They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,
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.
41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
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.
46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”48
The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.50
Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.
51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’
53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”
54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’[c] 55
But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”57
So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple
Jesus says that only in abiding in truth do we know freedom and the truth will make you free. Now, this didn’t go over so well. These ‘professors’ maintain that they
ARE free, and that they have never been in bondage to anyone, after all Abraham is their father.
Of course, there is the obvious history of Israel being in bondage to Egypt, and then the Babylonians and of course what about all the Roman flags waving and Romans
soldiers you bump into at almost every turn?
God had been trying to get their attention for hundreds of years so that they would know and understand that only in looking to Him and to His word would they ever
be free and yet they missed all the pictures, as real as those pictures were. Your bondage is because of your sin! Your sin is the problem, not Babylon and not Rome. It is not the soldiers that hold you in bondage it is your own appetite, your own pride and
rebellion.
Jesus speaks to them of the most profound sentences of the purpose of his coming that he ever spoke: They are slaves and must be set free. They are thinking bondage…Jesus
is talking about bondage. They have a master…they are not free and the master is sin, pride, and the end is death. And the only answer is not professing to follow Jesus, but to drop everything and to REALLY follow Him…and the fruit will speak
the reality.
As an aside, I am not sure there are many verses of the Bible that have been abused as much as “the truth shall set you free.” It has been used in political,
social, and cultural ideologies ad nauseam. In a popular movie of a few years back, Dead Man Walking, the story of a nun working with a convicted killer on death row, a movie that was anti-death penalty propaganda, we have the nun trying to convince
the criminal to admit he committed the murders he was accused of…something he refused to do. When it was inevitable that he was to be executed he broke down in tears and said that he did kill the couple and the nun, with tears, said, “the truth will set you
free”. The nun, representing the church, says he is free because he admitted his actions. There is nothing said about redemption…nothing about repentance and nothing about Jesus. It is in this vein that we most often hear these words of Jesus spoken and it
has nothing to do with what Jesus is saying.
Brothers and sisters, I don’t know what sin easily entangles you…I know what sins easily entangle me…but I also know what Jesus said…that to live making peace with
any sin is to be enslaved. And the freedom that Jesus came to bring us is a complete freedom that offers us, literally everything…Paul says we are co-heirs with Christ and Christ is given everything.
Jesus has freed us from the penalty of sin…He took that penalty for us, He exhausted the righteous wrath of God in our place…you
are free from the penalty of sin.
Right now, as you abide in Jesus, His Spirit by His word, is working in you to free you from the power of sin…Oh, we are not fully there, not yet…but we have seen
the victory…we have resisted sin, we have said no to Satan, we have experienced the joy of the victory on the field of battle. Jesus is freeing us from the
power of sin. And now, if you can even comprehend it…think of that day…when Jesus will set us free from the presence of sin…it, sin, will be nowhere…it
will not exist…there will be none of it…anywhere…sin will not exist.
Can you imagine a reality where sin does not exist at all, not yours not mine, it is literally…gone. That is freedom, that is the freedom that Jesus has won for us…freedom
from sin’s penalty, freedom from sin’s power and soon to be, freedom from sin’s presence.
As we conclude chapter 8, I would like to read to you a published article by a minister friend of mine, Mike Kelly. Last summer was known in our yard as the summer
of desolation. I took to pruning with such vigor that I could have been called an arbor-cidal maniac. At the time, though I had no choice our home was under siege. I dutifully tugged and pulled, not meeting any real surprises or resistance until I approached
what appeared to be a small fruit tree and saw a budding bunch of grapes. A grape tree? Whoever heard of a grape tree?
I followed the branch further. I found it was connected to a hardy black-brown vine sunk deep into the soil. It seems to have set its roots in secret. But there
it was, flourishing and even overtaking the trees around it and when the fruit ripened about two months later, my family harvested and enjoyed bowls full of grapes. How could this have happened, unattended for years surrounded by competitors and yet still
bearing fruit? The answer is simple, every branch that remains in the vine bears fruit. The church’s mission is rooted in this same truth. All we hope for and all we could ever want will be found for us in Christ the Vine. Every desire we have for genuine
spirituality, for powerful witness, for true community, for living worship, for foreign missions and for covenant children must be rooted in the great promise of these words: I am the vine and you are the branches, if a man abides in me, he will bear much
fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
The branch which aspires to be fruitful must remain in the vine. If we rest in the vine, the sufficiency of Christ, the power of Christ, the sweetness of Christ will
all be ours.” Pastor Kelly wisely concludes: “Perhaps our error is that we have made it our mission to bear fruit, when we should have made it our mission to abide in the vine.” Our calling, your calling is to abide in the vine…set your eyes upon Jesus,
the vine and never, never take them off of him…abide in Him, in His word, and be His disciple.
Prayer: Father, help me to abide in the Savior and to never stray. I confess that my heart often desires to wander but never into that which brings peace. Forgive
me. Help me to walk in the Spirit and to fix my eyes upon Jesus the Author and finisher of my faith, in Jesus name, Amen.
Hymn: Jesus Priceless Treasure
