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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning was the one heard in your midst from the Holy Gospel of St. John. You may be seated. The two facets to this profound and most beneficial movement within Christendom are these two things. One, the historical context. It’s vital. Why? Because Luther wasn’t the first to try to bring the church back to her roots of Christ and Christ alone. It’s just that everybody prior to Luther were killed by the Roman church or by the emperor. Luther just happened to live at a historical time when there was this kind of freedom allowed in some of the principalities of Germany. Why? He also lived at a time when God allowed a most wonderful invention to be created at that time, known as the printing press.
So the historical aspect of the Reformation is important, but that’s not the most important. The other facet of this most profound and beneficial movement within Christendom is the truth that was brought to the forefront: Jesus Christ alone. That in Him is why there is grace from God that alone causes us to be declared right in God’s sight. Innocent. But that grace is not something that we grasp with our mind. It is beyond comprehension of your mind. It is grasped by the gift that God the Holy Spirit gives you. Faith alone.
Now this faith that grabs this grace that’s revealed in Christ Jesus alone is only shown to you and revealed to you in Scripture alone, the very thing that was read to you in your midst, which is some of the symbolism of why it’s read in your midst. Christ comes into your world to bring Himself to you and to show Himself to be your God and Lord. And this truth about Jesus Christ is just as germane and just as important to our culture today as it was to Luther’s time. But wait, it was as relevant to the Jews who believed in Jesus in the text of this morning’s Scripture.
Notice the Jews to whom Jesus is speaking in this morning’s Gospel reading. If you read that first sentence again, it says, “the Jews who had believed in Him.” But the problem with these believers in Christ Jesus was they didn’t want to have the whole, all of Jesus. From their perspective, they only needed just a little bit of Jesus. Now in America, we’re all about individual freedom. In fact… We hold these truths to be self-evident, that everyone has the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So we’re all about individual freedom, and that’s a gift that all of us are very appreciative of.
But this freedom or this liberty of which Jesus speaks in this morning’s text is not about whether or not you can wear maroon for Aggies or burnt orange for Texas, or blue and red for KU, just saying. This freedom of which Jesus speaks in this text is about freedom from the very thing that binds you and me: sin and its consequences, eternal death in hell, guilt and shame. So when Patrick Henry is quoted as saying, “give me liberty or give me death,” don’t stand on that. Because there are many people in this country that have all kinds of personal freedom and are still bound to sin and death and the devil.
And there are many Christians with whom we will be sharing heaven, living in North Korea, living in Iran and Iraq, living in the persecuted areas of Africa and Asia, who are horribly oppressed and have no personal liberty. And yet they are freer because they have Jesus and His forgiveness, freer than any American who’s not a believer. That’s what this freedom is all about of which Jesus speaks in this text.
Now these Jews who were believers, Jesus said to them that they did not grasp that they still had a sin problem. What did Jesus say? Jesus said, “If you abide in my words, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” What was their response? “We are not slaves to anyone and have never been slaves to anyone.” If you’ve ever dealt with alcoholism in your family or with a loved one and you confront them about their alcoholism and they’re not ready to stop, what do they say about their problem? It’s not their problem. They don’t have a problem. You’ve got the problem. It’s that way with sexual addiction, pornography addiction. It’s that way with drug addiction. It’s that way with all addictions.
So when these Jews respond in the way that they do, who believe in Jesus, they’re saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I have a problem, but I don’t have that bad of a problem. Sound familiar? Jesus reminded them that everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin. If you’re a slave, that implies what is your master? Sin. Now that’s a big pill to swallow. And that’s the problem with the Christian church still to this day. We don’t want all of Jesus; we just want a little Jesus.
But if we don’t want all of Jesus, then we really don’t need all of Jesus, because we’re not all that… If we do not believe that the same desire or drive that causes someone to continue down a self-destructive behavior of an addictive medication or alcohol or viewing of pornography or whatever, if we think that we’re cut from a different bolt of cloth, then we are going to be like these Jews who will think we only need a little Jesus and not all of Jesus. Hence the need for reformation in all of our lives. Always. Not just 500 years ago. Not just 2,000 years ago when Jesus spoke to these people. Always.
Otherwise, we look like the spirituality of the rest of America who claim all kinds of personal freedom but are still bound by the sin of their addiction to sin. Amen. So do you know what they call people who are addicts and are confessing that they are, but they’ve ceased their practice? They’re struggling with it. What do they call themselves? Recovering. Recovering. Alcoholics, recovering drug addicts, recovering pornography viewers, recovering sex addicts, recovering. They never stop denying that that slavery is still a part of their fiber.
So why do you and I deny that within ourselves? We are recovering sinners. We never stop recovering from the sin that is our master. We are always struggling and are slaves to that which dwells within our bosom. This is why Jesus comes to bring freedom. That’s why he said, “if you abide in my word,” not just one time, “hear it, you’re good to go.” If you abide, which implies remain, it implies persevering, it implies continuing.
And note what he says after that: “If you abide in my words, if you abide in my word, you are my disciple forever.” That is not what Jesus said. Look at the text. He said, “You are truly my disciple.” The seed that was sown among the shallow soil, did it spring up? Absolutely. Did it continue and abide and persevere? No, it died, didn’t it? What about that seed that was sown among the thorns? It sprang up and was alive as well. Did it continue? No. The thorns and thistles choked it out and it died. There is a need for you and me to repent. What? Still and always because we are slaves to sin and we’re not free unless Jesus frees us.
So when he says, “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth,” you’ll know the truth about yourself, which isn’t pretty, but you’ll know the truth about the one who frees you from yourself, which is remarkably beautiful. All of him. And what did Jesus say about this truth of this remarkable liberator? The truth will set you free. Free from shame. Free from guilt. Free from lack of hope and giving you hope. Free to stand before God as one forgiven and righteous in His sight and not condemned and damned.
This is the truth that Jesus said, if you continue, persevere, remain in, and continue steadfast in. His desire is for you to remain and continue, but it’s not easy, is it? Hence our great need to repent of our addiction. We are as addicted to sin as an alcoholic to alcohol, as a drug addict to drugs, and so forth. The same heart beats within us. We may be able to cover it up really beautifully, but it’s still not confessed. Unconfessed sin is unforgiven. Not because God can’t forgive it, but because you and I don’t think He needs to.
This is the great gift of freedom that He brings, and He brings alone. There’s no liberty in this world except in Christ Jesus. Hence why people can think that we live such free lives in America and they can still be so bound to sin and die in that sin. And there can be Christians who are the most oppressed, whether it was under Saddam’s regime, whether it was under the Ayatollah’s regime. All of these Christians too have freedom in Christ, though they are the most oppressed.
And what were Jesus’ last words to you? So if the Son sets you free, you’ll be free indeed. In the name of Jesus who frees us, Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
