Set Free From Sin and Satan

John 8:31-47

This morning’s text is extremely practical for our lives. It explains to us the truth behind some of the baffling things in our world. Specifically, it answers the question that many of you have probably asked: “Why don’t so many unbelievers who have heard the gospel believe in Him?”, “Why do so many hear the most wonderful truth in the world just to turn and reject it?” or maybe you have been asking “why are people so backward in their thinking and denying the clear truth?” I pray that our time together this morning will be used by God to help clarify some of those questions for you. But there is another thing that I pray that this text will do for us. I pray that it will give conviction and increased clarity as to what is meant when the Bible speaks of predestination and why it MUST mean this.

If you abide in my word

The mark of a true believer

John 15:1-5- Bible

If you abide in His word, you are truly His disciple

They are not true believers

Verse 30 says that many believed in Him

But clearly, He is telling them that they would abide in His word if they truly believed

Why does this seem to be a recurring theme in John’s Gospel account?

You will know the truth and the truth with set you free

If you are truly His disciple, then you will know the truth

What is the truth?

Prior to this passage

John 1:14- And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:17- For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 3:21- But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John 4:23-24- But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 5:33- You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

In this passage

Verse 32

Verse 40

Verse 44

Verse 45

Verse 46

He is the truth and all truth comes through Him

Apart from Him, there is no truth and in Him, there is only truth

He is at the very center of all that has been made, and if we look at the world without Him as our lens, then we do not see truly

If you know the truth, then you will be set free

The truth will set every person free who sees it and love it and live in it

It will not fail to free those to whom it is revealed

(verse 36) you will be free indeed

But what does it free men from?

The Jews say that they are not slaves to anyone

If they are not enslaved to anyone, then why would they need set free?

Free from what?

They are slaves to sin

(34) Anyone who practices sin is a slave to sin

Literally “whoever does sin”

All men fall guilty under Jesus’ statement

They are not only guilty of sin, but they are also enslaved to it

People don’t just sin, they are literally mastered by it

John 3:19-20- And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

Romans 6:16-18- Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

And so were each of you

You were all slaves to sin and unable to throw off your chains

Christ spilled His blood in order that you might be set free from sin because without it you would remain enslaved forever

They are children of Satan

They claim that they are children of Abraham

Jesus affirms that they are children of Abraham through bloodline

They are not true children of Abraham

They are actually children of their father Satan

Can you think of anything more offensive to tell someone?

And so were each of you

This is startling and shocking and offensive to our natural conception of who we are, but yet it is profoundly true

Ephesians 2:1-5- And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved

Christ’s death not only purchased you from slavery and made you His own, but He also took the wrath of God in order that you might be adopted as a son or daughter of the God

The only hope is the sovereign God

(v. 43) They do not understand because they cannot

They have no capacity to respond in faith to the truth at all

1 Corinthians 2:14- the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

And so it was with each of you

This clarifies what predestination means

This means that when we read repeatedly that God predestines all who believe, it cannot mean that it is based on His foreknowledge of who will believe

If this were so then no one would be saved

God predestines all who are saved and this means that it is all of His prerogative and we are completely dependent on Him for faith

This changes the way that we live

If you understand your former enslavement and your rescue:

You will live more humbly

You will recognize that you are no better or more worthy than anyone else

You will love the lost more deeply

You will remember that you once were lost in enslavement to sin and Satan and

You will be more patient with people who wrong you

If Christ has set you free in His patience and grace, then how could we live impatiently and gracelessly toward others?

This changes the way that we pray and live

Fellow believer, you need to grapple with this

The world around you is not going to walk in truth when it is enslaved to sin and has no capacity to see or know the truth

We should not expect our government or Hollywood or any other part of the culture to look on us with favor or live in truth

We ought to be on our knees pleading with an infinitely powerful God to do what only He can do: give them the capacities to see the truth and believe

Dads and moms, you need to grapple with this reality

You children, by nature, and in their unbelief are children of Satan

Therefore be on your knees praying for God to shine truth into their hearts and make them His

Church, you need to grapple with this

The world, your unbelieving friends and neighbors, are not going to be saved by being nice enough or inviting them to church or having the right church programs

They will be saved by God breaking their chains to sin and Satan and give them new life in Him

May we be a people on our knees in loving desperation

If Chrisy has set you free, you are free indeed. May we live for the glory of Him who has delivered us!