Thank God For The Freedom We Have In Jesus Christ! Series

Thank God for the Freedom We Have in Jesus Christ!

The Gospel of John

John 8:21-36

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - January 4, 2017

(Revised September 8, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

*Here in John 8, the Jewish Feast of the Tabernacles had just ended in Jerusalem. And Jesus was boldly preaching to a crowd of people in the Temple. This was about 6 months before the Lord died on the cross for our sins.

*But the hard-hearted, unbelieving Pharisees had already been trying to kill Jesus for months, so the Lord was also confronting these religious leaders who despised and strongly opposed Him. Jesus was trying to warn them about the judgment they would surely face if they continued to reject Him as the true and promised Messiah.

*In tonight's Scripture, the Lord began to talk about freedom, the freedom people can only find in Jesus Christ. And as we read vs. 21-36, please think about the freedom God wants to give to all people.

INTRODUCTION:

*All true freedom comes from God. This statement is especially true of spiritual freedom, but it is also true of political freedom. All true freedom comes from God. And this truth is embedded in the foundational documents that established our nation. The Declaration of Independence is the first foundation on which our government stands, and it begins with these words:

"IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. . ."

*Our Declaration of Independence says governments are responsible to the people. That's because one of the main reasons God instituted government was to secure our God-given rights. So, all true freedom comes from God.

*That's our foundation as a nation. And though there are many who would like to steal our freedom away, by God's grace we still have the greatest political freedom in the world.

*But in the land of the free, it's safe to say that over 100 million people aren't really free, because they don't know Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can truly set them free.

*Christians, thank God for the freedom we have in Jesus Christ!

1. THANK HIM FIRST FOR BEING THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM.

*Our spiritual freedom comes from Jesus Christ alone. This means our freedom is both Heaven sent and Heaven bound.

*The Lord reminded us of this great truth in vs. 21-23:

21. Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.''

22. So the Jews said, (i.e. the unbelieving Jewish leaders) said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?''

23. And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world."

*Jesus came into this world from His home in Heaven. And after He rose again from the dead, He went back home to Heaven, so the freedom Jesus gives is both Heaven sent and Heaven bound. This truth makes Christ's freedom unique. The world can't give it, and the world can't take it away.

*Down in vs. 35-36, we hear Jesus say:

35. "A slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

36. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

*"Free indeed" -- This means Christ's freedom is both ever present and everlasting! It is both eternal and internal. The world can't give it, and the world can't take it away!

*I can be trapped in a paralyzed body for 50 years like Joni Eareckson Tada, and still be free in Christ. I can be locked up in chains and thrown in the deepest dungeon like the Apostle Paul, but still have the Heaven-sent, Heaven-bound freedom of Jesus Christ.

2. THANK GOD FOR BEING THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM. AND THANK HIM FOR THE SAFETY OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM.

*God's freedom safely delivers us from the greatest danger we ever have to face in life. And Jesus showed us this danger in vs. 24. There He gave this strong warning to those unbelieving Jews: "I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."