"THE GREAT DELIVERER"
(A Series on Jesus)
C.R.4/5/87p.m. John 8:21-59
PROPOSITION:In the face of fierce opposition and unbelief
Jesus revealed Himself to the Jews as the great Deliverer from Sin, the great Deliverer from Bondage and the great Deliverer from Death.
I.INTRODUCTION
- ASK the people in the prison at Anamosa what they want most of all. They will tell you that they want to be free of the bars abd gates and doors that restrict them.
- ASK the people in Poland what they want most of all. They will tell you that they want to be free from the restrictions and controls of the communist government.
- ASK the people in some areas of the South East side what they want most of all and they will tell you that they want to be free from the restrictions of their financial predicament.
- ASK many teenagers what they want most of all and they will tell you that they want to be free from the controls of their parents.
- ASK the alcoholic or the drug addict what he wants more than any other thing and he will tell you that he wants desparately to be free of the habit that controls him.
- ASK the business man what he wants most of all and he will tell you that he wants to be free from he restrictions of his schedule that consumes his whole life.
- PEOPLE everywhere just want to be free.
- MOST people in this world discover that they are in bondage to something or someone....and want to be free.
- THERE is a deep longing in many people to be free from what binds them.
* This is exactly what is behind the business man who quits his good-paying job, sells out his home and moves to the hills of Arkansas.
* It is what is behind the executive who gives up his chance at the presidency of the company and buys a yaucht and sets sail for the Pacific islands.
* It is behind the housewife who abandons her husband and children and disappears with a stranger to California.
* It is behind the teenager who runs away from home to make a life for themselves in the big city.
* It is behind the suicide attempt.
* It is the powerful fuel of the Mujadeen guerillas in Afghanistan.
- ALL this effort, all this energy expended to be free, to find freedom.
- AND Jesus said in John 8:32;
"......you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
- FAITH in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin plus living in the truth and you will be free.
- THAT'S what verses 21-59 are all about in John 8....FREEDOM.
* For the bored housewife....the answer is freedom in Jesus.
* For the burned out executive...the answer is freedom in Jesus.
* For the troubled teenager.....the answer is freedom in Jesus.
* For the Afghan rebel....the answer is freedom in Jesus.
* For your confining circumstances and restrictions you would like to break out of....the answer is Jesus;
* Not a change in locations.
* Not a change in husbands.
* Not a change in families.
* Not a change in jobs.
* And certainly not in suicide.
- YOU see, the basic problem for mankind is not his circumstances.....it is what he sees when he looks in the mirror each morning. That is where freedom is needed.
- JESUS spells out this basic problem during His confrontation with the Jews in John 8:23. He said;
"You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be , you will indeed die in your sins."
- THE threat that they would die in their sins is made three times in verses 21-30. He said the same thing in verse 21;
"I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come."
- THE problem with man is that;
* We are from below......
* We are of this world.....
- THAT is what produces the bondage in our lives.
- IT is not just that Pharisees were are born as humans on this earth....It is that they were of this earth and allied with the prince of the earth, their father, satan.
- THAT'S the bondage that takes away all hope.
- THAT'S the bondage that burns people out on marriage and careers.
- THAT'S the bondage that stifles life and creativity.
- THAT'S the bondage that kills all true laughter and love.....it is the ways of the world that put people of this world into bondage.
- AND the only way to be set free from all bondage is to have faith in Jesus and know and live in the truth.
* Then you could be in a German concentration camp.....like Corrie Ten Boom and still be free.
* You can be in a difficult marriage and still be free.
* You can lose your job and get behind on your bills and still be free.
* You can work 60 hours a week and still be free.
- WHEN you know the truth, the truth sets you free.
II.FREEDOM FROM SIN
- LET Jesus share three special freedoms with you tonight from John 8.
- IN verses 31-40 He told the Pharisees that He was sent by the Father to deliver them from sin.
- HE said in verses 34-36;
"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
- SIN is man's #1 confinement.
- IT binds. It restricts. It chokes. It imprisons. It defeats.
- JESUS offered the Jews freedom from man's #1 enemy.
- LOOK what they answered Him. In verse 33;
"We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
- THEY drop back to their religious tradition and punt.
* We are Presbyterian!
* We are Assemblies of God...have been since '36.
* We are Pentecostal!
* My family has been Christian ever since the Mayflower.
- JESUS answered, "If you were a believer you would be doing the things believers do."
- LET'S stop arguing with Him...and get on with being set free from sin. It is sin that will eventually destroy us. Let's get free.
- HE has come to deliver you and me from the power of sin.
III.FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE TO SATAN
- JESUS has another freedom to share with you tonight.
- IN verses 41-49 He reveals Himself as the One who can deliver from the bondage of satan.
- IN verses 44-47 He says;
"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!......... He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
- SATAN'S #1 weapon is deception...and Jesus said right in verse 47 that "he who belongs to God hears what God says".....not what the devil says.
- THE language of Jesus and His Father is obscured to the unbeliever by the interception of satan....he fouls up the transmission of truth to the heart.
- HE binds up the human heart in unbelief and doubt and fear.
- HE blocks the human ear to the voice of God.
- HE shuts up the human heart to the love of God.
- HE blinds the human eye with fleshly ambition and lust and the love of this world.
- HE is a liar, the father of lies.
- AND Jesus came to destroy his works forever and to set the captive free.
- JESUS came to bind the strongman of Mark 3:27 and to set free all that he has held captive by his lies.
- HE is defeated and you and I are free forever.
- LISTEN to the answer the Jews gave Jesus this time.
- HE is offering them freedom from satan's dominion and they answer, "The only Father we have is God Himself."
- WELL, this was a good confession as confessions go...but it was not backed up by faith in the Son of God.
- JESUS answered, "If God were your Father you would love Me."
- THEY were quoting good doctrine. They were hiding behind good doctrine, but they were deceived by satan himself.
- DOCTRINE is good. It is a foundation for our faith. But it is not doctrine that will deliver us from the bondage of satan....it is the Messiah who came to set us free so that we can be free indeed.
- DON'T hide behind your doctrine. Fall in love with Jesus so that you can be free.
IV.FREEDOM FROM DEATH
- THE last freedom that Jesus would share with you tonight is freedom from death.
- IT is found in verses 50-59.
- IN verses 50 and 51 Jesus says;
"I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
- I AM never going to die.
- HE is Jehovah Nissi...my banner of victory....and I am a child of the covenant that says I am never going to die.
- IF I had a massive stroke tonight and my heart and brain stopped their normal function, I would not die.
- JESUS conquered death for me...I would just instantly be in His presence...along with Grandpa Rowlands...and Carol Strunk.....and Dan Beck....and Rita's mom.
- I HAVE freedom from death. It cannot harm me.
- AND the arguments started all over again with the Jews.
- HE is demon possessed, they said. He is mad.
- HE promised freedom from sin, freedom from bondage to satan, and now freedom from death.
- WHO does He think He is!
- "ABRAHAM rejoived to see me day!" Jesus answered them.
- "YOU are not even fifty and have seen Abraham?"...now they knew He was mad.
- THEN came those words that cut like a knife through the air in that temple court....."I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM!"
- THEY knew those words. They had read them in Exodus and Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
- THEY knew what those words meant. There was only one I AM....the eternally existant one....Jehovah.
- THERE was the power for deliverance from sin, satan and death.
- THERE was the power for the truth that sets men free.
- IT is the I AM.
V.CONCLUSION
- THEY picked up stones to stone Him that day.
- WHAT are you going to do with Him tonight?
- ARE you going to go for a stone, or are you going to love and worship Him and give Him your life?
- IF you want to be free, there is nowhere else to go.
- "IF the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
LET GOD ARISE
