The Requirements for True Freedom

TEXT: John 8:30-36

TOPIC: Requirements for True Freedom

Pastor Bobby Earls, Northgate Baptist Church, Florence, SC

Sunday morning, July 4, 2021

Several years ago before the fall of Communism in Russia, a group of Pentecostal Christians caught the attention of the world. It seems that a small group of committed Christians had been held captive in the American Embassy in Moscow for fifteen years. With the collapse of Communism this band of faithful believers were finally free to express their faith publicly.

Unlike the Russian Christians years ago, we American Christians have always enjoyed the liberties, the luxuries and sometimes the liabilities that come from our freedoms.

246 years ago, our young and foresightful nation adopted and approved the First Amendment to the Constitution which says in part, “Congress shall not make any laws calling for the establishment of religion.”

It is unfortunate that a law founded by our Christian forefathers intended to grant “the freedom of religion,” has today come to be understood as a law intended to provide “freedom from religion.”

2000 years ago our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of an even greater religious freedom, a true freedom. Nestled in the midst of John’s Gospel, chapter 8, we read the words of Jesus concerning true freedom. Not a freedom granted by a government, but a freedom given by God.

As we join Americans throughout our nation in celebrating our national independence,

I want to ask in this message this morning, “What are the requirements of true freedom?” Jesus emphatically states the requirements for true freedom in John 8 beginning with v. 30.

30As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 33They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free’?” 34Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35“And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

The first requirement for true freedom is simply…

I. BELIEVING IN JESUS, v. 31 “believed on him”

Many of the Jews had accepted Jesus’ claims about Himself.

John records seven times when Jesus said, “I Am.”

John 6:35, I am the bread of life.

John 8:12, I am the light of the world.

John 10:7, I am the door of the sheep.

John 10:11, I am the good shepherd.

John 11:25, I am the resurrection and the life.

John 14:6, I am the way, the truth and the life.

John 15:1, I am the true vine.

Now I am going to say something about the kind of faith it takes to save a person. And what I am going to say is going to challenge some of your thinking about salvation. And the reason I am about to say what I am going to say is because of this easy believism theology.

There is a distinction and difference between a saving faith and a superficial faith. There is such a thing as a faith that delivers and a faith that damns. The Bible says, “even the demons believe.” (James 4:19) Yet their faith is a dead faith, a demonic faith.

I shutter to think of the countless numbers of well-intentioned church members who do not understand this truth. Superficial, half-hearted, uncommitted church members who say “I believe in Jesus,” but who will nevertheless die lost and spend eternity in a Christless hell because of a dead faith.

Still millions more are living an empty, fruitless, and self-defeating lifestyle because they have not come to understand the freedom that is theirs in Christ Jesus.

To believe in Jesus for saving faith involves far more than a shallow profession of faith many have made. Our church rolls are filled with many who came in with a superficial profession of faith.

I have said for years, if your faith in Christ is not strong enough to get you to church, I doubt very seriously if it is the kind of faith that will get you to heaven!

You say, “I believe in God,” or “I believe in Jesus,” and you expect that alone to get you to heaven! It won’t! You may just as easily believe that George Washington was the first President of the United States or that John Hancock signed the Constitution. They did, but believing that won’t save you!

Intellectualism won’t get you to heaven. It won’t change your life! A head faith alone is a dead faith. True freedom comes when we trust that Jesus alone saves from sin! It’s Christ alone! True freedom comes when we place our faith in Christ in such a way that leads to a change of mind that leads to a change of heart that leads ultimately to a changed life.

I wouldn’t give you two cents for your faith in Christ if it hasn’t changed your life!

John Newton, the author of our beloved hymn, “Amazing Grace,” was such a man with a changed life. The son of an infidel father and a Christian mother, John Newton turned to the seas with his father when his mother died when he was eleven. Newton lived a blasphemous and vile life as a slave trader before his conversion. But when he met Jesus his whole life changed.

Newton wrote his own epitaph which reads in part:

John Newton, Clerk

Once an infidel and libertine,

A servant of slaves in Africa:

Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

Preserved, restored, pardoned,

And appointed to preach the Faith

He had labored long to destroy…

Of course it was John Newton who wrote that beautiful hymn “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see.”

True saving faith in Christ will change your life!

T/S--Not only does it take believing in Jesus to know true freedom, but it also involves abiding in Jesus.

II. ABIDING IN JESUS’ WORD, v. 31b “continue in my word”

A. Jesus spoke of a Condition. He said “If you continue in my word, then…” Notice the “if” and the “then”….

Someone asked, “Do you believe in the perseverance of the saints? I truly do. I truly believe the truly saved will truly persevere!”

B. Jesus spoke of a Consistency. He said, “continue” “to abide in or remain in” It’s the same word Jesus used in John 15:5-8

John 15:5-8 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

It’s not enough to start well, we must also finish well.

Illustration of a Nascar race: I watched a lot if Nascar racing over the past few years. One thing I’ve see often is that it is not the driver who gets out front early in the race that wins. It is how you finish that really counts. A winning driver has to avoid getting caught up in wrecks or making serious mistakes in order to win in Nascar.

Are you abiding in Christ? Are you running the race well? You may have had a good start at one time, but how are you doing now? “Doubtful indeed is the discipleship of one who continually neglects, or even worse, seeks to discredit the Word of God.”

T/S--There’s one other requirement for knowing true freedom in this passage.

III. KNOWING THE TRUTH, v. 32

One of the great needs of the human life is to recognize our slavery.

A. The Statement, v. 32 - “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Verse 32 Knowing the truth. “What is truth?” Pilate asked Jesus that question. “What is truth?” Is truth relative? No, not if you know Jesus. Truth is absolute! “What is truth?” Pilate asked and he was looking truth right in the face and didn’t recognize Him. Jesus said, “I am the truth.”

B. The Objection, v. 33 - They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free’?”

Verse 33--We in Americafeel much like the Jews of Jesus’ day. We are not restricted in any way. We live in a free country. We can come and go as we please. We are boasting in our own self-reliance and self-righteousness.

Even in our glorious America, which we call the land of the free, many are enslaved and fail to recognize their own bonds. They are servants of sin. We have many masters. Alcohol, drugs, lust, sex, greed, and anger are all our captors. True freedom is a spiritual freedom granted by knowing the truth that sets us free. It is something government cannot give. It is something money cannot buy. True freedom comes only from God alone through faith alone in His Son Jesus Christ.

C. The Explanation, vs. 34-35 - 34Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35“And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.

To Christians let me add this final word. The great fact of the Christian faith is not that it makes a man free to sin, but that it makes a man free not to sin. It is so easy to allow habits, practices, ways of life to master us, but the Christian strength enables us to master them. It is not the freedom to do as one pleases, but the freedom to do as our Lord pleases, to do what is right. Romans 6:18 (NKJV) And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

When a person really experiences true freedom he becomes, not the slave of his body, or his lusts, his instincts, or his desires, but their master.

Verse 36 - “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

(If there are lost persons present present the following):

How does Jesus Christ, God’s Son make us truly free?

(Ask everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes.)

The truth that makes you free is this:

1. We are all sinners, Romans 3:23

2. We are all separated, Isaiah 59:2

3. God loves you and has a wonderful plan and purpose for your life,

Romans 5:8 John 10:10

4. Jesus Christ is the only way to God and eternal life, John 14:6

5. We receive Christ by faith alone, Ephesians 2:8-9

a. Repentance, Acts 3:19

b. Trust

c. Surrender, Romans10:9-10

d. Prayer, Romans 10:13