Freedom Through Christ

Intro:

What did we talk about last week?

Daren gave a talk about how you have to know Jesus to know God, and in that discussion, the Jews that were listening to Jesus started to come to believe in Jesus

Now, we’re going to talk about Freedom through Christ

But first, we should ask What is freedom?

Freedom is an existence where you are not under the authority of something or someone.

Autonomy is the ability to do whatever you want.

So, you have the autonomy to go and commit a crime, but you do not have the freedom to do so, because the law says that you can’t.

I have the ability to hit you in the face, but I technically can’t because of the law.

And so, when we talk about freedom in Christ, we have to know what we’re actually talking about.

John 8:31-59.

Freedom

Jesus is talking to the people who believed in Him based on what He just said.

Jesus promises freedom.

This isn’t received in the way that we would expect.

The Jews get upset because of that claim.

For them, it was an attack on their way of life, because you can only be offered freedom if you don’t have freedom in the first place.

If you’re already free, it doesn’t make sense to be set free.

So, the Jews are upset because Jesus is saying they aren’t free! “How dare you say that I’m not free”

The ironic thing on this is that the Jews at this point were regularly enslaved! Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, the Old Testament is full of different examples of the Jews being enslaved.

So, for the Jews, they’re saying, “I don’t belong to anyone! I’m not a slave!”

And maybe you feel the same way!

Maybe you read vs. 32 and thought, “That’s great for them, but I’m free! I’m an American, Land of the free! I can do what I want, when I want (As long as my mom says it’s ok)!”

We are enslaved to sin.

Read vs. 34! It says that if you sin, then you are a slave to sin!

You aren’t free! Without Jesus, we belong to sin! We do what feels best and whatever we can do to be happy, until we’re enslaved to becoming happy by watching enough Youtube or playing enough sports or whatever it is you chase after to be happy.

So, you and I and the Jews in John 8 are enslaved to sin; we’re not free because we’re in bondage to sin.

And that’s where Jesus can promise freedom!

He tells us that He can set us free. That we can be slaves to sin, but that He’s going to provide a way for you to become a free child of God!

The way that we do that is through what Jesus calls, “The Truth”

That Truth is Jesus!

He says that His words, or His teachings are the way to become His disciples, which is the way to this freedom.

So if you want to be free, turn to Jesus!

That’s why He went to the cross! He died so that you might be forgiven of your sin and brought into new life!

And it’s in this that He starts to discuss the people’s heritage

Heritage

Starting in verse 39, Jesus brings up something significant to the Jews: He brings up their history.

You see, the Jews had a long history because they are God’s people, and they specifically loved Abraham.

Abraham was a guy in the Old Testament who is one of the fathers of the Jews.

It was a common statement to say that the Jews are the children of Abraham.

They were more proud of their history than of their present.

What are things that we can be more proud of than our present?

Maybe you are proud of the Christian you used to be. Or maybe you’re proud because of who your parents are, or how long you’ve been going to church, but those things don’t determine faith.

Jesus, however, questions that, and instead says that they are the children of the devil.

He says that if they are going to chase after sin and ignore God, then they are acting like the devil, and so they are from the devil.

Which is hard for us to take, because that means that we can be like that too!

When we follow after sin, when we make ourselves the most important, we aren’t acting like children of God, we’re acting the exact opposite.

And so, we need to be set free. We are enslaved to sin, so much so that we resemble the devil more than God, and so we know that we need to be set free, and we know that Jesus says that we can be freed through Him.

And then Jesus says how He can say these things.

Authority

Jesus, starting in vs. 48, makes some significant claims about Himself.

He promises eternal life (51)

He says that He’s outside of time (56)

He says that He’s God (58)

When He says the words “I AM” it’s a major red flag for the Jews!

All the way back in the time of Moses (thousands of years ago for them), God told Moses that they could call Him the I AM because that means that He is uncreated and eternal.

And then Jesus says that He is the I AM!

So when Jesus promises you a way out of slavery, He means it. He’s the only One who could ever save you!

When Jesus tells you that it’s only the truth that can set you free, He’s telling you that He’s the source of truth and that you can find freedom in Him.

So, when we give ourselves fully to Jesus, we don’t have to be defined by sin! We don’t have to belong to the same addictions we’ve had that are killing us, and we don’t need to find our self worth in the things we do like we’ve done for so long! You are free!

Are you still going to sin? Absolutely! When you become a Christian, you begin a journey of growing to be more and more like Jesus, which means you’ll mess up along the way. But, you can be confident that you don’t have to belong to sin anymore, and that He’s saved you from that.

Question.

What is one event (game, free time activity, etc) that would make Winter Camp awesome?

How can the truth of Jesus set you free?

If you’re a Christian, you’re no longer enslaved to sin, but then why do we still sin?

Why does the authority of Jesus validate His claim to set people free?