Sermon Audio File: John 8:31-41
Going Deeper: Study Guide
The Marks Of A True Disciple
On CBS way back when, back in the 50’s and 60’s there was a show that aired on TV named ‘To Tell the Truth.’ Maybe some of you remember watching that show. Here is a description of the show from a web site:
"Contestants on To Tell the Truth were introduced in threes. All of them purported to be the same individual. Following the introduction, emcee Bud Collyer would read an affidavit describing the life, activities, and/or unique experiences of the person who all the contestants claimed to be. The panel of four celebrity guests then asked questions of the three contestants, trying to determine which one was telling the truth and which two were lying. Following the question session, each panelist had to vote for whom he thought was really the person described in the affidavit. Wrong guesses, by the panelists, were worth money to all three contestants, who split the winnings equally. The famous closing line for each round was: "Will the real ______ please stand up!"
As we left off on our last sermon in at chapter 8, ending in verse 30 we found this statement - Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him. So we discovered the transforming power of God’s Word - that as Jesus spoke the truth to the people, the Holy Spirit was working in their midst. Some of those in the crowd were saved from their sin, yet as we find out today that some of these people who believed in Jesus, only possessed a shallow commitment of faith, which would be put under the gun of examination and questioning.
Today Jesus in a sense is calling forth those who were true disciples….Will the real disciple please stand up. In real life many profess to be a disciple of Christ, but inevitably there will always be some frauds…there will always be those who tell the truth and there are those who are lying or sincerely in error. As we proceed into the closing verses of chapter 8 we find The Marks Of A True Disciple. In our section today we can identify at least three marks of a true disciple, these being:
A True Disciple Perseveres In The Truth (vv. 31-32)
A True Disciple Acknowledges Sin’ Bondage (vv. 33-36)
A True Disciple Acts Upon God’s Word In Faith (vv.37-41)
This is what our text tells us: 31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, [then] you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, `You will become free'?" 34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 "The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 "I speak the things which I have seen with [My] Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from [your] father." 39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus ^said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. 40 "But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. 41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God."
1. A True Disciple Perseveres In The Truth (vv. 31-32)
We have had a much later spring in Vancouver this year, but one thing I still find quite amazing, is that spring actually begins in the winter, with the cherry blossoms. When we look at the plant world we realize that most of our vegetation around us grows and perseveres year after year. For example a tree never stays stagnant. From the moment it is hatched as from a seedling it grows….spring, summer, fall, and winter. Some of the tallest trees are found in BC. And when they mature they can be several hundred feet tall. One thing we can observe from even mature trees is that they continue to grow. Perhaps they don’t grow taller but they do produce more branches, and leaves. In a sense we can say that they persevere in growth until they are either chopped down, which is a real possibility in BC, or they just die.
This process of growth and perseverance applies to the true disciple. If there is no perseverance in the truth, in the disciple we have to really be suspect of their salvation. Jesus was suspect of the Jews for this reason.
v.31 - Jesus speaks to those Jews who had believed Him and gives them a warning. The warning encompasses what true discipleship is - that those who profess Christ must not just talk the talk but walk the walk. In other words Jesus’ disciples - that is - true Christians don’t merely just say that they are Christians without any accompanying demonstration of their profession. True Christians continue in Jesus’ word….they live it out, they persevere in the faith and make it to the finish line. I would venture to say that over one’s life time, whether a Christian or not - you have probably seen many professed Christians - just dash out of the starting gate - with great form, a burst of energy, optimism - but what happens?
Somewhere down the track they just colapse, or simply get off the course, run out of steam….and never complete it. This is where AT Robertson says ‘future loyalty will prove the reality of present profession.’ The true test of discipleship will come on the journey of life, demonstrated by whether we can continue in the Word of God or not - proving if our claim to Christ is genuine or counterfeit.
v.32 - Those who persevere are the ones that Jesus says - will know the truth, and WHAT? ….the truth will make you free. Those who have a knowledge of the truth no matter how elementary because many of those present before Jesus had just put their faith in Him - they would certainly know the impact of the truth - and will be given over time a deepening understanding of it. You could perhaps say that these people didn’t even make into pre-school yet, but they were enrolled.
A person who hears the Gospel and responds to the saving message of Jesus Christ will inevitably need to progress deeper in the knowledge of Christ and His Word. The person who meets Jesus whether for the first time, or the thousandth time, must get to know Him better to have a deep and real relationship with Him. Well what can make this happen? It is not really what, but Who. All of this is made possible by the working of the Holy Spirit changing us from within - for the true disciple perseveres in the truth because a true disciple is indwelt with the resident teacher of truth - the Holy Spirit.
It is the Gospel that sets us free (Gospel - meaning Good News - that good news being that Jesus Christ came to save the sinner from sin). Before a person is saved we are in bondage to our sin nature and eternal death…living under the yoke of Satan. But it is through the Gospel where we find rest from sins sting and through faith in Christ are able to live in obedience to Christ and His righteous ways. We are no longer slaves of sin. We will grow in our freedom in Christ.
The mark of a true disciple is perseverance in the truth. This is what causes us to grow. It is great that we all start off well, but in order to run the race to continue on the tightrope of faith, sometimes it seems overwhelming. Yet we do not need to worry as a true disciple, whether we have enough resources for spiritual growth … because we do. We have the truth of God’s Word. God’s divine source of spiritual power has provided everything we need for life and godliness through Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:3). In fact spiritual growth and perseverance are commanded by God - 2 Peter closes off with this command - but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him [be] the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (2 Pet. 3:18).
So the next time you are worn out and parched by the race, take a break - by refreshing and recharging your batteries with the spiritual thirst quencher - the Bible. The Holy Spirit works when we study the Word of God - and that is what is meant by being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians. When we are immersed in the Word of God the Holy Spirit helps our minds with unlearning what is unBiblical and displeasing to God, and then learning what is the truth. Persevering in the truth will help you to walk in fellowship with Christ. Things like our ignorance, superstitions, vocabulary, thoughts, actions - will all be changed as we let Jesus the Light of the world shine on us. This small seed of faith that has germinated, will through Christ, take full root, thrive, and persevere.
The second mark of a true disciple is that….
2. A True Disciple Acknowledges Sin’ Bondage (vv. 33-36)
If we were to do a survey today, by going over to Granville Street, and we asked 50 people if they thought that they lived in freedom - what do you think the response would be? I think that you would probably guess that there would be an overwhelming response that - yes we are free. Now if you were to ask these people if they thought that being a Christian was to live in freedom the responses would vary. I would think that most people who were not Christians would think that being a Christian was restricting. They would think that we Christians live in bondage.
In the unbelievers mind there are at least ten restrictions - the ten commandments - the thou shall nots of the Bible. In addition Christians should not smoke, get drunk, gamble, lie, cheat….and the list goes on. For the unbeliever it is all about personal rights and freedoms. The mindset is - you can’t do that to me…I can do that if I want…in the 60’s it was love, pot, peace and tolerance, in the 70’s it was I am woman, in the 80’s it Macho, Macho man, in the 90’s it was the me generation, in our day it is post modernism (emergent church) - we are all free to live together and have our own flavour of truth.
May I suggest to you, today… that this is not freedom. In fact God calls these people prisoners…slaves….slaves to sin…and their task master is Satan. They are in bondage to sin. They are indebted to God because of their sin that has amassed. These people are living in bondage to their debt of sin - awaiting to pay it off with their souls by being credited with eternal death, in the unyielding cesspool of hell forever. We see these same kinds of attitudes in the people of Jesus’ time.
v.33 - Once again we see the blind ignorance of the Jews that were before Jesus. They object to what Jesus implied when He said that they would be set free - for in their minds they have never yet been enslaved to anyone - after all they believed and claimed the rights of being the physical descendants of, the so called, holy people of the one true God. So they say to Jesus - we are Abraham’s descendants - implying that they had a corner on being the children of God, and all the blessing associated with this was their right - including the right of freedom.
Yes this may be true about the right to freedom in some sense, but they were also lying to Jesus. We know that over the course of the people’s history they had many times become enslaved by other foreign countries…the Egyptians and the Babylonians, just to name 2 ….even at this present time they were under the oppression of the Romans.
But when Jesus spoke about being set free, He spoke of freedom from a spiritual perspective. So we might ask who then are the spiritual descendants of Abraham? God’s view of who the real descendants of Abraham are is set out in Romans 9:6-8 it states ‘…For they are not all Israel who are [descended] from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: "through Isaac your descendants will be named." 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
Freedom from their bondage to sins, would only come through His saving grace evidenced by being born again - born from above to be God’s children…. the children of promise. If this takes place then the people would indeed be the spiritual inheritors of the spiritual blessings of God’s promise to Abraham through faith in Christ alone. These Jews were so boastful in themselves that they remained in a state without the saving grace of Christ - they lacked the humility which would have given them the hammering realization that they need Jesus. They remained in the sinful bondage to their legalism, ritual, and man made traditions.
v.34 - We find in verse 34 one of those ‘Truly, truly, I say to you’ statements meaning that this is something that is important to know - this in light of the lack of truth that the Jews ascribed to. Jesus tells us - everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. It is important to translate the Greek word in the verse, for ‘commit’ here because, the tense of the word tells us that the pattern of sin that Jesus identifies is a continual and habitual - therefore they are enslaved to sin.
We don’t need to look too deep into our own life to understand that we continually sin. Those who are without Christ are the greatest slaves to sin. If we are found in Christ, and the truth that He makes known, then we have been forgiven our great debt of sins. Not only this, we also have in Christ’s death and resurrection the victory to overcome sin - and no longer are slaves to sin - the truth has set us free. Turn to Romans 8:1-4 which states this reality -
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God [did]: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We all, apart from Christ, are slaves to sin - in such a condition from birth we willingly abandon freedom, because our love for sin is greater than our love for righteousness - so we deliberately sin. What is sin? What is the character of sin?
Sin permeates our innermost being and is at the core of the human soul (Matt 15:19-20). The root cause of sin is man’s rebellion against God. Sin places man at the center of all activity and removes God from His rightful place as Creator and Lord - and this is what these Jews were doing - they placed them selves in the place of righteousness and place Christ off to the side along with the truth. Sin affects our intellect (2 Cor 4:4), conscience (1 Tim 4:2), will (Rom 1:28), and heart (Eph 4:18). Sin is not just failure and lack on our behalf, or even a deficiency of some sort, but it is the lack of true knowledge which would include the exchange of truth for falsehood (Rom 1:25). Sin would also consist of acts of omission and commission. The result of sin is that man is totally depraved (Eph 2:1-3).
Theologian Herbert Lockyer wrote this - Sin corrupts man and therefore in his soul he rejects God and His holiness, and diminishes the sinfulness of sin (Ps 14:1). "Sin ensnares the soul . . . blinds, deludes, deceives, defiles, then destroys. If unforsaken, sin results in irretrievable ruin."
v.35 - Jesus continues and uses an illustration - that of a slave and a son of a household. It goes without saying that the son of a family will enter into his inheritance, but a slave on the other hand - though he may have some temporary power to execute his task, he never will become a rightful heir to the estate. Jesus was saying to these Jews, that if they did not come to understand their own sinfulness, they fail to see sin as God does, they will continue to hide their own sin, and deny responsibility for their guilt…so as a result they cannot discover sin’s cure in the person who was addressing them - that is Jesus. Until man realizes that his sin is utterly loathsome, he will never know God, but only the terrifying consequences of eternal damnation in hell.
v.36 - Christ asserts the truth that these Jews and anyone else for that matter - if we don’t come to Christ the Son, who makes you free - for the perfect and permanent solution for sin - there is no one else that we can turn to. Only in Christ is their true freedom. There is a fairly well known saying about freedom - Freedom is not doing what you want, but freedom is doing what is right. For these Jews they chose not to respond to Christ and His certain, and realizable freedom from sin - they chose not to be free indeed.
The Jews that professed faith did not posses saving faith for they did not acknowledge the sinfulness of sin in their lives…and because of this did not acknowledge Jesus as the sole means of true saving grace.
Real disciples of Christ acknowledge sin. That is how we became Christians…in response to Christ’s saving grace we confessed that we are sinners before a Holy and righteous God. We let go of any thoughts of saving our self, any thoughts about being able to work at being forgiven, any thoughts about being able to please a sinless God, and instead we surrendered our self to Christ as the only Saviour who could save us from eternal damnation….we died to self to be set free and to be alive in Christ and therefore cannot be permanently held in bondage to sin again.
The true disciple not only acknowledges sin, but through out his or her life continues in acknowledging sin. In 1 John 1:9-10, we are told this - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
When we acknowledge and confess sin we are forgiven and cleansed…set free from sins bondage. The only way we know that we are sinning is through the Word of God, the Bible.
The results of freedom compels the believer to one priority - worship of God….and gives us one crowning purpose - to lead others to Christ through the Gospel of truth. Finally….
3. A True Disciple Acts Upon God’s Word In Faith (vv.37-41)
v.37 - Only Jesus has the right to grant freedom through faith in Him and Jesus acknowledges the claim of the Jews to be Abraham’s descendants - yet only as a worthless claim. Jesus was really driving the point home that the Jews were hypocrites about their being Abraham’s descendants…since they were ready to kill Jesus, manifesting murder in their hearts. All their foolish boasting was really useless since they we not like Abraham - they did not care to hold to Jesus’ teaching…since as Jesus said - because My word has no place in you.
Once they realized that a true disciple of Jesus was to submit and obey God’s Word then they were turned off by the truth - the cost of discipleship was just too much. It was something that they were unwilling to yield to since they wanted to be independent and boast in themselves. Through their abundant love for sin they became haters of Jesus and of God’s truth, and therefore there was no spare seat for Jesus - sorry the bus is full.
v.38 - Jesus’ response is based on what He has seen with [His] Father - capital F as in God the Father - that Jesus is by the side of the Father and in perfect fellowship and accord with Him. This is in contrast to the ‘father’ (lower case f) that Jesus is telling them that they subscribe to one who is not the Father. Jesus uses these opposites to underscore their rejection of his teaching. Once again it goes back to the reality that a true disciple will follow Jesus’ teaching as the Word of God. In a deeper sense is that those who love God will embrace the Gospel but those who do not will oppose it. The Word of God will always be welcomed by God’s people.
Jesus is saying to them - why are you so upset that I tell you to follow what God the Father has entrusted to Him to reveal? …unless the root of the problem is that they don’t have the same Father.
v.39 - The Jews in their arrogance totally miss what Jesus is saying and they continue to extol their pedigree as Abraham’s children. But it was a very clear and accurate assessment by Christ that they were placing their heavenly confidence in man and not God. It was by works - through a genetic link to Abraham, which they believed gave the right to a claim of a heavenly connection. In our day and age we can see the same kind of thing taking place where people claim to be a Christian because they think we live in a Christian country, their parents are Christians, they regularly attend church…meaning only at Christmas and Easter, and at weddings and funerals - some think that they have done just enough good and not too much wrong to merit God’s attention.
These are very common beliefs which demonstrate the lack of genuine faith - man centered - misguided beliefs, that people actually believe. But they are in direct contradiction to the living Word of God.
In reality these people have a human perspective on the truth, which is mere hypocrisy since they have no means of acting upon the Word of God in faith - because they lack Christ. There is no knowledge of the truth and truth is ridiculed by the way that they live.
Back to the Jews, they insisted that they are spiritual pure breeds, with a godly bloodline, yet Christ outright rejects their life of lies since they should do the deeds of Abraham. If these Jews really had the same spiritual heritage of Abraham then it would go without saying that they should do the things which Abraham was known for. Abraham was a known to be ‘the friend of God’ (2 Chron. 20:7; Is. 41:8) and these religious Jews were enemies of God. Abraham was also cleansed from his sin because he believed in the Lord, through faith alone (Gen. 15:6), yet these Jews depended upon human connections and their empty works - the Lord was starring them in the eyes and they did not believe.
v.40 - So what does Jesus do? He strips away the pretense and reveals the truth that was from God, that these Jews were seeking to kill Jesus - and in so doing were definitely not doing what Abraham did. As always Jesus was not promoting His own glory but instead, the glory of God the Father.
v.41 - Once again Jesus states that the Jews - are doing the deeds of [their] father - and He does this without identifying who their father is at this point anyway- and what do the Jews do? …they protested against Jesus’ revelation - We were not born of fornication - in other words that they were not illegitimate children. The Jews response could be an underhanded blow to the gut - a stab in the back - that in their eyes - Jesus’ paternal origins related to His ‘so called’ virgin birth was in question.
And so they set themselves above the crowd, and even Jesus Himself, and lay claim that - we have one Father: God that they follow - another lie. Jesus is making it plain that the Jews exploits are a result of them being like their father - ‘like father, like son’ as the saying goes - and these Jews increasingly realize that Jesus is implying that their father is not Abraham nor is it God.
The unbeliever has no room for God’s Word because they are full of themselves - and to them God just wastes space. A true disciple of Christ Acts Upon God’s Word In Faith. All genuine disciples live their lives constantly trusting in their Saviour - and applying God’s Word moment by moment. It is a life long, on going commitment to obedience to Jesus Christ as one’s Master.
1 John 2:3-6 clearly spells out the criteria for discipleship - it states - By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
This is what the Jews failed to do. 2 Corinthians 5:7, tells us this about a true disciple - ‘for we walk by faith, not by sight.’ This instructs and informs us that God’s will for His disciple is to evaluate life through the Word of God with eyes of faith, and not merely through our natural senses. A true believer is empowered to act upon God’s Word through divine means. This empowerment comes through the powerful indwelling presence of Jesus Christ in all believers.
In today’s passage, there is a gross miscomprehension of who Jesus is because of the Jews earthly ideas and darkened minds. Yet Jesus tackles things head on and ups the ante, and lays it all out in the open - no more allusions, no more implied statements, but the full force delivery the of truth prevails…and in so doing Jesus marks out true discipleship for us to understand.
Will the real disciple please stand up….
