All right, in John chapter 8,
verse 30 through 36 for our reading this morning. And He, that is
Jesus, spake these words, and 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, are ye my
disciples indeed? And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. And they answered him,
We are Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man. How say you, you shall be made
free? Jesus answered them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is the servant of
sin. and the servant abides not in
the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son, therefore,
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now, before we
settle in to the few verses that are our focus and our study for
today, let us survey and take a look at the larger or the overall
context in order that we might get our spiritual bearing as
to what is occurring, why, when, and where. These things here
in chapter 8 occurred, it seems, the very next day after the close
of the Feast of Tabernacles, which had just been celebrated
again in Jerusalem. That's recorded in John chapter
7, the Feast of the Tabernacle. During this feast, many pilgrim
Jews would come from other places to Jerusalem that they might
partake in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they would come and they
would erect tents or booths or temporary dwellings, something
of that sort, like to remind them that their fathers dwelled
in tents yonder in the wilderness. All males, Jewish males, were
required to attend Jerusalem in the Feast of the Passover,
and it was the last of the three yearly feasts that were kept
by the Jew, and you see their institution over in the book
of Leviticus. Now Jesus, our Lord, being there
at the Feast of Tabernacle, took this occasion to teach many things
about Himself and about the things of God to that mass of Jews that
were gathered there in Jerusalem for to celebrate the Feast. For
example, back in chapter 7, chapter 7, verse 37 through verse 39,
He stands on that last day of the feast and He cries out before
the Jews in a very loud voice that He is the supplier of water. And if any thirst let them come
unto Him and drink, and out of their bellies or their innermost
being there shall flow rivers of living water. It seems that
those things here in John chapter 8 did occur in, about, and around
the temple of the Jews. For the Lord was there and he
taught the people. Many came, many passed by. They
stopped and they listened to this teacher, much to the chagrin
of the scribes and of the Pharisees in Judaism. In John 7 and 53,
all returned to their house. John 8 and verse 1, Jesus went
out into the Mount of Olives and evidently spent the night
there. Chapter 8 of John and verse 2,
early next morning, The Lord returned again into the city,
up to the temple, and He began to teach the people. In verse
20, these things spake Jesus in the treasury of the temple
as He taught. In verse 59, as they were about
to stone Him, the Lord passed through their midst and left
the temple and went out on His way. Now, as the Lord taught
there in the temple, He did so in the face of what the commentator
David Brown called repeated interruptions. And I mean one after the other. And what George Hutchison called
debates with several sorts of hearers. were carried on here
in this chapter. And we see them not only interrupting
the Lord, but brazenly contradicting and insulting the great Teacher
of Truth. They are both impudent and sarcastic
in their reply unto the Lord. And they challenge His doctrine
and His teaching again and again. But it is clear that they acted
out in ignorance and blind unbelief, and their challenges and their
rebukes the Lord handily answered to reveal their spiritual ignorance
of the things of God. However, In verse 30 and following,
we focus, we encounter another kind of respondent to the teaching
of Christ, our Lord and Savior. These did not try to trap him
as those had done back in chapter 6 with a woman taken in adultery. They did not call him a liar,
as did those in verse 13. They did not plot to kill him
or to take his life. They do not call him a blasphemer,
an imposter, or an enemy of Moses or any such thing. The verse
says that from his words, from the things he said, when they
heard his teaching, when they heard his claims, upon hearing
how he answered those old scribes and Pharisees with good answers,
who challenged him on almost everything, as he spoke these
words, many believed on Him. We see that in verse 30. Now
from what follows, from their response, and from the response
of our Lord Jesus Himself, we have to wonder what is exactly
the nature of their unbelief. How deep or how real was this
belief? How strong was the faith that
is spoken of concerning them in this place? We see from their
words down in verse 33 that they misunderstood the words of the
Lord. They did not understand exactly
what our Lord was saying. So I think by no means is their
belief and faith, the same for essence as that of the apostle
Peter, who confessed in Matthew 16 and 16, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God, Thou hath the words of life, we believe
and are sure. You see that again in John 6,
68 and 69. the confession of the Apostle
Peter. You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God. You have the words of eternal
life. Where shall we go? What other
shall we turn unto? You're the Son of the living
God. That's the confession of a true
and real, regenerate and converted Christian. But I want us to look
at the admonition of the Lord In verse 31 and verse 32, while
I read it out loud again, then said Jesus to those Jews who
believed on Him, if you continue in my word, Then are you my disciples
indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free." Now, as one said, how strong and how accurate their
belief was, the sequel must teach us. We must look at the response
of our Lord Jesus. Christ for their believing in
becoming His disciple. Now, a disciple is what? A disciple
is a student. A disciple is a learner. A disciple is one who follows
the teaching of a certain one. They must continue in His Word. They must accept His teaching. They must believe it, adhere
to it, follow it, and even proclaim it. To be His true disciples,
they would hear true, liberating truth. He would put them in the
school of Christ. He would teach them the things
of God. He would make learners out of
them. He would instruct them in the
things of God more perfectly. Until they came to the knowledge
of the truth, as it is in Jesus Christ. And in coming to that
truth, He promises them they will find freedom. If you continue
in my word, you're my disciple. If you continue in my word, the
truth indeed shall make you free. By the way, we read in John 6
and verse 66 on an occasion when, quote, many of his disciples
went away and walked with him no more, unquote. They were offended
at his teaching, particularly the teaching about divine sovereignty. They were offended at that and
they ceased being his disciple, they turned back, they left him,
they went away, back to their former life or whatever. Now, what about these in our
text this morning? The Jews who believed after hearing
the words of the Lord. I would tell you I'm comfortable
that it was not a believing to the saving of the soul as yet. And from the way that the Lord
responds to them, I think that we are to look at it in that
light. So, I wouldn't want to be by
myself with this view, so I began to pull out and read the various
commentators on these particular verses of John chapter 8. Here's what I found. John Brown,
the buck of these do not seem to be, at that time, to have
been believers to the saving of the soul." J.C. Ryle said, there is no reason
to think that their belief here was anything more than a head
belief that Jesus was the Messiah. Calvin said, John is saying,
nothing better about them but that they were disposed to receive
and hear the teaching of the Lord Jesus. Now, consider two
things along this line. Number one, we look at the words
of the Lord, the depths of his teaching, how he opened the scripture
and confounded the Jewish teachers of his day, and the scribes as
well, and many of the Jews were impressed that our Lord had done
that. Impressed that he had such knowledge
and could open up the word of the Lord. From John 7 and 46,
remember? The officer sent to arrest the
Lord Jesus and they came back without him. And their leaders
or officials said to them, why have you not brought him? And
their answer was, never a man spake like this man. The very
way that he spoke. Matthew 7 and 29. The people
were astonished at his doctrine. For he taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes. Again in John 7, 14 and 15, when
Jesus taught, the Jews marveled at His teaching. They said among themselves, how
does this man know letters, never having learned or studied, never
having studied? According to some, it was the
rule of the Talmud, the Jewish commentaries, that no man was
qualified to become a teacher of others until he had himself
been instructed by an experienced rabbi. And so they knew that
Jesus of Nazareth had not been to seminary, He had not been
to Bible school, yet His teaching had a richness and a fullness
and a depth about it exceeding the teachers of their day by
far. So some of the Jews considered
Him to be more than an ordinary man, or a common teacher, after
hearing His words and seeing the great works that the Savior
had done. For example, John 7 and 12, while
they argued about what the Lord was and who He was, some of them
said, He's a good man, John 7 and 12. John 6 and 14, when they
saw the miracles that Jesus did, They said, this is of a truth,
that prophet, that should come into the world. Remember the
woman whom he met at Jacob's well in John 4 and verse 19? The woman first took the Lord
to be a prophet, because He revealed things unto her. Before she knew
Him as the Christ, she took Him to be a prophet. And the Lord
led her along, Jew, Sir, Prophet, and the Christ, as He revealed
Himself unto her. the blind man, healed in John
chapter 9 and verse 17. He was asked his opinion of the
man who gave you your sight. And he answered, He is a prophet. John 9 and verse 17. So let's
turn aside now for some practical application concerning some modern
view of Jesus. using the assumption that there
are many that believe in the man Jesus. Oh, there are many
who believe in the man Jesus, yet it is not a saving belief. For example, some believe that
Jesus was a philosopher. You ever heard anybody call Jesus
a philosopher? A wise man. Others have considered
him a social reformer and nothing more. Others said that he is
a good teacher. Others said he is a fine example
that we might follow and model our lives after him. Some have
even called him a martyr for a certain religious cause. Many
admire Jesus as a man for doing many good things for many during
his life, for opposing the evil and the hypocrisy of the religious
establishment of that day, who at that time do not see him as
a needed savior from their sin. There are a lot of people like
that today. They do not see themselves as
depraved and undone and lost and under the power of depravity. They're like the Jews in our
text. They do not see themselves as
slaves under depravity saying, look, we have free will. We can take ourselves out anytime
that we please. Because you see, it is a great
insult to a self-righteous moralist to be told that they are slaves
to the power of sin and depravity. And only Christ can deliver them. That's an insult to many people
in our day, to think that they need a savior from their sin,
that they are great sinners. So that's the first thing. Many
were impressed And some responded to the teaching of our Lord in
conjunction with his works. Now the second thing is to consider
the Jews' views of what Lange-Comete referred to as the Chileistic
misconstruction, unquote. Meaning that they, many of the
Jews, expected Christ, desired Christ, and thought that Christ
would then and there set up and established a great earthly kingdom
with them, the Jews, as the head of the nation again. In fact,
the apostles ask about it prior to the ascension. In the first
chapter of the book of Acts, verse 6, our Lord spoke to them
about waiting, about sending the promise of the Spirit upon
them, And at that late date, prior to His ascension, they
said in verse 6, Will you again at this time restore the kingdom
unto Israel? After all, these were the words
of the prophets, of a great, a mighty Deliverer who would
rule and reign and put down his enemies and set the captives
free. And beside that, what did John
the Baptist said as he preached in Matthew chapter 3 and verse
2? Repent, the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. Likewise, the Lord Jesus. early
in his ministry did say much the same. Matthew 4 and 17, repent
for the kingdom is at hand. Thus the apostles in Acts 1,
having heard the Lord speak of a wonderful effusion of the Holy
Spirit, asked whether or not at that time the kingdom would
be restored again unto Israel. Reading F. F. Bruce in his commentary
on Acts chapter 1 and verse 6, quote, the question appears to
have been the last flicker of their former burning expectation
of an imminent political theocracy with himself as its chief executives."
Now, coming to verse 31 and 32 closer, the Lord begins to test
the soundness of these believers and respondents. Some are said
to believe on him. One called them, quote, half-converts,
unquote, who had been brought to the threshold of what another
said, quote, superficial discipleship, unquote. Now the previous sayings
of the Lord in chapter 8 had made some impressions on the
part of those who listened and heard our Lord, who would then
become disciples our pupils, our followers, our learners from
our Lord. They would hear more of the teaching
of our Savior. So looking at verse 31 and verse
32, let's take them individually. In verse 31, He cautions them
against a temporary excitement or resting on a passing feeling,
telling them, if you would be my disciples, my true disciple,
it will result in you continuing on in my Word. It is not how
one begins. that is telling, is it? It is
how one ends that is telling. It is not the beginning, but
it is the continuing and the end. Remember the stony ground
here in Matthew 13, verse 20, 21, the parable of the seed,
the soil, and the sower. This one heard the Word, and
he gave it a joyful reception. But when he is offended by the
word, the scripture said that he fell away. A true disciple
makes progress in the word of truth. No progress in truth,
no true discipleship, is a good saying. Even if they seem weak
in knowledge at the beginning, in continuing in the truth, they
grow in the knowledge of our Lord and our Savior. They are to continue in His Word,
hold to His teaching, let God be true, and every man a liar,
while the truth of God has a sanctifying influence on the heart and life
of people. Jesus said so in John 17 and
17. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth. Continuance in the truth is a
marked evidence of true discipleship. One who nibbles a bit, tastes
a bit, and then goes on their way is not a true disciple, but
one that continues. Look at the 32nd verse now. liberating. The truth will set
you free. Be my disciple, continue in my
word, continue in my word, and the truth will set you free. There's the connection. If you
continue, you're my disciple, and in knowing the truth, you
will be set free. Set free in so many ways and
from so many things. Now, we need to stop though and
determine what truth the Lord has in mind. You shall know the
truth and the truth shall make you free. That's true in a lot
of areas, a lot of realms. Though I've heard people argue
that finding out the truth about something awful has given them
a hard life. But we need to find out what
kind of truth does the Lord have in mind. What's the nature of
this truth? Well, we know that it is certainly
not political truth. That's not the kind of truth
that our Lord has in mind. There might be freedom in political
truth, but that's not what our Lord had in mind. Nor is it scientific
truth that our Lord has here in mind. Nor is it historical
truth that our Lord has in His mind. It is spiritual truth that
our Lord is speaking of. Truth relating to the person
and the work of Christ. the gospel, the way of salvation,
the way of serving and worshipping our great God. Then we consider
what's the nature of the freedom that our Lord is talking about
here. What's the nature of the truth?
Well, it's spiritual truth. It'll make you free. What then
is the nature of that freedom? The truth shall set you free,
and then we ask, free from what? What will the truth set us free
from? To what realm does it belong? Christ shall soon tell them and
tell us by way of the Scripture. In verse 33, some of the Jews
took a strong exception to the insinuation that they were in
some form of bondage or other. Their response was twofold. Number one, they said to him,
look, we are Abraham's seed. We are descended from Abraham. We have Abraham to our father,
Matthew 3 and verse 9. Secondly, they said, we were
never in bondage unto any man. How then, why then, do you tell
us that we might be made free since we were never in bondage?"
Now here, as one said, the Jewish pride surfaces. It bubbles up here in all of
its corruption. And their denial flatly contradicts
their history. Who are these people to say,
we were never in bondage unto any man? Had they forgotten Egypt
and the misery and the abject bondage that was there? Had they
forgotten their fathers weeping by the rivers of Babylon while
in Babylonian captivity? Even as they spoke these words
to our Lord, they were chafing under the Roman yoke of authority
from which they desired liberty. How do they say we were never
in bondage unto any man? They might take offense at the
words of our Lord, however, on another account as well. His
mentioning their not knowing the truth. for they could well
claim, or might claim, look, we are the only ones with the
truth. We have the oracles of God. We
have the writings of Moses. We have the psalm. We have the
prophet. They are read to us every Sabbath
day in the synagogue. Every Sabbath day we hear the
reading out of the Old Testament Scripture. But the Lord will
not answer them as they will, and he goes straight to the freedom
that he has in his mind. Now, by the bondage that he had
in mind, he speaks of the bondage of sin, which is the most degrading
bondage of all. He says, he that commits sin
is the servant of sin. There are two words here in this
that we ought to single out and consider. Look at the word commits
in the King James, he that commits sin, or literally everyone that
commits sin. He that commits sin, every one
that. Now, the Lord is not speaking
of righteous persons who now and then commit an act of sin,
who are overtaken in a fault and are instantly convicted and
repentant because the Spirit of God drives home conviction
under their heart. Rather, He speaks as such who
make sin the way, the practice of their life. They're devoid
of grace. They live under the power of
native depravity day in and day out. Paul says in Romans 6 and
verse 12, sin reigned in your mortal bodies. that you should
obey in it the lust thereof." That was one time in our past. It is one who practices sin.
It is one who constantly sins. One who lives and walks and talks
under the power of the flesh, who, as Paul said, yields up
their members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. Romans
6 and verse 13. Paul describes such again in
Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. who are dead in trespasses
and in sin. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
that spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
having your conversation or manner of life in the lusts of the flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature wrathful children, or children of wrath. So it refers
to one who lives in sin. Sin has dominion over them. But secondly, we notice a word
here, the word servant. He that committeth sin is the
servant of sin. It is servant in the King James
Version of the Scripture. But this is far too weak a translation
and rendering of the original Greek word. Why the translators
so consistently use this word is beyond our understanding,
because it is the word doulos. It means a bondservant. It is a slave. And that's the
meaning of this word. Whosoever commits sin is a slave
of sin, a bond servant. It's from a root word that means
to bind or to put one in bonds. It refers, therefore, to an abject
slave, one who is ruled over one who is lorded over by someone
else or by a power. Now this word is dozens, and
I mean dozens, of times in our New Testament as servant, and
it rightly is or means slave. It is rendered bond in 1 Corinthians
12 and 13. In Ephesians 6 and verse 8, Again,
referring to slavery. The person without Christ and
without His saving grace is the slave of sin. Sin has dominion
over them. The depraved principle is, as
John Brown put it, dominant in the mind, unquote. Dominant in
the mind. Always. thinking sin, always
yielding themselves up unto sin. And everyone you know, everyone
without exception, is a slave of one sort or another. One is
either a slave to sin or a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever noticed that the
apostles in their writings, in their opening greetings, refer
to themselves as the slaves of Christ? Here are a few. Paul
in Romans 1.1, and Titus 1.1, James in 1.1, Peter in 2 Peter
1.1, and Jude in his short but pithy epistle in verse 1, all
call themselves the slave of Jesus Christ. It is servant in
the King James, but it is that word doulos, and it is really
a slave. Now the thing about being a slave
unto sin is only Christ and His shed blood can liberate from
sin. Only the saving grace in Jesus
Christ can free from the enslaving power of sin over the life. As the Lord told those Jews,
if the Son make you free, then are you free indeed, truly free,
really free, absolutely free. Freedom does not come from turning
over a new leaf, as we sometimes hear. Freedom from sin is not
reforming the life up to a point. Freedom from sin is not getting
treatment for some, quote, addiction, unquote. It is common nowadays
to call sin an addiction. Others call it a sickness. Some
call it a disease. And they always apply false cures. Because, you see, if you don't
rightly diagnose the disease, you can't prescribe the right
remedy. And sin is the disease. And Christ, His blood, His truth
is the liberating force. However, said the Lord, if the
Son make you free, you are free indeed, as slavery to sin is
the very worst form of slavery that we could imagine. So freedom
from the enslaving power of sin is the most blessed freedom that
we might imagine. The great liberator is Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Christ sets the captives free
by redeeming them at the cost of His blood. He bought them
out of the slave market of sin by the price of His own precious
blood. He bought them out of their bondage,
for that's what redemption is. Redemption is not freeing by
force, it is freeing by price, paying the price of a ransom
or redemption. You know the thing about Christian
liberty, Christian freedom, the kind that our Lord is talking
about, and that is this, one may be a physical slave and yet
be the Lord's free man. Paul talked about that to certain
ones in the Scripture. Even though they were a slave
in the flesh, they were the Lord's free men. The body a slave, the
soul in the heart, and the conscience free in Jesus Christ who has
saved us from the depravity and from the dominion of sin. He, the liberator, came and in
shedding His blood and dispensing His truth, has therefore set
His people free, liberating them from the power of sin. Thank God, the Lord said, you
shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Then
he said this in closing, if the Son therefore shall make you
free, you shall be free indeed. Free truly. Free really. Free in Jesus Christ. Sin is enslaving Christ. delivers and sets us free. Thank God for that. Some of us
can look back over our lives and see how that came to pass,
how the Lord greatly and drastically, by His grace, changed us from
what we used to be. Thank God for that.