Truth Sets Free
Notes
Transcript
Opening
Opening
What would make you stop believing in Jesus?
i hope the real answer to that question is NOTHING.
Yet we know that many people turn away.
WHY?
Church scandal
too rigid
Crisis not turning out how the person wanted
Did get what they wanted?
Church hurt
too many OTHER THINGS in life
These and many others are reasons that many walk away.
My experience is that many pick a church on entertainment value and not the training value.
A doctor walked in to my appointment this week and told me to STOP BELIEVING IN JESUS.
YES, He walked in to my appt, and said good morning.
You should stop believing in Jesus.
he paused to gauge my reaction
and then repeated
Tom --- tell you congregation to stop believing in Jesus, and start KNOWING JESUS
I loved that.
So Stop Just Believing and Seek to KNOW HIM
We are in our series in the Book of John called
DISCOVERING JESUS.
We at Horizon want you to not simply BELIEVE, but KNOW JESUS, and fall evermore in LOVE with Him
so that you become just like Him.
BE WHERE YOU ARE GROWING
GET INVOLVED TO KNOW THE TRUTH
Join a new class, Read a New Book, Learn to study more....
Jesus tells us today that we can be FREE.....
Know the Truth and Be set Free
Know the Truth and Be set Free
John 8:31–32 (ESV)
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
there is so much bondage in our world today.
Work
Success
Money
Debt
Lust
False news - political, medically, spiritually
So so much bondage to SIN
Jesus gives us the ANSWER today
ABIDE IN MY WORD.
Know the Truth, and the Truth will set you Free
These are powerful words from our Lord.
Lets look at the two main words in these verses
ABIDE and KNOW
all to true that many of us abide in Sin
instead of the Savior.
The word ABIDE means to live in, to hold on to, stay or continue.
this is a mystery in our faith, or maybe a complicated concept
Jesus tells us to BELIEVE, but it must go farther
it must go deeper
Jesus starts with the instruction to Believe in Him, but our verses are truly displaying something more.
that we need to become DISCIPLES ( Learners)
we need to be taught.
First we BELIEVE, and we get Baptized
but we must BECOME AND BELONG
BELIEVE, BAPTIZE, BECOME, BELONG, BLESSED
Jesus is telling us and the listeners in His teaching
that we must be IN CHRIST
we must LIVE IN HIS WORD --- that is the essense of BECOMING
We don’t make SUNDAY CHRISTIANS here today.
NO SUNDAY CHRISTIANS
Let me make is clear
coming to church, or reading the word does not SAVE YOU
You must be IN CHRIST
Look at the verses again.
John 8:31–32 (ESV)
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
It says that they “HAD BELIEVED”, and Jesus gives us an IF/THEN statement
If you live in my word, you are my disciples
Know the TRUTH and the TRUTH will set you Free
WHO IS THE TRUTH? — JESUS alone!
This scripture is of major importance in our eternal place.
it is key to our mission to grow HIS CHURCH
to be part of the process to GO, and make disciples
A pray will not save you
An unchanged life will not save you
church attendance or a YOU VERSION reading streak is not a testimony
Dead to the old life and ALIVE in CHRIST is the TRUTH.
You will need to stop simply BELIEVING, and Start to KNOW HIM,
deeply abiding in Him
Bonds of Sin
Bonds of Sin
Take a brief moment and think about this.
Have you leaned on your own understanding of Christianity instead of searching and knowing the Scripture.
Did it shock you, Did it put you on alert this morning when i said STOP BELIEVING in JESUS
did the hair rise on your neck, and then lay back down
when i added starting KNOWING HIM
Jesus tells them to that they need to live, abide, hold fast to the Word of God to KNOW TRUTH
Jesus is saying that the SAVING FAITH is
FIRM and SETTLED-- ROOTED IN CHRIST ALONE
Jesus says to know the truth and the truth will set you free
and they react to ONE WORD
FREE
Interesting concept isn’t it.
The Jews are upset that they are under
Roman tyranny --- sounds like NOT FREE.
They reference Moses and know the Scrolls of the Torah---- the words of the Prophets
lots of NOT FREE there
the Jews were in Egypt in Slavery for hundreds of years
the Prophets cried out to them to REPENT
and the Assyrians and the Babylonians captured them
sounds like slavery to me
yet they react to “set you free”
What are they thinking?
I will vote for PRIDE and PRACTICE
their Pride in they are the CHOSEN PEOPLE
Their Practice of sacrifice, in living in (or around) the Law
they lived in the pretense and not in the
Saving Grace offered through Christ
They realized that Jesus was speaking of the slavery of sin
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Verses 31.32 are the Process of Freedom
verses 33,34 are the Pretense of Freedom
and verses 35,36 are the Promise of Freedom
Do you want to be set free from Sin?
Set Free
Set Free
Let me ask a silly question?
If you would go to a sink and wash your hands for a full minute with soap and water.
Then wash them three more times for a total time of four to five minutes
Would your hands know be clean forever?
you washed them cleaned, so they are clean for rest of your life?
of course not
so why would we NOT STRUGGLE with the concept of Jesus.
The Jews were living in a state of sin and sacrifice to cleanse them
they needed to wash to be cleaned.
The more they practiced washing, the cleaner they believed they were
HENCE the Pharisees, the leaders and teachers.
the Law calls out the sin
the Sacrifice washes the sin
the religious practices make you Righteous
Jesus is informing, teaching them.
stop the washing of your hands
they will just get dirty again
Believe, Baptize (wash), and Become and you will Belong to me.
and in ME there is no Sin
You will not be subject to the Slavery of Sin
I will change you that Sin will not mark you for death
Sin will not stain your hands
I have provided the eternal washing of your Soul.
Come live in ME
Not of this world,
but MY DISCIPLE, MY FOLLOWER, MY CHILD, MY LOVED ONE, My bride for eternity.
I told you that verses 35,36 are the Promise of Freedom
lets read it again
John 8:35–36 (ESV)
35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
There is Freedom only in Jesus my brothers and sisters in Christ
Genuine Believer
Genuine Believer
Our final verses today 37-38
speak about Cultural influence,
speak of traditions
speak of man’s religion versus becoming
these verse let us know that
we must BELONG to be BLESSED.
John 8:37–38 (ESV)
37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.
38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
it is not
catholic, or Mormon, or Baptist, or a non-denominational that SAVES you
NO denomination saves you
NO prayer
No amount of begging
If you fall off a book and someone throws you a life buoy and pulls you in
then you start to complain about how they did it
you are the jerk
Part of loving Jesus is Knowing HIS Heart to Save you
to pay the price in teaching us, in dealing with our rebellion, exercising patience when we act out or deny HIS TRUTH in our LIFE
It is more than simply BELIEVING
it is believing and abiding in Christ Alone
it is straight up
TWO THINGS
BELIEVE and BECOME
then you truly Belong and are Blessed.
So my friends are you ready to
stop just believing --- and grow in learning to KNOW HIM
if some one asks you WHY you are Christian
i hope that your answer is
Because i LOVE CHRIST, my LIFE is in HIM
I am dead to the old ways and fully alive in the new.
it is my mission in this life to live out
Paul’s statement in Colossians
Colossians 1:28–29 (ESV)
28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Capital one asks What is in your Wallet?
Christ asks WHO IS IN YOUR HEART!!!
lets Pray