33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's offering, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is that You say, "You shall become free?" 34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 And the slave does not remain remain in the house forever, the son does remain forever. 36 If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham's offspring; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father." 39 They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. 40 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."
Message: Children of Abraham
Time: John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31)."
What the Lord is Saying: The Lord delivered thoughts yesterday that we have come to view as the mark of a true discipleship and that was the idea that we need to abide in His word and in the process of doing this we will be made free by this truth. The first response often would be someone saying, "I did not realize I was lost." As my friend and I would often share with people at the mall it was with the premise that people did not know they were entangled by sin. In order to hear the Good news of Jesus, there needs to be some sort of realization that a person has a need for this. Today, very often in our population, people are not looking to God for help or guidance or even seeing God as someone they need. Perhaps, this was the mood of some listening to Him at this time. Especially Jewish officials who believed they already had what they needed.
And so in this passage Jesus is helping the hearer see that the problem they have is that "everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." That is a key message. What makes us need to be set free is that we are sinners and we need to get freed from being a slave of sin. And we are slaves simply because we sin. Jesus states in verse 35 and 36 that because someone is a slave to sin they do not dwell with Jesus in his forever house. But the Son can make you free. Believing in Him with a belief that will then abide in His Word - this will then be a person that is free indeed. Thus, the salvation message is one of freedom.
Jesus often responds to their claim that they do not have a problem of being entangled or being a slave because they are of the offspring of Abraham. The Jew makes this common claim that because of their tradition and because of being grafted into the line of Abraham as a Jew that because of this they are not lost. The traditional idea among the rabbis was that the descendants of Abraham were in a higher position spiritually from others. Jews did not seem themselves as being in bondage to wickedness like the Gentiles.
Most plainly Jesus responds that if they are truly of the offspring of Abraham then why are they seeking to kill him because like Abraham who did the deeds of God, Jesus is the same. Jesus is doing the deeds of God. These deeds are in response to what the Father has told Him to do. He has heard directly from God, something Abraham does not have. Jesus is from the father and He speaks to an audience that is to believe in Him, abide in His word and in doing this they will be set free. We are only set free by the Free One - Jesus Christ.
Summary: Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. To be free like Abraham is to be a servant of Christ.
Promise: When we move from being enslaved by sin to being a slave of Christ, then are empowered to serve Him, abiding by His word, being set free through the deeds of God.
Prayer: O God, you are good and you have freed me from sin. I have freedom in you Jesus. Thank you for giving me that recognition that I am a sinner and can only be freed by You. Bring people to salvation, on the street in which I live, at the place in which I work, throughout this land. Help people to see that they cannot hold onto an allegiance simply and that there life needs to be changed from the inside/out.
Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.
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