(Audio)
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus offers freedom to those who will receive it. The hard part comes first. That part is recognizing that fact that we have heretofore not been free.
We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, ‘You will become free’?
The Jews had such a continual experience of dominance by foreign powers that freedom seemed like more of an exception than the rule. When they made this protest to Jesus they were under Roman rule. Yet they preferred to ignore it and to boast of their freedom. Imagine, then, how much less likely they were to admit that they were slaves to sin.
Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
Jesus is not as immediately concerned about the social order as he is about the spiritual. The freedom he wants for the Jews is freedom from slavery to sin. One dominated by sin doesn't do what he wants to do, but does the evil that he does not want to do (see Romans 7:15). This definitely qualifies as slavery. But the idea of not being free is such an affront to our pride that even when it is true, and no matter the degree to which it is obviously true objectively, it is difficult for us to admit.
Jesus shows us that we do not have the resources to live in freedom apart from him.
So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.
True freedom can only be found in God and through God. It can only be lived when his word abides in us. It is a freedom that to which we can hold no matter how unfree our external circumstances may be.
“Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?”
“Assuredly, O king,” they answered.
“But,” he replied, “I see four men unfettered and unhurt,
walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.”
If only we learn to desire the right kind of freedom and where to find it we need not fear the flames. We need not fear opposition. If the Son sets us free we will be free indeed. The world cannot hold us. This freedom is a testimony before the world even before any words are spoken.
“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who sent his angel to deliver the servants who trusted in him;
they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies
rather than serve or worship any god
except their own God.”
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