A, Post-Pentecost 22 Celebration of the Reformation - John 8:31–32, 36 "Truly Free Indeed"
John 8:31–32, 36 (ESV) So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
At election time there is much talk from political
candidates seeking to prove their righteousness and win the seat they’re
contesting. We, the voting public, are wooed with promises of justice, funding,
infrastructure repairs, tax benefits and savings. It seems that those vying for
our votes cannot do enough for us during the campaign. Can you blame us for our
cynicism the rest of the time when our elected politicians, premiers, and prime
ministers swill and sloop abundantly from the public purse while failing to
follow through on the promises made? They make us all sceptics; their bellies
are full while debt and potholes only seem to grow larger.
In the next month, as the state election looms, the noise
will grow to a crescendo and then fall to a lull until the federal term ends
and the campaigning for votes starts up once again.
Amongst the noise of human words and promises is God’s Word
of promise. Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my
disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
(John 8:31–32 ESV)
We who believe are sanctified in God’s Word, made holy in it,
because it is the divine, transcendent truth—second to none! Despite what the
politician Pontius Pilate said to Jesus as Jesus was tried before His
crucifixion, Jesus bears witness to “the truth”. Because the Word of God is the
one transcendent, objective truth, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, in His
very nature must be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!
Politicians promise us that they are telling the truth. The
Roman politician Pilate said to Jesus, “What is truth?” The New Testament Greek
word for truth is derived from the Greek word—lanthano—meaning “to hide”.
To turn this word into a word meaning truth, a negative prefix is added. Therefore,
the New Testament word for “truth” is something that’s not hidden! So, when
Jesus said to Pilate that He bore witness to the truth, Pilate’s response,
“What is truth?”, was political doublespeak. In the noise of political speech,
Pilate scoffed back at Jesus, “What is not hidden?” when he said, “What is
truth?”
As a politician, Pilate knew that everyone had something to
hide! But with Jesus, nothing is hidden. All things were uncovered in His
presence as He walked to the cross. All things continue to be uncovered now
that He has borne the satisfaction required by God on the cross. He continues
to uncover all things hidden by the darkness of our humanity now that He is at
the right hand of the Father, having won the eternal victory at the cross over
the darkness that leads to death!
Paul points out the great paradox between our sin and God’s
grace, which is distinguished as the truth. This paradox cannot be understood. Instead,
it is comprehended by faith, borne not of ourselves, but given by the Holy
Spirit, Who powerfully enables you to believe despite the myriads of sinful things
you and I have hidden in our fleshy selves. Therefore, to receive and believe the
paradox of our sinfulness and God’s gracious gift of salvation, faith must come
from God’s faithfulness and knowledge and be worked within us by the Holy
Spirit.
Paul informs us, “For
there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be
received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine
forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at
the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has
faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:22c–26 ESV)
God’s Word is the great leveller. No one can slip around
the side of His truth, now or on Judgement Day. What is hidden now will be
uncovered on Judgement Day. It is best for us to uncover that sin now in
confession rather than to hide it and try to explain it away when our time here
is ended. Those of you who are uncertain about the forgiveness you are given through
the cross would do well to come and speak to me or another pastoral servant of
Jesus Christ about your struggle to receive and believe that you are a sinner;
that you are forgiven through the propitiation, the atoning work of Jesus at
the cross to take away your sins; and that, despite your human nature with all
its hidden darkness, God the Father’s work through Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit is enough for eternal life and peace with God forever!
Earlier, Paul said that God’s justice given through the Law
is final: “so that every mouth may be
stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” (Romans 3:19 ESV)
Pilate said, “What is truth, what is not hidden, there’s
hiddenness everywhere?” But every voice will be silenced! The truth about who
and what you are, and who and what you trust, will be unhidden before God in His
righteousness and justice. To some, this is too much to bear! Some cannot
handle the truth! But it is my prayer for you that, by the Holy Spirit, you
believe His truth, His Word! God is a God of justice, but through His love, He
is also your justifier in Christ’s righteousness. Jesus has done the precise
single thing that not only informs and saves us, but also constantly reforms us,
makes us God’s holy people, and sanctifies us in the truth because God’s Word
is truth!
So, Jesus promises, “if
the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36 ESV) This is a
freedom that no one can silence. No politician or person, no spiritual force of
darkness, no internal monologue or internal mutterings of the self can prevail
when the Holy Spirit is allowed to fill God’s true unhidden confessors with
faith.
We, as God’s holy church of Christ’s body, are constantly
called to be reformed in submission to being informed by the truth of God’s Holy
Word of Law and Gospel. You and I have departed from an institution and its teaching,
that seems to hide behind the political doublespeak of human words. While it
claims to be a church of God’s Word it appears to be dismissing the truth of God’s
Word in favour of hiding behind words that are popular in our society today.
We must avoid becoming an institution that no longer binds
sin to the cross of Christ, but wittingly and unwittingly binds sinners in the
hiddenness of human feelings, legalities and frustrations; in a society of
noise where no one listens to or loves the person as God does while remaining accountable
to Him. We need to constantly look to the cross to carry our debt and be led by
the Holy Spirit to avoid falling into the potholes of human institutions, words,
and ideologies as we travel on the way towards our eternal reality.
Therefore, let us be constantly reformed in Christ. As Fred
Pratt Green penned: The Church of Christ,
in every age, beset by change, but Spirit-led, must claim and test its heritage
and keep on rising from the dead. (LHS 804)
Our church fathers fought and suffered for God’s justice
and justification in the work of Jesus at the cross. And they also suffered in upholding the work
of the Holy Spirit to create faith within us through the justice and
righteousness of God and his Word.
God, his work, and his Word truly gives freedom—the only path
to eternal peace with God.
Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, in the noise and clamour
of these days, fill our hearts with the peace that comes from hearing the truth
of Your Word. Continue to send the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we
believe and are saved from our unbelief. In our belief, give us the willing
freedom to daily die to sin, to be raised to life in Your Word, and to silence
the devil, the world, and the words within that keep us from our eternal peace
with You. Amen.
Sermon Summary
Jesus promises that those who abide in His Word will know
the truth and be set free by the Son. Unlike political promises and human
doublespeak, God’s Word reveals what is hidden: our sin, God’s justice and His
gracious justification of sinners through Christ’s atoning death. This freedom
is received by faith, which the Holy Spirit creates and sustains within us. The
Church must therefore remain under God’s Word of Law and Gospel, continually
confessing its sin, looking to the cross and being reformed by the truth rather
than conforming to popular human words and ideologies.
Reflection Questions
- What does it mean for you to abide in Jesus’ Word in daily life?
- Where are you tempted to trust human promises, popular opinions or your own inner voice more than God’s truth?
- What sin or hidden burden do you need to bring into the light through confession?
- How does Christ’s atoning work assure you that God is both just and the One Who justifies sinners?
- Where do you need the Holy Spirit to strengthen your faith in the freedom Christ has already won for you?
- How can the Church remain accountable to God’s Word of Law and Gospel while speaking faithfully within society?
- What teaching, habit or assumption in your life needs to be tested and reformed by God’s Word?
