The Truth Will Set You Free - John 3:31-38

We find ourselves in another famous passage of Scripture, don’t we? The truth will set you free. What wonderful words?

And yet, they’re followed by such hard and difficult words. “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” Yikes. I prefer truth and freedom over sin and slavery, right?

But the reality is for so many people they’re living in slavery and don’t even know it. They’re enslaved to their sin.

But do you remember what Jesus’ first sermon was? Jesus announced his public ministry in Luke 4 by reading from Isaiah 61:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

He said from the very beginning that he came to set the captives free. That was Jesus’ mission. To set people free from the tyranny and oppression of sin. It’s such glorious news isn’t it?

And this is the simple breakdown we see in this passage: First, there is freedom in Christ (vv. 31-32), but second, there is bondage in sin (vv. 33-38).

This is a wonderful passage, but there is a major issue that’s central to it. Last week, in verse 30 it said, “As he was saying these things, many believed in him.” This week at the beginning of verse 31, John records,“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him…”

But then if you jump down to verse 37 Jesus says: “I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.” And then next week, we’ll look at where Jesus tells the crowd that their father is the devil.

Huh? I thought they believed in Jesus and everything was wonderful, but that’s not exactly what’s going on in this passage. They believed in Jesus in a very superficial way. They didn’t possess real genuine faith, rather, they had an interest in Jesus, a sort of curiosity about him.

This explains the dramatic shift that takes place in the passage.

There is freedom in Christ (vv. 31-32)

It’s important to understand the crowd’s situation and where they’re coming from, because they haven’t truly been born again.

Which explains why Jesus says what he says in verses 31-32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””

The attitude of the crowd helps us understand why he says, “If you abide in my word…”

The greek word for “abide” is “men-o,” which means, “to stay…, abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry.” (Strong’s Concordance G3306).

The idea being that Jesus wanted the Jews to continue in, dwell in, remain in what he was saying.

Which makes sense since their interest in Jesus is superficial. Because Jesus didn’t just want the crowd to hear what he had to say. He didn’t want the crowd to leave saying to each other, “wow, that was really nice.” He wanted them to demonstrate true genuine faith.

Because after all, a genuine faith is demonstrated over time. Perseverance is the mark of a living and active faith. And that’s really what we mean even when we talk about obedience to Christ, right? Obedience is not a one time action, it’s a settled commitment over the course of your life.

Jesus wanted the crowd to persevere in obedience to his word.

Abiding in his word, really communicates a settled conviction to trust, walk with, and obey the Lord Jesus.

As we all know, there are a few words that we want to avoid being called at all costs. You pretty much want to avoid being called anything that ends in “ist.” The “ist” words are the worst. We know what I’m talking about: “racist,” “sexist,” “insurrectionist,” etc.

Well there’s also an “ist” word among evangelical Christians you want to avoid as well: “legalist.” And when we talk about legalism we’re talking about the belief that good works or your rigid obedience to God’s Word merits your salvation.

It’s because of this, so many believers are afraid to talk about Christian obedience because it smacks of legalism. But obedience is not legalism. If that’s the case, then it seems that Jesus is the biggest legalist of all. He literally instructed the crowd to abide in his word. Obedience, abiding, remaining is the fruit of a living and active faith in Christ.

If you really believe that Christ took away your sins on the cross, then one of the only appropriate responses is to abide or obey his word. That’s why he says you are truly my disciples.

But as we know, Jesus doesn’t stop there.

He says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If you abide in his word you know the truth and the truth will set you free. What exactly is the truth he’s referring to? Well it’s everything Jesus has referred to about himself up and to this point.

Remember verse 24 from last week? “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” You must rest in the truth that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of sinners.

I think most of us already know that, but we tend to forget what the good news of Jesus Christ does: it sets you free.

We live in a country that talks about freedom all the time, don’t we? After all, we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Those words are in our national anthem. Many of you served to help protect our freedoms that we enjoy in this country. Thank you for your service.

But political freedom is not at all what Jesus has in mind. He’s referring to spiritual freedom. True freedom. Liberty for your very soul.

Which is frankly the opposite of what we’re often told about the Christian faith. Aren’t we often told or led to believe that Christianity is restrictive, narrow-minded, out of touch, and so on. The world often tries to convince us that our faith in Christ is bondage.

When in fact, Jesus teaches that sin and rejection of him puts you in chains. Sin enslaves you, but Christ sets you free from its bondage.

There is bondage in sin (vv. 33-38)

This is a glorious truth! That Christ brings freedom from the reign of sin. But as you probably noticed, again the Jews misunderstood Jesus.

They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

They respond to the glorious news of freedom being only found in Christ with, “we’ve never been enslaved to anyone.” Of course if you know the history of the Jewish people, you know they were enslaved by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Syrians, and even as those words were coming out of their mouths Roman soldiers marched around in the background. They were under Roman rule.

And the Jews understood they were political captives, but they thought they were religiously free. As one commentator put it, “Religiously, however, [the Jews] deem themselves freemen, being seed (or descendents) of Abraham, with whom God had made his covenant of grace.” You see, they assumed they were spiritually free.

Now hopefully you can more clearly see the conflict of this passage. How could Jesus say, they needed to be set free, if they were already free? They thought their nationality gave them special status. Abraham was their father. They didn’t serve false idols! They had the right religion! They weren’t like those other heathens living all around them!

But look at verses 34 with me. “34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

Jesus completely undercuts their argument because their roots as the offspring of Abraham didn’t matter because everyone falls into the same universal category: sinner.

Jesus’ slavery analogy is so appropriate, because as I recently read slavery isn’t an action or a career, slavery defines who you are as a person. It’s part of the heinousness and evil of it. It’s profoundly sad and depressing because there’s no way out.

But it’s the same way with sin, isn’t it? It runs so much deeper than we think it does. Sin affects our minds, our wills, our desires, our actions. It impacts everything.

Recently, I was asked what sort of demographic I hoped Providence would reach? I said, sinners. Taking a quick look around the room, I’d say we’re nailing it!

We’re all fallen sinners. We’re all corrupted and marred by sin. But if you showed up at work tomorrow and asked everyone there if they thought they were perfect, everyone would readily admit that they’re not! They would acknowledge that they make mistakes every now and then. But just like how slavery defines the slave, so sin defines the sinner. It’s who we are.

I’ve told some of you this story, but one time Lauren and I were flying to Denver and Lauren sat in the window seat. I took one for the team and was going to sit in the middle seat, and the aisle seat was still open. Turns out a man from India sat in the aisle seat. And this is an early morning flight. He took off his sweater and I was smacked in the face with the most pungent body odor I’ve ever smelled. It was brutal, and then part of the way through the flight he reached into his bag and pulled out some exotic Indian food. I love Indian food, but I don’t really want to smell chicken tikka masala at 5:30am.

I think of sin in a similar way. It clings to us like terrible body odor that you can never completely get rid of.

You see, the Jews were looking at all the nations around them shaking their heads, muttering to themselves these sinners stink! Unbeknownst to them, their sin smelled just as bad. They’re nose blind.

But sin is so much worse than bad body odor. Apart from Christ, you’re enslaved to your sin. You’re shackled to sin.

Apart from the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God himself you’ll only always be - a hopeless sinner. As one author said, “...the bondage of the will to sin remains and yet such slavery is a voluntary and willful captivity.”

In other words, we’re enslaved to sin and yet persist in it of our own free volition. No one is holding a gun to the alcoholic's head saying, “you must drink this whole bottle.” He’s living in sin and yet he’s choosing to do so.

We can’t stop. We wake up telling ourselves I’m not going to do x, y, or z, only to find ourselves in the middle of x, y, or z later that day! It’s quite maddening isn’t it? This is the way it is with sin.

And as we all of course know, even Christians sin. We fall into the snares of sin.

But notice how Jesus qualifies verse 34: “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” In other words, one who is constantly sinning, one commentator even renders these words as “one who lives in sin.”

The person who rejects the gospel and lives a lifestyle of unrepentant sin - that person is a slave to sin.

And yet, people who deny the gospel want to shirk responsibility for their sin. It’s so tempting for all of us to pass the buck and blame our background, circumstances, or situations and there is some level of truth there, no doubt, bad things have happened to all of us that we never asked for. But ultimately on judgment day the Lord is going to hold you responsible for your sin and the same goes for me.

Perhaps you’ve heard the story about The Times of London at one point early in the 1900s posed this question to several prominent authors and they asked them, “What’s wrong with the world today?” The well-known author G.K. Chesterton is said to have responded with a one-sentence essay:

Dear Sir,

I am.

Yours,

G.K. Chesterton

It’s so easy to hear a sermon and think to yourself, “Bobby really needed to hear that today…” But what about you? Did you need to hear it?

The problem in this world is not a Chinese spy balloon flying over Montana! The problem in this world is you and me. We’re the problem.

This was the Jews issue! They never saw themselves in this way! They thought they were the solution. Your welcome world, the Jewish people are here!

But notice how Jesus flips all their assumptions on its head in verses 35-36.

“35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

The Jews thought of themselves as the sons of Abraham and therefore, they are the sons of promise. They have this great inheritance, this great hope simply because of who they are. After all, God covenanted with their father - Abraham. But their not sons, Jesus tells them that they’re slaves.

And slaves are sold, kicked out, ditched at a moment’s notice. A slave might remain in one house for time, but there’s always the possibility of being dismissed later. Jesus’s analogy here, really strikes at the heart of what the Jews believed about themselves. They thought they were going to be ushered directly into the kingdom of God simply because of their nationality.

It’s like having a coworker who thinks he’s your boss. He grants himself more rights and power than he actually possesses. The Jews thought God had given them more rights and privileges than they actually possessed.

But notice Jesus doesn’t refer to sons, rather he refers to a singular Son. There is only one Son of promise. There’s only one heir. And it’s not them, it’s Jesus.

Jesus is our older brother, the promised one, the Son of the most High. And it’s Jesus that grants freedom to those enslaved to their sins.

If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!

Jesus repackages their assumptions and misunderstandings in order to tell them the truth.

The Jews said, our Father is Abraham, which implied their the sons of Abraham, when in reality they are enslaved to their sin. They’re not like Isaac, they’re more like Hagar. But Jesus is the true Son and the Son has every right to set captives free.

And Jesus even acknowledged that they were sons of Abraham on a national ethnic level, but as the Apostle Paul teaches us, the true sons of Abraham are the people of faith. People that truly trust in Christ and the sons of promise.

And all of this whole discussion came about because they said that “Abraham was their father.” But notice who Jesus cites as his Father in verse 38: God the Father. And here he tells them that they have a different father - which is a reference to the devil.

You can almost see the crowd’s attitude change toward Jesus. One minute they’re interested to see what Jesus is going to do, and then the next minute they want him dead.

There are a few applications that I think are important for us to make from this passage. First, we must ask ourselves, are we like the Jews? Do we shake our heads at people shackled to their sin unaware of the fact that we too are shackled to our sin?

In other words, it’s entirely possible to go to church, thinking you have all the right religious answers only to never have been set free from your sin. It’s possible to think you’re a Christian but be enslaved to your sin. You need to be set free through faith in the Lord Jesus.

But many of you might fall into a different category. You believe in Christ, but are bogged down by besetting sins.

I’m currently reading Ned Stonehouse’s biography of J. Gresham Machen. Machen is the founder of both Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia, PA and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

He spent his early years as a New Testament Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. But in even those early years at Princeton, he began to notice a theological slide away from a miraculous Christianity toward a religion sterilized of the supernatural. They had started to question or deny the Biblical miracles. He began to see that he would need to stand and fight for as he said, “a supernatural Christianity.”

I believe we’re in a somewhat similar time, except now, Christianity in America is sliding away from the supernatural to the therapeutic.

Here’s what I mean. We’re often led to believe that faith in Christ is akin to a pill that you take to treat your unhealthy ways. Christ can’t really do anything for you, he just makes you feel better about yourself. This teaching strips the gospel of any real power.

People might say that about Jesus, but he doesn’t say that about himself. He said he came to give liberty to the captive. Jesus Christ came to set you free from the power of reigning sin in your life. There is hope for the Christian, that by the power of the Spirit in Christ you can put to death the sin struggles that have persistently afflicted you. I don’t care what your sin struggle is!

Christ didn’t come to make you feel comfortable in your prison cell and to make sure your chains aren't too tight… Christ came to set you free!

Reject the therapeutic gospel of our age and cling to the cross with hope saying Christ has set me free!

If you’re a Christian you’re still a sinner but you’re not a slave. Christ has broken the bonds of reigning sin. You’ll still sin, but it’s not your master. Remember that when the weight of temptation seems to be bearing down on you. I’m not a slave to sin because I’m free in Christ!

Look, I’m not saying that if you have enough faith you’re going to wake up tomorrow and all your sin struggles are going to evaporate. Don’t hear me saying that. What I am saying is that the sin struggles that perpetually afflict you can be put to death by the power of the Spirit. As long as you live today, there is a brighter hope for tomorrow.

Your hope doesn’t rest in your own willpower or strength, your hope rests in the fact that if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed.