jesus gives us a definition of truth here in our Scripture today. Actually, what Jesus does, is he give us the consequences of the Truth.
Look at verse 33b – the believer’s ask, “How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Verse 34, Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” So here in this verse, Jesus tells us the consequences of the truth. What are the consequences of the truth? – well if you don’t have the truth you are a slave, but if you do have the truth you are free.
Notice in verse 33 they don’t get it. You see that there? They immediately think Jesus is speaking of human enslavement. They claim that they have never been slaves. They make this claim because in the Roman World these people are free, so how can Jesus say they are slaves?
What Jesus is doing here is paralleling the story of the exodus from Egypt, to our own journey of our exodus from sin. Jesus parallels the Hebrews escape from slavery to freedom, to our own escape from the bondage of sin to freedom.
In Egypt God clearly makes the Exodus happen: The Hebrews believe – for they see miracles around them; They take action – they follow Moses into the Sinai desert. But, then….they spend 40 years in the desert. The Hebrews believe, they act on their belief, but then are trapped in the desert for 40 years. We see that though they were free from Egypt, they spent 40 years in the desert. For us, we see that though we believe, we can be still trapped in a desert, perhaps for the rest of our lives. We can believe, yet still be trapped.
Why? Why is it that the Hebrews were free, but still entrapped? Why is it that you and I can be free, but still be entrapped?
The Hebrews were trapped in the desert, for one reason, and one reason only, the Hebrews are trapped in the Sinai desert because of their sin. When the Hebrews arrive at the promise land, just a few months after their exodus from Egypt, they refuse to enter the land. Their particular sin, was the sin of unbelief. The Hebrews refused to believe that God would intervene and allow them to conquer the land of Palestine. As a result, God causes them to remain in the Sinai desert for forty years.
Our sins have consequences.
Their sin is what traps them. Did you catch that? What traps the Hebrews is their sin. Their own personal sin. Their own sin, the sin they are responsible for - the only people they can blame for this sin, is themselves.
Jesus is making a parallel statement here: Like the Hebrew believers who were trapped by their own sin in the desert, so we Christian believers can also be trapped by our sin.
Our own sin - meaning the only person you can possibly blame, is yourself. There is no one else in the entire universe you can blame for your sin, except, yourself.
Now, Jesus states this in a different way, Jesus says in verse 34, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
The Hebrews in Moses day, like the believing Jews in Jesus day are free, in a physical sense, but though they are free in the physical sense, they are enslaved in a spiritual sense.
Jesus tells us that this enslavement is because of our own sin.
In verse 33 we see the believer’s make an odd claim in response to Jesus accusation. They say that they are free – the are not not slaves because of their parents were also free. What they claim here is that they have a Godly heritage, they come from a long line of believer’s in the Lord, and they also believe, how can they be enslaved?
I have a friend who married a Christian woman from Turkey. She is from one of the many islands off of the coast of Turkey. This woman is able to trace her Christian family heritage back to about 300 A.D., still, even with such an impressive Christian heritage, she must believe on her own volition, and still, even with an impressive Christian heritage, she can be enslaved by sin - even though she believes.
These people in this passage, they think they are free, but they deceive themselves, they are enslaved.
So, let’s go back to the beginning thoughts of the sermon for a moment, what does it mean to be free and how do I gain this freedom?
Jesus tells us that we can be free, and what does he tell us that we can be free from? Jesus tells us, we can be free from sin.
Biblical freedom is - being free from sin.
True freedom is not being mastered by sin.
But wait. When Jesus died on the cross, didn’t Jesus conquer our sin? And, further, when we become a Christians are not all our sins forgiven? Yes, all very true, Jesus’ death and resurrection has conquered our sin, and yes it is true that all our sins our forgiven past present and future, but, you and I, we continue to sin, and though we believe, like the Hebrews escaping from Egypt - our sin traps us, our sin enslaves us.
The effect of our sin upon our lives, is entrapment.
Now let’s be very clear here, Jesus is not talking about perfection, Jesus is not saying that you and I will be able to attain a life where we will not sin. Jesus is not asking you and I to be perfect and never sin again.
Now we will attain perfection, but that will be when we stand before Jesus in heaven, until such time, we will never achieve perfection. Here in our Scripture, Jesus is referring to being mastered habitual by sin. Jesus knows we will sin, yet there is a great difference between committing sin, and being mastered by sin. Jesus is specifically referring to being mastered by habitual sin here in this passage
John 8:34 “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
We see in the Greek text that Jesus is speaking of a continuing state. He speaks of a sin that is repeated consistently in your life, when this happens, you are dominated by the sin, you are mastered by the sin.
When sin is my master, my sin controls me. My sin cause me to lie, my sin causes me to treat others poorly, my sin causes me to attempt to look righteous, instead of actually being righteous. In other words, I will do whatever it takes to retain my sin, I will do whatever it takes to maintain my sin.
I will justify why I do sinful things; I will defend myself for doing sinful things; I will reinterpret my sin and say my sin is not sin at all; I will lie, will deceive, I will use sleight of hand, or I will simply ignore my sin and move on with life.
We read in 2Pet. 2:19b, “...for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.”
You see, the problem, the great difficulty we have is, that no matter how we try, we cannot get away from our sin. I mean where can we flee from sin? Wherever we go, our sin follows us, we cannot even withdraw within ourselves, even deep inside ourselves, our sin resides.
I don’t have to give examples sin. I don’t have create a list of sins. You know which sin is the master of your life - you are thinking of that sin right now.
What is a quick way of knowing that you are mastered by a sin? The quick way to asses if you are mastered by sin is to use the test of self-sufficiency. An assertion of self-sufficiency in the area of a sin is self evidence that the sin has mastered you.
In other words, you say to yourself, “I can handle this sin,” or “I will be able to over come this sin if I try hard enough,” “I can stop any time I want to.”
Just the fact that you think you can overcome sin on your own is self evidence that the sin has mastered you. You and I, we cannot handle sin, we cannot overcome sin on our own.
Jesus, He can handle sin. Jesus, He can overcome our sin.
How are we truly free? We are truly free when sin does not master us.
How do we stop sin from being our master?
The first step - Stop blaming others; Stop justifying your self; Stop the reinterpretation of your sin and stop the self pity.
Look in the mirror and face the fact - you, and you alone are responsible for your sin. It is not your wife’s fault, or your parents fault, your employers fault, or even society’s fault. It is your fault. I know that sounds sobering, but this is serious business here. If you cannot face the fact that you are at fault, you will never overcome sin.
Second step - Recognize that this sin is a very big deal in your life and this sin is holding you back from the freedom promised you. Stop yourself dead in your tracks if you find yourself giving excuses that sound something like, “This is just the way I am,” or “I can’t help it, this is how I was brought up.” When you use words like that, you are without a doubt controlled by that particular sin you are talking about. Recognize the sin that controls you.
Third step - Stop trying to overcome sin on your own. To attempt to overcome sin on your own is simply being disobedient to Scripture. Attempting to overcome sin on your own is not heroic, it is not righteous, it is honestly - immature. Attempting to overcome sin on your own is a theological impossibility, don’t continue such foolishness in your life.
Finally - When you have faced the fact that you are alone at fault for your sin; When you recognize the sin that has mastered you; When you stop attempting to overcome sin on you own, you are ready to begin to overcome the sin in your life.
Look, this is not rocket science. Figure out what the sin is that is dominating you, the sin that has you mastered. When you find yourself in the middle of that sin. STOP…….Right then and there, repent to our Lord Jesus, right then and there ask for the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome this sin. Then everyday, at a minimum, ask the Lord to relieve you of this burden. Talk to God specifically about this particular sin, be an active, always turning away from yourself, and turning toward the Lord.
When we hand something over to God, we don’t just give it to God and walk away. We are always active participants. We face our sin, we repent, we call on the Holy Spirit to guide us through. Repeatedly.
Now this may sound like tough work, and it is, but Jesus leaves us with great encouragement. Verses 35-36, “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Jesus encourages us with these words, telling us that He Himself as the Son has the authority to set you free, the language from John here states that because Jesus is the Son, when you turn to Him, you will be set free from your sin. This freedom may take some time, but as you mature by facing your sin, through Christ, yo will overcome.
What is true freedom?
True freedom is being free from the habitual sin that dominates and masters me.
The truth will set you free: Jesus is the Truth, habitual sin that masters us it what he will set us free from.
Lord Jesus, empower us to face our sin.
