The sermon 'Truly Set Free' by Jason Dohm explores John 8:31-36, emphasizing Jesus' statement that the truth shall make you free. Dohm begins by providing the context of Jesus' discourse with the Pharisees and a mixed audience, where Jesus asserts His divine authority and challenges the spiritual bondage of His listeners. The sermon outlines two dividing lines: those who believe versus those who reject, and those who claim belief versus those who truly believe, highlighting that true disciples abide in Jesus' word. Dohm uses the parable of the soils to illustrate the importance of continuing in faith, not just an initial profession. He contrasts the state of being a slave to sin with the freedom of being a son, drawing on Paul's writings in Romans and Galatians to underscore that believers are freed from sin's power through Jesus. The sermon concludes with an appeal to recognize spiritual enslavement and embrace the freedom offered by Christ.

Our sermon text for today is John chapter 8 verses 31 through 36, but for context we'll be starting in 21 Then Jesus said to them again I am going away and you will seek me and will die in your sin where I go you cannot come So the Jews said will he kill himself because he says where I go you cannot come? And he said to them, you are from beneath, 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 if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.

Then they said to him, Who are you? And Jesus said to them, Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but he who sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I heard from him. They did not understand that he spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself.

But as my Father taught me, I speak these things. And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him.' As he spoke these words, many believed in him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone, how can you say you will be made free?

Jesus answered them, most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you and praise you for your word. We thank you for this wonderful text that you have us in this morning. Lord God, I pray that our hearts would be prepared, that our ears would be open, that we would hear your word.

For those of us here in this room that believe, pray Lord God that you would show us the sin in our lives, show us where this text can be applied. And for those that do not believe, oh Lord God, pray that there would be some today that would be set free, set free from their slavery to sin, and may serve you the one true living God. I pray that you will bless Mr. Doman his preaching, and it's your son's name we pray. Amen.

The title of the sermon this morning is, Truly Set Free. It's a wonderful text that says that Jesus Christ can set you free. Really the truth before us is that everyone is born in bondage. And that only Jesus Christ can set you free. So really, life and death are set before us today, and we're beckoned to choose life.

Again, this text is part of one continuous exchange, which began in verse 12 when Jesus says this stunning thing, I am the light of the world. And he's in the temple courts, he's speaking to a mixed multitude. When I say a mixed multitude I mean that he's speaking to a great crowd of people, some wanting to hear and to consider the claims that he is making. The Pharisees having already rejected his claims, attacking those claims, being very aggressive throughout John chapter 8. And then last week, our text ended in verse 30 that said that many believed in him.

So you have this mixed audience. Some have received, many believed in him, some have rejected, the Pharisees are attacking his claims. And there's a multitude of people who have come to hear his teaching and to consider the things that he is claiming. It is fitting where we ended last week, which said that many believed in him, because last week Jesus answered their challenge when they asked him, Who are you? Now that can be a good and honest question, but coming from who it's coming from is not an honest question.

Really, My translation of that, who are you, is who in the world do you think you are to speak to us like that. It's definitely a challenge coming from who it's coming from, the Pharisees, and in the context in which it is, which they are attacking his claims. And Jesus says, just what I've been saying from the beginning. That's such a comforting thought to me. That Jesus' testimony about who he is and what he's come to do has been so clear and so consistent over time that he doesn't even have to answer their stupid question.

That he can simply say just what I've been saying and saying and saying since the start of my public ministry. Our faith is on such solid ground. Jesus always claimed to be the fulfillment of God's promises, God's Old Testament promises. He is the anointed one, he is the Messiah, he always claimed to be that and he always claimed that his central work was to come and die on the cross. So when he's challenged as to who in the world he thinks he is to say these things to religious leaders, he can just say just what I've been saying from the beginning.

My testimony about myself and my work has been so clear and so consistent and over this period of time that I don't even need to say it again. As we come to this week's text, let's ask the Lord to help. Oh God, many of us have known such bondage. Can look back now and see the ways, the many ways, and the depth, the many ways in which we were enslaved and the depth of that slavery and having been set free from Christ our hearts are rejoicing in the text. I thank you for the freedom that there is in your son the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that some today who have never really been able to see, either that they are in bondage or the depth of their bondage would see it with a clarity that would cause them to hunger and thirst for freedom today. Be merciful to us. And God I pray that if there are any of your children, ones who have repented and believed the gospel, have been re-entangled in sin today, They would see the freedom that is their birthright and they would thirst for it again. They would walk away from besetting sins and live free. Pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. I'm going to break the text. The scope of our text This morning is John 8, starting in verse 31, going through verse 36. I'd like to look at just John 31 and John 32. So hopefully you have your finger in John 8.

Follow along as I read verses 31 and 32. Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." In these two verses we have the mark of a true disciple. So if you are taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, True fills in the blanks. The mark of a true disciple.

In verse 30, just backing up a verse from last week's text, we read this. As Jesus spoke these words, many believed in him. Many commentators continue to work through chapter 8 in this ongoing exchange between Jesus and particularly the Pharisees. They look at verse 30 that says that many believed in him and they say that because of how the rest of the exchange unfolds that these are fake believers. They are false converts.

It is proven by what follows in the exchange. I don't actually believe that. I see why they say that. I don't actually believe that. We should think of it in this way.

There are two dividing lines in John chapter 8. Actually, there are always two dividing lines. There are always the two dividing lines that we see in John chapter 8. The first dividing line is the most obvious ones. Those who believe and those who reject.

The believers and the unbelievers. That's such a bright line if you ask someone, do you believe in Jesus? It's yes or no. It's pass or fail. It really is an obvious dividing line.

The second dividing line, though, in our text and in life, is less obvious but just as persistently a reality. Those who claim to believe, and those who actually believe. In other words, once we've divided, do you believe in Jesus, yes or no? And we turn our attention to those who have said, Yes I believe in Jesus. There is an additional division between those who say it and those who actually do it.

So When we go to James chapter 2, we see an alive faith and a dead faith. A faith that saves you and brings you into peace with God by being grafted into his son Jesus Christ and having his work be on your behalf. And then an intellectual assent, which is someone who says they agree with the ideas, but their hearts have never been transformed, their affections have never changed at all. And it's a dead faith that doesn't save you. It's the faith of demons who believe that there is a God in tremble.

Or Jesus himself says in Matthew chapter 7, many will say to me in the day of judgment, Lord, they will say, I am On that side of the dividing line, I believe I have a profession of my lips that calls you Lord. I take you as Lord, at least on my lips. But Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 7 that he never knew them. They have lives that are full of lawlessness. The evidence of their lives actually contradicts their profession and proves that their profession is really a lie.

They are not authentic. If you abide in Jesus' Word, if you continue, if you remain, abide is really a good translation. It means You live there. You continue there. You remain there.

You are His disciples indeed. That means you are truly His disciples. You are in reality, not just in the profession of your lips. You are really His disciple. You are his disciple indeed.

The mark of a true disciple is not that you make some sort of start in believing. America in particular is filled with people who have made a start in believing. And you cannot tell ones who have just made a start, but will walk away later, at the time you can't tell the difference. It All looks good to me. So the mark of a true believer is not that you make some sort of start in believing, but that you continue in believing, and then you continue some more in believing, and then you continue some more in believing.

It is where you live. You abide in Jesus' word. Think of the parable of the soils in Matthew chapter 13. Listen to Jesus' explanation of that parable. I love when he gives a parable and then his disciples are forced to ask him what it means because then you get the full explanation of it.

I'm reading the explanation of the parable of the soils. This is Matthew 13, 18-23. Jesus says, Therefore hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

Got it. Never believed. Never claimed to believe. Didn't understand what was being offered. And they stayed on the other side of that dividing line of those who say they believe and those who reject the claims of Jesus.

Now verse 20, But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. So this is the second instance. It looks from the outside like belief. They hear and they receive the word with joy.

They are happy in what they are hearing. They say, I believe. They say, Lord, Lord of Jesus. But when the pressures come that they didn't realize that they were signing up for, and they weren't signing up for it when tribulation and persecution arises because of the world, they stumble. They don't abide in the word.

They don't continue and remain. They don't live there. Verse 22, now, he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." Here's a third instance. It's much like the second. There is an appearance of life.

A plant grows up and you can't distinguish it. God always knows, God can always distinguish it, but you can't. And yet, The cares of the world, the concerns of life, and the deceitfulness of riches, loving the things of the world, ends up choking it out. They don't continue. They don't abide in Jesus' Word.

They don't remain. They don't live there. Now listen to verse 23. But he who received the seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. Thirty-fold is a pretty good harvest, a pretty good return on investment.

That's the low end. Two out of the four instances receive the Word, but they don't abide in the Word. They don't continue in the Word. They don't remain in the Word. They don't live there.

They don't last. This final instance, this person embraces the Word, continues in the Word, and bears fruit. There is evidence that they are real. At the end, there is evidence that they have continued and remained in the Word. There is something to show for it.

There is fruit. So what does it mean to abide in Jesus' word? It means to continue And to heed. Does anyone want to argue that you are abiding in Jesus' word if you don't heed it? Of course not.

That's a ridiculous assumption. I'm abiding in the word of Christ only I don't obey it. What? The New Testament doesn't know about that. A disciple doesn't just learn from his or her master.

A disciple follows his or her master. The whole object of being a disciple is not just a classroom student. Are you with me? A disciple is not just a classroom student who watches the teacher write information on the chalkboard and then and then just stores it in memory to pass the test and move on. A disciple is is one who is learning yes but is following and the object is to become like the Master.

That's the whole point of discipleship. It's not just to learn info. It is to follow the Master, to become like the Master, a true disciple, yes learns, but follows. Now Jesus says something about those who abide in his word. They will know the truth and the truth will make them free, or the truth will set them free.

The good English translations are a mix of the truth will make you free and the truth will set you free. There are two texts that I believe help us understand what it means for the truth to set you free in all of its fullness. They are both from the Gospel of John. The first is John chapter 1 verses 17 and 18. John the Gospel writer in starting out the Gospel of John says this in John 1, 17 and 18, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. So I don't want to re-preach that sermon, but it is a glorious text. The gist of it, to summarize it, it is not talking ugly about Moses and the revelation that came through Moses. It is a contrast.

The Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. It's not to demean Moses and the revelation that came through the Law of Moses. It's to exalt Jesus. The revelation that came through Moses is good. The revelation that came through Jesus Christ is better.

It's more complete. It's more clear. It's the most complete. It's the most clear. Jesus Christ, in what He taught, but even in what you see in His life, is the fullest revelation of God the Father, who has never been seen, that you will ever get.

When you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. He is going to say that in a later text. He is the ultimate revelation of God. The second is John 14 verse 6. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus doesn't just tell the truth, Jesus is the truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Not a source of truth, but the truth. He is the truth.

In many ways it is saying the same thing as John the Gospel writer is saying in John 1 and what I just quoted. So Jesus is the ultimate revelation about God. He is the truth. That means that freedom is in Jesus and only in Jesus that our text today is teaching that. There is only one way to be free.

We are all born slaves and there is only one way on God's green earth to be free. Jesus is that way. To be free. And Jesus is that way. We have to be made free.

We have to be set free. There is no son of Adam that is born free. To summarize this section, Jesus is saying that clinging to the truth that liberates, as opposed to claiming belief only to abandon it later, is the evidence that you are really a disciple, that you are a disciple indeed. I'm going to say that again. Jesus is saying that clinging to the truth that liberates, and He says, I not only say that truth, I am that truth.

Clinging to the truth that liberates, as opposed to only claiming belief and then abandoning it later. Clinging to it, continuing in it, living there, is the evidence that you're really a disciple. And not just one saying, Lord Lord, but your life is full of lawlessness and he never knew you. And this is rooted in Jesus' defining work. What's Jesus' defining work from last week?

The cross. Not you figuring out a way to persevere as the root. No! This is not an exaltation of our staying power. Heaven help us if we come away from what Jesus is saying is, I gotta hang in there.

So I'll prove I'm really a disciple. The roots of this is not an exaltation of your personal staying power. The root of this is Jesus' defining work. Remember what Jesus said last week in Verse 28, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He. How do you know that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promises?

You look at the cross. That's what God promised He would do for His people. He would send a Redeemer to bleed for them and die for them. That's what Isaiah 53 is all about. This is not rooted in my staying power.

This is rooted in Jesus' defining work. That is Him bleeding and dying for sinners. He is saying here that persevering faith is real faith. And real faith lays hold of Jesus' sacrifice. Fake faith doesn't touch Jesus' sacrifice.

For those who just have an intellectual ascent to a few ideas from the Bible that doesn't connect you unbreakably from Jesus' work on the cross. Faith that endures is the evidence that you are unbreakably connected to Jesus' work on the cross. It's that work that frees you from God's anger against your sin. And only that work. Are you still back in John chapter 8?

Let's look at verses 33-35. Follow along as I read verses 33-35. They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone how can you say you will be made free Jesus answered them most assuredly I say to you whoever commits sin is a slave of sin And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. In these three verses we have the difference between A slave and a son. Jesus gives us a contrast.

A slave is one thing and a son is something entirely different. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, slave fills in the blank. The difference between a slave and a son. His listeners understand the implication of what he is saying. He is saying that they are starting from a point of slavery and bondage and need to be made free.

They get it. Some of them don't like it. They said, we have never been in bondage to anyone. We're Abraham's children. It is possible that these Jews are in total denial of reality.

Unbelief does make you stupid. I don't just mean that as an insult. It is an insult, but I don't just mean it that way. Unbelief is stupefying. Unbelief, There is a darkening that happens to the conscience with persistent unbelief.

It makes you stupider, and stupider, and stupider. It has a stupefying effect. When you reject the Gospel, when it is offered to you, and you stiff arm it again, and again, and again, you are becoming hardened against the gospel. It is making you blinder and blinder and blinder and less sensitive and less sensitive and duller to spiritual realities so that no one can even talk to you about spiritual things before and you have any idea what they're talking about. The Bible teaches that.

This could be that on display. Abraham's descendants have been enslaved by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Syrians, from time to time the Philistines, and at the present time, at the time when Jesus is talking to these people, the Romans. So I don't think that's it. I don't think they're in total denial of reality. I think it's worse than that.

I think that they actually understand what Jesus is really saying. That they are in spiritual bondage and that they are denying that charge. That's what I think is happening in this text. They understand, they get it. Jesus is saying you are in spiritual bondage and they say no we're not in spiritual bondage.

Consider what Jesus says to very similar Jews in Matthew 8 verses 11 and 12. This is a really interesting text. Matthew chapter 8 verses 11 and 12. Jesus says, I say to you that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." What's he saying here?

He's talking about you and me I hope. People from east and west, outside of the genealogical family tree of Abraham, coming to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom. He's talking about the eternal kingdom. He's talking about the greater country that real believers are citizens of. But he says that the sons of the kingdom, he can't be talking about the same kingdom, it's got to be a different kingdom, the sons of the kingdom will be cast out and they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Gentiles are going to be brought in and They are going to sit down from Abraham. They say Abraham is our father. Jesus addresses that in Matthew chapter 8. The Gentiles are going to come sit down with your father while you are cast out. Good Jews believed they were free from spiritual bondage by virtue of God's covenant promises to Abraham.

No good Jew would think otherwise. A good Jew would never concede to being in spiritual bondage. Because they assumed that the covenant promises God made to Abraham, whatever the political circumstances God might impose on the nation as discipline for sin, kept them in relationship with God. Are you following what I'm saying? They're saying, even when we were politically in bondage in Egypt we were spiritually free because of the covenant promises God made to Abraham.

When we went in bondage to the Assyrians, when We went in bondage to the Assyrians, we went in bondage to the Babylonians, to the Persians, to the Syrians, to the Philistines, and now to the Romans, though we were politically in bondage, we were spiritually free because of the covenant promises made to our father Abraham. Yes, God saw our sin and rebellion and he disciplined us by putting us into political bondage, but that didn't break God's covenant promises and we were spiritually free the whole time. So they believed they could be in subjection to a political power, but were still sons of the kingdom. And Jesus says, No. He says they are in spiritual bondage and need to be set free.

Need to be made free. There are two passages written by the Apostle Paul which throw light on this. I'm so grateful for these two passages. Turn to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6, I'm going to read verse 6 just to set the stage because Paul sets the stage in Romans 6 verse 6.

And then I'm going to skip to 12 and read through 23. I'll let you know when I'm doing that so you'll be able to follow along. In Romans chapter 6 Verse 6, the Apostle Paul is talking about believers. Follow along, Romans 6 verse 6. Knowing this, that our old man, the old man of the believer, was crucified with him, with Jesus, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Paul is saying this is the reality in the life of a believer, that you died with him so you don't have to be a slave to sin, so that you are not a slave to sin. Now picking up in verse 12, Paul says this is what should be a result of that truth. Verse 12, Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace." What then?

Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey. Whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness. If I could put it in a modern vernacular, the proof is in the pudding.

The proof of who you are is who you are obeying. You're a slave to the one you're obeying. You might profess one thing, but the proof is in the pudding. You might say, Jesus is my master, but if you are obeying another master, you are the slave of the one you are obeying. Continuing verse 17.

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered." He's saying the truth set you free. You obeyed that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. The truth set you free, Christian. Verse 18. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of a lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you then have in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thank you Paul for your sermon on John chapter 8 that is really helpful Paul is saying we are all slaves You don't get a choice about that. You're going to be a slave one way or the other. Paul and Peter, how do they introduce themselves in their letters?

Overwhelmingly, again and again, repeatedly, Peter, a bond servant of Jesus Christ. Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ. God's servant of Jesus Christ. It's the same Greek word as slavery to sin, a slave of sin in Romans chapter 6. You're either a slave of sin or a slave of Jesus.

You don't get to pick not being a slave. You are either a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ pursuing righteousness, or You are a slave of the devil pursuing sin, serving your lusts, serving your natural inclinations. You will be a slave. The slaves of Jesus are so happy. The slaves of sin get ground into dust.

Over time serving sin, slavishly following your natural inclinations will wear you out and leave you despondent, in despair, exhausted and in despair. The servants of Jesus know nothing of that. The servants of Jesus know of mercies that are new every morning. They wake up every morning having New strength, having a reservoir of mercies to draw from again today. You serve Pharaoh, he demands more bricks and gives you less hay.

Pharaoh is just a figure, a picture of the devil in serving the devil. The slaves of Jesus are happier than the sons of any other kingdom. And by the way, The slaves of Jesus are also sons in the house. In Jesus' words in John chapter 8, back to our text, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. ESV renders it a little differently.

Whoever practices sin. The reason the ESV renders it that way is because the verb tense is present continuous. Meaning, it's not the commission of one sin makes you the slave of a sin. Otherwise we would all just forever be a slave to sin, because we are committing sin. But the tense is present continuous, so the ESV says we think we should render it this way, whoever practices sin, what categorizes your life?

What describes your life? What are the patterns of your life? Are you serving Jesus or are you serving sin, slavishly? So the contrast is those who abide in Jesus' word, those who continue in Jesus' word, those who remain in Jesus' word. Jesus' word is where they live or do you abide in sin?

Do you continue in sin? Do you remain in sin, as sin where you live? That's the contrast in our text. That's what Jesus is getting at in saying these things in the way that He is saying them. You will be someone's slave now, the question is, whose slave are you?

And the proof is in the pudding. Your life tells the real tale. The second text which throws light on this also by the Apostle Paul is Galatians 4. Turn to Galatians 4. Galatians 4.

This is wonderful. I actually think, in Galatians 4, Paul talks about Hagar, Abraham's slave wife, and Sarah, Abraham's free wife, and their children, and how that plays out in Genesis. And he says all of that is symbolic. I think Jesus in John chapter 8 is directly referencing this. But whether he is or isn't, it is an example of how what Jesus in John chapter 8 plays out.

So it doesn't really matter whether I'm right or not. After thinking about this and looking at it, I really think Jesus intends for his Jewish listeners to make this connection. Galatians chapter 4, I'll be reading 21-31. Galatians 4, starting in 21, the Apostle Paul writes, Tell me you who desire to be under the law, Do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman.

But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise. Which things are symbolic?" He's saying there's something way deeper than just what you see on the surface with Abraham and Hagar and Sarah and their sons. That They actually picture spiritual realities. For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem which is now and is in bondage with her children.

Oh, fighting words. He's saying you say you are children of Abraham and you consider yourselves the descendants of Abraham through Isaac but I say to you that you are actually the spiritual descendants of Ishmael the son of the slave." That's what he's saying. He's saying it's Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the heir of Hagar and Ishmael. That's what he's just said.

Verse 26. But the Jerusalem Above is free, which is the mother of us all." He's speaking of believers. For it is written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now." So he's pointing back to Ishmael mocking and scorning Isaac, the older son of the slave, mocking the younger son of promise, Sarah's son. And he's saying, that's why the Jews are persecuting us. It's just that the picture, the Old Testament picture is just playing itself out and being fulfilled in how the Jews are treating us now. Verse 30, Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.

So then, brethren, we who are not of the bondwoman, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Ishmael was a son of Abraham but he was the son of flesh and blood not the son of promise. In the end he was only a son of a slave, Hagar, and they were both cast out. Isn't that what happens in the story? They are cast out of the home.

Listen to what Jesus says in our text in John 8.35. And a slave does not abide in the house forever. Ishmael didn't abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Isaac was heir of the house. Isaac had a permanent right to a place in that home that Ishmael never had.

Verse 36. Verse 36. John 8. 36. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Now it's not a son who has a permanent right to be a member of the home, but now it's the Son who makes you really free. In this verse we have freedom from the Son. Freedom that comes from the Son. I don't mean to be free from the Son like you're disconnected from Jesus. I mean freedom that flows from the Lord Jesus Christ.

So if you are filling in blanks on the handout, from is in the blank, it isn't enough to say, freedom in the sun. That is true, we are free in Jesus Christ, but our freedom flows from Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaac. Jesus is the Son of Promise. Jesus is the heir with the full rights of authority to free slaves and bring you into the household.

Jesus as heir of the house can change your status. As the heir, he has the God God-given right to change your status from slave to free, from slave to son. Turn to Luke 14. This is our last stop. Luke 14.

Excuse me. Luke 4. Luke 4. There are a handful of places in scripture that every time I encounter them I say, I wish I had been there for that. There are things that would have been wonderful to be present for are beyond number.

But there's a few that you just say, oh to be a fly on the wall when that happened. This is one of them for me. This is where Jesus, in his hometown, stands up in the synagogue and finds the place in Isaiah that he's fulfilling and he reads it and sits down and everyone's looking at him and he says, today this is fulfilled in your presence. Luke chapter 4 verses 16 through 21. Luke 4 beginning in 16.

So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it is written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him and He began to say to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. He is quoting Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2. They hand him the scroll of Isaiah and he finds Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2 and he reads it and he is the fulfillment of it. Jesus was anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to proclaim liberty to the captives, to set at liberty all who are oppressed. Or as Paul says in Ephesians 4 verse 8, he led captivity captive.

That's just a quote actually of Psalm 68. So Paul does what Jesus did. In Luke chapter 4, Jesus reaches into Isaiah and reads that and says he is the fulfillment of that. Paul does the same thing in Ephesians chapter 4. He reaches into Psalm 68 verse 18, where it says that he led captivity captive, and says Jesus is the fulfillment of that.

What does it mean that he led captivity captive? By his death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus enslaved slavery to sin. By his death and resurrection, he enslaved slavery to sin. He just took it captive. He took authority over it.

He imprisoned slavery to sin for his people. So if the Son sets you free from the guilt of sin, you are really free. You were guilty, you did the sins, but now the sun made you free so you are innocent. Because you get his innocence. And if the sun sets you free from the penalty of sin, you are really free.

Wages of sin is death. That was the pay that you had for your rebellion to God. But now you get the full unmeasured favor of God that he deserved. So if the Son sets you free from the power of sin, you are really free before Jesus sets you free. You think you pick and choose sin, but the truth is, you don't have any choice.

You have to slavishly follow the inclinations of your nature. Only Christians are free to sin or not sin. Unbelievers think they're free. I remember A famous football player, Lawrence Taylor, once famously said, I'm not an addict, I can quit cocaine anytime I want to. All addicts think that.

And then they go for their next fix. Thinking that. Not thinking they're really an addict. I can quit any time I want. I just don't want.

That's the nature of it. That's why you can't, because you don't want to. That is the nature of having a corrupt nature. Is that the nature of your slavery is it's voluntary slavery. It's the worst kind of slavery.

It's a slavery You don't even see in the text, they don't even see their slavery. They deny the charges. We're not in bondage. We're spiritually free. It's like an addict.

I'm not addicted. If the sun sets you free from the power of sin, you're really free. You can live free. You can live free. Sin is such a tyrant.

It's such a terrible master. You can be free from its power, not just its penalty. It is glorious to preach a gospel of freedom from the penalty of sin. Don't get me wrong, I love it. I love hearing it, I love preaching it.

We should never stop there. It's not just that you're declared innocent when you're really guilty of the sins because of Jesus and His death on the cross and His blood that washes away the stain. It's that you don't have to serve that sin anymore also. That is also true. He bought that for you on the cross also.

Not just heaven, but freedom from having to slavishly chase every inclination. I have two applications. They are really just urgent appeals to you. Number one, The very worst kind of slavery is the kind which is blind to its own enslavement. That is the kind of slavery that is on the table in John chapter 8 with these Jews.

We are descendants of Abraham. We've never been in bondage to anyone. They believed that covenant promises to a forefather meant that they were right with God and Jesus says no. They couldn't see it. The very worst kind of slavery is the kind which is blind to its own enslavement.

At least people who are slaves and can see the chains hunger for freedom. It's the worst kind of slavery when you don't even have an appetite to be free. You're so tangled up you can't even see it and don't have any desire to be free. If that's you, I pray that God would show you the chains that you would feel the oppressive weight of this bondage. So that you would run to Christ and be free.

He's saying, I am the source of freedom. My defining work, my death on the cross will make any sinner free. If you repent and believe the gospel. Be very careful If because you have a believing descendant you think that puts you in some sort of a special status. It does not.

Our text today says it does not make you right with God. Covenant relationship with your parents does not make you right with God. You are a slave to sin until the Son has set you free. You free. Number two, if you are free, live free.

If you are free, live free. Listen to Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. Therefore we also, Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. I understand what the writer of Hebrews is saying there.

This is the beginning of chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. It means that it comes right after Hebrews chapter 11, which is a long list of people who had saving faith. So chapter 12 says, Since you are in the company of all those who have saving faith, lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us. This is to believers.

Sin can weigh down believers. Sin can re-entangle believers. Look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You are running a marathon and sin will be looking to re-entangle you the whole long race. If you are free, live free.

It's your birthright. Maybe someone is here and is a real believer, but there is a besetting sin. And you are serving it Just like you were out of Christ, slavishly serving in inclination that dishonors the Lord. Let this text drive you to look to the author and finisher of our faith and be free again. Remember what it was like to be free?

Remember what it was like to be free? Remember what it was like to be free and clean. God, thank you for the beauty of your word. Help us Lord, help us to follow you. Not just to learn of you, yes teach us God, but help us to follow you also, to be disciples whose object is to become like you.

We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.