Abiding Freedom
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· 3 viewsJesus' disciples abide in his word and are freed from sin.
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Well for me, and probably for several other men here today, it’s hard to hear the word freedom and not think about William Wallace…
The Scottish knew they were in bondage and needing freedom, but what Jesus is talking about in the passage we’re looking at today is a kind of bondage that so many people don’t realize they are in. They think they’re free like the Jews in this story, but Jesus tells them they aren’t.
This is the story for so many people in our world today. Objective truth is often dismissed, or the only objective truth is that people can do whatever feels right to them and it’s ok. So many think this is freedom, but this is not true freedom. The freedom we’re all looking for is the freedom to live as we were made to live, and that’s only found in Jesus!
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Jesus' disciples are freed from sin and abide in his word.
Jesus' disciples are freed from sin and abide in his word.
Freed from sin
Freed from sin
Jesus sets us free from our slavery to sin.
show video of dog not knowing door is open.
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“those who had believed”
What does this mean? Did some only believe partially? Only believe that they could gain something for themselves from the Son of God?
Jesus wants them to fully understand what following Him is.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
abide
Here’s how the authors of the Christ Centered Exposition Commentary’s define it.
It means every area of our lives is being brought under the control of the Word of God. Every thought, deed, and action seeks conformity to the Scriptures. It means even when we don’t like something in the Bible, we still obey, asking God to change our hearts so the truth of the Bible will find a warm and friendly reception in us.
Abiding doesn’t make you a disciple, it reveals that you’re a disciple.
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truth
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
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Freedom from sin, freedom to live according to design, freedom we’re searching for, is found only in Jesus. Only by putting our faith in Him and believing fully, totally, completely in Him!
Jesus frees his disciples. How do you know if you’re his disciple? If you abide in his word. It’s not the abiding that makes you a disciple, abiding in his word is the evidence that you already are a disciple. So if you want to know if you’re a disciple, do you desire to abide in his word? Are you trying, striving, to abide in his word in your life? That’s the evidence that you’re a disciple.
And you can’t abide in his word if you don’t know his word. You must long for his word.
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
The truth will set you free. Believe fully and completely in the truth. Don’t be enslaved to sin as these people were.
Enslaved to sin
Enslaved to sin
Without believing Jesus’ word, we are slaves to sin.
There’s an old book called Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel that we read when I was in elementary school. I don’t know if it’s still used today or not. But just as a refresher, Mike and his steam shovel Mary Anne were starting to get run out of work as newer technology came available. Mike finds a small town building a new town hall and in an effort to make sure he gets the job, Mike says that if he and Mary Anne can’t dig the basement in one day then it will be free. They think they’re going to get a free basement dug and they hire them. The next day they start digging and they dig hard all day long and people are watching and they argue about if they’ll pull it off or not. In the end they do! They dig the basement completely in one day, but the problem is that in his haste Mike forgot to dig a ramp so he could get Mary Anne out of the hole.
That’s kind of what sin is like. Mike was doing what he wanted to do, digging that hole. He was doing it well. But what he didn’t realize was that the more he dug, the more his steam shovel was imprisoned. Sin can be the same way. We’re doing what we want to do and it feels good and we feel free because it’s what we want to do. Then we realize what it has done to us.
These Jews were slaves to their sin. Their sins of dishonesty, greed, manipulation, abuse of power, leading people away from God. They were slaves to sin and they didn’t even realize it.
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“Real freedom is the ability to say no to the fleeting pleasures of sin and hold out for the fulfilling joy that comes in Christ.” –Carter and Wredberg
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Most versions don’t translate this the same way the ESV does, but I really believe that the ESV helps us best understand what Jesus was saying by using the verb “practices” here.
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
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To not be cast out from God’s house they must be free of sin. Not sinless, but not slaves to sin.
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So often we try to make our own ways to be right with God or get to Heaven, but they will all fail.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Only through Jesus can we be saved.
His word finds no place in them. It does not abide in them.
Does his word have a place in you? Do you fully trust his word?
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Doing whatever you want without restraint is not freedom. It is slavery to your own flesh. You were not created to satisfy your own worldly desires. You were created to know and live for and live in relationship with God, freed from sin.
This only happens through Jesus. We try to come up with our own ways to make it happen. The Jews tried to claim it through the their family and their nation. We still try that today and all sorts of other things…
But only through Jesus can we be saved, can we have the freedom we are looking for.
If you have never trusted in Jesus to give you freedom from and forgiveness for your sins, then you are still a slave to sin. Your sins, the wrong things you have done, have separated you from God, but…
Gospel presentation here
Christian, are you abiding in his word? That’s the evidence that you are truly a disciple. If you aren’t, then you may not truly be a follower of Jesus.
What sin in your life do you need to proclaim your freedom to today? We all struggle with sin. Remind yourself that you are no longer a slave to sin. Declare by the authority of God that you have been set free by the Son! Live in the freedom that Jesus secured for you on the cross!