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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.” . . . 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:31, 32, 36
The ‘Truth’ sets us free
Like the Jews, we might say, “I’m not enslaved to anyone.”
Jesus says, we’re more enslaved than we realize. For truth to set us free, we must know it and believe it. Otherwise, truth has no power to free us.
It’s 2 AM and your house is on fire.
The heat and smoke and bright orange flames are absolute proof of that.
But you’re in bed with the covers pulled up around your ears; your eyes are shut as you sleep; your nose is under the sheet so you don’t smell smoke.
In order for the truth to set you free from likely death, you have to know about the fire. If you don’t discover the truth, you will probably die in your bed.
Or, you awaken, smell the smoke, see the flames and hear their roar — but you refuse to believe that this is actually happening to you.
If you refuse to believe the truth, it cannot set you free from certain death.
Sin threatens our eternal wellbeing – more eternally deadly than any house fire! The words of Christ and the experience of millions of people are proof of that truth.
But if you don’t know—or choose not to believe—the truth, it cannot set you free from the absolute fact of death and destruction.
Everyone needs to be freed in some way. Each of us must know and believe that untruth will enslave us.
The Bible says Jesus “…is the way and the truth and the life”
Jesus said, “The truth will set you free” and Jesus Himself is ‘the Truth!’ even as He said in John 14:6. Only the fact of Christ, and our belief in Him, can set us free from sin and death.
Untruth enslaves, but Truth liberates
Everyone who sins is a slave to sin (John 8:34).
The biblical statement, “Everyone who sins…” is literally, “Everyone who practices sin…” as a lifestyle, as a way of life (from a Greek verb meaning ongoing, habitual sin).
A good example of this truth is, any sinful habit. Habits become regular practices, which define lifestyles, and ultimately lead to slavery.
For example, a guy says to himself, “I’ll just take a quick look at some pornography; one look couldn’t hurt!” Eventually he can’t live without his daily fix and his life’s relationships fall apart.
We can be slaves to tobacco, alcohol, bad language, negativism, gossip, pornography, of course. We can be slaves to a million different things.
Some people think freedom means “I can do whatever I want.”
But most people who think this way soon find out that ‘freedom’ to drink, take drugs or look at pornography is not freedom at all.
It can actually become slavery. Many can’t quit, even though they want to.
Does this biblical statement mean, ‘freedom TO drink, take drugs, gossip’ . . . or is it freedom FROM slavery to those things that so many want freedom to do?
Next time: Satan’s native language
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