Bible Passage: John 8:31-36
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: October 26, 2025

Bulletin – October 26, 2025

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

I want to read for you John 8:30.  This is the verse that comes immediately before our text.  John 8:30 says, As he [Jesus] was saying these things, many believed in him.  As Jesus was saying what things?  Well, Jesus had proclaimed, I am the Light of the World.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. (John 8:12).  He had also said, When you lift up [crucify] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one. (John 8:28)  As he was saying these things, many believed in him.  Something wonderful was happening!  As people listened to Jesus, they were being brought to faith in him!

As our text begins, Jesus addresses these newcomers to the faith.  He doesn’t want them to think that discipleship began and ended that day.  Yes, they had heard Jesus’ words that day. But hearing Jesus’ word isn’t a “one-and-done” proposition.  So Jesus says to those who had believed, If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples. (v. 31)   This thing that was happening, this time where they sit and listen to Jesus, this was to be the “new normal” in their lives!  This is the calling-card of the disciple of Jesus!  They remain in Jesus’ word!

And then Jesus states the reason.  You will also know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (v. 32)  There is something we can only get from Jesus.  There is something we can only get from Jesus’ words.  What is that “something”  The Truth that Sets Men Free.

Immediately upon saying these words, Jesus gets some push-back.  Some are puzzled by Jesus’ words, even a little defensive.  We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.  How can you say, “You WILL BE set free”? (v. 33)  It’s funny how people can develop little “blind spots.”  These people are asserting that the descendants of Abraham have never been slaves.  They seem to be forgetting or ignoring the 400 years the descendants of Abraham spent in Egypt as slaves!  These people are thinking politics.  Jesus doesn’t want to talk politics.  He wants to talk religion.

It’s time for Jesus to speak some truth.  Truth intended to set these people free.  In fact, Jesus uses the “formula” familiar to Jews that emphasizes the absolute TRUTH of what was about to be said:  Amen, Amen, I tell you… (v. 34)  Some translations render this, Truly, truly I say to you… This is truth to the n^th  degree!  Here comes the truth:  Everyone who keeps committing sin is a slave to sin. (v. 34)  The slavery from which we all need to be set free is the slavery to sin!

This is the slavery into which we are born.  We were born slaves of sin.  When Paul wrote to the Romans he told them you used to be slaves to sin (Romans 6:17) and you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness (Romans 6:19).  Paul would go on in Romans to say, The sinful mind is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. (Romans 8:7)  Here is our in-bred slavery:  we don’t obey God, we don’t want to obey God, and even if we wanted to we aren’t able!  We can’t!  We can’t stop ourselves from sinning.  This is our slavery.

And of course, with slavery to sin, comes captivity to something else:  guilt.  Where there is sin, there is guilt.  There is the objective guilt that exists whether a person feels it or not.  If you are pulled over for speeding and you didn’t even know you were speeding, you are still guilty and will get a ticket.  Try telling the officer, “You can’t give me a ticket!  I don’t even feel guilty about what I did!”  Whether a person “feels” guilty for sin, they are!  But sin does often bring with it those feelings of guilt and shame.  Feelings we can’t get rid of.  People try distractions and drugs and alcohol to numb themselves.  But when the controlled-substance wears off, there are those feelings of guilt again!  Maybe worse than ever!

And with guilt, we are chained to something else.  The condemnation of sin.  The law of God is iron-clad.  The law of God sentences the sinner to death.  Not just the death that will be reported in the obituaries.  But the law of God sentences the sinner to eternal death in hell.  So great is the offense of offending the living God!  How horrible is the slavery to sin!  How shall we ever be free?

By listening to Jesus.  By listening to the truth that sets men free.  Jesus says, If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (v. 36)  The Son has set us free!  We don’t free ourselves; we must be set free!  The one and only Son of God took your place.  The ankle-chain of guilt and condemnation was unshackled from your ankle and shackled to Jesus.  And so God’s iron-clad law did its thing to him instead of you.  It cursed him.  It condemned him.  It sentenced him to death.  As a result, you are set free!  You are set free from the guilt of your sin!  You are set free from the condemnation of your sin!  By Jesus!

You are set free from the dominating power of sin in your life!  Once again, writing to the Romans Paul said, Sin shall not be your master…you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God. (Romans 6:14, 18, 22).  That reminds me of the story of a slave girl who was purchased by a wealthy plantation owner who, after purchasing her, immediately set her free.  Whereupon she immediately said, “That man set me free!  I must serve him the rest of my life!”  In the same way we serve now in the free-servitude that is ours because Jesus has set us free!  We say of Jesus, “That man set me free!  I must serve him the rest of my life!”

As our fathers before us, let us remain in this Word!  This is the Word of Jesus.  By this Word we know the truth!  The truth that sets men free!

Amen.