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The Gospel of John, The Period of Conflict - The Clash of Belief and Unbelief, Continuing discourse after the feast, Jesus as the Light of the World, Part XV, John 8:30-32 - Lesson 62
Read Verses John 8:28,29, Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
John 8:30,31, As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Jesus Christ tests the belief expressed here.
Is it true belief or is it superficial?
Jesus Christ describes in this passage what true belief results in.
He describes in this passage what it means to be a genuine disciple.
True belief produces continuance in God's word.
Continuance in God's word means taking up abode in God's word.
It means letting God's word have its way in your life.
It means that God's word has a continuous effect on your life.
His instruction will be the law of your life.
He tells them that the evidence that they are his disciples will be shown by their acceptance of his instruction and it becoming their rule of faith and practice.
How can you know the will of God if you do not stay in the Word of God where his will is revealed.
So it is not how a man or woman begins with Christ but how they continue and end with Christ.
This is what Jesus means in Mat 10:22: .....but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Also 1 John 2:19 is another verification of manifestation of true belief and true discipleship)
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us....
The one who has been truly saved will not fall away and be lost; the one who does fall away and is lost, was never truly saved.
The result of that relationship with Jesus Christ who is truth incarnate, is expressed by Jesus Christ in:
John 8:32, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
The truth, Jesus Christ, the Word, the Son of God, the Son of Man, promises that those who stay in him, those who abide in his word, those who accept his word as their rule of faith and practice, will be made free!
What does he mean by free?
He says in this verse that knowledge of truth results in a free individual.
What does he mean?
Free from what?
Rom 6:16, says that we are servants regardless of our status before God.
Let's read: 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?
So Christ is not saying that man will be free in the sense that an individual has total command or freedom over self or outside influences.
Such an understanding is alien to the Bible, which never depicts such a freedom.
We cannot be or do what we want because we are not independent of others or independent of God.
We do not have the power to do what we want to, whether that be to fulfill God's law, to love others, or to save ourselves.
The Bible constantly affirms that the kind of freedom all persons have is the kind of freedom that slaves or servants have.
Slaves and servants have freedom to obey their master.
When we yield to sin as our master, sin uses the law to deceive us into thinking that we are in control of ourselves.
It deceives us into thinking that by our own works we can save ourselves by obeying the law.
It deceives us into thinking that we can operate without being accountable.
In reality, on our own we do not have the power, the freedom, to live righteously.
We are not free to do so.
If we continue to live under the rule of sin, the daily choices we make become more and more obedient to sinful purposes and lead to eternal death.
But Jesus says we shall be free from slavery to sin when we yield to his grace.
The kind of freedom that Christ gives is the freedom to serve God instead of sin.
The kind of freedom Christ gives is the freedom to obey God.
Without Christ we are slaves to sin and without power to obey God.
We cannot obey God while slaves to sin.
A Christian is free to move in harmony with the mind and the will of God.
The war with our creator is over.
We no longer have to be in bondage to sin but we now have the freedom to be obedient unto righteousness.
The freedom Christ describes here results in Him using his power to mold us more and more into His image.
This freedom exempts the sons of God from all adverse power.
Satan no longer has dominion over those that are set free by Christ.
In Christ we have the victory!
This new freedom is expressed in Rom 8:33, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Several verses that further enlighten us with regard to the freedom that the truth brings:
Psalm 119:45 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts. I now have the power to seek God's precepts and therefore I have the will to walk at liberty)
Rom. 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (The new birth delivers us from that which ties us up in corruption, that which enslaves, that which makes it impossible to serve God, and gives us the power to obey and serve God)
2 Cor. 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (Liberty to serve God)
Gal. 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Sin will try to entangle you and lessen your liberty to serve God)
Gal. 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. (Liberty for an occasion to the flesh is not the liberty that God gives to serve him) |