His Truth

Only The Truth Can Set You Free

10.30.22 [John 8:31-36] River of Life (Reformation Sunday)

We like to think people would be grateful to hear the truth. But it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes, people are grateful. But just as often, they get angry at the truth bearer.

That was one of the hard-learned lessons of the Reformation. In 1517, Dr. Martin Luther was a relatively unknown pastor & professor in Wittenberg, Germany. As he watched the Church he had devoted his life to shepherd people, he was concerned that they were being led off-course. They worshiped Christ and esteemed the Scriptures. They warned people about the fires of hell and exalted the glories of heaven. They even took sin seriously. But they didn’t apply God’s truth to the sinner correctly.

The Catholic Church taught their people that in order for your sins and their subsequent punishments to be taken away in full, you need to confess your sin and demonstrate you were really sorry and still loved God by doing good deeds. Then you would be granted a commuted temporal punishment, or an indulgence, from the Pope.

At the end of the 11th century, the ultimate good deed was fighting in the Crusades. Then, because fighting against the Muslims was expensive, giving money for the war effort soon substituted for actually fighting.

But they had created a far more dangerous chink in their spiritual armor. By attaching their own good works to the work of Christ’s atonement, redemption, & reconciliation, they had subtly undermined the power and necessity of God’s mercy & grace. They still spoke highly of God’s mercy & grace, but their practice demonstrated that God’s mercy and grace were only effective if sinners did something good, too.

This something took many forms. But in Luther’s day, there was a push to construct a new cathedral, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. And that was incredibly expensive, too. To raise money, monks sold indulgences, that people could bring with them to confession. When they went to confession, the priest was obligated to pronounce absolution or face excommunication. To Luther, this was very wrong. Repentance isn’t a transaction. It’s not a mechanical act, but a God-worked change of heart.

So Luther wrote 95 theses concerning this practice. He hoped the truth of God’s Word would correct the course of his Church. He was not looking to revolt against Roman authority. At this point, he was certain the pope didn’t really know how this was being rolled out among the people. He wanted to reform this practice of the church.

But there were many who stood against him. Despite calling themselves believers, they rejected the truth of God’s Word about repentance.

We find a similar situation in John 8. Jesus is speaking to a group of Jews about the truth. They’re excited to hear him. They believe in him. Until Jesus says something they don’t agree with. (Jn. 8:31-32) If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth with set you free. It’s hard for us to see why they had such a problem with what Jesus said, but we know they did. By the end of this encounter these people who (Jn. 8:31) had believed in Jesus will accuse him of being (Jn. 8:48) demon-possessed, and will (Jn. 8:59) pick up stones in an attempt to kill him. Where did it go so wrong?

It was all about this issue of freedom. Jesus told them they weren’t free and they weren’t having that. They were convinced that (Jn. 8:33) they had never been slaves of anyone. This response is baffling. Because descendants of Abraham being slaves is kind of why we have the whole book of Exodus. But I think they understood the slavery Jesus was referring to was spiritual. Because even after Jesus makes that crystal clear by saying (Jn. 8:34) everyone who sins is a slave to sin, they don’t change their tune. They dig in their heels. They continue to posture. They continue to put their confidence in their own ability and self-discipline.

We often take a similar approach to our own sin, don’t we? When we get wrapped up in a particular sin, especially something repetitive, don’t we rely on our own strength, at least in part? When we fall into the sins of anger or greed or jealousy or lust, don’t we often look within ourselves for more more resolve or will power? We don’t confess we are slaves to sin. We say we’ve got a weakness. A struggle. A bad habit that we need to kick. An area that we need to address or improve.

At the same time, we tell ourselves we believe in God’s mercy and grace. But we are foolishly ignorant of how desperately we need God’s mercy and grace to deal with our sin. God’s love isn’t the spark that gets us going. It is the fire that cleanses us. God doesn’t give us power to see if we can atone for our mistakes. God is the power that redeems us. God is the love that atones for all of our sins, our guilt, and our shame.

The solution to our sin isn’t a little more self-discipline. It isn’t buckling down and breaking some bad habits. It’s full-throated repentance. Crying out. Lord have mercy on me, a slave to sin. Set me free. Not help me get free. Set me free. Because if the Son doesn’t set you free, you will be a slave forever. And a slave has no permanent place in the family because a slave is only kept so long as he brings value to the master.

Just last night, I was talking to a woman who goes to another church. She moved here from Coeur d’Alene to help be a part of a church planting team. And their church is in storefront like ours. Only there’s didn’t used to be a quilting shop. It was a medical facility that was used to perform illegal abortions. And, when they got caught, they abandoned all their equipment. Do you know what that church did? They donated it to a women’s crisis center. So the same instruments that were once used to take life would now be used to save lives. By nature, we are a little like that medical equipment. We can only do what is wrong and destructive. We can only sin. Unless someone comes and purchases us and gives us a new work.

But God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have always loved you. In love, he planned to set you free through his Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus doesn’t just demonstrate love, or suggest a way, or teach us the truth, or grant us a new perspective on life. He does all those things, but any sinful person could do that. Jesus took on flesh and blood (1 Jn. 3:8) to destroy the devil work, to set us free from slavery to sin, and to triumph over the grave. Jesus is the embodiment of all of those good things. He is love. He is (Jn. 14:6) the way, the truth, and the life.

Throughout Jesus’ life we see his commitment and faithfulness to the truth, regardless of what consequences it brought him.

Early on in his ministry, people were really excited about what Jesus was doing and saying. Then he went home. They were excited too. They heard about all the miracles he had done in Capernaum. They wanted to hear some of his powerful preaching and witness some of his incredible miracles. But Jesus refused. Not to speak the truth. But to do what they wanted. They already knew of his miracles. They heard him preach. If they did not already believe that he was more than (Lk. 4:22) the son of Joseph, no miracle would change that. Like this group of people in John, they too wanted to kill Jesus for not being what they expected. But just like this group, they were unable to put him to death. Not because they weren’t really committed. But because it wasn’t Jesus’ time. God was in control. Slaves to sin cannot spoil the plans of the Sovereign Lord.

Later on during his ministry, the crowds were hot on his trail. They couldn’t get enough of Jesus. So when he tried to withdraw to a private place, they followed him around the Sea of Galilee. He spent the rest of the day teaching them. Then he fed them, miraculously, with five barley loaves and two small fish. The people were amazed. If he can do this, what can’t he do? they must have thought. So they intended to compel him to become a political Messiah, a king they could rally behind and fight for. But this, Jesus would not do. This wasn’t what he came for. Rome wasn’t the oppressive power that most troubled the Son of God. The sin of the world was. And serving as their Bread King wouldn’t free them from their slavery to sin. So he refused them.

Even when they arrested him, he gave them a glimpse of how powerful his true Word is. In the Garden of Gethsemane, they ambushed Jesus under the cover of darkness. Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen. When they asked if he was Jesus of Nazareth, he boldly proclaimed (Jn. 18:5) I am he. And those slaves to wickedness fell to the ground, at just his words.

Yet, even with this unrivaled power, the Truth came to do the painful work of setting us free. He was placed among criminals. His name was cursed and mocked. He did not beg Pilate for his freedom. He came to set us free. As he died on the cross he put sin to death, too.

By God’s grace, through faith, sin no longer has mastery over us. Without Christ, we could do nothing but sin. Even our ‘good’ choices, were nothing more than selfishness, and pride, and egotism in a better-looking package. But Christ set us free. He paid for all our sins. He redeemed us from our empty way of life and gives us a new, life giving work. Witness the truth. Not in an effort to embarrass your enemies, but to rescue them.

The truth has set us free. The sparks produced in Wittenberg were fanned into Reformational flames across the world. But we do not celebrate the Reformation because of its historical impact. We do not praise Martin Luther and his pioneering peers because they paved the way for our Lutheran heritage. We thank God that through a German monk with a troubled conscience God set forth the truth plainly again. Because now we have experienced the truth, we have practical freedom.

God accomplished many things through Dr. Martin Luther. But among the greatest was moving the Word of God from the academic realm to the day-to-day life of down-to-earth folks. Holding to my teaching was not meant just for devoted monks. It was given to have and to be held to tightly by little arms and minds for their whole lives. Martin Luther took the truth and took great pains to place it before all God’s people. Translating it into their language. Putting it in their hands. Placing it on their dinner tables. The truth was meant to be personal not just for monks and bishops and theologians, but for fathers and mothers, for barbers and cobblers, and for kids too. So we are compelled by Christ’s love to live our freedom in everything we think, say, and do. By God’s grace, through faith, by means of God’s Word, you know the truth and the truth has set you free. Amen.