If you continue in My word...

John 8:31-59 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Truth Will Make You Free

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” ³³ They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet 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 commits sin is the slave of sin. ³⁵ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. ³⁶ So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. ³⁸ I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”

³⁹ They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. ⁴⁰ But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. ⁴¹ You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷ He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

⁴⁸ The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly 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 But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 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, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ ⁵³ Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom 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’; ⁵⁵ and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and 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 born, I am.” ⁵⁹ Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;  and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  It is important to note in today’s text that Jesus was speaking to those who had believed Him. So while in John 3:16 Jesus says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life“, here He adds,  “if you continue in my word.”  There is salvation then for those who believe in Christ. To be a disciple of Jesus though, we must continue in His word. It is the disciple, the disciplined one, who continues in Jesus word, going beyond salvation, to knowing the truth and being free. Those who were there misunderstood and thought Jesus was referring to a political or social freedom and bondage. Jesus clarifies saying:   “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”     So the freedom Jesus is speaking about, the freedom that comes to those who continue in His word, going beyond salvation to discipleship, is freedom from the bondage of sin.

Remember again that Jesus is speaking to those who had believed Him. He continues to challenge them and us saying:   “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.  You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”   So our choice is to continue in Jesus words, knowing the truth, being set free from sin, or to believe the lie of the devil. To some extent it certainly is true that we can sin and yet be saved, all of us have sinned and do continue to struggle with our human sin nature. I am glad that it is not my job or responsibility to determine who has truly believed and is saved and who has not. Jesus says: “I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.  Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”      It would seem then that Jesus does in fact up the ante, saying that in order to not see death, in order to have eternal life, not only must we believe but we must keep Jesus word.

Jesus says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”    The abundant life Jesus came to give is a life of freedom. It is freedom which comes from continuing in His word, going beyond belief to discipleship. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, but He did not come so that the lost would believe Him and remain lost and living a lie. Jesus came to call them out of their lost condition. His continuing words to those He found in sin were words like:  “neither do I condemn you, Go now and leave your life of sin." (John 8:11)      “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” (John 5:14) His word, His message from the beginning was: Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)

Jesus came to call sinners out of the darkness into the light. To do that He did indeed seek them where they were as they were. Jesus came though not that sinners would remain in sin, but that by continuing in His word, by following Him, becoming disciplined, they would be set free from the bondage of sin. Can we sin and be saved? To some extent surly we can. Again, thankfully that is not for any of us to judge. In 1 Corinthians 10: 21-23, Paul says it this way:   You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.  Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?  All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.      The freedom that Christ gives us is not meant to be a freedom to continue in sin. The freedom we have in Christ, in continuing in His word is freedom from sin. That’s the truth and the truth will set you free. How did they respond to the truth which Jesus shared?   Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him.     There were and are some who do not want to hear the truth.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, thank You that because You loved me You came to seek me. Thank You that You have called me out of the darkness and into the light. Thank You for setting me free with the truth of Your word, free from sin. Holy Spirit I pray that You would guide me as I continue in His word, as I become His disciple may I continue knowing and walking in more of the truth of Your word, that I may have both eternal life and the abundant life You give.   Amen