The Truth WIll Set You Free

Title: The Truth Will Set You Free By Pastor Lohn Johnson
Text:  John 8: 34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” INTRODUCTION:  My dear friends in Christ, In the movie "Gone With the Wind," Scarlett O'Hara's father, Gerald, offers a most profound observation as he confronts his 16-year old daughter on the evening before John Wilkes' famous barbecue. [Video: After being rebuffed by Scarlett for wanting to bequeath to her Tara's rich landscape, Gerald tells his ungrateful child that the land "is the only thing that lasts.” It's the only thing worth fighting for, worth dying for."] Well, it's certain that the land will be here long after we're gone, but even the land we walk on won't last forever. It will continue to erode and to change as time goes on. But there is something that will outlast the land and the people who live on it. God’s truth will never change!  When we discover this, we will be free for now and forever. This is the Sunday when Lutheran churches celebrate the words and works of Martin Luther, whose search to know what was true and what was not true about the Christian faith hatched the Reformation movement Martin Luther was a diligent seeker after truth. Unfortunately, truth and the freedom it brings eluded him, because, at first, his search took him down the wrong path.
I.  Our text is also about the truth.  Jesus said to those who had believed in him, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."  But the Jews before Jesus were mistaken about the truth.
	A. Their words show they were mistaken about the truth of being slaves.
			1. The Jews told Jesus in our text: “We...have never been enslaved to anyone,”  Were they kidding?
						a. Had they forgotten about Tiberius over in Rome who was their master?  Their lives were under his control.  b. Had they forgotten their history books, or perhaps rewritten them in their own minds?  They had been slaves to the cruel Babylonians for seventy years, and before that slaves to the Pharaoh down in Egypt.
			2. But Jesus does not give them a history lesson.  He points to something far worse than physical slavery...spiritual slavery.  “Everyone who commits sin,” He says, “is a slave to sin.”  And this is a truth they would deny too.
		B. And here is where we come in.  Most Americans do not share, with the Jews, their history of slavery.  But we certainly do share with them the spiritual slavery to sin.  And even more, we share their denials as well.  It is common for us to be mistaken about the truth.
			1. We do not think of ourselves as slaves.
						a. We pride ourselves on our independence, and not just as Americans; as Christians, too.  We like to think that we can handle the problems that come into our life; even the spiritual problems. b. Like the Jews, we live in denial.  They claimed Abraham as their father, and so how could they be called slaves?  For us, it’s Martin Luther.  “Me, a slave to sin?  But I’m a Lutheran.  I’m no slave.”  Yet even Martin Luther himself recognized, not just that he was a slave, but that his master was a cruel tyrant.  He echoed the words of the Apostle Paul:  “Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from this body of death?” (Rom. 7)
			2. The truth is that we are sinners. Not simply ones who commit sin, that is, do bad things, think bad thoughts, say bad words. It goes much deeper than that. We are slaves to Sin with a capital S.
						a. We are born enslaved, captive to Sin and Death. We cannot free ourselves. We’re stuck. And any attempts at self-liberation only make matters worse. Even things we thought were OK, even those places where we felt self-justified turn out to be riddled with sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. The mere fact that we sin – in our thoughts, in our words, in our actions – reminds us that we are slaves to Sin. b. Rather than live in denial, we need to face up to the harsh reality that we who commit sin are slaves to sin.  Our selfishness enslaves us.  So does our sinful pride.  God’s Word is clear.  To deny the truth that our sins have enslaved us is to live in death.
II. As Jesus proclaimed the truth to those Jews, His word proclaims the truth to us.  It is designed to work like this:
		A. A man sat one morning at a table in a fast-food restaurant, facing a window coated with a film of dirt and grease. An employee appeared outside with a bucket of water and sponged the grime away. It was like the raising of a curtain on a stage. Now he could see clearly the scene outside. In the immediate foreground was an asphalt parking lot; beyond that a stretch of winter-browned grass, relieved of monotony only by a cluster or two of leafless shrubs. Distant signs proclaimed the presence of a cinema, a bank, and a grocery store. Sea gulls from a nearby river floated casually overhead, occasionally gliding to the ground to snatch a morsel of food. A small airplane parted the sky, while traffic flowed steadily on the highway below. What had been concealed was now revealed: the appealing and the unappealing; the inspiring and the uninspiring; the depressing and the uplifting. Everything stood out in sunny outline, bold and clear.  Truth does that for us. It removes from our eyes the film that coats and distorts reality, and enables us to see, with clarity, the totality of life.
		B. Likewise We are to see the Truth about salvation through His words
			1. First, we are brought to see that No slave can free himself. A slave must be set free by his master.
					a. And because sin was our master, Jesus became sin for you.  He allowed sin --your sin, my sin-- to enslave Him.  That which was your master, mastered Jesus on the cross.  He surrendered to sin’s power.  He gave Himself up, and sin claimed Him completely.  It worked Him over.  It was a brutal tyrant.  The punishments Jesus endured from His Father for becoming the sinner in your place were far more brutal than any slave has ever endured. And then sin, as His cruel master, carried Jesus away in death.  b. But on the third day, the bonds of death were shattered.  The stone was rolled from the tomb.  Jesus came forth alive.  And He who lives is the One who draws you to Himself.  In Baptism he claims you.  In the Holy Supper He draws near to you.  Here in His Worship Service He speaks His words into you.  And so He who now has power over sin, death, and hell turns the key in your life and sets you free, free indeed.
			2.  The truth is It is Jesus Christ who snaps the chains of bondage - The alien power that has occupied our hearts since sin was first displayed in Eden has been crushed.
				a. The Truth is it is the Christ who loved us and who gave himself for us, who healed the sick, the blind, the deaf, and raised the dead. b. The Truth is it is the Christ of Calvary who bore in his own body on the tree the lies of all the world. c. The Truth is it is the Christ who stands before his table as our host and shares with us the broken body and his cleansing blood, "This is for you!" d. The Truth is it is the living, risen Lord beneath whose feet the ultimate, eternal bondage has been shattered and the powers of hell obliterated.
		C. The truth will set you free. It is a freedom from condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The debt has been paid once and for all. The slate has been washed clean. The verdict has been read. The jury dismissed. No condemnation. God refuses to deal with you as your sins deserve. The entire burden of your sin was nailed to the cross in Jesus. He bore the verdict “guilty” so that you might hear the verdict “not guilty.” You are free.
			1. The story is told of a man who lived in England several hundred years ago. He was accused of crimes he did not commit.  All through his trial, he stayed totally calm, - not at all worried about the outcome. The reason for his peaceful attitude was that before the trial he had previously pleaded his case to the King of England, who gave him a full pardon should he be found guilty by the court. So the man sat calmly in court with the king’s written pardon in his pocket.
				a. Our situation is similar, but with one big difference -- we are actually guilty! The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) But we have pleaded our case before the King of kings, - and because of His great love and sacrifice on our behalf, He has mercifully declared us "not guilty," "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1-2) b. As we live out our days on this earth, we have "a pardon in our pocket," so to speak. Because of what our Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross, we have peace with God, forgiveness of sins, and assurance of eternal life with Him. c. But it is even better than that. The man in England only had a pardon from the king in his pocket. In our case, we have the pardon of the King of kings—a pardon good for all eternity!
			2. We cling to the truth of God, but do not expect this to be easy. The devil, the world and our own sinful flesh hate God's truth and seek to wrest us away from it.
				a. Jesus tells us the truth that He is the Savior—Now in Him we have certain hope for eternal life. The world objects, "Only one Savior? How intolerant! We must do away with that truth! b. Jesus delights to remind us the truth that forgiveness comes in His Word and Sacraments. Your Old Adam says, "Nuts to that. What matters is how you feel. If you feel God is near, He is. If you feel He's far away, then He's not." But the Lord’s truth is not that He is present in feelings! Instead, His truth is that He is as near to you as His Word and Sacraments, no matter how you feel. c. It doesn’t matter if you feel like a slave.  Jesus has set you free.  No sin in your life as the power to master you – that’s the God’s honest truth.
CONCLUSION:   The truth is we are enslaved to sin.  The truth is we cannot free ourselves from this tyrant.  The truth is Jesus became sin for us.  The truth is He was destroyed by sin on that cross.  The truth is He defeated sin and death when He rose.  The truth is what He did is given out to us through Word and Sacrament.  The truth is we have received the pardon of our King of kings.  The truth is now we live eternally in the freedom we have been given. Amen.