THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE
John 8:31:36 - November 2, 2003
Reformation
JOHN 8:31-36
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33They answered him, "We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
The truth has been under attack since the very beginning of time. We look back at creation and see that Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world and had only one prohibition. That one thing they were prohibited to do was to not eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, Satan came along and said, "Is that really true? Did God really mean that you shouldn’t eat from that fruit which is pleasing to the eye and certainly would taste very good?" Satan attacked God’s truth.
We go down through history and we see that question comes up time and again. When Jesus stood before Pilate, and Pilate was king, Pilate demanded to know if Jesus was a king. Jesus said, "You are right. I came to testify to the truth." Pilate then asked, "What is truth"? Pilate acted as if he did not know the truth. In our day and age God’s truth is daily assaulted and attacked. In fact we are told that society today no longer accepts or believes in an absolute truth. Today, truth depends on how a person determines it is relevant in his or her life.
Today, we learn again that there is truth. There is absolute truth of God and Scriptures. When the Lord tells us there is sin, there is sin. When the Lord tells us there is forgiveness, there is also forgiveness. The Psalm writer says: "For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name"(PSALM 86:10,11). Even though the world might disagree, even though Satan would assault the fact that there is truth, there is truth. As our text tells us this morning, THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE! The truth is as the Lord points out in our text that:
I. We are not slaves.
II. We are God’s children.
I. Believers are not slaves
This is the truth that will set you free. In the Gospel of John Jesus once again was opposed by those who were against His teachings. They did not like all the teachings when Jesus said He was the Son of God. There were also those who opposed His authority wondering where He got that power to do and perform miracles. In verse 13 of this chapter of John, Jesus defends His teaching. Jesus talks about His authority, which came from God. In the verse that comes right before our text, we are told the result of the preaching of His Word. We are told even as He spoke, many put their faith in Him. That was the truth that set them free. Our text begins by saying: 31To the Jews who had believed him. Previously the Law, which the Scribes and Pharisees had burdened, them with, held the Jews captive: one law after another until they thought they were never able to be free.
When Jesus said that He came to set them free, their reaction was quite different, wasn’t it? He says, 32then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. You would think they would be happy to not be bound by the Law anymore. What did they reply to Jesus’ promise of freedom? 33They answered him, "We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How often haven’t we heard the Jews use that tired, old excuse? They said to Jesus, "Look back in our ancestors and you will find that Abraham is our father. Abraham was chosen by you as a believer." The Jews always relied on the fact that it was Abraham who believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. The Jews of Jesus’ time thought this faith of Abraham was enough for them to get into the kingdom of heaven.
They said, "We have never been slaves to anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" How mistaken they were! Jesus answer was quite simple to them: "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin." He reminded that indeed they were enslaved by sin, which enslaved the whole world. His message of truth for them was that they had been set free from sin. Jesus’ message of truth for them was that He came as the Son of God and the Savior of the world to pay the price for all of their sins and their rebellion.
Today, we are reminded that the truth of Scripture is that sin is still sin. Each and every day we sin against God in our thoughts, with our words and by our actions. That is the truth of Scripture. Again, the world tries to deny truth and tries to say that sin is such an old word. Sin is outdated and doesn’t apply to us today. But it does! At times, because of our sinful nature that we were born with, we are held captive by sin. There is no escaping sin on this side of heaven. It doesn’t make any difference if we commit great sins, many sins, few sins, or one sin. What does Scripture say? "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it"(JAMES 2:10). So we are not free in our escape from the slavery to sinning. At least it seems that way.
The world is no help to the sinner, is it? We think of Luther and his struggle with his faith. We think of Luther and his struggle with the church. The church at his time was teaching the fact that a person could buy his way out of purgatory. If you look through the Scriptures, you are not going to find purgatory to begin with. If you look through the Scriptures, you are not going to find any price that we can pay for our sins. That was a struggle for Luther; because he too, as he examined the Scriptures, he could not find anything that said he could buy his way into heaven. The church also taught that if you worked hard enough and did enough good deeds, this would cover up some of your sins. Again, as Luther looked in Scriptures, he could not find anything that said this. These were the promises that the church held out for the people. 2 Peter tells us: "They promise them freedom (freedom from their sins if they did enough good deeds, freedom from their sins if they paid enough to their church), while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him"(2 PETER 2:19). We are sometimes slaves to sin. We sometimes fall prey to Satan himself. We at times fall under the spell of the allurements of this world. But, the truth is the Lord has set us free; and we are free indeed!
We are thankful that as Luther struggled with this idea of freedom, as he struggled with a sin-burdened conscience, the Lord opened up his heart to see that there was freedom in the righteousness of Christ. For the longest time when Luther read that Scripture about "the righteousness of God," he thought it was the wrath of a Holy God that stood opposed to him. After he studied it time and time again in the book of Romans, he came to realize that the righteousness of God also is what covers up sin. It is that righteousness that covers up our sins. It is that righteousness of Christ, His perfect sacrifice, His innocent blood and sufferings and death that sets us free. That is the truth that sets us free. We are no longer slaves to sin. We have power to overcome sin. We are no longer held captive by Satan, because we have power to defeat Satan. We read in Romans: "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life"(ROMANS 6:22). Rather than you and I facing the end of our life and ending up at the side of Satan, instead, because we have been set free, you and I end up at our Savior’s side.
This truth has set us free that we are no longer slaves to the things of this world. Instead, we are God’s children.
II. Believers are God’s children
As we look at these verses, Jesus wanted these Jews to understand that they were the children of God. Jesus heard them say time and time again that they were Abraham’s descendants; Abraham is our forefather, children of Abraham by their physical birth. Their physical lineage on earth meant nothing to Jesus. Abraham could not believe for the rest of his descendants. They had to come to faith on their own. Jesus was trying to explain to them and point out the fact that their spiritual birth that made them children of God was far more important rather than the fact that they were children of Abraham. He says to them, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." He wanted them to forget about Abraham for a bit. Jesus said, "If you listen to me, you will follow me. If you hold to my teaching, you are going to belong to me." What a great blessing that was to be if these Jews would give up their former way of life and believe in the sacrifice of Christ as their Savior.
He says to them, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family." They knew that. Those who had slaves realized that the slave came and did his duty, lived in the house, and was provided with food, clothing and shelter; but he did not have a permanent place there. He was allowed to live with the master because he was performing a service. When the master no longer needed him or his services were completed, the master could just as easily sell him. But it was different for those who were belonging to that family. He says, "A slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever."
Now, the Jews were thinking that they were children of Abraham; but Jesus said, "You are going to be my disciples. You are going to be my children, and you will belong to my house forever." This is how our text ends: 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. They would be free from the thinking that their past history was enough to save them. They would be free and understand that the Son of God was indeed their Savior.
When we look at the grace that comes to us (those are the watchwords of the Reformation), believers are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone. When we look at "grace alone," what an awesome blessing and mystery that is for us. For you and I as believers cannot claim that Abraham was our father. We cannot claim that we were born of that chosen race of Israel. By nature we are Gentiles. But God in His grace sends out His message not just to the children of Israel by birth, but you and I as Gentiles are children of Israel by faith. That is God’s grace! Paul writes in Ephesians: "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus"(EPHESIANS 3:6). We share in the eternal promise, because God has chosen us by His grace to be His children, to be His believers. That is the freedom that you and I have.
Oh yes, we realize that from time to time we fall from that narrow path that leads to eternal life and walk down the broad and wide path to destruction, but the Lord brings us back. Rather than being enslaved by our sinfulness, we are set free by the power of Christ our Savior. Galatians says: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery"(GALATIANS 5:1). He says, "Stand firm in the faith which the Lord has given you. Stand firm in the promises of God and don’t let sin enslave you, don’t let Satan snare you. Stand firm in the fact that Christ has set us free, free for eternity." Today, if you have sins that trouble you, the Lord says to confess them and be released to receive that freedom of God. He gives us His Sacrament of His own body and blood to reassure us very visibly that our sins are forgiven, that He has provided freedom because we cannot free ourselves. The freedom that we have comes to us because God considers us His children. He looks at us as members of His family. As members of His family, we are joyful in this world.
If we listen to the news or watch it or read it, there is not much joy in the headlines. There is not much joy anywhere it seems. There are many times when it seems that the world around us is coming to a quick end, at least according to the world’s view. But we find joy in the fact that God gives us hope, that God has made us members of His family. You and I find great joy in the fact that He has set us free from the mundane things of this life to look forward to the time of eternity when we will sit at His side. That’s the joy that we have in living in this life, the joy that we can share as we hold to the teaching of Christ because we are His children and we are His disciples. Isaiah describes it this way: "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners"(ISAIAH 61:1). There are people around us who are held captive by the darkness of this world. They are scared to death because of all the gloom and doom that is in the news. You can tell them there is something better. There are those who are still held captive by their sin. We can remind them that their sins are forgiven and proclaim freedom to those captives, "good news to the poor in spirit," because we know that good news and have joy in living in this life and the truth has set us free.
God’s truth is still truth. The world might deny it. The world might even reject it, but God’s Word and its truth is still the truth. We can’t escape it that everyone who sins is a slave to sin, but the truth has set us free. We are no longer slaves to sin. Our new man within us, alive by God’s grace, follows in the footsteps of Jesus. The truth sets us free because we are no longer children of Satan but instead God’s own children, brothers and sisters of the Savior, Jesus Christ. That is our freedom. In I Peter, He says: "Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. (That is part of our freedom to walk in God’s footsteps rather than Satan’s.) Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king"(1 PETER 1:16,17). Our freedom is what we receive because God’s truth--that we are saved by grace alone, we are saved by faith alone, and we are saved by Scripture alone--that reminds us that we are no longer slaves, but are God’s children. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
