The Truth Will Set You Free

Introduction

Last week we talked about:

We are still in the temple, during the feast of tabernacles

There is the light ceremony during the feast

Jesus said ‘I am the light of the world’, saying that he is the fulfillment of all that light ceremony meant. This is:

Light represented the very presence of God, so Jesus is saying that He is the very God of the Old Testament.

He is not only God, but He will do what the light, God, said He would do in the OT. Just like how He saved Israel in the wilderness as a pillar of fire, he will save everyone who believes in him.

And he not only IS God, and does what God the light does, but He shares that light with us so that God can give the light to others in this world through us.

And we talked about how we are blind to this wonderful light of Christ, and the only way we can we can see and receive the light is through the cross. Because it is only as the crucified God, Jesus, Messiah, that Jesus will be known. He will be only known as the God that was crucified, who displayed his perfect love, mercy, but also righteousness, holiness and justice, by dying for our sins on the cross instead of us.

And when we know, Jesus, as the God who died for us on the cross, then we will have the light, no longer walking in darkness, but having life. This is the amazing truth about God that you need to know, because it is only when we know God correctly, that you can actually believe the right thing, and remember when you believe, that is when you have have eternal life (John 17:3).

So what’s happening in today’s passage? In response to to the bold and outrageous claims of Jesus, we see a lot of resistance and opposition by the Jewish crowd. And as we see this interaction between the opponents and Jesus, Jesus shows us what the difference between a true believer and a non-believer. Let’s see what happens.

What is the true believer?

Immediately after Jesus says these things, we see at the end of verse John 8:30 “As he was saying these things, many believed in him.” And then in the next verse in John 8:31 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him...”.

John says they believed in Jesus. But did they truly? No, because if you read on, we see that it is the very same people that are so offended by what Jesus says, and in the end they try to stone him and kill him! So John shows us that not all people who say they believe, are actually true believers.

And remember, it’s not just believing, but you need to believe the right thing; even if it says here that ‘they believed’, they didn’t know the right facts, they didn’t know Jesus correctly, so they believed in the wrong thing. You need to know Jesus correctly - they didn’t know Jesus correctly, they had their own preconceived ideas about what the Messiah should be, and believed in their incorrect ideas. So even if they are called ‘believers’ here, they didn’t know the truth, and therefore they were not true believers, because they were believing the wrong things.

So then how do you tell apart true believers, and fake believers? How is a true believer different? How can you identify them?

Read John 8:31–32 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

A true believer:

Abides in Jesus’ word - to abide, to remain, in Jesus’ word, is the hallmark of a disciple of Jesus. The true disciples of Jesus abide in Jesus’ words. And what does Jesus mean by this? Abiding, is listening and obeying, Jesus’ teachings. And not just listening and obeying, but ‘abiding’ has a sense of enduring and persevering. So it is listening and obeying to Jesus’ teachings and commandments, even when it is difficult, and there are thigns opposing you.

And if you abide in Jesus, you will be truly Jesus’ disciples, and what does this mean? ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’

What is the truth? The truth is Jesus, everything Jesus says about Himself - that He is the Word, that He is the bread of life, that He is true living water, that He is the light of the world, that He is the great ‘I AM’, God Himself, and that He is the Christ that is crucified.

And when it says you will know Jesus, it is not just knowing the facts, it is not just intellectual, but it is deeply relational. Just like how you don’t just simply know your parents, but you are in deep relationship with them, to know Jesus, is to share in personal relationship with Him. And it is knowing this truth, Jesus Christ, that we are set free.

And what are we being set free from? Read John 8:34–36 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” We are freed from sin, death, darkness. And the one who frees us is Christ, the truth, the light.

So back to the original question - what separates someone who has fake/fickle faith, from someone who has true enduring faith? The true believer, not only listens to God’s word, but he obeys God’s word in a persevering and enduring way, and as a result they are freed from sin and death, because they know the truth, they genuinely know, believe, and are in relationship with Jesus Christ, who is Himself the truth.

How can we become true believers?

But isn’t it so hard to do this? We try to be good Christians, and we make an effort to obey his commands. But we fail time and time again, and we fall away. It’s so hard to listen to God and persevere in his instructions. It is so hard to abide in Jesus’ word. So how can we actually become true believers?

Well Jesus answers this question for us. Read John 8:47 “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.””

Here, Jesus says the reason we don’t abide in His word, the reason we don’t listen and obey Jesus’ commandments and teachings, is because we are not of God.

In these verses, Jesus paints a picture of two worlds: there is God’s world of truth, and there is the devil’s world of lies. And everyone belongs to one of these worlds.

Let’s talk about the world of the devil:

In response to all this, the Jews say in John 8:33 “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” The Jews believed that because they were the descendents of Abraham, just purely based being a biological descendent, they thought they were saved and had spiritual freedom and they took a lot of pride in that. So when Jesus says that they are still slaves to sin, that’s really offensive to them.

And Jesus takes it even further. In John 8:39-40, Jesus says that although biologically you can call Abraham your father, Abraham is not your true spiritual father. Because if Abraham was truly your father, they would do what Abraham would have done, which is not to try and kill Jesus, but actually believe and love Jesus.

And not only does Jesus say that Abraham is not their father, but Jesus actually says that the devil is their father. See John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Their father is not Abraham, but the devil, because as we see in the Genesis account, the devil in the very core and essence of his being, is falsehood, lies, deception. And because the devil is their father, they are also liars, they love the darkness, falsehood. And therefore rather than loving and believing the truth, they hate and do not believe the truth. And remember who is the truth? Jesus Christ.

So Jesus describes these guys as children of the devil - they are in the world of the devil. The world of the devil is darkness, deception, lies. And if you are of the world of the devil, you also love the darkness, and you are also a liar; and you hate and do not believe the truth, Jesus Christ.

But what is the world of God?

Read John 8:40 “ a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.”

Read John 8:45–46 “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?”

Read John 8:55 “But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.”

In contrast to the devil, God is truth, Jesus is truth. And as the truth, Jesus can only speak truthfully, he cannot speak lies.

And those who are of God, can hear the truth, obey the truth, believe in the truth, and they love the truth.

So we see these two worlds: the world of the devil which is a world of lies, and the world of God which is the world of truth. And it is only in being in the world of God, being of God, that we can hear the words of God. It is only when we are transferred from the world of the devil to the world of God that we can actually abide in the words of Jesus, know the truth, and be set free from sin and death.

And it is impossible for us to change ourselves from being of the devil, to being of God. We naturally love the darkness, and we naturally don’t like the truth that God tells us and we don’t want to obey Him. We would rather do what we want to do rather than listening to what God wants us to do. By ourselves, we cannot believe in Jesus and believe in the truth, and be set free from sin and death. Only God himself can transfer us from the world of the devil, to God’s world. Remember in chapter 3, Jesus says we need to be born again? This is exactly the same thing here - we need to be radically transformed, radically born again, so that we are transferred from the world of darkness to light, lies to truth, from the devil to God.

Conclusion

So as you live your life of faith, are you actually asking God to give you this new birth, this radical transformation in your life? Or are you trying to slug it out on your own, trying to obey God’s commands but failing time and time again? Pray and ask God to help you, to help you to believe, to give you a new birth, so that our desires and loves are completely changed, from loving to do what we want, to loving what God wants us to do. Only then can we listen and obey Jesus’ commandments, and actually know the truth and be set free.

Ending song: Who You Say I Am

Engage 49