A True Disciple

John 8:31–32 CSB

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

I. Continues in the Word

John 8:31 (CSB)

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word,

A) Believed Him

πιστεύω (pisteuō). vb. to believe, trust; entrust. Describes the act of believing or trusting something on the basis of its truthfulness and reliability.

Aaron C. Fenlason, “Belief,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).B) Hard Sayings

John 8:21–25 (CSB)

Then he said to them again, “I’m going away; you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you cannot come.”

So the Jews said again, “He won’t kill himself, will he, since he says, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come’?”

“You are from below,” he told them, “I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

“Who are you?” they questioned. “Exactly what I’ve been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them.

Isaiah 41:4 (CSB)

Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I am the Lord, the first and with the last—I am he.”

Isaiah 43:10–11 (CSB)

“You are my witnesses”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and there will be none after me.

I—I am the Lord. Besides me, there is no Savior.

John 3:14–17 (CSB)

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

B) Hard Sayings

John 2:19 CSB

Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”

John 2:20 CSB

Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?”

Luke 14:25–27 (CSB)

Now great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them,

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

John 6:53–55 (CSB)

So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves.

The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,

because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

John 6:60 (CSB)

Therefore, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?”

II. Confirmed by the Word

John 8:31 (CSB)

..., you really are my disciples.

1 John 2:4–6 (CSB)

The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:

The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.

John 8:34–36 (CSB)

Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever.

So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

III. Consecrated by the Word

John 8:32 CSB

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 17:17 CSB

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

John 8:36 CSB

So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

Closing

Psalm 1:2–3 CSB

Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.