You will know the Truth and He will set you free

On the day He was crucified, Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate accused
of false charges. Pilate asked Jesus if He is indeed a King to which Jesus
replied, You are right in saying that I am a King. In fact, for this reason
I was born, and for this I came into the worlds, to testify to the truth.
Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me. To which Pontius Pilate
replied, What is truth?

That seems to be the question many are asking today, What is truth?
We live in an era of relativism where some claim that there are no
truths, only what is right for you. There is no right or wrong, no clear
plum line to use as a standard for our behavior and beliefs, just the
absolute belief that there are no absolutes. But Jesus said, I am the
way, and the truth. In a world searching for the truth, the truth is
closer than we think. He stands with us this morning as the glorious
Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Today as we look at our text, I want you to know the power of knowing
the truth and the freedom the truth can bring. Please take your bibles
and turn to the Gospel of John chapter 8 starting with verse 31. To the
Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you
are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free."

Here in the midst of an argument with the religious leaders, Jesus takes
a moment to inform those who believe in Him the power the truth has.
He said, that if you know the truth, then that knowledge you obtain,
that truth will set you free. It is only through knowing Christ that a
person becomes truly free, through the truth that He brings and trough
the redemption He obtained at Calvary on our behalf. You shall know
the truth, and it will set you free. But free from what?

In the first place, the freedom we obtain from the truth is the freedom
from ignorance, primarily the ignorance of spiritual things. Now we are

all aware of the bondage we have of not knowing certain things. If a

person has no education than his opportunities are limited. A person
who is illiterate will face many closed doors and will have difficulty
even finding the most menial of jobs. If this is true in our secular
society, imagine the impact this has on a spiritual level. A person who
is illiterate of spiritual truths will not be able to thrive spiritually. A man
who does not know the teaching of the World of God or the basic
fundamental truths of the Christian faith cannot come to Christ for
salvation. They are in bondage to their spiritual ignorance. And that
ignorance can be devastating.

Here in our text, these religious leaders were ignorant of spiritual

things. Sure they were religious men, but they lacked the truth, and so
one of the symptoms they had was that they were ignorant of their
spiritual condition. Look at John 8:33, They answered him, "We are
Abrahams descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How
can you say that we shall be set free?" Now first of all they were
ignorant of the facts. They had indeed been slaves, many times over;
to the Egyptians, to the Babylonians, to many other times. But their
spiritual ignorance was outrageous.
They thought that just by being a decedent of Abraham gave them a
special path to Heaven. One Jewish Rabbi at that time even advocated
that Abraham sat at the gates of Hell and would not allow any of his
decedents enter in. But geneology is not enough. When the Pharisees
came to the desert to check on John the Baptist, he immediately
retorted them saying, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee
from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And
do not think you can say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our
father. I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for
Abraham.

Now before you are too quick to judge their belief, compare it to the
beliefs many hold today. The belief that just because I come from a
Christian home or a Christian nation automatically makes me a
Christian. Friend, even if you had the holiest of mothers, her faith can
assist you, but her faith can not save you. You alone make the decision
to follow Christ. Others can aid you in that decision, but in the end its

a choice you and you alone must make. And if you are void of the
truth, than you will be in bondage to that ignorance.

But the good news is that the truth that Jesus break though that
ignorance. For example, lets suppose a man feels like he is in great
shape, but his wife notices a discolored mole on his back. Although he
feels fine he is actually in grave danger. So he goes to the doctor who
runs a few tests and concludes that the mole is cancerous, but now
that he is there they can remove it before it spreads. You see, the truth
of his condition helped to save his life.

And the truth is that many of you here today are ignorant of your
spiritual condition. Sure you feel fine, youre succeeding in many areas
of your life and you dont have a care in the world. But deep within you
are spiritually sick, and the truth has the power to bring that sickness
to the surface. Thats why when people who never considered
themselves in need of a Savior come in contact with the Word of God it
reveals the truth of their condition. Hebrews 4:12 says, For the word
of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges
the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. And until you see the need for
a Savior, you wont seek the Savior.

Let me give you an example. Lets suppose that here is a man who
lives next door to you. He is an average sort of person. He has a
normal nine-to-five job. He has a family. On Friday nights, he goes
bowling with the league. He likes to golf on Sunday and when he is not
doing anything else he likes to watch television. It is a normal life and
he is quite happy with it. He seldom thinks of God, and God just does
not enter into his thinking.

But then someone begins to talk to him about spiritual things and in
the course of time he comes into a situation in which he begins to learn
something of what the bible teaches. It may be in church, it may be in
a home bible study or by listening to a sermon on the radio. Whatever

the means, he begins to learn some basic spiritual truths. The first
thing he learns is that he is a sinner. Before this he had always thought
he was all right because he had never cheated on his wife or robbed
anyone. Now he learns that sin is being less perfect than God and that
it is seen in such things as pride, selfishness, anger, and worry. So for
the first time in his life he begins to be disturbed.
He learns that God is a God of judgment and that there is a judgment
day coming. This really disturbs him. He had never though of the fact
that one day he might have to give an account of what he has done in
this life. Now he finds himself lying awake at night thinking about
death and what lies beyond it.

Finally, this man hears about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ-how He
died for our sins and how He loves us even though we are sinners.
These truths now grip him just as forcefully as the thought judgment
had gripped him before, and he finds himself calling on Christ in order
that he might be saved. The truth of Christianity, made meaningful to
him and applied to his heart by the Holy Spirit saves him. You see, he
once was in ignorance, but now the truth has set him free!

So the truth has the power not only to free us from spiritual ignorance,
but also from the bondage of our sins. Sin is a very powerful thing.
Jesus warns us here in our text, John 8:34: Jesus replied, "I tell you the
truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Sin of any kind has the
power to enslave you. At first it may seem like innocent fun, and sin is
enjoyableif it wasnt we wouldnt do it. But then the law of
diminished effect and increased demand kicks in. And you find that the
sin you thought you had control over actually has control over you.

But the good news is that Jesus breaks that power of sin in your life. He
frees us from the guilt and penalty of our past sins, and also from the
power sin has over us today. We have to ability to resist temptation
and sin. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Thats good news. But
do you want to hear the bad newsnot everyone wants to be free. Not
everyone wants to hear the truth. John 8:37 Jesus says, I know you are
Abrahams descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you

have no room for my word.

These religious leaders were standing right in front of the truth,

hearing Him speak the truth but they couldnt hear it. Why? Because
they had no room for His word. They had no room first of all because of
their spiritual pride. They werent about to reject their beliefs. And
even when confronted with overwhelming evidence of who Jesus was,
and the truth He was speaking, they still would not believe. They still
could not accept it because they had their mind already made up. And
when a mind is closed to the truth, its difficult to get them to see the
truth, even with overwhelming evidence.

I read a story about a man who thought he was dead, when in reality
he was very much alive. His delusion became such a problem that his
family finally paid for him to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist spent
many laborious sessions trying to convince the man he was still alive
but nothing seemed to work. Finally the doctor tried one last approach.
He took out his medical books and proceeded to show the patient that
dead men dont bleed. After hours of tedious study, the patient
seemed convinced that dead men dont bleed. "Do you now agree that
dead men dont bleed?" the doctor asked. "Yes, I do," the patient
replied. "Very well, then," the doctor said. He took out a pin and
pricked the patients finger. Out came a trickle of blood. The doctor
asked, "What does that tell you?" "Oh my goodness!" the patient
exclaimed as he stared incredulously at his finger... "Dead men do
bleed!!"