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.”
33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”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.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
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.”
In this text Jesus is speaking to those who have given some kind of profession of faith. Verse 31 says that Jesus is speaking to some folks who say they believe in
Him. But let’s look carefully, keep your Bible open and follow this: These are the same ones in verse 33 who do not understand the bondage that only Christ can break. They are the ones in 37 who Jesus says seeks to kill Him. They are the same ones who Jesus
says that they are of their father the devil, in verse 44 and that they desire what the devil desires. He says quite explicitly in verse 45 that they do not believe in Him and in verse 47 that they are not of God. They also slander Jesus in verse 49 by saying
he has a demon and finally in verse 59 they are picking up stones to throw at him.
There is no doubt that there are many who say they believe in Jesus, many who confess His name, many who have a temporary excitement…even make a beginning in the religious
life, even apparently the Christian life but who are never out from under the slavery and bondage of sin. It is this slavery and its power and all that is arrayed against us that people don’t recognize, even religious people.
As Jesus said in the parable of the soils the enemy will come and steal away the seed that has fallen upon the path…the cares of the world and trials that come in
this life, will choke out the seeds which have sprung up quickly but that have no root. There are many who for the love of novelty, the secret self-satisfaction of getting their life in order, begin, so they think, to run the race that leads to heaven and
may even begin to lay aside many bad habits and take up practices that are more socially acceptable…maybe even do volunteer work.
But soon the newness wears off…trials and temptations come, the feelings we had at camp, or on the mountain top, or in that one moment, they subside…the Devil pulls
at us, the world crashes in, and even the person’s own heart condemns them. Jesus says at the beginning of our text, “if you abide in my word, you are truly
my disciple.” It is not the beginning…but the continuing that is the test that proves the follower of Jesus, not that a man or woman once bowed their knee
but that they live a life of bowing the knee.
Some say, well I walked an aisle a few years back…but Jesus is saying that it is not about walking an aisle once, it is about a continual aisle that is walked every
day and ends up, not in the front of a church but before the throne of God in heaven. This is very clear; saying you are a Christian is not the test…rather the test is in the remaining…the continuing…the fruit of your life and my life, that is what tells the
story…fruit, year in and year out…being the Lord’s.
Brothers and sisters, read the Word of God carefully…notice in Kings and Chronicles and even in the NT such men as Demas and Judas and how many there are who make
a very good, a very loud start, even doing amazing things, but who finish very poorly, even disastrously. How do we know that these people in the text are not true believers? Jesus could have simply revealed it, because He knows the hearts of men…but what
He does is to show it in the same way that WE see it.
We know, because of the fruit that we see that follows their profession. The text shows us the fruit of these people, it shows us what we could never know because
we do not know the heart…but the truth is seen, in the fruit of their lives. There is in the Bible a relationship between the root and the fruit, so we get an understanding of the heart by the fruit that is produced in life.
Hosea 9:16 Ephraim is smitten, they shall bear no fruit their root is dried up and they shall bear no fruit.
Psalm 80:8-9 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations and planted it. You caused it to take deep root and it filled the land.
Isaiah 27:6 Those who come, he shall cause to take root in Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Romans 11, If the root is holy, then the branches will be holy.
Clearly, the bible teaches that the natural world reveals that if the root is dry the plant is dead, if the root is healthy then the plant is healthy. This picture
is used often in the bible to describe the lives of individuals and the church as a whole. So, there is a plain connection between root and fruit. We are not in a position to see anyone’s heart, that is the root. Jesus tells us to watch out for those who claim
to be believers, even teachers but who are in fact not! How would we know that? Jesus says, well the nature of the root will be displayed by the quality of the fruit.
Today we hear that Christians should concentrate on the main things, and ignore those issues in the Bible that are “out there” on the periphery, there are important
things that Jesus says and then there are less important things that Jesus says. I can understand that some doctrines, for example, the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus are more important than say the doctrine of hospitality. However, how do we tell if something
is not as important and if it is not AS important, does that mean it is not important at all?
One person suggested that if something is only mentioned once in the Bible then we should put it in the not so important category. But then we think of Lot and his
wife. They were told only one time to “not look back” at the destruction of Sodom. That seemed to be pretty important!!! The point is that there is nothing more peripheral, out on the edges, furthest away from the root, than is the fruit. The fruit is on the
edge of the tree and yet Jesus tells us to make our judgments based on the periphery, that is, the fruit.
What we do, how we live, tells us the truth about our profession…it reveals our heart. Our relationship with God is not measured by the profession we make, it is revealed
rather, in what we do and the question that Jesus is asking is, “Do we abide in His word?” Jesus says, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples. If you continue on with me, trusting me, living for me, he doesn’t say anything about being sinless. Remember,
repentance is itself a fruit! We run as hard as we can to the pleasure of Jesus, if we stumble we seek the treasures of His grace…but we do run!
Paul said: I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of me. The confidence is in Christ’s having taken hold of him…ah, but he still
presses on. We are going to find this language again in chapter 15 when Jesus tells us that He is the true vine and we are the branches and the words abide in me, in the first 11 verses of chapter 15 occur 11 times.
Jesus is telling us quite bluntly that the pilgrimage on earth by the people of God is one of living according to the absolute truths of heaven that are revealed to
us in the word of God. Only in that word are we set free, only in that word do the devil, the world and our own sinful hearts lose momentum and force. If not, Jesus says in verses 37 literally that his word does not go forward in them, it makes no progress
in them and if this is the case, then, they are not disciples.
Prayer: Father, I give you praise for the work of the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin and produces the fruit of godliness in my life. I ask for your grace to continue
sowing good and holy thoughts, desires and behaviors in my life. I give you praise for the assurance that the Savior has hold of me and that in Him, I can have confidence to live my life to your glory, honor and praise.
Hymn: Holy Ghost Dispel our Sadness
