John-8:33-41-esv

For Reading and Meditation:     John 8:31-41

You have probably sensed that the issue we have been dealing with is extremely important. In fact, I know of nothing of greater consequence for the Christian Church than the need to resolve the issue of why it is, when facing the tough questions of life, we settle for answers that are not answers. Let me illustrate what...

For Reading and Meditation:     John 8:21-36

We saw yesterday that the phenomenon of catharsis comes about not simply through telling someone else our troubles, but when that other person is a warm, accepting and understanding individual. Psychologists believe the explanation for this to be the fact that the warm, accepting manner of the helper is so directly...

For Reading and Meditation:     John 8:31-47

Jesus publicly made the challenge: " Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?" Here we are face to face with a kind of person who had not been seen since Adam in his pre-fallen condition - a man without sin. The disciples had shared every kind of experience with Him that mortals can share, had seen Him at all hours of day...

Paul's experience with the Christians in Galatia reminds us that we often make enemies of our friends when we tell them the truth. The apostle had introduced these people to the Lord and nurtured them in the faith. But later when false teachers infiltrated their Christian assemblies, Paul had to warn believers that they were forsaking Christ for the law. That caused them to become hostile toward their father in the faith.

It was also true in Old Testament times. Elijah was always...

John 8:31-40

The title of this passage is suggestive. People who live in sin - do not think that they are slaves - they often think they are the only free men, and that Christians are the slaves. But in all this world, there is no bondage so terrible as the bondage of sin. The salvation of Christ is not merely the taking away of sin's penalty - if this were all, it would be very incomplete. This would leave...

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! § My brethren, you … have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. § Not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ. § The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.The law of...

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free … Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin … Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage … For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled...

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. § The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. § If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.Brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. § Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the...