Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, \u201cIf you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThey answered Him, \u201cWe are Abraham\u2019s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, \u2018You will become free\u2019?\u201d <\/p>\n
\tJesus answered them, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham\u2019s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tThey answered and said to Him, \u201cAbraham is our father.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tJesus said to them, \u201cIf you are Abraham\u2019s children, do the deeds of Abraham. 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. You are doing the deeds of your father.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tThey said to Him, \u201cWe were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.\u201d (John 8:31-41)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\tWhat we think we already know often blinds us to the truth. When a teacher teaches, three things can happen to his words. First, and most commonly, his words get tucked into an already existing box where they can be safely ignored. Second, the words may just go in one ear and out the other. Third, and most rarely, the words are really heard for the new and radical thing they are and a life is forever changed. <\/p>\n
\tJesus\u2019 audience was made up of those who had accepted his teaching. But they were missing his point to such an extent that he had to tell them that rather than acting like the children of Abraham, they were acting like the children of the Devil.<\/p>\n
\tWhen Jesus told them that the truth could set them free, they thought he was talking about slavery. Since they were not slaves, Jesus\u2019 words seemed pointless. But Jesus meant that the truth could set them free from sin. How so? Sin comes from believing lies: like the lie that God doesn\u2019t want what is best for us, or the lie that makes us believe today\u2019s pleasure matters more than tomorrow\u2019s consequence. <\/p>\n
\tThe truth can free us from all the lies that bind us to misery.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/plugins\/send-to-kindle\/media\/white-15.png\")
Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, \u201cIf you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.\u201d They answered Him, \u201cWe … Continue reading