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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 23
5 November 2006
Ye
Shall Be Free Indeed
(Message delivered by Pr Hien Nguyen at the
Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Oct 29, 06)
Text:
John 8:31-37
Today is
the Reformation Sunday, and it is so sad to see that not many churches
remember this day and give thanks and praise to the Lord for raising His
godly servants like Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and John
Knox for the 16th Century Reformation. The Reformation was
necessary and vital for the Truth had to be proclaimed. In those days
the people did not have the Word of God in their own language and in
their hands; as a result, they were misled by unbiblical doctrines,
practices, and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church: their salvation
was not by grace through faith alone but mixed with good works, their
worship was not in spirit and in truth based on God’s Word the Bible
alone but mixed with man-made traditions and unbiblical rituals and
sacraments, their loyalty was not to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
and to God’s Word alone but to the Pope, to his words and to the Roman
Catholic Church (RCC), etc. Just imagine, if we were under such bondage
today, how miserable we would be!
On the 31st
of October 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses or statements on the
gate of Wittenberg castle church against these unbiblical doctrines and
practices of the RCC. We thank God for giving His servant strength and
courage to stand alone for God’s truth and even to contend for his faith
in God’s Word against such a powerful and worldwide organisation of the
RCC. If Martin Luther had compromised and thought that he should have
worked with the RCC to reform it, God would not have used him.
Ironically, today we see many are compromising and desiring to go back
to Rome, even thinking that the 16th Century Reformation was
a mistake!
The spirit
and atmosphere of the 16th Century Reformation was so fervent
and intense that it was a life-and-death spiritual warfare for anyone
who wanted to be loyal to the Lord and to His Word alone. If
we
had gathered together to worship the Lord with God’s Word in our hands,
reading and preaching the Bible, and singing hymns to praise the Lord in
the 16th century in the same manner as we are doing now, we
would have certainly been persecuted and executed as heretics!
Disappointedly, nowadays many take God’s Word for granted with a spirit
of compromise, worldliness, ecumenism and even apostasy!
Jesus
Christ, the Divine Reformer and Saviour
Today, let
us look unto our Great Divine Reformer and Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. In His days, people were also misled by ungodly leaders with so
many man-made traditions. The Lord Jesus rebuked them, saying, “This
people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. … Making the word of God of none effect
through your tradition” (Mark 7:6, 7, 13). We do thank God for
sending His only begotten Son, not only to bring us back to His truth,
but also to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification and
salvation.
The Bible
text today is John 8:31-37. Our Lord Jesus says, “If ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. … If
the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”
(vv 31, 32, 36). My dear friends, are you and I truly free?
Are You
Truly Free?
The Jews
said to the Lord Jesus, “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in
bondage to any man.” They have forgotten that their fathers used to
be in bondage to the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Midianites, the
Babylonians, etc., and in their days they were in bondage to the Romans,
to their sins and their man-made traditions! Many people nowadays also
think that they are free and they are not in bondage to anyone or
anything. They can say, write, believe and do whatever they like as long
as it is not against the law of their country. They think that they are
enjoying so much freedom that they do not need a Saviour to set them
free. Is that true? The Lord Jesus says, “Whosoever committeth sin
is a servant of sin” (v 34). The Bible also says, “He that
committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning” (1 John 3:8), and “While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom
(or of what) a man is overcome, of the same is he brought
in bondage” (2 Peter 2:19). Therefore, if you and I are
defeated by sin, we are slaves of sin, if we are defeated by Satan, we
are slaves of Satan, if we are defeated by anyone or anything, we are
slaves of that person or that thing. Many are slaves to their own sinful
nature with sexual lusts, sinful desires or bad temper. Many are slaves
to their selfishness, proud ambitions and they cannot deny themselves
nor submit themselves to the Lord and God’s will. Many are slaves to
worldliness and materialism, running after up-to-date fashion and
modern lifestyle and hi-tech models, saying, “I cannot live without it.”
Many are slaves to drinking and smoking or even drugs and they cannot
live without it. Many are slaves to worldly pleasures and
entertainments, to movies and video games and they cannot live without
it. Many cannot live without their friends. Many are slaves to
unbiblical beliefs, practices and superstitions and saying that they
have to keep some practices or rituals and do some good works in order
to be
saved. Sadly, outside the Lord
Jesus Christ, their souls cannot find true peace, true freedom and true
salvation. Are you and I truly free now?
How To
Be Truly Free
Know
the Truth. The
Lord Jesus says, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my
disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free” (vv 31-32). How can you and I know the truth?
Only through God’s Word with the illumination and revelation of the Holy
Spirit can we know the truth about God and ourselves. Many are also
reading or preaching the Bible but they cannot see the truth despite
their great “scholarship.” Why? Because they read God’s Word without
faith, reverence and submission and even arrogantly criticise, question,
or cast doubts on God’s Word! We are to “continue” in
God’s Word first and then we “shall know” the truth. The
verb “continue” is the same verb “abide, continue, remain” in John
15:4-16, carrying a meaning of full submission and total dependence of
the branch (believer) to the Vine (Christ) in order to survive and live
and bear fruit. Likewise, in order to know God’s truth, we are to read
and study God’s Word with a humble, teachable, submissive and prayerful
heart as well as with faith and reverence, and then the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit of Truth, shall guide us into all truth (John 16:13). Once we
know the truth, the truth shall make us free.
Then what
is truth? Pilate asked Jesus this question (John 18:38) only for the
sake of asking without any thirst for the knowledge of the truth from
the Lord Jesus. How about you and me? Do we really want to know the
truth? Through the Bible, we know that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17),
the Lord Jesus Christ is the
truth (John 14:6), and the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, is truth (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1
John 5:6). My dear friends, only God’s Word, the Lord Jesus Christ and
the Holy Spirit can make you and me free.
God’s
Word.
When the Bible was
translated into German, most of the Germans came back to God’s truth and
enjoyed God’s salvation in Christ by grace through faith alone despite
the fierce persecutions from the RCC. The same blessings to the English
and the Scottish when the Bible was translated into English! It is God’s
Word that made them free from the bondage of unbiblical doctrines,
traditions, practices and rituals!
Through
God’s Word we know the truth that God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and that
He forbids us to worship idols, then we shall be free from worshipping
idols. Through God’s Word we know the truth that God is sovereign and
that He is taking care of us and is able to make all things work
together for good unto us, then we shall not fear any “bad luck” under
the shadow of superstitions. Through God’s Word we know the truth of
God’s love and His salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through
faith alone, and we can rest in His Word and shall not rely on our good
works or anything else to be saved.
“Thy
word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,”
and “My soul
cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word,”
“And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts” (Ps
119:11, 25, 45). My dear friends, the more we know God’s truth through
His Word and the Holy Spirit, the more liberty we enjoy in Christ.
The
Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord Jesus says, “If
the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”
(v 36). Our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again for
our justification, so He is able to set us free from condemnation,
“whosoever believeth in him (Jesus) should not perish … is not
condemned” (John 3:16, 18), and “There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). Our
Lord Jesus is able not only to save us from sin but also to deliver us
from our sinful nature, “O wretch man that I am! who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord” (Rom 7:24-25).
Are you and
I truly free now? When I was at the Far Eastern Bible College, I met
several students who used to be addicted to drugs but were set free by
their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord might use their lives
in the ministry! Praise the Lord! He is our great Deliverer and Saviour!
The
Holy Spirit.
The Bible
says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is liberty”
(2 Cor 3:17). King David
acknowledged that he was sinful, crying unto the Lord in repentance,
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from
me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with
thy free spirit” (Ps 51:10-12). The Holy Spirit is able to
regenerate and sanctify us and fill us with His divine nature so that we
may bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Shall we not submit to His
control?
Conclusion
My dear friends, only
God’s Word, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit can make you and
me truly free from sin, self, worldliness and Satan. The Bible says,
“As free, and
not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as
the servants
(slaves) of God”
(1 Peter 2:16). I would rather be a slave of God with my full submission
to Him and His Word for He is my gracious and powerful Maker, Deliverer
and Saviour. How about you?
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