31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.” 39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” John 8:31-41
Following the Lord Jesus is the only true path to freedom. This freedom is characterized by certain things, the first is belief. In v.31, the Lord Jesus spoke to the Jews who had believed in Him. These Jews had not yet trusted Him, but they had believed him. They had been intellectually grasped by His words, but they had not yet committed themselves to Him. It is to these people that the Lord Jesus says in v.31, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” Following Him begins with intellectual belief.
We will never find freedom until we examine the evidence of His claim to be the Son of God. We do this by reading His words. We do this by examining the evidence. We do this by choosing to believe on the evidence. This is the starting point of following Him.
We read in v.31, "Holding to His teaching" is another characteristic of someone who is following the Lord Jesus. This means to ponder, to think deeply about His word. The test is: "Is it true? Does it correspond with life? That is the test, and that you can only establish as you continue in His word, as you think long and deeply, read fully and frequently. And, this is a process, so there must be patience with ourselves.
In v.32 "Then you will know the truth." Truth is the nature of things as they are defined by God. Truth is seeing through all the illusions, all the facades and the unreal images, and getting down to the heart, the core, the reality -- that which really is. That is the truth.
The Lord Jesus promises the one follow Him, in v.32, "the truth will set you free." The truth will permit us to view life from God's vantage point. The truth frees us from the distortions that have long prevented us from freedom. Pride is at the root of all of these distortions.
We see this in v.33. These religious leaders said, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” They respond with, "We are descendants of Abraham. They had not forgotten their bondage to the Romans, rather, they were boasting in the fact that they were part of a chosen race, thus they were confident of God's approval.
This is what most often keeps us from knowing the truth and thus finding the pathway to freedom: We think we are OK the way we are. But the Lord Jesus cuts right through all of this by saying in v.34, "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin."
When we follow wrong and do wrong, we become a slave of that wrong. Gradually we discover we are under its control. This is why the Lord Jesus says what He says in v.35-36, "35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
Slavery is the opposite of freedom. If freedom is being able to be all that you are meant to be, then slavery is to lose all possibility of that. When you give in to little ways of what Jesus calls "sin" -- wrong deeds and wrong thinking -- gradually an invisible net is being woven that you finally cannot break. The evidence that this is happening is that, when we finally decide to quit, we cannot. This is what had happened to these religious leaders.
In v.33, these men had said, "We are Abraham’s descendants." They may have been biological descendants of Abraham, but, as indicated in v.37-38, they were not descendants of Abraham's faith. Faith is the heart's ability to see God, and the word of God prepares our hearts to see Him. These religious teachers had allowed their religion to get in the way of the word of God.
In v.39-41, the Lord Jesus said to them, "39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself." And yet, they were looking to kill the Lord Jesus, and He knew it, thus He tells them that they are reflecting their father the Devil.
This underscores a very important principle which is: Anything is Holy because God is there. If you and I behave like God, it is because He is doing it. We reflect the likeness of the one we are following. Mike Yaconelli put it this way, "The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of the whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us."
Following the Lord Jesus is the only true path to freedom. This freedom is characterized by certain things, the first is belief. In v.31, the Lord Jesus spoke to the Jews who had believed in Him. These Jews had not yet trusted Him, but they had believed him. They had been intellectually grasped by His words, but they had not yet committed themselves to Him. It is to these people that the Lord Jesus says in v.31, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” Following Him begins with intellectual belief.
We will never find freedom until we examine the evidence of His claim to be the Son of God. We do this by reading His words. We do this by examining the evidence. We do this by choosing to believe on the evidence. This is the starting point of following Him.
We read in v.31, "Holding to His teaching" is another characteristic of someone who is following the Lord Jesus. This means to ponder, to think deeply about His word. The test is: "Is it true? Does it correspond with life? That is the test, and that you can only establish as you continue in His word, as you think long and deeply, read fully and frequently. And, this is a process, so there must be patience with ourselves.
In v.32 "Then you will know the truth." Truth is the nature of things as they are defined by God. Truth is seeing through all the illusions, all the facades and the unreal images, and getting down to the heart, the core, the reality -- that which really is. That is the truth.
The Lord Jesus promises the one follow Him, in v.32, "the truth will set you free." The truth will permit us to view life from God's vantage point. The truth frees us from the distortions that have long prevented us from freedom. Pride is at the root of all of these distortions.
We see this in v.33. These religious leaders said, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” They respond with, "We are descendants of Abraham. They had not forgotten their bondage to the Romans, rather, they were boasting in the fact that they were part of a chosen race, thus they were confident of God's approval.
This is what most often keeps us from knowing the truth and thus finding the pathway to freedom: We think we are OK the way we are. But the Lord Jesus cuts right through all of this by saying in v.34, "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin."
When we follow wrong and do wrong, we become a slave of that wrong. Gradually we discover we are under its control. This is why the Lord Jesus says what He says in v.35-36, "35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
Slavery is the opposite of freedom. If freedom is being able to be all that you are meant to be, then slavery is to lose all possibility of that. When you give in to little ways of what Jesus calls "sin" -- wrong deeds and wrong thinking -- gradually an invisible net is being woven that you finally cannot break. The evidence that this is happening is that, when we finally decide to quit, we cannot. This is what had happened to these religious leaders.
In v.33, these men had said, "We are Abraham’s descendants." They may have been biological descendants of Abraham, but, as indicated in v.37-38, they were not descendants of Abraham's faith. Faith is the heart's ability to see God, and the word of God prepares our hearts to see Him. These religious teachers had allowed their religion to get in the way of the word of God.
In v.39-41, the Lord Jesus said to them, "39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself." And yet, they were looking to kill the Lord Jesus, and He knew it, thus He tells them that they are reflecting their father the Devil.
This underscores a very important principle which is: Anything is Holy because God is there. If you and I behave like God, it is because He is doing it. We reflect the likeness of the one we are following. Mike Yaconelli put it this way, "The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of the whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us."
