Sermon 7
Sermon by John
Metcalfe at Wonersh on 28th August 2005
Series - Disciplship
Truth Sets You Free
Let’s pray: “May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts of all our hearts, bring each one of us closer to you, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.”
A clergyman was walking down the street when he came upon a group of about a dozen boys, all between 10 and 12 years of age, and standing around a dog. He was concerned in case the boys were hurting the dog, so he went over and asked "What are you doing with that dog?" One of the boys replied, "This dog’s just an old neighbourhood stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home. So we've decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog."
The vicar was taken aback. "You boys shouldn't be having a contest telling lies!" he exclaimed, and then launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, "Don't you boys know it's a sin to lie?" and ending with, "Why, when I was your age, I never told a lie." There was dead silence for about a minute. And just as the Reverend was beginning to think he'd got through to them, the smallest boy gave a deep sigh and said, "All right, give him the dog."
I think the
moral of that little story wasn’t so much that Truth Can Set You Free, but Lying Can Lumber You! A well-known television personality said: 'It doesn't matter what you believe - just
as long as you're sincere about it!', and a lot of people seem to go along
with that today. Wouldn’t it be so much
easier if Christians could go along with that!
But if it’s comfort we're after, then we’re in the wrong place. The apostle Peter, standing before all the religious
authorities of
But free from what? Jesus goes on to make clear that He means freedom from slavery to sin. And He goes on to say: “… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Believing and
following Jesus isn’t just one of the roads to achieve that freedom. It’s
the only road. We’re all familiar
with the verses from John 14, verses 6 & 7, where Jesus says: “I am the
way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me. If you really knew me, you would
know my Father as well. From now on, you
do know him and have seen him.”
ONLY JESUS IS THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE
I’d like you to turn to the passage from John that we heard just now – it’s on page 1074 and it’s from John 8, starting at verse 31, and it provides the next insight into our study of Discipleship. “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Not just “you are my disciples”, but “you are really my disciples.” No doubt about it!
When Jesus’ brothers encouraged Jesus to come to
And in this passage, Jesus spoke to those Jews who had believed in him through his message. They were sincere believers, and Jesus invited them to become his disciples. The Jews should have been happy to do that, but they weren’t because they didn’t want to lose their sinful human freedom. That can be our dilemma too, can’t it?
1 Jesus invites them to be His disciples
(31-36)
First, he says, hold to my teaching (31). If you look back at verse 30, it says, “Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.” The Jews were amazed at Jesus’ spiritual authority and His clear teaching about sin. They experienced the light of God’s truth shining in their souls as they listened to him. His words made sense, and they put their faith in him. And if they make sense to you, then that should be your response too. Jesus was happy that the Jews opened their hearts and listened to his gospel message. He really wanted them to know him and to come out of the darkness of sin and into the light. So He told them how to become his disciples - look at verse 31. “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.’”
Jesus encouraged these new believers to hold on to his teaching, and be his disciples. Not everyone can be a missionary, or a preacher, or lead the music. But everyone who believes in Jesus and wants to walk in the light of Jesus must be Jesus’ disciple, so that what He calls us to be. Being a disciple isn’t being just a pupil or student – it has the same root as the word “discipline” – a disciple isn’t someone who just learns a body of thought or knowledge. A disciple is one who puts into practice what he learns from his teacher. A disciple carefully observes his teacher, and learns not only from his teacher’s words, but also from his way of life and from his heart. He disciplines himself to live according to his master’s example. So a disciple has to spend time with his master. When John testified about Jesus: “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” Andrew and another man went up to Jesus and asked, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus said to them, “Come, and you will see.” They did, and after they’d spent time with Jesus, Andrew was able to say “We have found the Messiah!” (John 1:41). They learned by being with Jesus. And we also have to spend time with the His Word so that we get to know and understand Him.
In practice, it isn’t always easy – it can be difficult to find that time. I’m always being asked when I’m going to retire, and I know that one benefit of retirement will be more freedom to allocate my time as I want … and spend more time with Jesus. When the 70 years of Babylonian captivity was over for the Jews, Daniel remembered God’s promise of deliverance through the prophet Jeremiah. But Daniel didn’t think the Jews deserved God’s deliverance. In Daniel 9:13, he confessed: “Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favour of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.” We have a daily spiritual battle to turn away from the world and the things of the world, and to turn towards the Lord our God, and his Son Jesus Christ. We can only know what He wants of us by listening to Him. In the parable of the Sower, it was only the person represented by the ‘Good Soil’ who heard the Word, understood it, received it, was truly saved, and proved it by patiently producing fruit.
So, sinners must get out of the darkness of sin, and walk in the light of Jesus. We must spend time with Jesus each day in prayer and meditate on his word. We must spend time with Jesus by caring for those in need, both physically and spiritually. Jesus’ disciples must give him their time, their thoughts, and their hearts. But this is nothing new. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” That’s God callng all his people to be disciples.
So verse 31 says, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If
you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.’” Jesus wants us to
hold to his teaching, because the His words offer us a firm foundation for a
joyful and fruitful life on earth, followed by eternal life in the
2 “Know the truth” (32).
Now look at verse 32. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus invites those who believe in him to be men and women of truth. And those who know the truth will be set free. This verse can be a bit confusing – it’s often said that it’s impossible to really know the truth, it may even be irrelevant to modern life – just enjoy today! Even Christians sometimes say that we’ll never understand the truth until we meet Jesus. But we ignore at our peril those truths that Jesus has made clear to us. Whether we like it or not, there is an absolute good, and there is absolute truth. There is a shining light that guides the way in every situation and leads even the poorest of sinners into God’s blessing and, ultimately, to God’s kingdom. Truth is God’s champion – it destroys every obstacle, lie and deception that hinders us from coming to him. We must learn to love the truth and submit to God’s purpose for our lives, becoming Jesus’ disciples. Only then can we know the truth. Only then can we be set free.
3 “The Son sets you free”
(33-36).
Then Jesus told the new believers who’d come to him
that the truth would set them free. But
Jesus’ words offended them, suggesting they weren’t free – that they were
slaves. They claimed that as Abraham’s
descendants, they had never been slaves of anyone. But, of course, that wasn’t correct – the
Jews had been slaves many times – under
In verse 34, “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’” Jesus wasn’t talking about political slavery – He wanted to set his people free from slavery to sin. The Jews had fought so hard to keep their identity as God’s chosen people, but they had sinned. They’d offered countless sacrifices as payment for their sins, but that wasn’t the answer. No amount of sacrifice or religious ritual could undo the sin at work in them. They claimed to be God’s children … but they were bound by the power of sin. What they thought was a mere flesh wound had penetrated their heart and soul, and made them captives of sin and death. They knew what they should believe, but they were powerless to put it into practice. They were slaves to their desires, and useless to God. So Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Sin isn’t a trivial matter, it enslaves our hearts and minds. And what’s worse, sin is fatal. It cuts us off from our inheritance in God and his kingdom.
In verse 35, Jesus tells us: “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.” We can live as slaves – countless people throughout all generations have been slaves, economically, emotionally or politically, and many lived their lives like everyone else. Being a slave may not always be all bad, but what is bad about slavery, is that a slave has nothing of his own. He uses things, he works, but in the end, all of his labour and all of his possessions go to benefit someone else. And when a slave is of no more use to his master, he can be turned out, because he doesn’t belong to the family. Similarly, slaves to sin can never satisfy or please their sinful natures. The more they try, the more unsatisfied they become. Jesus called this “drinking from Jacob’s well.” And after a life spent satisfying our sinful natures, we have nothing at all except the darkness of hell for eternity. That’s the spiritual reality that awaits everyone who remains a slave to sin.
But the Good News is that we have an alternative. We can be part of God’s family – Jesus offers us life as a son and heir. A son has a place in the family. He’s under the authority of the father, and he must be disciplined and trained, but he has a love relationship with his father that can never be broken. And he has an inheritance from his father’s estate. Jesus invites all those who are slaves of sin to become sons of the Living God. They’ll have an unbreakable love relationship with their heavenly Father. Sons of the Living God have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Slaves can’t become sons by their own decision – they must first be redeemed, or purchased, from their slavery. Sons of the Living God are truly free men and women. Look at verse 36. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” That’s the good news of the gospel message. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, came down to this earth to redeem everyone who believes in him from slavery to sin (John 8:11), just as He also came to restore the love relationship between God and man that was lost in the Garden. He told the Jews in Capernaum in John chapter 6 (39-40): “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Let's give thanks to God. “Heavenly father, we thank you …we thank you
for the incredible privilege of receiving your blessing in Jesus Christ. We thank you for your Word and the truth
which will set us free from sin. We pray
now that you will help us to hold on to your teaching and become your
disciples. Look into each of our lives
and help us to take that next step that will deepen our relationship with you,
for we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.”