The Truth Liberates us from Sin

Jesus Christ's redemptive work as the Christ makes us free from sin. Sin does not refer to doing wrong things, but to the fallen nature of man which causes us to do wrong things. Truth in Christ liberates us from this problem.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

No, the more we learn about God and the things of God, the better he looks. It's just it's an astounding reality, but that's the way it is. He just looks better and better because he has from the beginning planned this one plan and has been executing it every step of the way to make sure that every little inkling of it takes place the way he needs it to. And in the end, he's going to gather together everyone who is willing to accept even a small portion of his message, and we all are his family forever. That's what he set up. And you know that all it does when you realize this message more and more is cause more and more thanksgiving to God because he loves that big. So let's look at start off in John chapter eight. The Gospel of John chapter eight. In this chapter, Jesus is speaking to his close followers called his disciples. Disciple is tied into the word discipline. They were ones who would discipline themselves according to what the master said, what Jesus said. So they're called disciples. In this section, he's telling them how devastating sin is. That it's like this monster that you cannot escape from. You cannot survive sin. It's it's uh inevitable that it's going to take over everyone, except for one way of escape, it's Jesus Christ. So that's that's what God set up. So here in this section, he's telling his followers, his disciples, as you're going to read, to continue in his word. If looking at the scriptures, I know the Bibles in uh today are separated into an old covenant or a new old covenant or old testament and a new testament, some old covenant, new covenant, but usually old testament and new testament. Okay, well, there's it's there's actually this flow in the scriptures from before the old testament, old covenant came into place through Moses. So before when Adam and Eve were in the garden and moved into a time where man was kicked out of the garden, waiting for uh Jesus Christ to come, God had to put the law in place to for uh the nation of Israel to keep them alive, and then to get to Jesus Christ coming. So, really, what you have is the old testament, then you have the second of three parts, Jesus Christ's life, which is the focal point or fulcrum of everything. Everything rests upon him. That's the way God arranged it from the beginning. So you have the Old Testament, then you have Jesus Christ's life, that fulcrum part, then you have, because he already accomplished salvation for mankind, you have the rest of the Bible, all resting upon what Jesus Christ would do. The Old Testament, all leading up to what Jesus Christ would do. So everything comes to and rests upon what Jesus Christ would come to do. So he's telling his followers during his earthly ministry, okay, uh, the new covenant had not been unleashed yet. Uh that starts in the book of Acts, just after the book of John, but that had not started yet. Okay, so Jesus is speaking before the Holy Spirit was poured out to mankind. So he's telling his followers, okay, I know you like me being here, but just you wait to see what's going to happen. There's gonna be such greater days coming. Wait till you see. So he tells them, starting in verse 31, says, So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him or believed on him, if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. Well, that makes sense, right? Because disciple means a disciplined one. So if they continue in the word, they're disciplined to continue in the word. Does that make sense? Okay, so and if you do this, if you will continue in my word, you will truly be disciples of mine. Then verse 32, next verse, and you will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. This word know is a it's the furthest extent of knowing that you can imagine. It's actually in the physical realm, it's used of sexual intercourse. When uh uh when Joseph knew not his wife Mary, that's how intimate this word is. So it's talking about knowing the truth, being so intimate with the truth. If you do, if you continue in my word, you will know the truth, you will become intimate with the truth, and the truth will liberate you. From what? Well, he's talking to Jews who were under Roman rule, okay, but they were claiming to be under no one's rule, which they were, but they were claiming not to be. So in the next verse 33, they answered him, We are Abraham's descendants, we have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it you say you will become free? You say we already are free. He's saying, No, you're not. If you continue in my word, you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. What's he talking about? See, if you follow Jesus' ministry, if you follow Paul's ministry, the others, you will find they speak way up here. People are talking about down here, earthly affairs, and they, the followers of God, keep speaking way up here. So they're thinking, wait a minute, we're not enslaved to anyone. How what are you talking about? We're going to be made free from something we're not enslaved to? We're not enslaved. He clarifies. Verse 34 and 35. Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, anyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. They're like, uh-oh, now where is he going? So verse 35. What did I say 35? It's 34. Now verse 35. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son does remain forever. So if the son, speaking of himself, makes you free from what sin. That's what he's talking about, right? In context, if the son makes you free from sin, you shall be free indeed. And what is it that makes people free? The son, in in verse 35 and in verse 32, it's the truth. Are the two different? No, the son is the truth, the truth is the sun, he was the living truth. We think of written truth, it's the same thing, but he's telling them if you continue in my word, you're going to know the truth intimately, and it is going to liberate you from sin. Now, what's the big deal about being liberated from sin? People think this word uh when they hear this word sin, they think of doing wrong, right? I mean, doesn't everybody think I know I did for a long, long time. I think of doing things wrong. That's not what sin refers to. Sin refers to this thing that mankind entered into because Adam disobeyed God. Well, look, okay, we got to look at it. It's in Romans chapter 5. You got to see this for yourself. This gives so much insight. This verse about sin. Sin entered in the world from Adam's disobedience, and it infected mankind. In that, everyone who's born, everyone who's progeny of Adam and Eve, which is essentially mankind, not essentially, it is mankind. Every culture, every nation, all people, everywhere. Okay, we are all affected by this thing called sin, and I'm gonna say infected because that's really what it is. So, verse 12 of Romans 5 says, Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, so through one man, sin entered into the world. This thing called sin entered the world, and death through or as a result of sin. Sin came in and death resulted. Now, you the Bible has its own language. When the Bible speaks of death, it might speak of something different than you think of death. When we think of death, we think of somebody being put into a grave, right? Uh they're dead, so they're uh they've experienced death, the absence of life, and so now they're put into the grave. But the Bible adds to that, it also speaks of death as separation from God. The biblical definition, let me start with the worldly definition. If you Google this, you will come up with the same answer, right? Because I just did it. So if you Google death or look at a dictionary, common dictionary um on death, it it speaks of the end of natural existence or the end of life. Well, yeah, right, we would all define it that way. Well, when man, Adam disobeyed God, sin entered into the world, and death through sin. Death biblically is the absence of life. Whether it's physical, when somebody physically dies, they took their last breath, they're dead. That's the word that describes that state. When someone is separated from God, the Bible describes that as death. You know why? They have no life with God. This, what this word death in this verse 12 is referring to is separation from God. Watch. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, verse 12, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned, all were infected with this problem of sin, and therefore all sinned. So we were all separated from God. An easy way to see what this is talking about is the opposite of this is spoken of two verses before in verse 10. Look at verse 10. For if while we were enemies, we were all enemies of God because we were separated from him, right? While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. Where Adam's disobedience separated us from God, Jesus Christ's obedience connected us to God. Jesus said, If you continue in my word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Everyone who believes on Jesus Christ enters into freedom from this sin monster. Reason is because we've now been reconciled to God by the death of his son. Sin is not doing things wrong, sin is separation from God. Now that we've been reconciled or reconnected to God, now it's just learning how to live that way as connected to God. Everyone who's believed on Jesus Christ has entered this arrangement through Jesus Christ. Look at John 3. We can go to John 3, it's in chapter 5 also. But chapter 3 of John. I mean, these words couldn't be clearer. From God's point of view, there are two men that affected all of mankind. One of them is Adam, and the second one is who's called the second Adam, Jesus Christ. The reason he's called the second Adam is because those two affected all of mankind. So Jesus Christ, what Adam got us into, the problem of sin and separation from God, Jesus Christ fixed. Okay, this is a beautiful story. But get to part of this, we have to look at this. Mankind is in two different categories. That's it. They're either ones who accept what God says about Jesus Christ, or they don't. If they accept it, then they're in this category called eternal life, with all of its benefits and blessings of living forever, but it's much greater than that. If someone doesn't, they don't accept or believe regarding Jesus Christ, they're in this category of separation from God. Now, anyone who desires to know God or walk with God gets to hear the message. How can I say that? Because the Bible says so. Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. If someone wants to be right before the great judge of mankind, God, all they have to do is hunger and thirst after righteousness, being right in his sight, and God's gonna fill them. This answers the question. How do they how does that native of Zimbabwe wave out in the bush ever hear about God and the things of God? If you know Ukomunka or whatever his name is out there in the bush desires to know God and to walk with him, God will make sure he gets a person there. Isn't God big enough to do that? I mean, come on. I mean, it got to you and me. That's pretty far stretched when I think about it. Absolutely. So no matter who it is, God can reach them with the truth if they desire to know the truth. See, the problem is the scriptures say that very few really want to know the truth, the majority choose the wider path, what's easiest. I'm gonna live my own life the way I want to live it for me. And under that, they think it's by me for me, but it's actually under the deception of the devil, leading things in the wrong way, causing us, as we read, to be enemies of God. So there's two categories of people: the ones that believe and the ones that don't believe. Jesus put it so succinctly. Watch this, verses 17 and 18 of John 3. Verse 17 says, For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world. Man, right there is a word of truth for worth traveling for, right there. He did not send his son into the world to judge the world. Then why do so many Christians judge other Christians? That's a really good question to ask. If God's not doing it, he didn't send his son into the world to judge the world. What are we doing? Who are we following if we're thinking of judging everybody right or wrong? We're following the wrong source if we are. It's not about what we've done right or wrong. Sin entered into the world through one man's disobedience. Jesus Christ resolved that problem. It's not about looking at people as right or wrong. You gotta let that go. And I'm really sorry because the far majority of us, if not all of us, have been infected with this problem. We've been all told you're right if you join this group and you're wrong if you don't. Or you're right if you get this translation of the Bible, you're wrong if you don't. Oh, if you do this, you're right. And if you do that, you're you gotta let all that go. God doesn't speak in those terms. He speaks in terms of you believe on Jesus Christ, you're in this package. And by the way, in that package, you are right before God, hands down and forever. There's nothing that will ever be held against you and me. We're gonna read about it. Well, actually, right now, it's in this section, too. And if you don't believe regarding Jesus Christ, it's like you're dismissing God's solution to this sin problem. You're like saying, I got this, I don't need your help. I'm my own man, I'm self-made, I can do this on my own. I don't need you, God. Watch. Jesus Christ said it so pointedly here in verses 17 and 18. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him, that the world would be rescued from what? We read about it sin. The sin problem. That the world would be rescued. That's that's what saved means, right? You know, if this house caught fire, we all ran outside and we realized, whoa, Muzette's still in the house, and the whole house is engulfed in flames. And somebody decides, I'm going to bust through that and rescue Musette. They bust through the flames and come out with Musette. What are they called? A Savior. What did they just do? They did two things. They got someone rescued from a problem and put them in a position where the problem no longer threatens them. Jesus Christ is our savior. He rescued us from the problem of sin and put us in a position where that, that's gonna make me cry. It put us in a position where we are not threatened by that problem any longer. And saints, none of us purely accept this. We're all growing in this acceptance because we're still trying to better our lives, you know, not resting on Jesus Christ's work, resting on a well, if if people see this, they're gonna know this point about me. So what? It's your stupid flesh. Everybody's full of mistakes. Do you know there is not a person that draws breath that doesn't need the savior? If you think so, you're wrong. Because he came for most men, no, it says all men, right? He's the savior of all men. Whether we believe or whether we don't believe. The thoughts of I've got this, I don't need God in this situation. We don't really think that, but that's the practice of it, isn't it? So you get in, you go through the day and you think, wow, God, I haven't thought about you all day. What's that? You you haven't learned to practice, reconcile to God yet. That's all. That's all. Jesus Christ rescued us from that sin problem. So here in verse 17, it actually says, I'm gonna read it again. God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. This launches into verse 18. He who believes in him is not judged. That means there's nothing held against the person that believes in him. That's an astounding truth. Because we all, basically, all mankind knows, even the atheists know, God is going, he's the judge. And that's why they say, like the ostrich, I don't see him, he's not there. Doesn't make the enemy go away, it doesn't make God go away. God is the judge of mankind. How do we escape that through Jesus Christ? He's called the Savior. He told us, Jesus Christ told his followers, if you follow me and discipline yourself to what I'm saying, you will know the truth, and the truth will liberate you from that sin problem. The truth does that. It's powerful to do that. So he says in that verse 18 again, he who believes in him, the son, is not judged. Now watch. He who does not believe has been judged already because he does things wrong. Why does it not say that? I used to think that for years. If I do things wrong, God has the right to judge me. He says, if we believe on the Son, we escape judgment. If we don't believe on the Son, you have judgment. That's what he says. I mean, that's plain and simple, right? Again, verse 18, the second part of it, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Either someone believes in what God says regarding that name, or they don't. And you know, to believe that message about him really takes a lot in a way, because what you're saying is that message is true. So then everything about that message is true. Now it becomes a mind job, really. God says you've been transferred into his kingdom, you've been rescued from sin, transferred into his kingdom. All of our experiences, all of our knowing, all of our everything we've done and experienced is over here in the category of sin. You come into this new birth, as it's called, believe on Jesus Christ, you get born anew, you have new life. Now it's learning what that life is all about, as much as you want to. Now, okay, Dalton was born into this world. He's up front, so you get you're facing everybody, you're right here. So Dalton was born into this world. So, how much what after the moment he was born, what did Dalton have to do to become more of Dalton? The answer is simple, right? He was all Dalton from the get-go. What did he have to do? Nothing. He just learned of who he was and matured in that. That's the new birth. You, if you dismiss God out of your life after getting born again, you're still his son. What a beautiful story. He who believes in him has no judgment. I'm not saying, I'm just parroting. You know, I'm just saying what the word says. That's all I'm saying. God knows what he's talking about, he's the one that's arranged two categories of people. He wants everybody to come into believing on his son, but nobody has to. But if they do, they come into this category of no judgment, they come into this category of eternal life, they have all these spiritual blessings and all the rest of the stuff the epistles are saying. If they don't, they have none of it. You have all of it or you have none of it. That's the way God speaks in black and white. There's no, well, man, I just didn't have a good day with God. That's like a gray area. God doesn't see gray, He sees black and He sees white. That's all He sees. Either you believe or you didn't believe. If you believe, you're in. Had a bad day. Nope, no, you didn't, because you've never left. Anything of me, no matter what you did or thought, or said, there's nothing you can dismiss. Dalton, if he does things maybe undalton-like today, that doesn't mean he's not Dalton. You get it? Birth is birth. So Jesus spoke very wisely, saying, if you follow my word, my truth will liberate you from sin. And you will see the deliverance from it because my word is powerful enough to set you free. So God has given us this message of the truth because it's his power to do his work in our lives. It's an astounding truth. Okay, I'm gonna give you one more verse and then we can close out. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Back in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Now, in this section, the apostle Paul is trying to teach the Corinthians. By the way, did you know that the apostles were sent out as educators? I mean, it's a good word because that's what they did. Jesus sent them out to preach the gospel to all creation, to educate them as to what this good news is all about, just like what we're doing right now, right? God wants everyone to know what this good news is about. So they were educators. So Paul, in writing all these letters that he did to different churches, he was educating them as to what they entered into through Christ. Jesus Christ died for you, He's raised for the Yeah, we get that, Paul. Well, this is what resulted from that. Here's the way it is now. So he's showing them that there's a difference between the old covenant truths and the old, uh the new covenant truths. So he's saying the old covenant was glorious because I gave it to Moses, and Moses gave it to the children of Israel. It was glorious. But the new covenant is so much more glorious, it makes the old covenant fade in its glory. You know, it's like if the lights went out and it was dark, somebody lights a candle so we can see, right? And everybody's using the candle to see, and the lights go back on. You're still trying to use the candle to see? No, it's a lesser glory. The new covenant is the greater glory. With that, Paul says, look at the power of the glory of the Lord, the new covenant. Verse 18, last verse, chapter three, it says, But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord. So as we're beholding the glory of the Lord, these new covenant, more glorious truths than the old covenant, we're beholding them, they, by their intrinsic power, are causing a transformation of each one of our lives into what it is. What is it? It's called the truth, it's called the glory of God. He's going to, I'm going to use the word polish because it's a good, he's going to polish your new creation life to where you look like what he's made you to be through Christ. That's what he does to his people. So this verse says, but we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror. What does a mirror do? What's its purpose? Yeah, it reflects. So if you know I look in a mirror over here, you know, at the angle at the door, I see the door because the mirror reflects what I'm looking at. Well, the mirror here is compared to the word, the glory of the Lord. The new covenant says, as we are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, which reflects what? The glory of the Lord. It reflects onto you what it is. You start becoming through this transformation looking like the glory of the Lord. And what are you doing? Just says, behold. Does it say stop sinning? Those words have been added to these scriptures. Doesn't say stop sinning, it just says, behold the glory of the Lord. Look at what I've done for you through Christ. And it will cause your life to be transformed into the same image. Again, I'm not making this up. I'm just reading what's there. He is causing our lives to be transformed into the image of the new covenant. Just to get you started on this, I mean, we've got a list of 64 things of this if anybody wants it again. Uh most of you have it already, but it's it's points of the new covenant. God says in these truths of the new covenant that you are holy, you are blameless, you you you know have no flaw attached to your name. You are the body of Christ. Christ is the head, you're the body. You know, when when you're looking, you're all looking this way, when you're looking at me, you don't say, Oh, yeah, look, there's Mike's head and his body. And who thinks like that? You know why? Because it's all one. He's the head, we're the body. Is anybody getting this? This is huge. He's the head, we're the body. All one, right? These are points of the new covenant. God says that we are eternal. As you are beholding these truths, you are being transformed into that same image. You don't have to change yourself. That's an old testament, old covenant point. In the new, under the new covenant, the power of the word changes us. All our part is just to look at it, behold it, and it will cause us to look like glorious, like we're eternal, like we're sons of our Father, God, all this stuff that you read about in the New Testament. So that's a tidbit on where Jesus Christ was leading his disciples when he said, If you continue in my word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free from sin. Because sin looks like the opposite. Separation from God looks like the opposite of connected to God, doesn't it? Exactly opposite. So God is doing a work in each one of his people's lives for this transformation to happen. He needs our part to just behold it, know what it is, and look at it, think about it, ponder it. And it causes this transformation into the same image. So uh anybody have any points they want to bring up with this?

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Came into mind right before you had shared Romans 5, 12, you know, in terms of getting rid of that that sin thing, you started with my set, you know, truthful set you free. Right. But I thought of that verse in Romans 6. Uh verse 6. Knowing that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with or neutralized, that we should no longer be in bondage to it. Sin. So yeah, I thought about that. Line of the truth setting us free that sin is no longer sin. The thing that caused death, separation from God, is no longer has uh is no longer powerful over us because of culture. Yeah, just a matter of things. Yeah, it's great, isn't it? It's bondage, though. The other one is bondage going your own way, right? People don't think that you said you know that you made that analogy of you know, atheists like this, right? But it's bondage. People think it's freedom. Hey, I can do whatever. Yeah, no, you're being told what to do, you're being manipulated into following the lead of something or somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Yeah, scriptures are clear on this stuff. So the the big point of Jesus Christ's work is to reconnect mankind to God. Not everybody wants that, but that's what He made available. So those that want it, climb into it, they come into it. One way or another, they come into it. So when the human heart, it doesn't matter on church, it doesn't matter on you know what church you belong to, what denomination, what country, what skin color, none of these things matter whatsoever. It's all a matter of do I want to know him? Do I want to tap into what he's made available? And anyone who has this desire, they come into it. That's the track record. You talk to anybody who's believed on Jesus Christ, you'll find that same pattern in their life. Something happened where they have this even background desire to know him, to walk with him, to know him. So yeah. Great. Well what we usually do.