Open Your Heart and Mind and Be Willing to Obey

Open Your Heart and Mind, and Be Willing to Obey John 8:30–59 (NIV84) INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT: 30 Even as He spoke, many put their faith in Him. JESUS 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” JEWS 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” JESUS 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill Me, because you have no room for My word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.” JEWS 39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered. JESUS “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are determined to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the things your own father does.” JEWS “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” JESUS 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on My own; but He sent Me. 43 Why is My language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe Me? 47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” JEWS 48 The Jews answered Him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” JESUS 49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honour My Father and you dishonour Me. 50 I am not seeking glory for Myself; but there is one who seeks it, and He is the judge. 51 I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” 52 JEWS At this the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” JESUS 54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies Me. 55 Though you do not know Him, I know Him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad.” JEWS 57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to Him, “and you have seen Abraham!” JESUS 58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” CLOSING STEMENT 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. I would like to start with making you aware of the subtle shift in focus from believing in Jesus that we find John 8:30 to merely believing Jesus as stated in John 8:31. What is the difference? Friends, believing Jesus is believing what He says. In other words, His message. IN THE CONTEXT of our Scripture reading the audience wanted to know who Jesus really was. Listen with me to the verses preceding our Scripture reading I’m starting at John 8:15–29 (NIV84) 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, My decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent Me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. 18 I am one who testifies for Myself; My other witness is the Father, who sent Me.” 19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized Him, because His time had not yet come. 21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” 22 This made the Jews ask, “Will He kill himself? Is that why He says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?” 23 But He continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” 25 “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But He who sent Me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world.” 27 They did not understand that He was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. 29 The one who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.” Believing IN Jesus is believing so as to commit yourself to His person. These two sorts of belief depend on each other. You can’t commit yourself to His person unless you believe what He says. Many who listened to him believed (John 8:30) but they would not persevere even to the end of the conversation let alone the end of life (John 8:59); This is not the saving faith that John 3:15–16, John15:6 or 1 John 2:19 speaks about. John 3:14–16 (NIV84) 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 15:6 (NIV84) 6 If anyone does not remain in Me, He is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 1 John 2:19 (NIV84) 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. Whatever sign or indication the “Jews who had believed in Him” had given would be tested by the long run, the journey. Would they simply hear and say, “That sounds good,” or would they embrace Jesus by faith and persevere, “continue in my word”? This is always the question, is it not? After we make professions of faith in Jesus Christ—at an evangelistic rally, in response to preaching, or even by confessing our faith and joining the church—will these initial affirmations endure and set meaningful directions for our lives over time? Believing in Jesus and receiving the momentous changes Christ brings are expressed not momentarily, but in a lasting, progressive pattern. Some may profess, but not progress. Jesus was not fooled by the fact that many Jews put their faith in Him. Rather, He emphasised that it is those who continue to hold to His teaching who are truly His disciples. Some falsely claim a commitment to Christ, but do not intend to make Jesus a lifetime companion who orients every aspect of life. Christ’s true disciples continue to listen to his word, learn from Christ, and obey the will of Christ. Jesus provides our life trajectories; when we remain in Christ, Christian discipleship becomes real, just like Jesus proclaimed in John 15:4–7 (NIV84): 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. Friends, the measure of any disciple is not whether or not we believe Jesus’ teaching but whether we continue to hold firmly onto the Jesus’ teaching. In 2 John 9 (NIV84) we are told: “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” So, this is the question I continually have to ask myself: “Am I continuing, am I persevering, am I keeping on keeping on in Jesus’ teaching?” Jesus then continued with these famous words from our reading: “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Friends, freedom doesn’t exist in doing whatever you want whenever you want, where ever you want. This is actually the description of wastefulness. No, freedom exists in knowing what God has done for you, what He is doing for you and what He will do for you in perpetuity. As we continue in Christ’s word, we come to “know this truth.” Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Pilate did not know truth, even when he was (literally) staring him in the face! Jesus Christ himself is the truth, just as he is also the way and the life (John 14:6). John’s Gospel establishes what the church has historically believed. Jesus Christ is “the Word became flesh” who “lived among us”; who revealed the glory of God, “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus Christ is truth in person; for he has made known the eternal God, even as he is the eternal God (John 1:18). Jesus offended His listeners when He made this statement, because they considered themselves in bondage to no one. But Jesus insisted that only faith in Him could free anyone from the power of sin. Jesus said, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). When we know Jesus as the Christ, we know the truth; and it is that truth, Immanuel, God with us, that sets us free. We know Jesus as the Christ by faith. That faith is the means through which we are united with Christ. Yes, this faith is the way our fellowship with Jesus, our Saviour, is cultivated and developed. Friends, Christian discipleship implicates knowing Jesus as the Christ, who is the truth for our lives here and now, but not only ours alone. He is also the truth for the life of all the world. Understand this – be clear about it: Our knowledge of the truth is and always will be our knowledge of a Person – Jesus – the Christ – the Son of God – Immanuel – God with us. Friends, Jesus had quite a hearing that day. The crowds had just witnessed a forceful scene when the scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery (John 8:11). Then they saw Jesus’ redeeming love in action as He looked at her after she told him that none condemned her, and said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” This woman walked away forgiven, free, and saved from certain doom. Jesus, the truth has set her free. A little later that day according to our reading, Jesus proclaimed: “If you hold to My teaching, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31 – 32). Friends I take these verses as the deliverance declaration of all believers. In verses 34–36, Jesus explains more of what He means: “34 I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed…” On the surface, this sounds very simple; and in a foundational sense, it is. But it’s one thing to believe that Jesus can set you free from patterns of sin. It’s quite another to experience that freedom in your own life. Most of us have difficulty in the action stage of belief, the vital link between knowing by intellect and knowing by experience (James 2:14–26). Friends, we are saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, but that does not mean that we leap immediately into a full understanding of our faith. Sin has a way of enslaving us, controlling us, dominating us, and dictating our actions. It manifests itself in self-centeredness, rebelliousness, possessiveness, dysfunctional love, and addictive behaviours. Jesus can free us from this slavery that keeps us from becoming the person God created us to be. Even if sin is restraining, mastering, or enslaving us, Jesus can break its power over our life. Jesus himself is the truth that sets us free. Our personal response to Jesus’ commands determines whether we will be able to live in the joys of that salvation, with the freedom and exhilaration of learning to say no to daily sins. A man in prison can receive a signed pardon and the warden can unlock the jail door, but the man has to put one foot in front of the other and walk outside those prison walls. What can you do to begin living in the freedom Christ purchased for you on the cross? There is no formula for discovering the richness of His truth. But by obeying Christ, you’ll be on the road to the fresh, liberated life He designed for you. Always when you obey God, you can count on watching Him reveal exciting, new things. Remember, the key to crossing the bridge between belief and experience is obedience. You must take the step of faith and do what He says. Hold on to His teaching dear life. This is the key according to our Scripture reading. Holding on begins with being students of the Word of God. If we were to compare the various ages of Protestant church history, we would have to say that today is an age of biblical ignorance. People do not take the first step in holding onto the Word of God. Yet the importance of basing our lives on the Scriptures is urgent. In Matthew 4:4 Jesus says, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). We all need to know is the Word of God. We must be students of the Word—not only the preachers, not just the educated, but all believers. And yet even if that takes place, we are not necessarily holding on. To hold onto the Word implies that we must obey it. And that is how freedom comes. We learn the Word of God, as we obey it, and then as we obediently follow the word, we are set free. The exhilaration of that freedom motivates us to study the Word of God more, and when we again obey it, more freedom comes. And on and on and on it goes—from freedom to freedom to freedom. The reason many Christians are not experiencing spiritual freedom today is that while they may be biblically literate, they are not biblically obedient. If you hold on to My teaching you are really My disciples. Friends, it is all about Jesus. He is the source of truth, the perfect standard of what is right. He frees us from the consequences of sin, from self-deception, and from deception by Satan. He shows us clearly the way to eternal life with God. Jesus does not give us freedom to do what we want, but freedom to follow God. As we seek to serve God, Jesus’ perfect truth frees us to be all that God meant us to be. Whoever keeps My word will never see death! Those who follow Christ will be raised to live eternally with Him. To those who accuse Jesus of having a demon, Jesus declares he does not seek his own glory and that “whoever keeps my word will never see death.” This promise is given explicit and dramatic form when Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead and issues the promise: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25–26). Friends, the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ, involving a new quality of life here and now (John 3:16) and life forever in fellowship with God, is given so that all “whoever keeps My word” will not fear death and will have confidence that the power of death is defeated. This is made certain, specifically, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ Himself. In His resurrection, death’s power is defeated. But this is a topic for another day.