The One Who Was Set Free

This is Christ the King Sermons. Christ the King Sermons is a ministry of Christ the King Presbyterian Church located in Raleigh, North Carolina. CTK is a community rooted in the depth of the gospel, refined by hard conversations, fueled by meaningful relationships, and committed to redemptive work in Raleigh.

We're going to continue in our series of the book of John. We're going to be in chapter eight this morning and we're going to read together verses 31 through 38.

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." 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?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you are free indeed. I know that you are the offspring of Abraham yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father." — John 8:31-38

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let me pray. Jesus, we thank you for your words. We thank you for hard words that expose the very hidden and dark corners of our own hearts. We pray that you would speak to us this morning through your word. May it be your word that is heard this morning and not mine. Would the thoughts of our hearts, meditations of our minds be pleasing in your sight. Amen.

What Is Freedom?

As you may have picked up from a lot of the music and our liturgy this morning, freedom is a big deal. So I want to begin with a question this morning. What is freedom?

A few weeks ago, we celebrated as a country our 240th birthday marking the day that we declared independence from British rule and claimed the right to govern ourselves. That's a pretty big deal. Listen, we know how to throw a good birthday party, right? Fourth of July is fun. Hot dogs, hamburgers, fireworks. It's the one day that you can turn on Toby Keith, Bruce Springsteen, Reba McEntire, Lee Greenwood and also throw in Miley Cyrus to let you know that it is a party in the USA, right?

But the Fourth of July is more than just fun. It's more than just a time to cut loose and blow some stuff up. It's a really symbolic day for our country. It's a day that we said, we don't want a king. We don't need a master. Let's chuck all that tea in the harbor and we will do this on our own. We'll take it from here.

I think we're obsessed with the idea of freedom. Not just as a country but as individuals. And rightly so. Jesus' invitation to the crowd in this passage is an invitation to freedom. Freedom is a good thing. It's something that God wants for his people. But what is freedom? What kind of freedom?

Bono, the lead singer for U2, was recently awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom and he said this in reflection upon receiving that award: "We thought freedom was the ability to do whatever we want. Libertarianism. But real freedom is something deeper. It's liberation from ego, from addiction and from self."

In other words, what if freedom isn't the absence of constraints but it's the presence of the right kind?

Now if you've ever spent time with a three-year-old, you've seen this firsthand, right? Any toddler parents out there? Yeah, toddlers are these tiny, power-hungry freedom monsters. They do not want to be ruled. As soon as they learn that no word, it's over, right? They don't want limits. They want ice cream for dinner and they're not wrong. Bedtime is a nightly hostage negotiation scene. They want to do what they want to do but that doesn't make them free. That makes them exhausted and everybody around them is exhausted too.

So let me ask this again: What is freedom? Is it just doing what you want or is it becoming who you were meant to be?

True Freedom in Dependence

The main idea that I want us to see this morning is that true freedom is found not in independence but in dependence on Jesus.

We've been discipled by our culture to live in a culture of independence, of self-expression, of autonomy. From "you do you" to "live your truth," we're constantly told that the highest good is to be true to ourselves, to define our own identity and answer to no one.

But beneath all of that expressive freedom, what does that produce? We're like the toddlers. We're more anxious, we're more isolated, we're more exhausted than ever. I mean you hear the messages: Taylor tells us that you're on your own kid, Miley can buy herself some flowers, Elsa says let's let go of all the rules and let's be free.

We curate our social media feeds to be giving main character energy. But is all of this really freeing? Jesus says that real freedom isn't found in casting off all of our constraints but it's found in our surrender to him. And so I want to look at this idea in three points this morning: freedom has a master, freedom has a function, and freedom has a future.

Orienting ourselves into this text that we've been working through John this summer—we're doing this series called "The One That Jesus Loved"—as we've been engaging with Jesus through his works and his words to see what sort of hope and message he brings to those who are seeking, who are suffering, who are skeptical.

Freedom Has a Master

Today the first thing that we see in this text, and I think it's a really important thing for us—I don't want us to miss it—go back just a half a verse if you've got a Bible and you can see it even better. Jesus has been doing all of these miracles, he's been doing all of this teaching, having all of these arguments with the Jewish religious leaders and he says right in verse thirty that as he was doing these things, many believed in him. These are people who heard his teaching and thought, "Yeah, this guy might be the real deal," and they believed—at least intellectually.

See, Jesus knows that that kind of belief doesn't go far enough, because belief in Jesus must produce some sort of result, have some sort of effect on our lives. And he says:

If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples. — John 8:31

In other words, belief is the beginning. Belief is the starting point, but abiding is the mark of a true disciple. So there's a difference between believing in Jesus and trusting him enough to stay close, between being impressed by him and being shaped by him.

See, belief might agree with who Jesus is, but abiding faith says, "You're my Lord. I trust you more than I trust myself."

And he says something that gets to the heart of our cultural ache:

You'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free. — John 8:32

That sounds like the freedom we want, right? This is actually where Harvard gets its motto. In fact, there's a bunch of universities all over our country that have these very words engraved on the brick and stone buildings that are over their libraries or their lecture halls, as if all it took to be set free was the comprehension of academic knowledge. If we teach you the truth, then you'll know the truth and you'll be free. That sounds great. Until Jesus defines what we're being set free from, because he's about to tell them, and he's about to tell us something that we don't like to admit.

Freedom always has a master. You're not free just because you like Jesus. You're free when you trust him enough to abide and when you let him confront the things that still own you.

So Jesus is speaking to people who believed in him, right? At least initially. And he invites them to test their belief right away. "You believe? A true disciple will submit himself to my teaching and follow me. Then he'll be set free."

And I love their pushback. I was puzzled by their pushback for a while. They say, "We're the offspring of Abraham. We've never been enslaved to anyone." Now that feels like a really weird response to me because if you know your Bible, if you know your biblical history like these people did, then you would know that these are the people of the exodus that were freed from Egyptian slavery, and they've been oppressed and ruled by the Babylonians, by the Persians, by the Greeks, and now they're living under Roman rule. Yet they say, "We've never been enslaved." But they haven't forgotten their history. They're making a really interesting point because if they were talking about real enslavement, they would have brought up Moses, not Abraham.

See, Moses was the one that led them out of slavery. But to be a son of Abraham was to be a son of the promise, a child of God, child of Yahweh. So the response is actually really beautiful and honest. They're saying, "We serve the mighty God, the living God. Like, even in our present condition, even in our struggle, even if our political situation doesn't align with our personal and cultural values, we still serve him and he'll protect us. That's the nature of our relationship."

Jesus counters their claim and says:

Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. — John 8:34

The question he's poking at is: How well are you serving the living God? Are you an excellent servant? Does your service need some practice?

He says anyone who practices sin. The word "practice" is an interesting one here—it sounds like it's something that you're working at, but the Greek word that's used here is really better translated as "to do" or "to make." In essence, Jesus is saying, "Look at your life. Is there evidence of sin? Do you do sin? Do you ever fall short of God's design for your life? Are you ever less than perfect?"

He's not just talking about exposing frauds who are secretly practicing a secret life of sin, he's making a challenge to all the people there at the most basic level. Are you sinless? Are you able to clean up the mess in your lives yourself? No. We know this is true.

You can judge the health of a tree by its fruit. If you have a healthy apple tree, it's going to grow healthy apples. If the tree is sick, it's not going to produce any fruit. And he's saying what's the fruit in your life? Is it righteousness or is it sinfulness? So he's talking about something that's much deeper than just physical or political oppression. He's talking about spiritual slavery.

And here's the tension. We don't like to think of ourselves as slaves to anything. We want to believe that we're in control. That we are autonomous. That we are untouchable. We are free but Jesus says you do the will of your master. You're not as free as you think you are. You might not wear chains but you obey your impulses. You serve your habits. You respond to your fears. You justify your idols. And over time that repetition becomes your identity. That sin becomes slavery.

Be sure your sin will find you out. — Numbers 32

Ever thought about that one? Do you know what it doesn't say? Be sure the world will find out about your sin. See, there are many, many who are struggling with ongoing or besetting sin, sins that they hate, things that are deep down inside them that they just hate, that they would do anything to be free of. They just can't break the cycle. Feels like you've tried everything. But you just can't shake it. And I know this is true because I've experienced it.

You know, there was a time in my life when I couldn't stand our corporate confession of sin. Because every time it came up, it felt like a reminder. Lord, here I am again. I'm back. It's me, Paul, chief of sinners. Let's do this again. Your sin will always find you because it's like a heat seeking missile. Not because someone catches you in it, right? Sin wants to master you. It wants to control you because sin always is going to leave a mark on you. It's always going to take from you more than it can give.

And so see Jesus is taking aim. He's not taking aim at their religious system. He's not taking aim at their political system. He's not taking aim at their current condition. He's aiming at their hearts. Is your belief in Jesus rooted in an academic knowledge of who he is? Or is it rooted in a theological understanding of who he is? Is your knowledge of Jesus rooted in your family's spoken or lived tradition of who he is? Or is it rooted in the truth? That he knows the depths of your heart, that he invites you to lay down the mangled and twisted mess that is inside of you and repent of your need of a new heart and trust that he's going to be the one to give it.

Freedom Has a Master

And so here's the deeper truth. You'll always have a master. And the question is, is yours killing you or is he setting you free? Are you ruled by lust, by fear, by control, by approval, by success, by security, or are you ruled by the one who calls you his? The one who says this is my beloved.

And notice Jesus doesn't say, if you said yes to the sin question, just try harder and you'll be free. No, he says, if you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples. See, abiding means staying, remaining, rooting yourself in him and who he is. See, freedom begins by staying close to Jesus, not by pulling away and doing your own thing.

Freedom Has a Function

And so if freedom has a master then the next question is, well, what does freedom do? And how does freedom act? And that's our second point that freedom has a function. Our text says, the slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

So follow me here. If sin is indeed your master and you are its slave, then you must serve it. That's the nature of the relationship, right? It's all you can do, right? If you're spending your life trying to clean yourself up then Jesus is saying the best you're going to be is a servant. Servants do the work of their master. And worse yet servants are expendable. Servants are only good as long as it pleases the master. It has no job security, it has no home, it has no family.

But contrast that with what Jesus gives, what Jesus has to offer. He says no, a son stays in the house forever. In other words, you don't just need freedom from sin, you need a new identity. There's a massive difference between being a servant in God's house and being a son, right? Servants live with uncertainty. They're tolerated but not secure. They stay for a while. They can be dismissed at any time. They're constantly wondering am I doing enough? Am I safe here? Am I earning my keep? Isn't that how many of us live out our faith?

We believe we've been let in but we still live like spiritual interns trying to prove our worth, afraid that we're one mistake away from being sent packing. Oh, if only they really knew the true me. But the Son—the Son remains forever. Sons are secure. Sons belong. Sons don't just live in the house. They inherit it.

Jesus says, if the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed, not freeish. Not temporary, not conditional, free indeed. — John 8:36

Because the Son, Jesus himself, he doesn't just get you out of slavery, he brings you into sonship. And this is the same line of teaching that Jesus gives when he teaches that super famous parable from Luke 15—the parable of the two sons. If you've been here for a while, we spent like six weeks back in January studying this, but you know the story? The younger son demands his inheritance early and he runs off. And why? Because he thinks freedom means distance from the father.

But what happens? His freedom turns out to be another form of slavery, right? He ends up broke, starving, ashamed. He starts longing to go back home. "If only I could just be a servant in my father's house," he says. But instead, what does he get? He's welcomed back. He's the long lost son. He's given glory, he's given honor, he's given riches, he's given dignity, he's given a feast of welcome.

And meanwhile, the older son stays home living like a servant, not like a son. He keeps score, he expects a reward, and when grace is extended, he's bitter. Trapped in a prison of his own hypocrisy. Jesus is showing us: you can run away from God or you can stay close to him for the wrong reasons and still not know his heart. But the father's response is the same to both.

You're always with me. All that's mine is yours. — Luke 15

That's sonship. That's the invitation that we are given here.

Living as Sons and Daughters

And so what does it mean to live as a son or a daughter of God? It means permanence. You're not a guest. You're home. It means belonging—you don't have to earn your place anymore, you've been given one. It means security—your future is not in question. It means love. You're not just tolerated, you're cherished. It means freedom, not to do whatever you want, but to finally live as you were created to live.

Jesus doesn't say, "Get your act together." He says, "Come home."

Here's the deeper question for us this morning: Are you more afraid of being exposed or of being loved? Sometimes it feels easier to be a sinner than to be a failure. Jesus already knows the depths of our failures, and he loves us still. He loves us enough to come to us and to invite us to abide with him.

Freedom's Future

And so what now? What does it look like to actually live free?

I know that you're the offspring of Abraham. I know this. And yet you're seeking to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I've seen with my father. You do what you've heard from your father. — John 8:37-38

He's acknowledging: yes, biologically, yes, you're Abraham's descendants. But spiritually, you are totally disconnected from the father. My word, which comes from the father, is finding no place in your heart. You've heard me, but you won't let me in.

It's not enough to believe with your head. True discipleship reshapes your heart. It reshapes your habits. It reshapes your future orientation. And if it hasn't begun to reshape your life and your loves and your priorities, then you're not abiding with Jesus. You're not listening to the father. You're listening to the wrong messages still.

Our actions, however, are always on brand. We're always imitating someone. We all are. Just like children imitate their parents—for better or sometimes for worse, right? Our actions flow from who we trust, who we listen to, who we love, who is shaping us.

And so here's the question: Are you shaped more by the voice of your heavenly father or by the voices of fear, comfort, control, performance, and approval? Will it come out of a trusting and loving relationship with Jesus, or will you continue to trust your own instincts?

Gospel freedom doesn't just forgive you, it forms you. And some of us think freedom is just a get-out-of-jail-free card. But the freedom Jesus gives isn't just a past pardon—it's our present power. He doesn't free you so you can live however you want. He frees you so you can live how you were meant to be.

Freedom is not the absence of obedience. It's obedience reshaped by love.

So when you know you're a son, you're no longer earning or proving. When you're rooted in the father's love, you don't obey to be accepted. You obey because you already are.

Think of a child learning to bowl. Ever take a kid bowling? It's really fun. You should try it if you haven't. But you don't get them the shoes and give them a 14-pound ball and say, "All right, kid, you're free. Go knock yourself out. Have fun out there. Hope you don't break something or the ball doesn't end up in the gutter"—and it probably will.

The bowling alley gives you a choice—you can put bumpers up on the lane whether you're six, seven, or forty-something. They give you those bumpers not to ruin your freedom. You're not limiting the game they get to bowl. You're guiding their game towards joy. It's really hard to keep a bowling ball in the middle of the lane. It bumps around. It's so much fun when it hits a pin, right? God's word is like that. It doesn't fence you in—it frees you from the gutters that you're used to living in. Obedience is not slavery when it's shaped by sonship. It's a joy-filled alignment with who you were made to be.

How Are You Living?

So as we conclude, I want to ask: How did Jesus' words sit with you today?

Jesus said if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. — John 8:31

My parents used to say to me, "Remember who you are and whose you are." Are you living as a servant today? Trying to do the bidding of the king while still on the outside, still trying to prove your worth, still trying to prove you belong? Or are you a son or a daughter—a permanent family member of the king?

Jesus doesn't say if you believe in me once and for all, you're good or square. That's it. That's all I needed. His invitation is for you to come and abide with him, to remain with him, to stay close with him. Because belief in Jesus is not a one-time event. It's a daily renewal. Faith in Jesus is not the end of the story. It's the beginning of a walk.

That walk may have seasons. Some days are full of light and easy scrolling on the path. Other days are filled with confusion and hardships. It feels like maybe you've lost the path altogether. Some days the truth feels like freedom. Other days it feels like a refining fire burning off the things that are killing you. But through it all the call is the same: Stay close to Jesus. Keep trusting his word. Keep walking in his truth.

Freedom Found in His Presence

And if you feel stuck today, if you're weary and you're wounded and you are wondering if you've gone too far, hear this: you haven't out-sinned the grace of Jesus. You have not outpaced his love. Freedom isn't found in your performance. It's found in his presence.

So if your faith feels small today, he says that faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain. If your obedience feels shaky, he wants to redirect you from feeling shame to living with joy. If your heart feels tired and weary and broken, he invites you to come to him. For behold, he is making all things new.

Jesus doesn't say get it together. He says abide in me. Walk with me. Let my word keep working in you. Because the freedom that he offers you is not just a rescue from your past. It's a daily invitation to walk in the truth that you're free. Isn't that great news?

Keep walking, CTK. Keep abiding. Keep following Jesus. Keep him close. Because if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed.

Prayer

Jesus, it's news that's too good to be true, that you would come and set us free. But let the grace of your love work into our hearts. Would it find the dark corners where sin is still lurking? Would you expose in us the truth that you are working to mend all that was broken, that you are undoing the pain of a fallen world, and that you invite us to be your people—your sons and daughters—who live in the house with security and love and permanence, and that we can be truly free. I pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.