I. The Offer Of Freedom Vs. 31, 32
A. The Path To Freedom V. 31
1. Believed- to think to be true, intellectual faith.
2. to those Jews who believed Him- These people agreed intellectually.
a. Though they agreed intellectually, they were not committed to Jesus.
b. Jesus invited them to be committed to Him and to be led by His word.
c. NOTE- There are still people who agree with Jesus on an intellectual level, but do not allow His word to be the authority over their lives.
d. Some who agree with Jesus never abide in His word, and never experience the freedom Jesus spoke of. Eventually, they abandon Jesus, saying “it didn’t work”.
e. Jesus still invites those people to abide in His word, and promises them freedom.
3. Abide- meno- to remain, to continue to be present, to be held, to be kept continually.
4. Disciple- mathetes- a learner, pupil, follower.
a. Everyone follows someone or something. We choose who we will follow.
b. Jesus invited these people to follow Him.
c. He guaranteed that they would experience freedom if they followed Him.
B. The Promise Of Freedom V. 32
1. Know- ginosko- to know by experience.
2. Free-eleuthero- to set at liberty. Used of when slaves were set free.
3. Accepting God’s truth brings us to the freedom of justification. Free from judgment
Romans 8:1-4 NLT So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
4. Abiding in God’s truth brings us to the freedom of sanctification. Free from self.
Matthew Henry- The knowing, entertaining, and believing, of this truth does actually make us free, free from prejudices, mistakes, and false notions, than which nothing more enslaves and entangles the soul, free from the dominion of lust and passion; and restores the soul to the government of itself, by reducing it into obedience to its Creator. The mind, by admitting the truth of Christ in the light and power, is vastly enlarged, and has scope and compass given it, is greatly elevated and raised above things of sense, and never acts with so true a liberty as when it acts under a divine command. The enemies of Christianity pretend to free thinking, whereas really those are the freest reasonings that are guided by faith, and those are men of free thought whose thoughts are captivated and brought into obedience to Christ.
II. Those Who Objected V. 33
A. How They Saw Themselves V. 33a
1. Some in the crowd didn’t have the same intellectual agreement with Jesus.
2. For Jesus to tell them that they could be free insinuated that they were not free. They saw this as an insult. Those who are not free dislike being told that they can be free.
3. They claimed freedom based upon who they were related to: Abraham.
a. Abraham was the father of the faith, to whom God made many promises.
b. Romans 9:4 to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises…
c. The “Star Spangled Banner” says that the USA is the “land of the free”, and not everyone living here is free in the highest sense of the word, which is spiritual.
4. Never been in bondage– How clouded their memory was.
a. 400 years of slavery in Egypt; 70 years of exile in Babylon
b. Currently, they were under Roman occupation, which they wanted removed.
5. Those who claim to be free often don’t realize the bondage that they are in.
a. Sin is deceptive, blinding, and enslaving.
b. Sin deceives the heart, blinds the mind, and creates a slavish environment
c. The racial tension and distrust of police authority is a current example.
d. The accusations, protests, suggested solutions, responses are reveal a shortsightedness of the fact that the problem is sin within man.
e. Right attitudes cannot be legislated; it must come from a changed heart.
B. Their Response To Jesus V. 33b
1. Their opposition to Jesus and God’s truth created blindness within their hearts as to the more serious bondage that they were in, which was spiritual bondage.
2. Jesus was speaking to a deeper issue than physical bondage.
a. A man can be physically free, and yet be in bondage to many things.
b. The greatest bondage is to live under the oppression & consequences of sin.
III. Defining Bondage And Freedom Vs. 34-36
A. Defining Bondage V. 34
1. The nature of sin is that it entices you to more sin, tempting and/or enslaving you to more sinful behavior and the consequences of that behavior.
2. Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
B. A Slave Or A Son? V. 35
1. In that culture, a slave and a son might both work for the master doing the same job.
2. At the end of the day, the son came inside the house, but the slave lived apart from the family, or might even be sold the next day.
3. A slave is under the domination of one who is greater. That is the picture of sin.
4. A son is in loving relationship with one that is greater. That is the picture of freedom.
5. These people believed themselves to be sons of God; in reality they were slaves of sin.
C. Free Indeed V. 36
1. 1 Timothy 5:3 3Honor widows who are really widows. (KJV who are widows indeed)
2. Indeed- “real” freedom as opposed to supposed freedom.
a. Truly, in reality, in point of fact, as opposed to what is pretended, fictitious, false.
3. Jesus declared that there was a supposed freedom, and a true freedom.
4. True freedom is that which only comes to the follower of Jesus, who is abiding in Jesus’ word.
5. Being a Christian is much more than…(it includes but is not limited to…)
a. Praying a prayer and verbally expressing surrender to Jesus
b. Admitting that you have sinned and need forgiveness
c. Getting baptized, buying and reading a Bible, attending a church.
d. You can do all that, and not experience freedom.
6. Jesus called these people to abide in His word, in Him, and experience true freedom.