Listen to these words of Jesus: If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32).  Freedom...it was a word that my son, grandson, and I heard many times last weekend as we visited the Springfield, IL area and became reacquainted with our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.  He is known as the president who saved the Union and freed the slaves.  One of the Civil War songs was titled, "The Battle Cry of Freedom" implying that freedom was worth fighting for, even dying for. 

But freedom must have a proper foundation if it is to be truly realized.  In our text Jesus said that true freedom could only be experienced in the context of truth.  And truth is the problem today.  We are not sure exactly what truth is anymore.  We have relativized it.  We have individualized it so that what is truth to me does not necessarily mean it is truth for you.  So, how can anyone experience real freedom any more?  Let's see what Jesus continued to teach.

First, Jesus said that we are enslaved to sin.  Verse 34: Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin."  So many people both in the days of Jesus and in our day as well believe that they are the masters.  They could take up sin and lay it down at their will.  People say, "I will do what I like.  I can do what I will with my life."  But, a man who sins does not do what he likes.  He does what sin likes.  He drinks, not because he likes to drink, but because his sinful nature wants to drink.  She uses addictive drugs, not because he likes to use drugs, but because her sinful nature wants to use drugs.  He is unfaithful to his wife, not because he likes illicit sexual relationships, but because his sinful nature wants those relationships.  Friends, every time we yield to sin, we increase its hold over us, thus becoming "slaves to sin."

Second, Jesus said that we can be blinded by our sin.  Look at verse 33: They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.  How can you say that we shall be set free?"  How quickly the Jews had forgotten their history!  They forgot the 400 years they were slaves in Egypt.  They forgot the 70 years they were slaves in Babylon.  They had even forgotten the 70-plus years they had been slaves to Rome.  But I think what I hear them saying is this: "We might have been slaves on the outside, but we were never slaves on the inside."  Sort of like the little girl who, when her father asked her to sit down, said "I may be sitting down on the outside, but I am standing up on the inside."  These people, like us today, need to be convinced that we are sinners.  You and I will never ever convict ourselves of sin.  David lived for months with the knowledge of his sin with Bathsheba.  Achan lived for days with the knowledge of his sin in stealing from Jericho's ruins.  Neither man was convicted of his sin until confronted directly by God. 

But, Jesus teaches a great truth in this text.  Again, let's listen to the words of Jesus: Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (verses 35-36).  Sin is not a necessary part of our being.  Notice the difference between being a child and being a slave.  A child is born into a family and becomes part of it.  He is one with it no matter the distance or the time separating him from other members of the family.  However, slavery is limited in its duration to the amount of debt that had to be worked off.  The sounding of the trumpet on the Day of Jubilee set slaves free.  We do not need to abide in the house of slavery forever.  We are free to go at any time we desire. 

In verse 36 Jesus shared the solution to the sin question.  A slave could never free himself.  His tears could not avail for his release from slavery.  His resolutions would not help.  The slave had to be made free.  That was the purpose of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 - he made the slaves free.  That was the purpose for Christ's coming into the world - He died that we might be set free from our slavery to sin. 

How, then, can we be truly set free?  Let's go back once again to verse 31: If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. It begins when I acknowledge what truth is.  It begins when I understand the truth about my sins and their hold over me.  It begins with my recognizing that only Jesus can deliver me from the slavery to sin.  It begins when I listen carefully to what Jesus says to me.  It continues as I study and drink deeply from His Word, reading and rereading passages until I get to know God and His Son.  And it continues when I choose to obey what I have heard and read. 

Yes, the truth does bring freedom.  I have been set free by Christ Jesus.  Have you?

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: We find freedom when we find God; we lose it when we lose Him.  (Paul Scherer)