There is no freedom without truth (John 8:31-36).

There is no freedom without truth (John 8:31-36).

 

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

33 They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?"

34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

 

Introduction)

In today's Bible text John 8:31-32, Jesus tells the Jews who believed in Jesus, "If you live in my words, you will truly be my disciples and know the truth, so the truth will set you free." Then the Jews said to Jesus, "We are the descendants of Abraham, so we have never been servants of others, so how can we be free?" (John 8:33) Jesus said, "Truely, I tell you, every sinner is a servant of sin, and his son will live forever. Therefore, if your son frees you, you will be free (John 8:34-36).

 

It is unfortunate that we are servants of men, but what is more unfortunate is that we are servants of sin. Of course, it's also very unfortunate to be a human servant. How unfortunate is the bell, trembling with fear of a gun knife and hawk in front of a certain crown prince? A servant who can't go anywhere, sleep or eat at will, that is, a slave, is a very unfair, sorry, and upset status. But what is more unfortunate is that it serves as a servant of sin.

 

In the beginning, when God created heaven and earth and created man, there was a lot of freedom. Everything people needed was in the Garden of Eden. God made men in his image and gave them free will. But you gave me an order. "Eat the fruits of all kinds of trees in the garden at your discretion, but do not eat the fruits of trees that let you know good and evil." He warned, "You will surely die on the day you eat (Genesis 2:16-17 But Adam and Hawa were deceived by the devil snake and ate the fruit of the tree that made them know good and evil. Since then, all mankind has become servants of sin, including Adam and Hawa, as well as their descendants.

 

There is no one born without sin in this world. Everyone was a servant of sin. When you become a servant of sin, it is God's law to live in sin and be judged by God and destroyed forever. There is nothing as unhappy as dying to be a servant of sin.

But at the time of Jesus, the Jews didn't know that they were servants of sin. But since the Jews were sinners who should be free from sin, Jesus said, "If you live in my word, you will truly be my disciples and know the truth, so truth will set you free (John 8:31-32). (Today we think for a moment about freedom associated with this truth.)

 

Body)

A)What is truth?

The dictionary meaning of truth is a law or principle that does not change anytime, anywhere. However, the meaning of today's text is not science, philosophy, physical, or biological, but "personal truth."

So, first of all, Jesus Christ is the truth.

Jesus is the truth. In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way. He said, "Truth and life, so no one will come to my father without me."

Jesus is the only way of life, the way of salvation, the way we are blessed. Jesus is God. In other words, it's my son. Genesis proves that God created heaven and earth with his son God in the beginning. You are the basis of the truth that created all the physical, scientific, and natural laws and truths in heaven and earth. Therefore, Jesus said, "No one will come to the Father without me." We use all kinds of scientific objects. Washing machine, vacuuming machine, car, mixer, plane, phone, etc.But did such an invention arise on its own? No, it was invented by a personality man who owns a personality. The same goes for everything in the universe.

 

Therefore, in John 8:36, Jesus said, "If your son frees you, you will indeed be free." Here, 'son' refers to Jesus, the creator of the personality.

So when Jesus, the source of truth, sets us free, we are free. That's the privilege and power of the creator.

 

Second, the word of God.

In John 17:17 Jesus said, "Holy them as truth, the word of the Father is truth." Father, the word of God is the truth.

According to Peter 1:22, "Love each other hot with your heart because you have cleansed your soul by obeying the truth and have come to love your brothers without lies." He who lives according to the word of God becomes holy. The Old Testament is consecrated by the law and the New Testament is consecrated by the gospel of Jesus.

 

Third, the gospel.

Galatians 2:14 said, "Therefore I see that they do not follow the truth of the gospel and do it right." The gospel that Jesus told us is the truth.

There used to be a lot of bells. The species was one of the property lists. So the rich had many species. They paid for the bell and sold the bell for the money. If anyone wanted to free someone else's servant, they could pay the owner of the servant to buy the servant and let him free. The same applies to the gospel.

 

We became servants of sin and had no choice but to live in sin and perish. Jesus paid for our sins by being crucified to save us.

According to Galatians 5:1, it is written, "Christ has given us freedom to free us, so stand firm and never wear the yoke of the servant again."

Jesus built a cross to free us. Therefore, we should not and should not be servants of sin.

 

Corinthians 6:19-20 wrote, "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit among you because you received it from God? You bought it for your own price, not for your own sake, so give glory to God with your body."

Our bodies that believed in Jesus are now not ours, but Jesus's. Because of Jesus, we were forgiven for our sins, and we were given freedom. So we can't live our lives as we please. Therefore, we must live only for the glory of God.

 

According to Romans 5:8, "God confirmed his love for us because Christ died for us while we were still sinners."

When we were sinners, when we were servants of sin, Jesus died for us, showing us proof so that we could be sure how much God loved us. What love and grace is greater than this?

 

B) What does knowing the truth mean?

There are two meanings to knowing. First, there is the meaning of indirect knowledge that you know intellectually by reading books or listening to people. Second, it means knowing by experiencing it in person. Knowing by experience is different from knowing by listening to words. You must know for sure because you've experienced it firsthand.

 

In John 8:31~ of the text, Jesus said to the Jews, "If you live in my words, you will truly be my disciples and know the truth, so the truth will set you free."

If we express our sins and follow Jesus' words, we will clearly know what kind of person Jesus is. Jesus is omnipotent, has absolute sovereignty, faithful, has a lot of love, and knows completely.  Deuteronomy 10:13 also said, "Will I keep the orders and regulations of the Lord that I command you for your happiness today?" If we live as you say, we become happy people.

 

C)We must know that we are the servants of fundamental sin.

Acts 3:23,24 of Rome, "23. All men have sinned and have not reached the glory of God.

24. Christ became a man who gained righteousness without value through the grace of God through the vulgarity in Jesus. " Has any of us been innocent at all? I've never sinned! Is there anyone who has never lied, stolen, cursed, beaten, slandered, hated or misbehaved? You don't have one, do you? So you have to apologize. The only way is repentance and reception of Jesus.

 

Text 8:33-34 says, "They answer, but since we are the descendants of Abraham, we have never been servants of others, how can we be free? Jesus answered, "Truely and truly, every sinner will not live in the house forever, but his son will live forever, so if his son sets you free, you will be truly free."

In John 8:44, Jesus said, "You are born of your father's devil, and you want to do as your father's greed. He is the murderer from the beginning. Because the truth is not in it, he cannot stand in the truth and says it as his lie. He is a liar. He said, "I have become a father of lies." It means that we lived as the devil told us to.

 

But when you want to live a life of pursuing God by looking back on your life toward sin and pray, God gives you grace to forgive. When we truly repent and receive Jesus, God forgives us for any of our sins. You don't even remember. They erase it completely. Therefore, Jesus said, "I tell you, if one sinner repents like this, it will be more than rejoicing through the ninety-nine righteousness that heaven has nothing to repent about (Luk 15:7).

Conclusion)

1)In John 8:36 of the text, Jesus said, "If your son frees you, you will indeed be free." Jesus freed us by risking death on the cross with all our sins. But there are conditions. You have to believe this. It's no use just listening. Believe Jesus as the son God who died for my sins and pray for those who have not yet met him. I hope you confess that you are a sinner as soon as possible, repent, and believe in Jesus.

2)And now, those who believed in Jesus, Jesus set you free. But there are still people who are tied to something. Those of you who still can't get rid of the old sin habit! I hope you will repent today and make a decision to leave from sin. Are you still lying, still stealing, still not giving up your greed, and still living only to save my glory? Are you still not able to abandon your greed and still look at the eyes of the world and doubt it, and still live lazy and taking care of my own interests? I hope you confess to repentance today and restore the life of faith, love, and devotion that God rejoices in. It's Hallelujah!

                                  030723 Pastor Ahn Ik-sun/Reference: Jeong Pil-do