True Disciples Abide in Freedom
Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:15
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· 16 viewsA genuine disciple of Jesus Christ holds tightly to the Word while walking in the Spirit! A true disciple experiences true and lasting freedom as they abide in God’s Word…we bleed the Bible!
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TEXT: John 8:31-47
TEXT: John 8:31-47
Key Texts:
Key Texts:
REFLECTION: Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
SERMON READING: John 8:31-47
MEMORY: Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
BENEDICTION / CLOSING: Rev 1:5-6
Revelation 1:5–6 (ESV)
5b To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
As we come back to our walk through the Gospel of John this morning it’s good for us to remember the scene.
The Festival of Shelters has just concluded...
Jesus taught there that He was the Messiah.
That everyone, everywhere HAD to come TO him for light and life - if they didn’t they would die in their sin.
Some believed! Some CLAIMED & APPEARED TO BELIEVE!
Not all claims to faith are genuine.
Not everyone who claims to be a believer is a TRUE DISCIPLE.
Some have already turned and walked away.
Just because you are an image-bearer of God, doesn’t make you a child of God
When a cabinetmaker makes a beautiful cabinet, that doesn’t make the cabinet his “child”!
A birth process would be necessary for this.
There are those - even in our churches - who claim to be God’s son or daughter “because he made me”!
A lost woman or man, girl or boy can have a RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF CREATION and the creative order - knowing that they were fearfully and wonderfully made by GOD - a product of God’s design and handiwork.
BUT, like the cabinet, they lack the NEW BIRTH necessary the kind of relationship where God calls them sons and daughters.
TRANSITION
TRANSITION
So, if it was true in Jesus’s day, that people would be NEAR JESUS but not actually His disciples…it stands to reason (and is actually made clear throughout Scripture) that many today are in the same boat.
True Disciples LIVE IN GOD’S WORD!
True Disciples LIVE IN GOD’S WORD!
John 8:31
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
Many believed what he said…but there was still a testing of their belief.
One of the real tests of TRUE DISCIPLESHIP is continuing, abiding, remaining, and persevering in the Bible.
It’s not an emotional state.
It’s not an experiential state that ELEVATES EXPERIENCE OVER TRUTH!
If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples!
He is addressing a crowd that knows him. That’s near him. This is not an UNREACHED or UNDERREACHED crowd.
It’s a crowd that would show up week after week if they were around today.
It’s a crowd with people in it just like some of us this morning. Folks who post and like Bible verses, maybe have some Scripture in their home.
Folks that regularly attend worship gatherings like this.
Women and men, just like us that would identify as moral, upright people.
It’s to them…to us that Jesus says, here’s a test to see if you’re really with me: DO YOU LIVE IN MY WORD?
not know a handful of verses that are your 9-1-1 to get you out of a jam
not know how to work a concordance.
not have an idea of a couple of things in Scripture
realize that John 3:16 is not enough Bible to feed you and sustain you.
What does it mean to CONTINUE/ABIDE in God’s Word?
hold on
be filled with
dominated by
you may say, no…that’s the Holy Spirit’s job to which I repeat Christ’s Words to you - abide in my Word!
The Holy Spirit SPEAKS, USING GOD’S WORD - THE SCRIPTURES!
“How do I know if it’s the Holy Spirit leading me?” A: it will be Scripture that He speaks - and it will point DIRECTLY TO JESUS (we’ll get to that later on in our study of John - but for now, know that this is the statement concerning that).
God will give you Biblically informed wisdom in all manners of life…but the HOLY SPIRIT ALWAYS POINTS TO JESUS!
so we work hard to not let GOD’S WORD go in one ear and out of the other.
#GETINTHEWORD PRACTICALLY:
#GETINTHEWORD PRACTICALLY:
Come to God’s Word when you’re at your best for focusing!
“Don’t give God what’s left…give Him what’s right”
We’ve covered some of this before, but years ago The Navigators developed an easy way to remember to fully grasp God’s Word.
1. HEAR - Put yourself in the hearing of God’s Word
1. HEAR - Put yourself in the hearing of God’s Word
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Sermons (with Scripture), Dwell App, Bible App has it online, the ESV app has an audio version.
Instead of getting so hot under the collar with Talk Radio; nourish your soul with God’s Word!
2. READ - Read God’s Word.
2. READ - Read God’s Word.
Have a plan - use ours. It puts us all in God’s Word together!
Slow down - better to linger with the Lord than check off a box with nothing contained.
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,
3. STUDY - HEAR Method
3. STUDY - HEAR Method
This is the method we’ve worked now with more than 75% of our congregation over the past 4 years.
H-Highlight the verse / write it down. Actually write the verse out.
E-Explain the verse/context. This is NOT application. Just looking at the verses around, the chapter, the history - what’s going on here?
Study Bibles are helpful here - I’ll hook you up with some good ones if you need them.
A-Apply. Here’s where we ask questions of the text that center around the “So What” question. So what impact does this have on my life?
S - Is there a SIN to confess and avoid?
P - Is there a PROMISE to keep?
E - Is there an EXAMPLE to follow?
C - Is there a COMMAND to obey?
K - Is there KNOWLEDGE of God I need to reflect on?
R-REFLECT. This is where we slow down and pray this truth back to God…asking Him to drive it home in our lives.
4. MEMORIZE: getting and storing it in your head & heart
4. MEMORIZE: getting and storing it in your head & heart
If only there were a way that we could memorize Scripture together...
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
5. MEDITATE: rolling it over and over in until it lodges deep in our lives
5. MEDITATE: rolling it over and over in until it lodges deep in our lives
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST ARE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK!
SPIRIT-FILLED CHRISTIANS ARE THOSE WHO STEEP IN GOD’S WORD!
As Christians, we LONG for every area of our lives to be brought under the control of the Word of God.
Every thought, deed, and action seeks conformity to the Scriptures…why?
does that sound awful to you?
does that sound like bondage to you?
THEN YOU MAY HAVE MISSED WHAT JESUS SAID!
HE PROMISED FREEDOM TO THOSE WHO FOLLOW THIS PATH! (we’ll get to this in just a minute)
In verse 37, Jesus draws a clear line of distinction between His True Disciples and those who are NOT:
John 8:37 (ESV)
37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.
His words found NO PLACE in them.
Instead of Getting In The Word…they stayed OUT of the Word; and (according to Jesus) it STAYED OUT OF THEM!
True Disciples KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS!
True Disciples KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS!
John 8:32
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
This is NOT a general proverb to be applied however we want, whenever we want, in whatever situation we want!
This is ALL ABOUT JESUS!
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
True Disciples know that JESUS is GOD.
True Disciples know that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
True Disciples know that Jesus was virgin born, lived a sinless life, that He is TRULY GOD AND TRULY MAN!
True Disciples know that JESUS Christ is the ONLY WAY to glorify God - that’s what we were made for!
True Disciples are worshipers, lovers of Jesus, lovers of people and walk in the SPIRIT - NOT BECAUSE OF SOME MYSTICAL ARRIVAL TO THAT CONCLUSION…
BUT AS PEOPLE OF THE BOOK - TRUE DISCIPLES ARE THRUST HEADLONG TO THE FEET OF THIS NAZARENE WHO HUNG, BLED, AND DIED ON CALVARY’S CROSS…BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAID...
TRUE DISCIPLES KNOW THE TOMB IS EMPTY BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAID...
IT’S certainly helps that every bit of this EVERY BIT OF THIS is corroborated by archaeology and historical accounts…but Jesus didn’t say that was necessary.
TRUE DISCIPLES KNOW THAT THE GREATEST TRUTH IN THIS WORLD IS NOT ABOUT DISCOVERING THEMSELVES…BUT COMING TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT WHO JESUS CHRIST IS!
TRANSITION...
These Jews around him that were near him CLEARLY LIKED SOME of the things about Jesus; but they wanted what they wanted MORE than what Jesus wanted for them.
These folks in the crowd begin to list the reasons that they don’t HAVE TO GO ALL IN WITH JESUS!
People make all kind of cases for themselves when it comes down to the wire...
Everybody wants to go to Heaven when they die; not many seem to want to walk with Jesus while they’re alive.
But people will use all kinds of reasons to JUSTIFY why they don’t have to do it God’s Way - The Bible Way - By Grace Alone - Through Faith Alone - In Christ Alone!
They thought they were exempt since they were Jewish.
They think they’re FREE (v33)
They think they’re connection to Abraham will help them with God (v39)
They believe that they are children of God (v. 41).
BUT THERE IS A GREAT GAP BETWEEN WHAT THEY PROFESS AND WHAT THEY POSSESS!
So what does Jesus say about them - THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS BY THE WAY!
They are NOT Free! They are enslaved to sin!
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
They are NOT seeking truth - they’re INTOLERANT!
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Because they REJECT the Truth of who JESUS is; they’re more like the offspring of Satan than Abraham or GOD!
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
So if that’s what bondage looks like; isn’t it good to be reminded that...
True Disciples ARE FREE INDEED!
True Disciples ARE FREE INDEED!
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Genuine freedom comes from submission to the Word of God…knowing Jesus personally, powerfully!
We think freedom is throwing off all social restraints and doing WHATEVER we want, BUT THAT’S NOT FREEDOM! That’s slavery!
If we are DRIVEN about our own selfish passions and lusts, then, friend the Word of God teaches that we are slaves to sin.
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!
I’m not impressed when Christians speak of freedom as a “get-out-of-holiness-free” card so they drink, smoke, cuss, chew, and run with the world! I FIND NO SUCH PERMISSION SLIP IN SCRIPTURE!
That is a childish appropriation of freedom…Paul used his freedom to put himself of the paths of those that needed to hear Jesus regardless of any socio-economic or cultural hangups!
The freedom we enjoy is the freedom that Christ enjoys.
JESUS CHRIST, THE KING OF GLORY pumps freedom into the lives of His True Disciples.
He says that we are “free indeed.”
We have the Freedom to rise above our sins,
We have the freedom to live a holy life.
Freedom that we never had before—
the freedom to choose the right,
the freedom to choose the best,
the freedom to keep on growing,
the freedom to reach our potential.
That’s what it means to be FREE INDEED!
it doesn’t come from some mystical, emotional, subjective place - it comes from abiding in the Word of God, from knowing and doing God’s Word, from being IN CHRIST!.
INVITATION
INVITATION
CALL FOR MUSICIANS
Summary:
True Disciples Live in God’s Word!
We’re rushing in and out to fix a problem. ABIDING means we take a much longer-term perspective on things. We aren’t seeking immediate, instantaneous results!
True Disciples Know the Truth About Jesus!
True Disciples ARE FREE INDEED!
One of two words describe us this morning.
FREE? or BOUND?
Doesn’t matter who you’re related to.
Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in church.
It only matters…IF YOU ARE “OF GOD” or “OF THE DEVIL”
James 4:4–10 (ESV)
4 ...Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
On June 13, 2014, new age guru Deepak Chopra tweeted, “All belief is a cover up for insecurity.”3 In other words, there’s no such thing as truth. Even the notion of truth itself is ridiculous.
We live in a world where leaders and influencers claim that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS RIGHT AND WRONG.
NO MORAL ABSOLUTES.
JUST EXPERIENCES.
This lie…this false thinking has made its way into the church.
We find ourselves pulled into a search for new spiritual experiences.
We are forfeiting OBJECTIVE BIBLICAL REVELATION for PRIVATE, MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES.
We have our quiet time hoping to find some hidden jewel in the text that speaks right to our emotions and experiences and gives us a nice, warm buzz for the day.
That’s not what Jesus promises! HE NEVER PROMISED THAT.
HERE’S THE PROMISE, When we get into the WORD and the WORD gets into us; we discover that truth is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
We find him in his Word.
That’s why we reject hyper-emotionalism, over-sentimentality, and other such drivel as being “God’s word to us” and instead rely solely on the Word of God, which focuses on the person of Jesus Christ.
That’s what is anointed by the Spirit of GOD!
That’s what leads us to ABIDE IN FREEDOM as TRUE DISCIPLES!
ARE YOU FREE this morning?
ARE YOU BOUND this morning?
Repent, believe on Jesus! Be free indeed!
Let’s pray!