Let's turn to John chapter 8 and verse 26.
If you have a Bible, you can follow alone, but
all of the verses that I quote of course
will be on the screen for you to follow as
well.
Last time we covered verses 21 to 25, and in
that text is the continued interaction between
Jesus and the religious Jewish leaders.
Some of my favorite narrative in all of
scriptures is when Jesus gets into it with the
religious
leaders of Israel.
And three times, in verse 21 and 24, if you
were here last week, do you know that Jesus
told them what no person ever should want to
hear directly from the lips of Jesus himself.
Do you remember what it was last week?
He told them, "You will die in your sins,"
very straightforward.
And we also glean from that text four ways
that guarantee that any person will die in
their sins.
If you remember, number one, be self-righteous
.
Number two, be worldly.
Number three, be faithless.
And number four, be obstinate.
Be stubborn.
Just go on and keep up your rejection of
Christ and his gospel.
And you'll remember that they responded to
Jesus saying, "You will die in your sins."
Look in verse 25 with me, which says, "So they
were saying to him, 'Who are you?'"
And if you remember, we looked at the Greek
construction of that really, what they're
saying is, "Who in the world do you think you
are?"
Who do you think you are telling us that we,
Jewish religious leaders, are going to die
in our sins?
And then remember, Jesus responds to that next
in verse 25, "Jesus said to them, 'What
have I been saying to you from the beginning?'
"
And we went over multiple examples of what he
had been telling them over and over and
over throughout his three-year public ministry
.
So I just want to pick up, of course, right
where we left off and the flow of this text
now that gets your mind back to where we were
and look next in verse 26.
Jesus says here, "I have many things to speak
and to judge concerning you, but he who sent
me is true.
And the things which I heard from him, these I
speak to the world."
So he's saying here, "Hey, I have more to say
to you and what I say comes from God."
And notice, he says, "Things to speak and
things to judge."
So what more he has to say then includes this
subject of judgment.
There's been a lot of invitation.
We've seen it all throughout our study here of
the Gospel of John, like, "I am the light
of the world.
He who follows me shall not walk in darkness."
He's been giving these invitations over and
over and over in his messages, but what have
they been doing?
They've been constantly rejecting.
So as we saw last time, we're right here in
the time period of the last six months of
Jesus' life.
Calvary is just six months away.
And so now as we get right toward the end of
Jesus' three-year ministry, we are seeing
Jesus, the invitations are coming to a close,
and these judgment words are being said by
Jesus to these leaders like, "You will die in
your sins unless you believe."
Remember, "I am He.
I am God."
And just to show you how wellfully blind they
were, look at verse 27, next.
They did not realize, John says, that he had
been speaking to them about the Father.
Now that, if you've been listening to any of
my sermons here in John, and you've read
John for yourself, should just blow your mind,
right?
It's just like Jesus said earlier, "What have
I been saying to you from the beginning?"
And then in verse 28, he addresses them in
their ignorance.
So Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of
Man, then you will know I am He, and I do
nothing on my own initiative, but I speak
these things as the Father has taught me."
And when he says, "When you lift up the Son of
Man," of course, you know, he's speaking
of his crucifixion.
He's saying, "When I'm crucified," which he
knew they were going to be responsible.
"When I'm lifted up, then you will know that I
am He," that great phrase, again, publicly
pronouncing that he is God in human flesh, the
one and only God-man, "I do nothing on
my own.
I only speak the things the Father taught me."
At that moment, he's saying, "You're going to
know, you're going to know that I came
from God, you'll know God sent me, you know
God speaks through me, and how would they
know?"
Well, let me give you some practical examples
connected right to the cross of how they would
know which they should already know, right?
Think about the events of the cross.
We don't often think about this very deeply.
Some of you, old-timers, and I don't say old-
timers as many as age, but I'm talking about
been
with me since the Cedar Crest days.
I preached through Matthew, right?
It took me five years to get through Matthew,
the longest period of time I ever took
preaching
a book.
But Matthew is so great, right?
We talked about the thick, black darkness that
came upon the land while Jesus was hanging
on the cross.
If you look at the Greek construction there,
the darkness on that first Good Friday was
so dark that you couldn't see your hand in
front of your face, all right?
So think about that.
Jesus is saying, "Hey, when I'm lifted up, you
're going to know."
Well, think about first that thick darkness in
the middle of the day, boom, the lights
go out.
And not only that, what happened at the same
time?
A massive earthquake.
So not only do you have thick darkness, you've
got to, the earth is rumbling.
And you remember what the Centurion said, the
Roman Centurion, surely this was the Son
of God, right?
But not only that, something we also forget.
The graves burst open as a result.
And what happened?
Dead people came back and started walking into
the town.
We forget about that.
But not only that, this, for the Jewish
religious leaders, has got to be one of the
most extraordinary
things.
The veil in the temple was ripped from top to
bottom.
That actually physically happened.
Now let me tell you how big that veil was.
The veil was 60 feet tall, and it was 30 feet
wide, and it was four inches thick.
And whoever was the first Jewish religious
leader that walked in there and saw that thing
completely ripped in half, which was
absolutely impossible for any human being to
do.
They had to have a stroke when they saw that.
No doubt a supernatural miracle, right?
So when Jesus is talking about, hey, when I'm
lifted up on that day, that I'm going
to be crucified, you're going to know, combine
all those things together that happened on
that first good Friday.
You talk about willfully ignorant, that's will
fully ignorant right there.
If you didn't get it after all that, you just
didn't want to.
Just evidence of total depravity I see in
scripture, total inability to come to Christ
unless the Holy Spirit draws you, as Jesus
made clear in John 6.
Then look at verse 29.
Jesus next is going to add the most essential
aspect of his claim, and that is his relation
to God the Father himself.
Look at verse 29, "And he who sent me is with
me, he has not left me alone, for I always
do the things that are pleasing to him."
So think about how many times Jesus, just in
the Gospel of John alone, has said these
kind of things to him.
So they knew who the main character was in
this sentence was God the Father, because
he's already said this so many times, and he's
just warning them right here to make
sure that they realize one more time, hey, I'm
not operating independently here, I'm
not only doing what the Father wants me to do,
but at the same time he's saying I'm
equal, I'm equal with the Father.
I always do the thing.
Remember we went over all of that.
Here we get to verse 30, "As he spoke these
things, many came to believe in him."
And as we said last time, well, there is the
alternative, right, that's the only
alternative,
is to believe.
The surface, once again, when you read that
many came to believe in him, and immediately
what is your reaction as a Christian, wow,
that's great, especially in the middle of
all this outright rejection that Jesus has
been experiencing, but it's extremely
important
saints that in context of this passage, we
need to analyze very carefully what Jesus
says and why Jesus says it right next in the
next verse, verse 31, after many believed,
look at verse 31.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had
believed him, if, I'm telling you right now,
that's the most significant if in the
scripture, if you continue in my word, then
you are truly
disciples of mine, so what's the context here?
Well, clearly the context is about being a
true disciple.
You know this well, there are a lot of people
out there who profess to be Christians, many
people say that there are Christians, that's
very common in our culture today.
Many people you talk to, especially in America
, they just equate being a Christian as being
a quote unquote good person, now aside from
the fact that the Bible says there's none
good, no not one, right, but a good person on
man's standard of morality, not God's
standard of holiness, but most people will say
, yeah, I'm a Christian, if you ask them,
even if they never darken the door of a church
, you ever heard me and Jesus got our own thing
going, you know, that kind of deal, right?
But who is a true disciple, Jesus, that is a
very urgent question.
You have to be able to answer this for
yourself and those in your life around you,
and let
me tell you, this is not a question that is
superficially answered.
Listen to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13,
verse number five, look at it.
Ask yourselves to see if you are in the faith,
examine yourself, or do you not recognize
this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in
you unless indeed you fail the test?
Paul is saying, test yourself to see whether
or not you're really in Christ.
See if you can pass the test.
And that's a similar issue to the words that
Jesus says here about being a true disciple
of mine, a true, genuine, authentic disciple.
And this is a very important question for us
to address at this point in our study of
John's Gospel here in chapter eight, because
all the way through, I want you to kind of
just kind of think back as we've studied
through John and we've been doing it for a
while.
But we've seen throughout John these different
situations that Jesus is in in ministry,
indications
of people believing, right, and faith.
And we've seen true faith, such as the early
disciples in chapter one, but don't forget,
we've also seen less than genuine faith here
in John's Gospel.
Like those in chapter two, remember what John
says this, Jesus didn't commit himself
to them because he knew what was in their
heart.
He knew their faith wasn't the real thing.
It said they were believing, but they were
just showing up for the goodies, right?
Remember Nicodemus, he started out as one of
these kinds of people.
He did at first believe that, yes, Jesus, you
are a teacher, come for God, or you can't
do what you do unless God sent you.
But as we learned, especially in that great
chapter three, just that is not enough.
That's a good start, no doubt.
But just that kind of intellectual ascent to
believe in the facts of the Gospel alone,
that is not saving faith.
So with that right there, that thought in mind
, we meet another group of believers here
at the end of verse 30, look what it says, who
came to believe in him.
And then look next in verse 31, he was saying
those Jews who had believed in him.
So in context, what kind of believers do we
have here?
Well, if you take note of the fact that we're
still in one continuous conversation here
in this text, this conversation is going to
continue down to verse 44 and beyond.
And by the time you get to verse 44, what does
Jesus say to these same people?
Verse 44, you are of your father, the devil,
whoa.
So how can it be that these people who believe
in Jesus in verses 31 and 30 be at the same
time people that Jesus calls children of the
devil?
Well, let's investigate this.
We've already learned here in John that there
is such a thing as a false disciple, right?
We've seen that more than once.
But we really haven't had a definitive
statement about what the test of true faith is
until
we get right here in John's Gospel to this
very passage.
And this folks, this is a huge issue in the
New Testament.
Think of passages like where Jesus says,
everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, well, not
here
in the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of my father, remember, many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, didn't we
do this and didn't we do that in your
name?
People out there in the name of Jesus doing
things.
And what did Jesus say?
I will declare to them what?
I never knew you.
John writes in his first epistle, they went
out from us because why do they leave us?
Because they were not really of us, because if
they had been of us, they would have remained
with us.
Another example of false disciples, it seems
that there has been an uptick here in recent
years of nationally known pastors falling from
grace.
Even former pastors like Joshua Harris, who
now that guy totally renounces the Christian
faith.
He's not even a Christian anymore.
So how do we know who's real?
This has been an issue since the very start of
the church as we see in the Gospels and
the epistles.
And folks, this is a serious issue, even
though it's not a comfortable issue.
This is fly over country for most pastors,
right?
Well, I'll talk about this.
Let's just get to the good stuff.
The stuff that makes us feel good, well, you
know you're in the wrong church if you came
to hear one of those kind of sermons here
today already.
Folks, we have to deal with all things in the
Word of God.
We can't skip anything.
We can't skip uncomfortable passages like this
and we always give people the benefit
of the doubt.
I know I do.
You tell me you believe in Jesus, I believe
you.
Okay.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt because
why?
I can't look into your heart.
I can't look into anybody's heart.
That's what judge not lest you be judged just
what Jesus is talking about.
You can't judge anybody's heart, but put that
in connection with at the same time we got
it all through scripture in the epistles and
the Gospels.
There are many people we just have to
acknowledge.
Not only do we experience it, but we see it
over and over in scripture.
Many people who profess faith in Christ, but
they really don't possess true saving faith.
So we can't escape dealing with this issue.
We can't pretend like this issue is not here.
So what does this text do?
It gives us an opportunity to look into this
issue biblically.
That's how we always want to come to every
situation, every issue biblically.
The best place to start is by looking at these
people here who are making the profession.
We have these Jews who according to verses 30
and 31 had believed it says in Jesus.
And as we will say, see that is this, we could
call it this initial kind of belief.
This is really easy to do.
Remember the crowds in chapter six that were
fed by Jesus and then they marched around
all the way around the other side of the lake
where he went because they wanted breakfast.
You remember those guys?
They were drawn by the miracles.
They were drawn by the benefits of the food
and the healing and it says they believed,
but they didn't believe savingly.
We studied that.
And people today are still seeking the
benefits that Jesus can provide.
What are they looking for?
Are they looking for Jesus?
No, many people are just looking for purpose,
right, fulfillment.
They're looking, they want more out of life.
They want to escape depression.
They want to feel secured or even some people
who actually believe in hell and they're
looking
for a fire escape from hell for all those
reasons and more.
They get into a place of starting to believe
in Jesus.
A lot of folks start in that direction.
You see this a lot in these big gigantic crus
ades.
If there's not an accurate gospel message, it
's not that people don't get saved in these
huge crusades.
They do.
I mean, I'm not saying that they don't, but
for the most part there are many people who
are seeking something other than Jesus.
They want peace.
They want purpose.
They want fulfillment.
And they come down for that reason.
But when the reality of life in this fallen
world comes down upon them with all of its
troubles and its adversity that start to
believe in Jesus, which was not full and
complete
faith.
If it was not genuine faith when they started
to believe in Jesus, what happens when the
trouble comes?
It crumbles.
They go away.
We've seen that.
Listen to what JC Ryle says about this subject
.
This is the most dangerous spiritual condition
any person can ever be in where you're halfway
to Christ, inclined to Jesus, inclined to the
truth about Jesus, wanting what Jesus provides
and what he offers, but not willing to give in
to the full demands that he lays on the
center of repentance and faith in him,
declaration of his lordship turning from sin
toward righteousness.
That is the most dangerous position to be in
because that's the path of apostasy.
And if you go down that path and you reject
Jesus in the end and you be in apostate and
it's impossible to be renewed again to
repentance and you're guilty of trampling
underfoot the
blood of the covenant, and that is going to
bring the severest judgment in hell in, quote,
dangerous.
Clearly, this is a very serious issue.
Why?
Because it has eternal ramifications.
Now, we're going to see these believers in
verse 30 and 31 turn out to be nothing more
than children of the devil, according to Jesus
himself, and amazingly, he calls them
that straight to their face.
So there's a believing here and it starts out
in the right direction, but it ends up
woefully short.
So as we come to this text, I want you to see
two clear realities, okay?
There's two clear realities that I want you to
get out of this text.
Number one, the benchmark of true discipleship
and number two, the benefit of true disciples
hip.
That's going to be just two points for today.
The kind of belief that is just intellectual
ascent to the facts of the Gospel is never
enough for saving faith.
What does James say about this?
He says the devils what?
Believe and what?
They tremble.
Now, they have a very orthodox theology, right
?
They know more than we do, but they don't
surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
So what's the benchmark?
We'll look at verse 31.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had
believed him, what's his message to them?
Oh, that's great.
Come over here and sign the card.
No.
If you continue in my word, then you are truly
disciples of mine.
So there is the benchmark perseverance,
endurance.
That's the issue.
How can you tell a true believer if you
continue in my word?
I'm telling you very often.
I remind myself in my prayers, Lord, by your
grace alone, I'm still here.
I first believed in 1997 is 2025, and I'm
still here.
I'm still believing.
I'm still in the church.
I'm still serving you.
My Christian walk may not be pretty, and
certainly it isn't.
My Christian walk is stained with lots of
remaining corruption, but by grace alone from
the first
moment of faith, right to this moment right
here today in 2025, it is God who has kept
me safe.
It is God who has persevered me, and at the
same time, I have persevered.
Right?
We talk about that.
Let me tell you, it's never, ever wrong for
you to pray God.
Please continue to sustain me in your grace.
Never wrong to pray that if, Jesus says.
You continue in my word, not ought to be under
lined in your Bible.
If you continue in my word, what does it mean?
It means obedience to everything Jesus said.
Now, listen carefully.
You may hear this phrase more than any other
phrase that you hear me say.
It's to Jesus, obedience to everything Jesus
says, not in the perfection of your life,
but in the direction of your life.
You understand?
We're talking about a life pattern of
obedience.
Flesh struggling as it is.
A life pattern of obedience, asking God to
forgive you every day even though at the same
time Jesus has forgiven you all of your sins,
acknowledging your sin, living in obedience
in the great commission, it says, go into all
the world and teach them to what?
Observe all things whatsoever, what I have
commanded you.
Folks, listen.
You need to understand this because this
charge, when we preach in this direction, gets
leveled.
This is not legalism, obedience to Christ.
This is not faith plus works.
No, we believe in faith alone.
What is this?
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about the result of faith.
I'm talking about the reaction of faith.
I'm talking about the consequence of a person
who has been truly regenerated by God is a
life pattern of obedience, not perfect, but
obedience.
He came to faith in Christ, you confess Jesus,
Lord, well, guess what?
He is the Lord, curious.
He are doulas in the Greek, which is slaves,
right?
He's the master, he's the king, he's the
sovereign ruler.
He gives the orders, he gives all the commands
, and what do we do?
Yes, Lord, yes, Lord.
We respond with obedience.
Listen to what he said in Matthew 7.
This just brings it home.
This is straight from Jesus himself in verses
24 to 27 of Matthew 7, therefore, everyone
who hears these words of mine and what acts,
that's action on them, may be compared to
a wise man who built his house on the rock in
the rain spell and the floods came and
the winds blew and slammed against the house
and yet it did not fall.
Why?
For it had been founded on the rock.
Everyone who hears these words of mine and
does what not act on them will be like a
foolish
man who built his house on the sand, the rain
fell, the floods came, the winds blew and
slammed against that house and it fell and
great was its fall.
The storm there, of course, is what, judgment.
And the house that falls is the house of one
who said, who said, but they didn't do.
Professional faith alone?
Never enough.
Look at Matthew 12.50.
Jesus, again, very clear, "For whoever does
the will of my Father who is in heaven, he
is my brother and sister and mother."
And then in Matthew chapter 10, verse 22, "You
will be hated by all because of my name,
but it is the one who endures to the end, who
will be saved, enduring not only the good
times, but also the hard times, also the gut-w
renching times, also the possible times of
persecution
even." A true believer church is marked by
perseverance in their faith, endurance, no
matter what life brings, no matter what God
has ordained for our sanctification, our faith
does not fail.
Now, it might get shaky, it might wobble, it
might stagger around like a boxer who has
taken some real, clean, unblocked headshots.
Have you ever seen a guy in a boxing ring just
take some smack-on shots, right?
And he's wobbling around.
That's our faith, but it never finally and
fully fails.
It remains to the end.
Jesus said later in John 14.15, and this one
is the big one, "If you love me, what?
You will keep my commandments."
Now let me ask you something.
Does that sound like a request from Jesus?
John writes in 1 John 2.4 through 6.
Listen to what John says, "The one who says, I
have come to know him, and does not keep
his commandments is a what, liar, and the
truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word in him, the love of
God has truly been perfected.
The one who says he abide in him, ought
himself to walk in the same manner as he
walked."
And how does Jesus walk in obedience to the
Father?
But we can't walk exactly like Jesus in
perfection.
We know that God is ordained for us to
struggle with our flesh again in the pattern
of our
life.
So what's the mark of a true believer?
It's not a profession alone.
You need a profession.
You need to confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus, right?
But as Ed Lacey always told us, the mark of a
true believer is not some past event.
It's not signing a card.
It's not raising a hand.
It's not walking an aisle.
And as Ed used to say, it's not praying a
prayer that's found nowhere in the Bible.
Now you need a profession.
You need to profess the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the benchmark is a continuing life pattern
of obedience out of love and thanksgiving
that you have in your heart for who Christ is
and what he has done for you.
The benchmark is an enduring faith.
Now, we're responsible.
Don't get confused.
We can walk and chew gum at the same time.
God perseveres us, yes, through His grace.
But we are also responsible for persevering at
the same time.
Saving faith is a gift from God.
Enduring faith is a gift from God.
That's why the devil tried to destroy Job's
faith and he couldn't do it.
That's why the devil tried to destroy Peter's
faith and he couldn't do it.
That's why the devil assaulted the apostle
Paul and he could never destroy the apostle
Paul's faith because true saving faith is a
gift from God that cannot be destroyed.
And then on the opposite end, think about this
professing disciple of Jesus who woke
up every morning for three years with Jesus
and spent every hour with Jesus for three
years, Judas.
He said, "I believe."
And that faith that he had collapsed just on
the prospect that he wasn't going to get
as much out of this deal with Jesus as he
thought he deserved and he betrayed the Savior
.
He believed, he professed it.
So the benchmark of true disciple is endurance
, perseverance.
Next, I want to show you the benefit.
This is point two of true discipleship and the
benefit here in this text is very clear.
It's found in one simple statement.
Now, it's expanded in the conversation, but
the statement is found in verse 32.
Think at it and you will know the truth and
the truth will make you free.
That is a powerful statement.
Now we hear a lot about truth and freedom in
our culture today, don't we?
People are always seeking to find the truth
and be free.
Is anybody ever looking for ignorance?
I've never met anybody looking for ignorance.
Do you know anybody who was trying really hard
all their life to be stupid?
Now we may know some people that get there,
right?
But nobody actually purposely pursues being
stupid.
People are looking for truth and freedom.
Our human natures are driven in that direction
.
The unfortunate reality is, guess what?
Looking in all the wrong places.
They want the truth that frees them from
confusion, from their lack of wisdom, from
all their struggles, from their dissatisf
action, from their unfulfilled dreams, from
purpose
and meaning.
They want the truth that frees them from fear,
especially the king of all fears, death and
the mystery of life and what happens after we
die.
And the search goes on.
It goes on in universities, in libraries, in
courtrooms, in politics, in our colleges.
Young people are being indoctrinated with a
search for the truth in all the wrong places.
Sadly, they are, as Timothy describes, ever
learning and never able to come to the
knowledge
of the truth.
That, folks, is humanity's futile effort.
And eventually many include religion in their
search, and that's where these Jews were.
Think about these Jewish religious leaders.
They thought they had come to the truth.
They thought they knew the truth.
But the problem is, for unbelieving people,
even when the truth shows up, they reject it.
Roman teaches us that the primary
characteristic of fallen people is that they,
what, suppress
the truth in unrighteousness.
I want you to think about picking a university
of your choice.
Even our beloved LSU, go there, mingle amongst
the thousands of students who are searching
for the truth.
I thank God for TPUSA and the mark that it's
made on college campuses, but the majority
report in our colleges today still go and ask
them, you know what they like to talk
about?
Their truth, my truth is different from your
truth, as if truth is not absolute.
But go to the college campus and offer them
the truth and see how you are received.
Go to the philosophy department and tell them
you want to lecture on the truth and how
you know the truth and see how welcome you
will be.
Talk about the gospel.
Talk about Christ as the truth singular.
Talk about judgment and sin and righteousness
and heaven and hell.
And let me tell you, you will be laughed out
of the building.
You will not be welcomed because it is in a
nature of falling man to suppress the truth
in unrighteousness even when the truth shows
up.
The same was true of these Jews in our text.
Let's keep going, verse 32.
Here's the benefit of believing the truth.
Through discipleship, you will know the truth.
And of course, he's talking about spiritual
truth.
There's a great simple phrase at the end of
Ephesians 4, 21.
Look at it with me, right there at the end, "
Truth is in Jesus."
That's the only place you're going to find the
truth.
If you don't look to Jesus for the truth, you
will never find the truth that sets you
free.
Jesus is the truth.
The Holy Spirit is the truth.
In John 17, 17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them in
the truth.
Your word is truth."
And all of the scripture represents the triune
God of all truth.
Jesus says, "If you continue in my word, then
are you truly disciples of mine and you will
know the truth and the truth will make you
free."
Now in our text, what was the context for this
?
Again, think of who he's talking to.
The Jews were part of a very legalistic
religious system.
In Matthew 11, Jesus characterized them in a
very unforgettable way.
Look at Matthew 11, verse 28.
He said, "Come to me, all who are weary and
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
What were they weary from in context?
Well, what were they heavy-laden with?
Legalism, religious legalism.
Verse 29 and 30, Jesus says, "Take my yoke
upon you, and earn from me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my
burden is light."
And you know this, we've studied this.
They had put a pile of legalistic burdens on
people that nobody could bear all the rules
and regulations that they came up with.
Nobody could carry that load.
Jesus told them, "Let me tell you what you're
doing.
You're producing sons of hell with that system
that you got of legalism."
The Jews were anything but free, but they
would never admit that.
Look next, in verse 33, they responded to
Jesus.
They answered him, "We are Abraham's
descendants and have never yet been enslaved
to anyone.
How is it that you say you've become free?"
And they are not talking about being enslaved
to the Egyptians or the Babylonians or in
bondage to the Romans as they currently were.
They're saying, "We are spiritually free
because we, why?
We are Abraham's children.
They didn't associate bondage with a bad
position of sin and impending judgment.
They didn't think they had any.
Spiritually, they didn't buy it for a minute.
They didn't think they were lost.
We are Abraham's descendants, dude.
We are not enslaved.
What are you saying?
We will become free.
We are free."
But in reality, they were anything but free.
And so what kind of freedom is Jesus offering?
We'll look next in verse 34.
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to
you, everyone who commits sin is the slave
of sin."
It's so important to get this.
Jesus is talking about freedom from slavery to
sin.
They were not free just as every person in
their natural condition is not free, but
rather
is a slave to sin.
And what's worse, their sin was religious sin.
They had corrupt, hypocritical religion.
And what Jesus is saying is that the truth is
going to give you spiritual freedom and
gospel freedom from slavery to sin.
And from the total control, now listen
carefully to me.
What he's saying here is not you're going to
have the absence of sin.
We know we don't get this in this life.
It's freedom from the absolute dominion of sin
, which is on every man and woman who is
outside of Christ.
It's also freedom from spiritual blindness
that we naturally have.
Freedom from the fear of death.
Freedom from the fear of judgment.
It's freedom in its truest and purest sense.
Galatians 5/1, I love this verse.
What does it say?
It was for freedom that Christ set us free.
All you ought to underline that in your Bible.
They didn't buy into that.
What he said just infuriated them.
It was really one of the main things that made
them want to murder him.
The true disciple embraces what the Word of
God says about their natural condition.
You get the gospel and you say, "Yes, that's
right.
I am a slave of sin.
I do deserve God's wrath.
I do deserve to go to hell when I die.
And I don't have any righteousness at all.
And I can't earn any righteousness by my works
.
I cannot do it.
There are not enough good works I can do to
make myself right with a holy God."
But the false disciple is unwilling to accept
that diagnosis.
Oh, they want the benefits of Jesus, but they
're not willing to fully let go and repent and
believe.
Then next, look at verse 35.
As usual, as Jesus does, he ramps things up
even more, especially with them.
He says, "The slave does not remain in the
house forever.
The Son does remain forever."
What does this mean?
Well, they're saying, "We're the sons of
Abraham.
We have the law and we have the prophets and
Jesus invites them as being slaves of sin
and they don't accept that."
And he takes it a step further and he says, "
You guys are slaves and you're not sons."
Since they're talking about Abraham, he's
saying, "You think you're Abraham's son, but
let me tell you something.
If you're Abraham's son, you're really from Is
hmael.
That's who you are.
You may be physically Abraham's son, but you
're not Isaac.
You're not in Isaac's line.
You're not a spiritual descendant of Abraham
as all believers are in this room.
You are a slave and you are not an heir.
That's the intensity of what Jesus is saying
to these Jewish religious leaders.
And the slave doesn't stay in the house
forever.
Only the Son does, and you are all slaves,
every one of you.
You are none of you are sons of Abraham
spiritually.
That's what he's saying.
And every single one of you is going to be
left out of God's inheritance.
This is judgment on these guys.
The language could not be stronger.
And what happened as a result?
Their rage only increased to want to murder
Jesus at this point.
So what is the benefit?
Freedom from the bondage to sin, freedom from
slavery to sin and all that it means and
freedom
to become a son and an heir.
Lastly, Jesus culminates it all with this in
verse 36.
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free
indeed.
Folks, that's true freedom.
It has nothing to do with American idea of
freedom at all.
We're talking about a much bigger picture than
that.
So let me ask you this morning, are you free?
Do you have this spiritual freedom?
Are you like these Jews who wanted nothing to
do with true freedom?
If you are free, then let me tell you in the
truest sense of the word, there's no greater
blessing of God that you can possibly have in
your life than true spiritual freedom.
If you're not, then there's no greater curse
than to be a slave of your own sinfulness.
But you're here this morning and you're still
breathing God's air.
And you have all the opportunity in the world
to be bought out of the slave market, to be
ransom by our kinsmen redeemer.
And all you have to do, let go of living life
for yourself, turn to the king's way in
repentance
and faith.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you this morning in clear
words of Jesus, how clearly, clearly He made
the truth to all that came into His hearing.
He was here as the God man on earth and wonder
of wonders.
We get to be involved exactly with what He did
and said through the Gospels in the Bible.
It's just a wonderful thing for Christians to
be able to return yet again to 2,000 years
ago and just sit under the teaching of Jesus.
I pray, Father, for all believers that they
would be encouraged this morning by what they
have heard, who have true freedom in Christ.
I pray for any who have not come to Christ,
Lord, in bowed knee and saving faith, to
listen
to what Jesus says this morning and bowed the
knee, repent and believe.
And pray, all that we've done today has been
done in such a way as to bring you maximum
glory.
In Jesus' name we pray.