John Lesson 25

Introduction

When Jesus said in John chapter 8 and verse 32, Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. He made one of the greatest statements ever known to mankind deliverance from the bondage of sin and a pain conscience. Indeed, what a privilege it is to be able to come to the Lord and to know that there is forgiveness of sin, and there is a promise of life everlasting.

We hope that you’ll get your New Testament open and turn with us to the reading found in John chapter 8, where we shall be studying today. And if you will read along with us, I’m sure you’ll get more out of the lesson. You’ve been studying with us, you know that in prior lessons we’ve been going verse by verse through the gospel of John. In our last lesson, we talked about how that Jesus in Jerusalem, shortly after the Feast of Tabernacles, was confronted in the temple by some Jews who brought a woman to him that would have been taken in the act of adultery. And they came tempting him. They were testing him. They were trying to find out what he would say in regard to the law of Moses versus the law of the Romans.

Would they would uh would he ask them to stone her, or would he in fact uh break Roman law or break Jewish law? Jesus did not break either law. In fact, he simply said to them, He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone. Uh would you be willing to be judged by your own law? He put the dilemma back on their heads, and they turned, even beginning with the eldest, and left one by one. Indeed, Jesus taught a lesson to the Jews. He taught these Jewish rulers that if you’re going to be judging others, then be willing to live by that very law by which you judge others. Then in this same chapter in verse twelve of John chapter 8, Jesus made a bold claim.

He said, I am the light of the world. Through Jesus Christ, there is the illumination of truth, and error is exposed. By coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, there can be the knowledge of a way of life and that life everlasting. Have you come to the light of the world? Have you made a study of who Jesus the Christ is? Do you believe in him? Have you obeyed him? There were those who on this occasion, as they heard Jesus speak, who did believe in him. In fact, in the closing verse of our last lesson in Acts chapter 8 and verse 30, the scripture said, as he spake these words, many believed on him. But in the next verse, 31 and verse 32, as we begin our lesson today, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him.

1. If Ye Continue in My Word

If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Jesus made a statement here concerning true discipleship. It is not a matter of just reading about him or hearing him. It is not a matter of just in your heart accepting Jesus as your personal Savior, and that simply being a mental agreement that he is the Son of God. But Jesus said that the test of true discipleship is determined by whether or not you continue in my word. There were some who believed on Jesus, but they did not continue to follow him. There are those even today who profess to believe in Jesus, but by their actions they do not follow him.

They do not continue in his word. In first John chapter 2, verses 3 to 5, the apostle spoke about those who who would say that they know God but fail to keep his word. He says they are liars. Listen to this language. It’s pretty strong. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. What do you know about the Christ? How well do you know the Father? The scripture said, Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments.

But the man who says I know it, that is verbally, makes a statement. He makes a profession to be a disciple of the Lord, but he is not keeping the commandments of the Lord, that man of it are. That’s a strong statement, isn’t it? But that’s the biblical statement. Jesus said in John chapter 14 and verse 15, you are my friends if you do whatsoever things I command you. And in John 15 and verse 14, if you love me, keep my commandments. You see, love is that which is proven by our obedience. As we come to the Lord and seek to know his will, and then follow what he says. As we obey, it proves our love for him. First John 5 and verse 3 says, This is the love of God that we keep his commandments.

That’s why we consider our study in this in this program to be very important. First of all, to come to the knowledge of the truth, to learn about who Christ is, to learn what is his will. But then having an open Bible and an open mind to learn of that will, we then urge each of us to obey the word of the Lord. This is the love of God, that ye keep his commandments. And as our text in John chapter 8, Jesus was saying to the very Jews who heard him, if you’re really my disciple, then you’re going to continue to do my will. You will keep my word. You will follow what I have to say. Well, as the Jews heard that saying of Jesus, they responded by saying, We be Abraham’s seed and were never in bondage to any man.

2. Whosoever Committeth Sin Is the Servant of Sin

How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Jesus is talking about being made free by the truth. But their response is, Well, what do you mean? We’ve never been in bondage. We’re Abraham’s seed. Now, really, that shows an attitude of a self-righteous person, a very defensive kind of attitude. And perhaps we begin to understand why there are those even today who claim to be religious, who may not always properly represent themselves or even come with an open mind toward the Bible. These Jews said, Why, we’ve never been in bondage.

That really wasn’t so. They were in bondage. At that very time, they were subject to Roman law. In fact, in studying their history in the Old Testament, you may recall that the Jews were taken into captivity, the northern ten tribes into the hand of the Assyrians, and then really the southern two tribes in all of Israel to the hand of the Babylonians. The temple was destroyed. Jerusalem itself was destroyed. And then later they were in captivity to the Persians. And then after that to the Greeks, and now to the Romans. They had been in bondage many times and for many years throughout their history. And so for them to make this statement, we we’re Abraham and Steve, we’ve never been in bondage, is a defensive kind of statement.

It’s a kind of statement that really is not so. But Jesus did not directly respond to that kind of statement. He just went on to say, I’m talking about a spiritual type of bondage. I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin. I’m not just talking about fleshly bondage. You are the lineage of Abraham, all right, but by the sin that you committed, you have estranged yourself from God, and you have put yourself into bondage, the worst kind of bondage. Separation from God Himself, you’ve become the servant of the devil himself. Sin puts one in bondage. But through Jesus Christ there can be freedom. We can be delivered from sin, forgiven of sin. In Romans chapter 6, in verses 16 through 18, there the inspired apostle said, Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves, servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.

But God between that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Now, first of all, the question is raised in Romans 6 and verse 16. Don’t you know that whoever you yield yourself to, that that is the one to whom you are a servant. You can either be a servant of the devil or a servant of the Lord, and it’s a matter of choice. You choose whom it is that you serve. If you are living in sin and you’re not trying to live righteously, you will not repent of your sin and obey the Lord. It’s your right to do that. But you have made yourself a willing servant of the devil.

And Jesus, in effect, says in our text of John 8, that’s what these Jews have done. You’ve become in bondage to the devil. But Christ can make us free. By coming to the truth about Him, by accepting Him in obedience, by continuing His Word, being a true disciple of His, we become free from sin. The text in Romans 6 corroborates what we were saying a moment ago. How that obedience is involved. Today it’s quite popular to preach that faith only will save. There are many preachers who tell us that really all one has to do is to simply bow down and pray the sinner’s prayer. If you believe in the Christ, just simply pray and you’ll be saved. Well, indeed, a sinner needs to humble himself and to be ashamed of his sin.

To repent of his sin and in belief on the Christ needs to turn unto him. But the scriptures speak time after time about saving faith as involving an obedient attitude. It involves some obedience on the part of the Christian. In fact, in Romans chapter 6, this verse we’ve just read, he spoke about these who were the servants of sin. And he said, Ye have obeyed. You have obeyed from the heart. There is an action that is involved by the basis of faith. Obey from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. And in this passage of Romans chapter 6, that the form of doctrine that he’s talking about, earlier described in Romans 6, back in verses 3 and 4 and 5, had to do with baptism.

He says, Don’t you know in Romans 6 3 that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. The like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. You can come to the freedom from sin, become the servant of righteousness when you obey from the heart this form of doctrine, based upon faith in the Christ as the Son of God, repenting of your sin, turning back from that those wrongs that you’re committing in your life, confessing to Christ to be the Son of God, then obey.

Obey even that form of doctrine or in immersion, in baptism into the death of Jesus Christ. Have you been willing to do that? There are some who profess that they love the Lord and they profess that they want to be his disciples, but they have not completely submitted themselves or subjected themselves to the will of God. Jesus asked the question in Luke 6 and verse 46, why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say. Now if you’re going to really be his disciple, then do what he says. In Matthew chapter 7 in verse 21, Jesus said, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth, the will of my Father, which is in heaven.

3. If Ye Were Abraham’s Children

The dividing line between lost and saved has to do with an attitude of faith, a faith that is obedient, or a faith that is dead by the failure to obey. Which kind of faith do you have? You have the kind of faith that’s willing to obey, to truly continue in his word. Well, looking back again at our text in John chapter eight, where Jesus spoke to them concerning being made free and continuing in his word, he says in in verse thirty-seven, I know that ye are Abraham’s seed, but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.

Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me. A man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. Ye do the works, the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication, we have one Father even God. And Jesus said unto them, If God were your father, ye would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but but he sent me. Now they responded to Jesus that we’ve never been in bondage, we’re Abraham’s seed. And Jesus, in effect, says, I know that of the flesh, you are Abraham’s seed, the nation of Israel, the Jews, were the fleshly descendants of Abraham.

In fact, God had promised to Abraham many uh centuries before that of his seed he would raise up a nation. And he would give that nation a land in which to live. That’s recorded in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. But God had also made a promise to Abraham of a spiritual seed. That of Abraham’s seed he would raise up one that through whom he would bless all nations of the earth. And that was a promise pointing to Jesus Christ. None of these Jews, fleshly descendants of Abraham, Jesus says, I know on the one hand, you are Abraham’s lineage in the flesh. But he’s really saying, on the other hand, you are not Abraham’s children. Because spiritually you do not have the attitude of Abraham.

Spiritually, you are not of the faith like Abraham had. If you were the attitude of Abraham, you would have loved me, Jesus would say. Just as the Father loved me, just as the Father has sent Jesus as the Christ, he said, if you were Abraham’s children, you do the works of Abraham. But instead, you’re trying to kill me. You’re trying to kill the Son of God, a man who has told you the truth, and Abraham never did that. Abraham never sought to kill a man or hated those who brought truth unto him. They sense what Jesus is saying, that he’s here talking about a spiritual father rather than just the fleshly father Abraham. And so then they respond in verse 41, why, we’re not born of fornication.

We’re not children out of wedlock. And if you’re talking about a spiritual father, well, because we are Abraham’s seed, then God is our Father. For God is the father of the nation of Israel. And so they said, now we have one Father, even God. And again, Jesus replies, If God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. God has sent Christ. And if you really are of the seed of the lineage of Abraham, spiritually speaking, you would accept the Christ. Look at Galatians chapter 3. In Galatians 3, the Bible speaks about this lineage of Abraham. When he says in Galatians 3, verses 7 and 8, know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

And the scripture foreseen that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. And you notice he’s here talking about how even Gentiles can be Abraham’s children. Of the flesh, they were not of a lineage of Abraham. In fact, Gentiles are those nations who are not of the nation of Israel. In the Bible, there’s that distinction between Jew and Gentile. Jews were the descendants of Judah, of Israel, of Abraham, and they are the fleshly lineage of Abraham. But God had made a promise in this verse we just read in Galatians 3 and verse 8, verse 7 and 8, we’re referring back to the promise in Genesis 12 and 3, that in Abraham’s seed, he had blessed all families, including Gentiles.

Now that’s a spiritual blessing. But in Galatians 3, 26 through 29, explains how it’s possible even today. Are you a Jew? Well, in the flesh, you may not be. But spiritually, you can be of the lineage of Abraham, and in that sense you can be of spiritual Israel. Here’s how. Reading Galatians 3 26 through 29. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. Are you Abraham’s seed?

You ought to want to be. You can be if you come to the Christ. You can be the child of God, but the way would be having the attitude of Abraham. You’re Abraham’s seed if you walk by faith like Abraham did. Today the children of God are made children by faith. Who? How many? Galatians 3 27 says, here’s how many. Or as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. When you’ve come to the truth, when you’ve come to the acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and obey him, you can be baptized into Him by faith, that is, obeying from the heart, that form of doctrine that was delivered you. And as you put on Christ, who is the lineage of Abraham, even so in a spiritual sense you become the lineage of Abraham.

4. Why Do Ye Not Understand My Speech?

You become the children of Abraham. What a great promise, and what a great blessing that you and I can share in these wonderful truths, the prophecies made many, many years ago, but can be fulfilled in your life and my life even this day. Well, the Jews who were standing and hearing Jesus say these things, who were fleshly descendants of Abraham, but not spiritually, they didn’t really understand and fully comprehend what Jesus was saying. And in verse 43, Jesus recognizes this fact. He says, Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him.

When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. For he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why did you not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words. Yeah therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. This verse speaks about people who claim to be of God, but Jesus permanently said, You’re not of God. Now you you say that you know God, but you really don’t know God. And why is it that you do not understand me? Because you’re not of God. These Jews, fleshly descendants of Abraham, had cut themselves off from God by their sin.

They had cut themselves off from Abraham in a spiritual sense. Because no longer did they have the attitude of faith like Abraham did. They didn’t understand anymore the words of truth that were being presented to them. It was their problem. It wasn’t that the truth had become incomprehensible. It wasn’t that God no longer cared for them, but they themselves had closed their own minds. They had become self-righteous and they had become prejudiced in their own hearts. That happens even today. As we read passages like this, we ought to examine our own hearts and make certain that we keep an open mind and keep an open Bible, and not just be pretenders of religion, but in fact to be honest hearted, to be open minded to truth, and then and only then can we really understand it.

You remember we talked back in John chapter 7 and verse 17, where Jesus said, He that willeth to do his will shall know, whether it be the doctrine of God. The man who wants to know can come to understand him. But like these Jews, they rejected the Christ himself, no matter what miracles he worked, no matter what parables he taught, no matter what prophecies he fulfilled, they were blinded. Prejudice, blinded them. In Matthew chapter 13, verses 13 through 15, Jesus quoted from Isaiah and said, Even that prophecy was fulfilled in them. The power prophecy that said, Seeing you’ll see not, hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which said, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.

For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, uh hear with their ears and should understand of the heart and should be converted, and I should heal them. They have closed their minds and their hearts. You and I can do that too. We can have the Bible open and be closed minded. We can read the scriptures and not understand them, but don’t blame God for it. Don’t blame the Bible as being incomprehensible for that, but rather recognize that attitudes, attitudes make the difference. These Jews, Jesus said, were like their father the devil. That’s quite a statement, isn’t it? Is your father the devil or is your father God?

Are you of the spiritual lineage of Abraham or are you the spiritual lineage of of the devil? What is your attitude toward truth? Is your mind sealed and set? Have you decided that what you’ve always believed is going to be the truth, and it just doesn’t matter what the Bible says? Would you take your scissors or your knife and cut out some verses? Would you just completely ignore what the Bible says? I’ve talked about a subject already today that many people react that way too, and we’ve talked about baptism. There are those who would not want to preach anything about baptism, but the Bible teaches that that baptism is the point at which we put on Christ, we just read from Galatians 3 27. It’s that form of doctrine when we are then made free from sin.

Romans 6, 17 and 18. But there are those who just will not have it. It doesn’t matter what the Bible may say, they have closed their minds to that. These Jews would rather believe a lie than the truth. They were religious, but they rejected Jesus. The Bible teaches in Second Thessalonians about some who believe a lie in the place of the truth. Second Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 10 speaks about some who receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned, who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness. How important it is that we keep our minds open to the truth, that we observe what it says, and that we obey it with an open heart, with an open mind.

5. I Honor My Father

Indeed, Jesus said, I tell you the truth. You believe me not. Now, reading in verses 48 through 50, the Jews answered, or then answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast the devil. Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my Father, and you do dishonor me. I seek not mine own glory. There is one that seeketh and judgeth. About all the devil has to do when he cannot really answer truth is to stir up emotions, name calling. And that’s what they’re doing here. Oh, you’re just a Samaritan, or you had a devil. The Samaritan were a mixed race, mixed breed, and they were looked down upon by the Jews. They were cast offs.

Conclusion

And you’re either Samaritan and you have a devil. Jesus said, I do not have a demon. In fact, he said, I honor my Father. You dishonor me. By the very fact that you dishonor me, you dishonor the Father. I don’t seek to glorify myself, I glorify God. I ask you, dear loved one, who do you honor? Are you trying to do what you want to do, or do you try to do what God wants you to do? If you honor the Father, you will obey his will. May we all keep that kind of attitude. Until our next study, may the Lord be with and bless you.