https://www.bible.com/events/49632102
Church of the Nazarene – East Rockingham Campus
Facetime Part 5
John 8 “Freedom”
Today we continue our 8-part teaching series called “Facetime”.
Through the gospels and the recorded words of Jesus, we have the opportunity to sit face to face with Jesus. We want to not only hear his words, but apply their truth to our everyday lives.
Today we are studying Jesus words in John 8 where he talks about a freedom beyond what we might celebrate on this 4th of July.
John 8:31
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
That little tiny word IF, is huge in this passage. It’s a conditional word or statement. It implies a choice, its not automatic, we have to choose.
When it says those who HOLD to my teaching, that word for hold there- it has the idea of remaining, abiding, sticking to it. It speaks of continual focus and commitment. A long term obedience in the same direction
Jesus is here holding together that our faith and belief in him can never be separated from how we live. Genuine faith and love for Jesus, always brings along with it a transformed life, committed to his teaching.
John 8:32
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Truth here is in the objective sense of all that is in Christ Jesus and revealed in his word. Salvation and life in him. Gods Kingdom. That is ultimate and absolute truth.
When it says “You will know”- that word in the Greek for know is ginosko, it means experiential knowledge, intimate.
So, Jesus is saying you will not just know intellectually, you will experience the reality and power of the truth of who God is, setting you free.
John 8:33-34
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
There is some confusion in the crowd as to what Jesus means by freedom. He makes it clear, it’s not about whose in charge of the government, where you live, or what your religious pedigree is.
If you are continuing to sin, you are enslaved, you are being mastered by the power of sin. Jesus here is pointing us to the reality that sin is not just wrong behavior, it is a power a force that can keep us in bondage.
When we posture our lives to sin, rather than walking in freedom with Christ and the life he came to give, we are selling our selves as slaves to sin.
John 8:35
Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
Jesus sets a contrast between a son and a slave.
A son, one who belongs to the family, who is a rightful heir and delights in the freedom of belonging, the freedom of status.
Slaves could be bought and sold.
Sons and daughters were forever.
In context, Jesus seems to be saying that those who choose sin, who continue to choose that pattern, don’t have a permanent place in the family of God. This is a different way if illustrating the difference of true and false disciples.
John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
What Jesus is reminding us of in our passage, is that through his life death and resurrection, the full emancipation proclamation has been made for his disciples. He has put an end to the power of sin and death in our lives. He has broken and defeated that power. He has made true freedom from sin possible.
The question remains before each of us: Am i really free?
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Choose Jesus, life in him, follow after his teaching, live in freedom!