“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
In the original building of the CIA, the last part of these verses is etched into the wall.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
This part of our government that is famous for their spies, their agents who hide under fake identities in other countries to gather intelligence do it all in the name of freedom.
Why do we have government agents go undercover in dangerous situations? Why do we have spies in other countries? For that matter, inside our country, why is it necessary to have the freedom to establish and exercise religion, freedom of speech, and the freedom of the press?
Because, in a free society, we need the truth in order to be set free,
And in a world full of liars, that’s difficult.
Liars spend countless energy trying to hide the truth from ever being found out.
Jesus’ Word etched in the wall in the CIA building is taken out of context,
And you will know the truth….
It’s as if the CIA or any human agency can do enough work and gather enough intelligence for us to know the truth and be free.
We ought try, but on our own we will never get the full truth, and thus we will never get full freedom.
It is the part that is connected with the AND that set’s us.
The Lord has not left us on our own.
Jesus in context says it this way: If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Reformation Day should remind us of that AND. We studied a a painting this morning of Christ crucified and Martin Luther pointing to an open Bible.
Our Lord know all things and it is in His Word that He reveals the truth to us.
It is in being His disciples that we know the truth.
Reformation Day is all about the freedom that comes from God’s Word and the freedom that comes from being disciples of the Son of God who loves us so much He became man and shed His blood for us to set us free from sin, death and the devil,
and continues to gives us His Word to keep us in the freeing truth because sin, death, and the devil still try and bind us.
Our text and Reformation Day remind us and help us see that there were and always will be dangerous lies out there that the most dangerous lies are the ones we believe.
In response Jesus Word about the truth setting them free, the Jews answered Him:
We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is that you say “You will become free?”
They believed the lie that they already were free
They believed that they were free because of who they were by blood or by what they doing in obedience to keeping the Law.
Jesus responds, Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
That’s the truth and it is that truth that begins to set you free.
Don’t be bound and lie today trying to cover up the truth about you and your sins.
Don’t be bound by the lie that any of your obedience can make up for your sin, set you free from your sin or make God love you.
Don’t try and spend countless energy trying to prevent the truth of your sins ever from being found out.
You in the presence of the Man who can tell you all things you ever did and thought and said.
Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
Sin is a powerful force, a powerful, binding, enslaving, hurtful force, and it is inside of you.
You know some of the traps, some of the tricks your sinful flesh and the devil play on you.
You know some of the truth of your own sinful flesh and your slavery to sinful passions.
But you don’t know the whole truth. You can’t, because you can deceive yourself too easily.
You need the whole truth revealed to you through God’s Word.
St Paul say about the Law of God’s Word,
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
First, God’s law reveals our lies and the power of sin in our lives and the truth that we will be held accountable, all mouths will be stopped, we will judged and have no excuses to not receive what we deserve.
Left by itself, that is not a freeing truth. It’s the truth, but it is a binding and condemning and a damning truth.
But this first truth is a truth sets you free from thinking you are good enough by what you do.
And it is necessary to understand a second truth, the most important truth that you can know:
21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
Jesus says it this way:
First, whoever sins is a slave to sin,
But then second The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Slaves, employees, workers of all kinds are defined by what they do.
But the churches of the Reformation preache the full truth of that truly sets free.
The truth that the Law and the Prophets bear witness to.
The truth that God reveals to His disciples who abide in His Word.
The truth that freedom comes not from what we do, but what Jesus did and does.
Freedom comes not from what we do, but who we are to God.
We are freed by the blood of the Son, who came not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.
We are freed from the bondage of our sin, because the Son bound Himself up with our sin and broke its chains.
We are freed because we are in the household of God forever, adopted and baptized children of God. Slaves don’t remain forever, but the Son does, as do the other sons and daughters who were born not by the will of man, but by the will of God.
The churches of the Reformation are not here to find you out and give you rules to obey, as if freedom can come from what you do.
We here to preach the Word for you to abide in and as you abide in Christ’s Word,
the truth of your sin that you too often try to keep hidden is brought out,
and then it’s placed on Jesus cross,
So that it cannot bind you anymore.
Because if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.
Martin Luther wrote that to have a god means that you expect all good and help and comfort from it. He said the heart makes both God and an idol.
We are so tempted to seek good and help and comfort in people and things, in money, in our skill, health, power, favor, friendships and honor.
O, how binding those masters are.
But our Lord Jesus knocks those idols away again today, and reveals that truth that sets free that He is our God,
our God is the crucified for us one,
our God gave up His Son unto death, how much more will He graciously give us all things,
how much more can we expect all good to come from Him,
and we can place all our confidence in Him in good and in bad,
In loss and in gain,
In joys and in sorrows,
In sickness and in health,
In life and in death.
Luther was a man who pointed to the truth. In a world full of liars and those deceived by lies, it got him in a lot of trouble. He suffered immensely.
Were they to take our house, goods, honor, child or spouse was not a cliche for Luther. All those were threatened,
though life be wrenched away, they cannot win the day, the kingdom’s our forever.
Luther preached the truth that frees and we thank God for that.
If the Son sets us free, we are free indeed.
We come to church, not to follow some rule of obligation, but to be set free.
We receive Christ’s body and blood, not because we have, but because Jesus through His gift sets us free.
We love and serve our neighbor, not because we think we earn God’s favor, but because God’s favor has set us so free from selfishness that He has moved us to see our neighbor needs our love.
We read our Bibles and hear our Lord’s Word, not as slaves but because we know we are freed through the Truth.
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Let’s etch that, not on our walls, but on our hearts.
For the Son and His Truth has set us free and the Son and His truth keeps us free.
Let us pray:
Gracious Jesus, reveal the truth of our binding sin and darkness and of the lies from the devil so that we might always in truth look to You and Your Word for freedom, and light, and help and peace.