Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Gospel Lesson just read, from John 8. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Freedom is a terribly important value for human beings. Of course, we all learn from little on up that there is no such thing as absolute freedom. We are not free to skip our vegetables, or from brushing our teeth, or abiding by our bedtime, or to be skipping school. However, whenever we are free and able to make choices and decisions that suit our preferences, we like this.
- Most of us have never known a complete absence of freedom either, when we are completely “enslaved” to another who has the power to dictate our every action and behavior. And most of us do not think of our relationship with “sin” as being enslaving like this; we assume that we have power and control over ourselves so that we can choose not to sin – and this is true to a very limited extent, but not as we generally tend to think.
- Jesus makes a different and challenging observation when He asserts: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” In that it is certain, both from experience and from God’s Word, that we all continue to commit sin, Jesus’ Word challenges us to think differently, to truly grasp the reality of our sinful condition, its enslaving aspects.
- He does so not to make us feel bad, or to drive us to despair. This is clear when He also asserts that “the truth will set you free,” and how it is that human beings can “know the truth.” But His intent is surely to warn us against thinking lightly of our sin, and this so that we properly understand both the greatness of His salvation, and the greatness of our need to “REMAIN IN CHRIST.”
- The truth is that:
I. Even Believers, Christians, Are Tempted To Renounce God’s Grace And To Fall Away From Faith
Luke 8;13,14 “And the [seed sown] on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”
Heb. 3:12 “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”
Statement: This is the nature of our sinful hearts, that we rely and depend upon ourselves when in fact our spiritual disability is such that we can fall away in times of testing, and can also fall prey to allowing “the cares and riches and pleasures of life” to choke out of faith and destroy it. We are warned that our sinful hearts can lead us into unbelief and to actually “fall away from the living God.” Almost always this falling away has to do with a lack of appreciation of the severity and seriousness of our sin and forgetting our great need for the gracious mercy, forgiveness, and saving power of God.
Application: The antidote for this is to “REMAIN IN CHRIST,” for as He asserts: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” This is not a full and complete freedom from sinning, for the Bible is clear: “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” And you remember that Jesus said that it is “the truth” that will set us free. Rather, the truth is about our sin and about God’s gracious forgiveness, and the freedom is in God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness, in the cleansing of sin which God supplies in Christ’s own blood, shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. This alone makes us free from guilt and punishment, so that we are no longer under the law but under grace, “justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
Transition: But again, we are vulnerable even as Christians, and so we are urged to:
II. Stay In The Son’s Freedom – In God’s Gracious Mercy, Forgiveness, And Love
John 3:36 “He that believes the Son has everlasting life, but he that does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Epistle: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Statement: The facts and dynamics are clearly stated. In that all sin and fall short of the glory of God, there can be no freedom apart from God’s gracious mercy, forgiveness, and love in Christ Jesus, in His redemption. But there is freedom for sinners in Christ Jesus, through His redemption – the gift of the righteousness of God, by His grace – redemption and justification “by faith apart from works of the law.” This is the faith and freedom that we need and must have, and we can only have it if we “REMAIN IN CHRIST,” confessing our sin and guilt but rejoicing in His gracious mercy and forgiveness.
Application: Now we might think that this is easy, too easy, but in fact it is not. The vast majority of human beings reject the substance of this faith, the good news of God’s grace and mercy. Why? Because it conflicts with their faith in self-determination and their pride. And even within the church, there are many who fall from faith, lured away by this temptation, and by a host of other considerations. In the time of the Reformation most of the clergy had adopted and were teaching a religion that put the principal burden upon us, that we had to earn God’s grace by our good works. The belief was in mankind, in his supposed inherent freedom to do what was necessary to commend ourselves to God. If this is what the church taught, then the vast majority believed it. Thus, our freedom, our redemption, the gift of God, His grace and justification was “taught” out of the church, and out of the hearts and minds of millions of people. We should not think that the same dangers are no longer around. The reality is that:
III. We Are Only Able To Stay In The Christ’s Freedom By Abiding In His Word
A. It Is By His Word That We Know And Remain In The Truth
Text: “If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth.”
B. And It Is Only By This Truth Of Christ’s Word That We Are Made Free
Text: “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
1. His Word assures us that we are freed from sin and guilt
1 Jn. 1:7 “If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
2. His Word keeps us free from arrogance and humbly dependent upon His grace
Rom. 12:3 “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
3. His Word will help to keep us from actual sin as well
a. as we live in cognizance of His great forgiveness we will grow in love
Luke 7:47 “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
b. and love is fulfilling the law, doing what is right rather than what is sinful
Rom. 13:10 “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Statement: So you see that the issues of the Reformation were of the deepest sort, and most consequential. It is really a matter of whether or not we will “REMAIN IN CHRIST.” Obviously, many do not, and whole churches no longer know what it means to remain in Christ, having fallen from faith and back into slavery to sin, delusion, and unbelief. There is no freedom in this, no blessedness, no justification or salvation. “He that does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Application: But the freedom we need and that God seeks to give us is found in the Word of Christ, which enables and sustains knowledge of the truth, the only truth that can free us and save us. Otherwise, we remain completely enslaved to sin, guilt, and ultimately arrogance. Sadly, this is where many of Jesus’ hearers were stuck, and sadly where many who consider themselves to be Christians today are stuck. They are certain of their ability to remain in faith and the truth apart from Christ’s Word, His truth, His blessing; and so they remain slaves to sin and delusion.
Conclusion: And our freedom in Christ is certainly not some kind of complete freedom, for example, freedom to continue committing sin and harm. Rather, our freedom is from sin, its guilt and condemnation, and freedom to love, to do no harm to our neighbor, to fulfill God’s good and gracious will. Our sinful nature wants the other kind of freedom, to enslave us, but we are no longer children and have turned away from such foolishness. We can do so only as we abide in Christ’s Word and “REMAIN IN CHRIST.” God grant such blessedness to us all, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.