Freed by Truth (John pt. 25)
Text: John 8:30-32
Now before we get to our text this morning, I want to remind you all John’s purpose for writing this Gospel account… It’s in John 20:30-31… It says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written SO THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.” John wants you, and me, and everyone else who reads His Gospel account to believe in Jesus. So it’s kind of interesting what we’re reading this morning, and I’ll explain what I mean by that after we read it… so let’s go ahead and open our Bibles to John 8 and we’ll read verses 30 through 47 (READ TEXT).
Now verse 30 starts out by saying “Many ‘believed’ in Him.” And something we’ve seen over and over again in John’s Gospel is that there are those who “believe” and then there are those who BELIEVE! What I mean by that is… there are those who intellectually agree with something Jesus says, or who mentally assent to His ministry… and then there are those who have true, saving faith. And we looked at that a little bit last time when Jesus said, “If you FOLLOW Me, you will have the light of life…” So John makes that point, over and over again. True faith… Saving Faith is a following faith. It’s a faith that has corresponding actions or works. And this false faith… he shows us that as well… We see it in John 2:23-24, where it says many believed in Him, but He did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew what was in the heart of man… We see it again in John 6, when the 5000+ turn and walk away from Jesus because He doesn’t fit their criteria for what the Messiah is supposed to be.
But remember… John wants people to believe – that’s why he wrote this Gospel… but he wants them to REALLY believe. He wants them to have true, saving faith. He’s not interested in adding to the membership rolls, a bunch of people who have fooled themselves into thinking that they are genuine Christians, but in reality have never been born again. And so not only does John tell us about these things that Jesus does… you know… all the signs and wonders and miracles… he also tells us about instances where Jesus rebuked people for having this kind of false faith. Because he doesn’t want us to be those kinds of people.
And so verse 30 tells us that many “believed” but in verse 31, Jesus tells them what true faith looks like. He says, “If you ABIDE in My Word, you are truly My disciples.” Now there’s a lot of confusion about that from folks today… They’ll read verse 31 and say, “See… it’s up to us to abide… if we don’t abide… we lose our salvation.” But that’s not what that verse is saying. Jesus is saying here, “You want to know how you’re a true Christian? You’ll persevere. True Christians persevere. True Christians abide… True Christians continue on. That’s how you know.” It’s not about you and me abiding to stay Christians… it’s about us being true Christians, and if we are – we will abide. And if we are, Jesus says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We get messed up on the wording… we put the emphasis on the word “IF”, but a better way to translate this passage would be to say, “By abiding in My Word, you show you are truly My disciples.” Or we might say, “By continuing in My Word, you’re showing that you are truly My disciples.”
So… There’s a truth to be known. I’m sure all of us know people who are not believers. Here in the US, the majority of our university professors are not Christians… the majority of those who produce magazines, and newspapers, and movies, and music, are not Christians. We have friends, neighbors, co-workers, and fellow students who are not Christians. They live their lives, never even thinking about Jesus, or heaven, or hell, or what God might think about them. And then we have a lot of folks to who do claim to be Christians, but they also, by their lives show that they don’t really take their profession seriously. They live as functional atheists, even while claiming to believe in God.
And that’s the kind of people Jesus is dealing with in our text here. He tells them that there’s a truth to be known… and it’s not a relativistic thing, where there’s one thing that’s true for you and another, entirely different thing that’s true for me. There is one truth… “THE TRUTH”.
And by saying this, He’s also saying that at the current time, in their current state, they don’t know the truth. He’s saying to them, “Right now… in your current state… your wrong. Your current belief system is wrong. Your current world view and philosophies – they’re wrong.”
You see; in the beginning of John’s Gospel he told us that the “Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The Jews were wrong. They were wrong in their interpretation and understanding of the Law. They thought that by keeping the Law one was made right with God, but Jesus said, in John 5:46, “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me.” They were wrong in their understanding of their relationship to Abraham. They thought that having physically descended from Abraham, made them children of God. But Paul corrects that in Galatians 3:7 when he says, “It is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” And in Galatians 3:29 when he says, “If you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” And again in Romans 9:6 when he says, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.”
The point that Jesus is trying to get across is that the Law doesn’t save you… and being a physical descendant of Abraham doesn’t automatically make you right with God. And so this whole discussion… this whole dialogue is about truth. It’s about what’s true and what’s false. And Jesus is saying… very clearly, and without apology – that He is the truth, and what He teaches is the truth… and if you believe something other than what He is saying and teaching, then you are believing a lie.
Now I get it… in today’s world; holding on to a belief that there is objective truth, is seen as being narrow minded, and wrong. Most people in our world today don’t believe that religious ideas are serious enough to be described as either true or false. They are relativists, and we live in a relativistic society. And in today’s world, religion isn’t evaluated on its truth claims, but whether or not it makes you feel good, and whether or not it’s helpful to you in some way. But Jesus was saying here “THERE IS TRUTH! THERE IS OBJECTIVE, AND REAL TRUTH!” And it doesn’t matter if you like that or not… He was also perfectly willing to say that if you disagreed with Him, you were wrong, and that you were believing a lie.
Now the question I want to ask you is – WHY WAS JESUS SO WILLING TO DO THIS?
It’s because Jesus understands that there’s a lot more at stake than just maintaining friendships and societal standing. He understands that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, and that each and every person will spend eternity in one or the other. It’s because He understands that Satan is the father of lies, and if you’re not believing the truth, then you’re believing a lie… and where do lies come from? Where do false religions and false teaching come from? It’s not just about a religious teacher who means well but made a mistake… It’s about false teaching that has taken root and become an entire false religion, that’s going to lead people to an eternal hell.
So let’s put that together… Jesus says, “If you really are My disciple, you’re going to abide in My Word, and if you’re My disciple, you’re going to know the truth, and be set free by it.” Now catch this… Jesus is saying here… that in order to know this truth and be set free by it, it requires you being a believer and follower of Him. So it’s not something we get from studying at the university. It’s not something we get by intellectual exercise. It comes through knowing Christ. He said the same thing back in chapter 7:17 (READ John 7:17). So when we get right down to it, a person’s inability to recognize the truth about Jesus is a moral failure, not an intellectual one. It’s not that the truth is too hard to understand, or too complicated, or too mysterious. Its so easy a child can understand it. The problem is that man’s mind is darkened by sin, and a mind darkened by sin doesn’t WANT the truth. It takes us back to what John said in the beginning of his Gospel. Men will not come to the light, because they love darkness rather than light.
So you and I as Christians… we can be as logical, and precise, and sound as possible. We can show unbelievers irrefutable facts, and make water tight arguments about Christianity, but unless God opens their minds and their hearts to understand – they won’t! And how does God do that? Through the Gospel – IT is the power of God to salvation.
Faith comes by hearing, and the hearing that produces faith comes from Christ. That’s why the hymn writer wrote the song… “Send the Light” What kind of light? “The Blessed GOSPEL Light!”
The secularists, the relativists, the universalists… they all like to tell the story of the blind men and the elephant… maybe you’ve heard it. Basically a king calls in 4 blind men and puts them around an elephant. None of them have ever seen an elephant before, so they are commanded to feel the elephant and describe it. One man feels the leg and says, “An elephant is like a tree trunk.” The next blind man feels the tail and says, “An elephant is like a snake.” The third man feels the trunk and says, “An elephant is like a fire hose.” And the fourth blind man feels the ear and says, “An elephant is like a leather tarp.” And the secularists, the relativists, and the universalists will say, “That’s how religion is… no one has the full picture, just parts… we are all like the blind men.” But there’s a problem with this… They forgot about the king. The king has seen the elephant in its entirety. He knows what it looks like, and what it is like. He knows the full truth, and he can correct the blind men.
In real life – JESUS IS THE KING!
He and the Father are one! He came down from heaven. He knows what is real, and He knows all truth. So when we get right down to it… it’s not about “Does this religion or world view contribute to my self-esteem or self-concept?” It’s about what is true. There’s a million things out there that can make you feel better… a hot bath, a good movie, a familiar song, comfort food. Literally a million things… tens of millions of things.
But only one thing will set you free from sin. Or rather I should say, One Person… One Man… Only one Person can set you free from believing a lie and living a lie. Only one Person can set you free from the bondage of the Law. Only one Person can deliver you from the wrath of God.
His Name is Jesus.
CLOSING
