Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 15; The Truth will set you Free
Transcript
- John Smithson: Welcome to episode 15 of Finding Jesus again. I'm so glad you have joined us, end of our third week together, and I hope that you've been blessed by this. Today we're going to pick up chapter 8, verse 21. We talked about the woman who was thrown at the feet of Jesus. We talked about how they dropped their stones and walked away. And then Jesus ⁓ continues his teaching and that kind of being the backdrop of this of of his teaching here. Then he said again to them, I'm going away. And you will look for me, and will die in your sin, where I am going, you cannot come. So the Jews were saying, Surely he will not kill himself, will he? Since he says, Where am I going, you cannot come? And he was saying to them, You are from below, I am from above, you are of this world, I am not of this world. And he and he was saying to him, You are from below, I am from above, you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am, You will die in your sins. Then they were saying to him, Who are you? Jesus said to him to them, What have I been saying to you from the beginning? Have many things to say in a judge regarding you, but he who has sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world. They did not realize that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am and I do nothing on my own, but I say these things as the Father instructed me, and he who sent me is with me, He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. As he said these things, many came to believe him. So Jesus again is reiterating to them if they don't believe in him, that they're going to die in their sins. Jesus did not come to start a new religion. He didn't come to start Christianity, as maybe some believe. He didn't found Christianity. But he came and his message was believe in me. That's his message. He told them that the message that he's telling them is you've got to believe in me. Believe in who I say I am. And they're saying, Well, who do you say that you are? And he said, Listen, I've been telling you from the beginning, I've been telling you who I am. If you want to hear it, you're going to hear it. If you want to receive it, you're going to receive it. He goes on to say that you don't believe me now, but you will believe me. When you lift me up, when I'm raised up, and he's talking about his crucifixion, you will believe. When you lift me up, then you'll know that I do nothing on my own. Well let's read on verse thirty one. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, If you continue in my word, then you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Then he answered him, We are Abraham's descendants and have never never been enslaved to anyone. How is it this yet you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. Verse thirty five Now the slave does not remain in the house forever, the son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you are seeking to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak of the things which I have seen with my father, therefore you also do the things which you have heard from your father. Jesus was saying to them, If you continue in my word, and you are truly my disciples, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. What is the truth? What's the truth? The truth here is that Jesus is the Messiah and that Jesus is a Son of God. That's the truth he's speaking of here. If you will know the truth that I am who I say I am, then that truth will set you free. And they said, We're not slaves to anybody. What do you mean it'll set us free? And he said, Anybody who sins is a slave to sin. So any any sin that you're committing, you're a slave to that sin. Only the Son of God can set you free. Only Believing in him and who he is can set you free. Him whom the Son has set free is free indeed. So whatever you're going through, whatever sin that you struggle with, and there's a lot of sins that we that we struggle with. You know, there's there's things in our lives that we struggle with. And you know what those things are. These are things that have a hold on you. You're a slave to them. Well, know this truth that if you believe in him, that truth of who he is will set you free from that sin. Verse thirty nine They answered unto him and said, Abraham is our father, Jesus said, If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I have heard from God, this Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father. They said to him, We're not born as result of sexual immorality. We have one father, God. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me, for I have come forth from God and am here and For I am not even come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I'm saying? It is because you cannot listen to my word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of all lies. But because I say the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe in me? The one who is of God hears the words of God, for this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God. And so he tells them here, he says, Listen, you are of your father the devil, because you want to do the desires of your father. He says, You want to murder me? Well, your father, the devil, was a murderer. You want to believe lies? Well, your father, the devil, is a liar. He tells them that that they're living out the nature of their father. The devil is the father of all lies. The devil is the father of all murder. The devil is the father of all sin. And when we live according to his nature, when we and when we live in sin and we reject Christ, we are living according to our father's nature, and our father's nature is the one that controls us. But the truth will set you free. Meaning that when you receive Christ, you will receive a new nature, and you will walk in the light, walking after Christ, walking in the light, and walking away or out of the darkness. The Jews answered and said to him, verse forty eight, Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and you have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon. On the contrary, I honor my father and you dishonor me. They're accusing him of being demon possessed. They're saying that you're saying these things Because you're demon possessed. That they didn't understand what he was saying, and so they just accused him of being demon possessed. Verse fifty, but I'm not seeking my glory, Jesus says. There's one who seeks it and judges. Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone follows my word, he will never see death. The Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets as well, and yet you say if anyone follows my word, he will never taste of death. You are not greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? The prophets died too, whom whom do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. And you have not come to know him, but I know him. And if I say that I do not know him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know him and I follow his word. Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see my day, and he saw it and rejoiced. So the Jews said to him, You are not yet fifty years old, and yet you have seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple grounds. So again, he i is very passionately and forcefully telling them who he is. He's not mincing words here. He's telling them who he is, and they're not receiving it. To the point here at the end, you know, they they're accusing him of being demon possessed, they're even picking up stones. Getting ready to stone him, to kill him because of what he is saying, because he is saying that he is a son of God. Here at the end he says he I am God. He said, Truly, truly I say to you before Abraham was, I am. See, I've been there, I was there, I knew Abraham, I was there, I created everything, I created Abraham. And he also says back I'm gonna back up a little bit because I want to kind of end with this word here. He says that anyone follows my word, he will never taste death. What is what does that mean? Because you know, we're all gonna die. We're all gonna die. But the fact of the matter is is that this flesh will die, but the spirit will live forever. And if we will believe in his words, and his words are who he is. That's what his words are. If we believe in his words, if we believe in who he is, we will never taste spiritual death, meaning that we will spend an eternity with him. I know I've said this a few times, but I just really want to reiterate it because this whole journey is. Is about finding Jesus again. Everything that we've read so far enforces the fact that believing in him is what matters the most. We haven't got to the point where it talks about how you should live and and and and the rules that you gotta follow. None of those things have even come into play. Jesus says, believe in me and follow me. Believe in me and live in my light. Believe in me and receive me. Believe who I am and follow after me. And that is what we're called to do. That is who we're called to be. So maybe just push everything else aside today. Maybe don't strive to to follow any rules or don't strive to follow any religion. Don't feel guilty by anything that anybody has told you, any man made rules or whatever. Don't just put all that aside. Put all the religious stuff aside. Anything else that you've ever heard, just shove it all aside for a minute and today just believe in Jesus and follow after him. Just follow and live in the light. Let that be your goal today. Believe and receive. And there's something that changes in you when you believe and receive. There's something that changes in you like he like he spoke to the woman who was thrown down at his feet, said go and sin no more. It wasn't because he was telling her it wasn't because he was condemning her and saying, Look, your sin got you here, now go and sin no more and things will be better. He wasn't saying that. He was saying, Look, I've had mercy on you. No one condemns you. I don't condemn you. You're better than this. You're transformed. Live differently. There's something life changing about the fact to realize that hey, you know what I can live better. I can be better. I don't have to be bogged down with with guilt, condemnation, or any of those things because no one condemns me. God doesn't condemn me. I can live free. And he whom the Son has set free is free indeed. If I believe in Jesus and I believe in who he is. I believe that he has come into this world to say that I can live free. And today, I'm going to live free. Thank you for following this podcast and thank you for ⁓ watching this episode of Finding Jesus Again. I hope that you will like and share this that maybe they can follow on this journey too. By all means, please post your questions. Let us know if you're getting things out of this that maybe we're not bringing out. We'll see you next week.