WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.860 Okay, folks, well, let me heartily encourage you to have John chapter 8 open in front of you. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:10.359 And I do feel like a broken record, but I'll own it this morning. 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:13.780 I say this every week, but genuinely I mean it. 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:14.880 This is brilliant. 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.440 This is brilliant, what we're going to think about today. 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:21.339 As you're turning to John chapter 8, here's a question for you. 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:24.060 Do you want to be free? 00:00:24.059 --> 00:00:32.659 There is not a more sweeter thought in all the world than that, is there not? 00:00:33.379 --> 00:00:34.399 To be free. 00:00:35.399 --> 00:00:41.519 I think it's probably the greatest value that our culture loves. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:43.980 To be free, yeah? 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:48.259 That is what is on offer today, is freedom. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:50.280 Right? 00:00:51.099 --> 00:00:52.820 Love it in a Scottish accent, yeah? 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:53.100 Freedom. 00:00:53.619 --> 00:00:54.020 Freedom. 00:00:54.420 --> 00:00:55.899 That is what's on offer here today. 00:00:55.980 --> 00:00:59.659 The question is, where do you and I find it? 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:03.200 Let me tell you about my friend Steph. 00:01:05.460 --> 00:01:14.480 Steph is a fellow dad on the school run, and Steph works for the People's Postcode Lottery in Charlotte Square in the city. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:17.439 And a few weeks ago, Steph's telling me about his job. 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:19.180 I speak to him often, he's a great guy. 00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:25.040 And he's telling me about the fact that in the office, you can help yourself to unlimited coffee and snacks. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:25.280 Right? 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:27.120 He's Scottish, in case you hadn't guessed. 00:01:27.720 --> 00:01:28.860 Loves his job for that. 00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:31.000 But then he says this about his job. 00:01:31.700 --> 00:01:36.160 He says the whole concept of the lottery is really simple. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:45.759 It's to make you think that you'll win, but the whole thing is actually set up to try and ensure that you'll lose. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:55.520 And I thought to myself, when it comes to freedom, what a telling description of the problem of the human heart. 00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:56.859 Okay? 00:01:56.900 --> 00:02:02.120 We live in a world that is selling us tickets to all sorts of things. 00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:05.980 Saying that ultimately freedom will be found over here. 00:02:06.380 --> 00:02:07.840 It will be found over there. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:09.680 Like sirens calling on the rocks. 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:13.099 Come over here and buy what we have to offer. 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:16.539 And the problem is that our sinful hearts, we buy them. 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:20.500 But what is it that we sooner or later discover? 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:27.560 We discover that those things will not deliver the freedom that we thought they would give us. 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:29.599 Now sticking with the lottery theme just for a minute. 00:02:30.579 --> 00:02:39.400 Isn't it interesting that so often when winners hit the jackpot, when life for a season quite literally has no bounds, except for the law. 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:43.599 And to be honest, if you've got enough cash, you can kind of find a way around the law. 00:02:43.920 --> 00:02:44.060 Okay? 00:02:44.920 --> 00:02:50.040 What is it as they look back on that lottery win, what is it that they so often say it was? 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:55.500 That actually it was the worst thing that could have happened to me. 00:02:55.500 --> 00:03:00.080 Now here's a question for you just to consider, even right up the top. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:07.139 Living in our world today, when we're encouraged to follow our hearts and be true to ourselves, 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:13.520 and with those things being almost in our culture today, the litmus test of where true freedom is to be found, 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:26.800 have you considered even the mere possibility that for our hearts to truly get what they want might actually be the worst thing that could ever happen to us? 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:36.360 You see, according to the Bible, the human heart is a faulty compass by which to sail by. 00:03:36.700 --> 00:03:40.820 And the reason is because we don't really understand our hearts, have you come to think about it? 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:43.840 You know, what was it that Shrek said about ogres? 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:46.159 What are they like? 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:48.879 They're like onions, right? 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:50.099 They're like onions. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.019 Profound line in that film. 00:03:52.519 --> 00:03:53.180 They're like onions. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:54.359 They've got layers. 00:03:55.379 --> 00:03:57.859 And I take it that Shrek is saying that they're complicated. 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:00.439 There's more to them than meets the eye. 00:04:00.519 --> 00:04:03.019 There's more going on to the surface than we think there is. 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:05.979 And it's the same is true of the human heart. 00:04:05.979 --> 00:04:11.039 That there's more going on there than we care to think there is. 00:04:12.979 --> 00:04:19.519 And so step into our world, Jesus Christ, the one who John has introduced us in his gospel as coming from above, 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:25.539 the one who John has already said in his gospel, knows every single human heart. 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:29.099 And he steps into our world. 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:35.140 And almost what he does is that he lifts the lid on the human heart. 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:38.460 And he says, let me tell you how it is. 00:04:40.300 --> 00:04:41.280 So freedom. 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:44.160 I mean, who doesn't want to be free? 00:04:44.780 --> 00:04:44.879 Yeah? 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:49.760 Wham, Robbie Williams, Lenny Kravitz, you Google it. 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:51.100 They all sang about it. 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:54.900 Nelson Mandela, George Orwell, they all wrote about it. 00:04:54.899 --> 00:05:02.459 The thing that separates Jesus from any other person is that only Jesus claims that he can give us it. 00:05:03.479 --> 00:05:07.560 And that's why whoever you are here today, whatever you think of the God of the Bible, 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:10.919 that is what is on offer to you today. 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:16.039 That is why you and I need to listen into what Jesus is saying. 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:24.920 And so by way of just two headings, here's two things for us to think about as we journey through this section. 00:05:25.220 --> 00:05:26.280 Here's the first one. 00:05:27.580 --> 00:05:29.939 It's that everyone's driven by someone. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:32.800 Everyone's driven by someone. 00:05:32.900 --> 00:05:34.120 That's what Jesus is saying here. 00:05:34.280 --> 00:05:35.360 Everyone's driven by someone. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:42.960 Now, it was German reformer Martin Luther who said that when it comes to our lives, 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:47.660 that we all like to think of ourselves like the captain at the wheel of the ship. 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:48.000 Right? 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:48.319 True. 00:05:48.900 --> 00:05:53.580 We all like to think of ourselves as the captain at the wheel of the ship. 00:05:53.660 --> 00:05:56.759 But he said, in actual fact, flip the illustration around. 00:05:57.819 --> 00:06:02.639 And in actual fact, each of us is a horse with a rider on our backs. 00:06:03.620 --> 00:06:04.020 Right? 00:06:04.100 --> 00:06:05.000 Keep that image in your head. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.379 We're actually like a horse with a rider on our backs. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:08.680 Now, where has he got that from? 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:10.199 He's got it from Jesus. 00:06:11.939 --> 00:06:15.439 You see, here is Jesus in discussion with the Pharisees. 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:19.620 Now, clock with me, if you haven't already, into this passage, verse 31. 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:22.980 The Pharisees are the religious leaders of the day. 00:06:24.180 --> 00:06:31.959 And the Pharisees think they're, verse 31, because they are Abraham's physical offspring. 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:34.459 They are from his physical line. 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:37.319 That they assume that they are gods. 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:42.259 And they assume because they are gods that they are free. 00:06:42.259 --> 00:06:50.039 And of course, here is a people who historically know all about what it is to be slaves. 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:55.180 I mean, if you're initially like, this is part of your DNA. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:57.639 This is part of your people's story. 00:06:57.639 --> 00:07:10.959 It's part of your story. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:11.899 It's part of your story. 00:07:11.899 --> 00:07:14.179 You understand what it is to be a slave. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:16.759 And you understand what it is to be free. 00:07:18.339 --> 00:07:24.519 And you'll hear echoes of that story and where it finds its ultimate fulfillment all over this chapter, if you look hard enough. 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:31.939 Because Jesus says, just like it was physically then for you in slavery and God rescued you. 00:07:33.259 --> 00:07:34.719 So it is spiritually. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:37.639 You are in slavery. 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:41.019 It's a really hard thing to hear. 00:07:41.019 --> 00:07:44.000 Why is Jesus saying that? 00:07:44.099 --> 00:07:46.759 Well, who is the rider on the horse of their lives? 00:07:47.159 --> 00:07:52.599 Evident in the fact that his word, verse 37, finds no place in their hearts. 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:58.199 And by extension, the same is true for all those who will not accept Jesus' words. 00:07:58.300 --> 00:07:59.360 Who's the rider on the back? 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:00.500 Verse 44. 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:13.480 It is the devil, this created fallen angel, who Jesus describes here as a murderer from the beginning, who is the father of lies. 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:16.120 Now, we've got to do a little bit of work here. 00:08:16.259 --> 00:08:25.860 When Jesus says, in the beginning, that should, in our minds, take us back to the opening play of the Bible story. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:27.920 Right? 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:29.080 Genesis 1 and 2. 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:30.960 God speaks. 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:33.420 Creation does his bidding. 00:08:33.580 --> 00:08:36.240 He creates the heavens and the earth. 00:08:36.820 --> 00:08:42.759 And this God, he speaks, this beautiful God, creation happens and he creates mankind. 00:08:43.060 --> 00:08:44.820 He creates human beings. 00:08:45.100 --> 00:08:46.840 And this is who you are here today. 00:08:47.500 --> 00:08:54.800 Whatever you think of the God of the Bible, you are wonderfully made and dignified because you are made in his image. 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:58.979 All mankind, all life made in his image. 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:13.159 And so there in the Bible story, Genesis 1 and 2, it culminates with Adam and Eve living in the Garden of Eden under God's good rule, enjoying his presence, enjoying what it is to be in relationship with him. 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:15.159 And then you hit Genesis 3. 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:18.899 And another voice appears on the scene. 00:09:18.899 --> 00:09:25.519 And this voice simply says, and remember this for where it ends. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.120 Did God really say? 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:30.019 Did God really say? 00:09:30.019 --> 00:09:31.779 Did God really say? 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:36.039 Is he not out to ruin your fun? 00:09:36.039 --> 00:09:40.439 Can you really trust that he knows best? 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:44.839 Can you really know that he's got your best interests at heart? 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:50.259 If I were you, I think you'd be better off going it alone. 00:09:50.419 --> 00:09:52.500 I'll show you where true freedom is to be found. 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:56.379 And in Genesis 3, this is what happens. 00:09:56.519 --> 00:10:00.139 That Adam and Eve, they take it. 00:10:00.139 --> 00:10:03.340 And what happens after that point? 00:10:03.419 --> 00:10:05.399 What do Adam and Eve do in the story? 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:06.980 What's the verb? 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:07.759 What are they doing? 00:10:09.259 --> 00:10:10.779 They're hiding from God. 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:14.259 Not because they found freedom. 00:10:14.419 --> 00:10:17.080 Not because they don't want God to take what they have. 00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:18.039 That they found it. 00:10:19.100 --> 00:10:22.399 No, they hide because they're ashamed. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:27.199 The father of lies sells us. 00:10:27.259 --> 00:10:29.259 And here's clock it back into the open illustration. 00:10:29.959 --> 00:10:32.000 Sells us the dream of the win. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:34.980 The freedom is to be found over here. 00:10:35.079 --> 00:10:38.879 But in the end, and our sinful hearts want it. 00:10:38.939 --> 00:10:42.659 In the end, it's all set up so that we'll lose. 00:10:47.659 --> 00:10:49.179 And here's the thing to see. 00:10:49.179 --> 00:10:58.099 That lies and darkness will never deliver on their promise of freedom. 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:03.919 They deliver not life and freedom. 00:11:04.079 --> 00:11:07.239 They deliver death and God's judgment. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:16.659 And so Jesus is saying that sitting behind every anti-God stance in the human heart. 00:11:16.819 --> 00:11:18.599 Every lie about his character. 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:20.960 Every falsity about who he is. 00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:24.300 Stands the father of lies. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:34.300 I don't know if you knew this, but in 2016, the Oxford Dictionary word of the year was the word post-truth. 00:11:35.820 --> 00:11:39.200 Which is technically two words, but let's not split hairs here, okay? 00:11:39.659 --> 00:11:45.060 It's a word, and there's the definition that means that now emotional and personal beliefs 00:11:45.059 --> 00:11:50.659 are more influential in terms of how people live their lives and choose the things that they do 00:11:50.659 --> 00:11:52.879 over objective truth. 00:11:54.359 --> 00:11:58.419 And so that's how truth is viewed in our world today. 00:11:58.479 --> 00:12:00.919 You hear phrases all the time, like, that is your truth. 00:12:00.979 --> 00:12:02.479 That is my truth. 00:12:02.619 --> 00:12:04.139 It's all relevant. 00:12:04.919 --> 00:12:06.139 It's all relative, rather. 00:12:06.139 --> 00:12:16.220 Now listen, as Christians, we believe in truth, not just as a concept that God created the world with beauty and order to it. 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:18.899 We believe in truth as a person. 00:12:18.899 --> 00:12:23.600 Jesus said he is the light of the world. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:24.639 That was last week. 00:12:24.740 --> 00:12:28.259 And now he says here today that his word is truth. 00:12:28.579 --> 00:12:32.639 And that truth is the thing that will set us free. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:37.159 And so there are two big equal signs that are flying right over this text. 00:12:37.319 --> 00:12:37.480 Okay? 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:38.560 Here's the first one. 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:43.060 It's that truth equals freedom. 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:44.680 Right? 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:46.879 Truth equals freedom. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:50.740 Jesus says, verse 35, and love this, 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:57.340 If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. 00:12:58.120 --> 00:12:58.680 Right? 00:12:58.680 --> 00:13:05.039 A slave who's working in a house has got no right to set anyone free. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:06.759 No authority. 00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:09.099 No jurisdiction. 00:13:10.059 --> 00:13:11.899 But it's different with a son. 00:13:13.959 --> 00:13:16.240 He has his father's authority. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:17.879 He holds the jurisdiction. 00:13:18.379 --> 00:13:23.439 And when he declares somebody free, when he says you are good to go, 00:13:24.939 --> 00:13:26.620 then that's a totally different story. 00:13:27.899 --> 00:13:30.419 And so that is what Jesus is saying today. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:31.779 I guess this is like Aladdin. 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:35.600 Aladdin, no fellow genie could free Aladdin. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:36.100 Right? 00:13:36.319 --> 00:13:39.419 No fellow genie could free the genie in Aladdin. 00:13:40.079 --> 00:13:44.659 No, only the one, only the master, only the one in charge could. 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:52.039 And Jesus is saying, my word is where freedom is found. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.120 Now let's just pause for a moment there and say, wow. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:59.899 Let me urge you to see what this is telling us. 00:13:59.960 --> 00:14:01.519 And I love this this week. 00:14:01.779 --> 00:14:05.320 It's telling us that if you are a follower of Jesus here today, 00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:08.159 then you are free. 00:14:10.100 --> 00:14:13.200 You're not just free to have a relationship with Jesus, 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:15.279 although that is absolutely true. 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:20.419 No, your status, our status is now that we are united to Jesus. 00:14:20.419 --> 00:14:29.279 He's made us his because we have had our eyes opened by his grace 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:33.319 and are now adopted children of the Father. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:37.740 And that's who you are here today if you trust us in Christ. 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:39.120 That is who you are. 00:14:40.259 --> 00:14:41.699 And how has Jesus done that? 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:46.120 He has done it through his death on the cross. 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:50.600 As he became sin for us. 00:14:51.659 --> 00:14:54.779 As he took the penalty that we deserved. 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:57.039 As he made us his. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:00.500 As he shares his life with us. 00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:03.000 As our lives are caught up in him. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:05.919 And what has happened there, as a result, 00:15:06.039 --> 00:15:08.919 what has happened is that he has broken the chains. 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:17.079 He has broken the dominating chokehold that the father of lies and our sin has over us. 00:15:17.419 --> 00:15:17.579 Right? 00:15:17.699 --> 00:15:18.819 He has broken it. 00:15:21.479 --> 00:15:23.699 You see, friends, serving and worshipping God, 00:15:23.799 --> 00:15:24.759 we've got to understand this, 00:15:24.839 --> 00:15:29.759 was not on any of our radars before he got involved in our lives. 00:15:30.959 --> 00:15:34.459 It just was not there. 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:38.900 We just weren't interested. 00:15:39.100 --> 00:15:41.720 But now, because he got involved, 00:15:42.560 --> 00:15:46.580 that desire that we have inside of us to do his will, 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:49.540 that shows us that we are his. 00:15:49.680 --> 00:15:53.320 That is a sign of the Spirit's work and presence in us. 00:15:55.100 --> 00:15:57.340 The Spirit who helps us cry, 00:15:58.379 --> 00:16:00.120 Abba, Father. 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:07.759 And I don't think anyone gets this better than hymn writer Augustus Toplady, 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:11.519 which you just have to say is the coolest name ever. 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:14.259 And we sang this just a few moments ago. 00:16:15.340 --> 00:16:17.799 And he puts it like this in his hymn, Rock of Ages. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:20.320 And you probably skipped over this, didn't even think about it. 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:22.519 I remember this line in the song, 00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:24.879 Hit Me With Fresh Power, a couple of years ago. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:28.340 When I understood more clearly what Jesus has done. 00:16:28.680 --> 00:16:29.340 He says this, 00:16:29.340 --> 00:16:35.060 Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin. 00:16:35.100 --> 00:16:37.320 And then see what he says, the double cure. 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:43.960 Save me from its guilt and its power. 00:16:44.680 --> 00:16:49.200 I am free from the penalty of sin because what have Jesus done for me? 00:16:49.379 --> 00:16:54.639 And I am now free to choose his will in a life of worship and obedience to him. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:17:02.500 He's broken the guilt and he's broken the power of sin in our lives. 00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:05.839 It's the double cure. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:13.559 And I wonder whether some of us need to wonderfully recapture the sweet smelling aroma of that double cure. 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:15.559 Because perhaps you're here today. 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:20.720 Because perhaps you're here today and honestly your life, it feels really unspectacular. 00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:23.619 It feels really mundane. 00:17:23.619 --> 00:17:28.019 It feels really ordinary as you follow Jesus. 00:17:28.019 --> 00:17:29.979 You think, no big deal here. 00:17:29.980 --> 00:17:35.259 And this passage would tell you the opposite is true. 00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:43.319 Particularly, I think, living in our world where many friends and family, peers and neighbours think that in all honesty. 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:47.159 That if you're a Christian, you're the one who's the slave. 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:48.960 Right? 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.379 With your limiting stance on sexuality and gender. 00:17:53.139 --> 00:17:57.259 With your dated views of when life begins and ends. 00:17:57.659 --> 00:18:01.159 With your restricting belief that there's only one way to God. 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:08.759 Constraints that you're putting on your life because you're looking at rules that are contained in this really ancient dated book. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.139 And so if anyone's the slave, it's you. 00:18:11.140 --> 00:18:14.780 I mean, is that connecting with folks? 00:18:16.040 --> 00:18:21.160 In our world over the last couple of weeks where we've seen the protests for some of you guys, your students, protests at Edinburgh Uni. 00:18:21.259 --> 00:18:25.500 Where we saw stuff that's going on at the Stand Comedy Club this past week. 00:18:25.520 --> 00:18:26.220 Is this connecting? 00:18:28.780 --> 00:18:33.020 You need to hear, if that is you, Jesus say, my word is truth. 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:39.540 And if you are following it and if you are abiding in it, then that word has set you free. 00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:45.000 Friends, everyone's driven by someone. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:49.820 And because that is true, everyone's living out something. 00:18:51.100 --> 00:18:53.960 And Jesus speaks, verse 31, to those who have believed him. 00:18:54.540 --> 00:18:55.120 Do you see that? 00:18:55.240 --> 00:18:56.700 Come with me to the text, verse 31. 00:18:56.840 --> 00:18:58.800 He's speaking to those who had believed him. 00:18:58.799 --> 00:18:59.799 Isn't that interesting? 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:04.919 That Jesus knows that their following of him is only surface level. 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:13.339 That they claim his name and yet they bolt at the idea that he wants the total allegiance of our hearts. 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:16.240 And that they might need to change. 00:19:16.379 --> 00:19:20.659 No, they're like the proverbial cat that's playing with a ball of string and saying, 00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:22.259 I'm not going anywhere. 00:19:22.560 --> 00:19:23.460 I'm quite happy. 00:19:26.100 --> 00:19:29.720 And so verse 34, Jesus says, listen, everyone who practices sin. 00:19:29.840 --> 00:19:30.759 And I take it there. 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:33.700 He just means everyone who lives in sin. 00:19:34.040 --> 00:19:34.200 Okay. 00:19:34.220 --> 00:19:35.259 This is just what you do. 00:19:35.320 --> 00:19:36.200 This is your life. 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:39.860 You see nothing wrong with how your heart is before a holy God. 00:19:41.620 --> 00:19:45.320 He says everyone who does that is a slave to sin. 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:52.980 And the thing about that language is it's conveying to us the truth that we cannot free ourselves from it. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:57.679 That is the natural direction of all of our hearts out with the grace of God. 00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:01.399 That our inclination is to run after our own glory. 00:20:03.579 --> 00:20:07.960 That will see us on that final day answerable to this holy God. 00:20:08.099 --> 00:20:10.539 It's what we all do by very nature. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.099 We follow the pattern of our own hearts. 00:20:14.099 --> 00:20:16.419 We desire our own glory. 00:20:16.899 --> 00:20:21.259 But for the Christian, and this is where the Exodus imagery here is so powerful. 00:20:23.219 --> 00:20:24.719 You have been freed. 00:20:24.980 --> 00:20:27.759 I mean, I'm reading that Exodus story in my own time in the evenings. 00:20:28.019 --> 00:20:32.279 And you get that impression in the early chapters that they've got no interest in freedom. 00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:33.219 They are grumbling. 00:20:34.019 --> 00:20:35.299 Oh, yeah, they're crying out to God. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:37.639 But I think they're quite happy where they are. 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:41.799 But they have been freed. 00:20:42.359 --> 00:20:43.259 You have been freed. 00:20:43.259 --> 00:20:44.640 God has saved you. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.680 He has overcome your biggest enemy. 00:20:46.819 --> 00:20:47.680 He has freed you. 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:54.900 Not so, and this is true in the story of Israel, not so that you can wander aimlessly around in the desert. 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:58.480 No, God said that I have saved you. 00:20:58.579 --> 00:21:00.079 I have made you mine. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.319 I have saved you to live for me. 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:10.199 I have saved you out of the self-obsessed wall of mirrors that your heart had built around itself. 00:21:10.439 --> 00:21:11.919 I have saved you out of that. 00:21:12.339 --> 00:21:18.679 And I have saved you to a life of enjoying and knowing and seeking my glory. 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:25.279 And our response in joy is to faithfully obey his words. 00:21:25.380 --> 00:21:27.000 So that's what God had done to Israel. 00:21:27.100 --> 00:21:29.180 That is the pattern of the Christian life. 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:33.160 You see, the nations of the world were meant to look in at Israel and say, 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:36.640 What other nation has a God as good as that? 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:46.740 What other nation has a God with laws as wonderful as that is to see Israel doing their God glorifying thing? 00:21:46.740 --> 00:21:52.839 And so we've got to see the same pattern then in what Jesus says. 00:21:53.059 --> 00:21:55.480 To see it is the mark of the true disciple. 00:21:57.079 --> 00:21:58.500 The mark of the true disciple. 00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:00.640 And that's what we're all about here as a church. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:04.359 Disciple making disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:22:05.059 --> 00:22:07.359 That word disciple there, think about it like this. 00:22:07.460 --> 00:22:12.180 Someone who is a lifelong learner of Jesus Christ. 00:22:14.339 --> 00:22:16.079 What is the mark, says Jesus? 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:20.439 The mark is that we abide in his word. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:25.259 And here's the second equal sign that's blazed all over this passage. 00:22:25.379 --> 00:22:26.279 The first one, do you remember? 00:22:26.399 --> 00:22:27.500 Truth equals freedom. 00:22:27.919 --> 00:22:32.519 The second one for us is to see that disciples equals abiding. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:37.099 Some of us will remember that old English word. 00:22:37.339 --> 00:22:39.039 It's kind of a little bit out of fashion just now. 00:22:39.559 --> 00:22:40.659 That word abode. 00:22:40.879 --> 00:22:41.379 Do you remember it? 00:22:42.699 --> 00:22:44.539 It's how they speak in Downton Abbey, isn't it? 00:22:44.539 --> 00:22:45.079 Old Carson. 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:46.879 Where somebody abodes. 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:50.220 So when somebody says, where do you abode? 00:22:50.299 --> 00:22:51.059 What are they asking? 00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:54.919 They're asking, where do you live? 00:22:55.399 --> 00:23:01.960 And Jesus is saying that the true disciple, the world will know that they are mine because they are living in. 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:04.500 They're living in my word. 00:23:04.500 --> 00:23:05.960 That's how you'll know. 00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:07.579 That's what you'll see. 00:23:07.579 --> 00:23:11.839 In the words of Mark Dever in his wonderful little book, Discipling, 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:22.159 at the heart of Christianity is God's desire for a people to display his character. 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:28.880 And so the question for us corporately, the question for us individually as we respond to this is, 00:23:29.080 --> 00:23:32.680 are we abiding in his words? 00:23:32.680 --> 00:23:37.820 Are we spending time in his word? 00:23:37.820 --> 00:23:46.880 Is he shaping the course and direction and thoughts and intentions of our hearts here? 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:50.580 Are we making time in the busyness of life? 00:23:50.580 --> 00:23:57.180 And it was so wonderful to hear about the women's brunch a few weeks ago when you guys were thinking about that. 00:23:57.300 --> 00:24:03.020 How can we carve out time in the busyness of life to seek the face of the Lord? 00:24:03.019 --> 00:24:07.819 Guys, are we making time for his word in our lives? 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:11.279 To hear his truth, the truth that will set us free. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:16.579 Now, two questions as we begin to wind this up this morning for us to think about. 00:24:17.900 --> 00:24:21.660 Some of us will be here today and we need to feel the challenge of this. 00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:28.740 Some of us, we are hiding in the darkness and believing the lie. 00:24:28.740 --> 00:24:33.640 The devil whispering in your ear, did God really see? 00:24:36.099 --> 00:24:39.839 Do you know what is safer in the darkness where nobody knows? 00:24:40.819 --> 00:24:45.519 Do you think, honestly, there's going to be life and light out with the darkness? 00:24:47.900 --> 00:24:56.539 We need to be a community where falsity and cover-ups and blind eyes are just not a thing. 00:24:56.539 --> 00:25:04.519 We need to be a community that doesn't let the darkness and the father of lies get a foothold in our relationships together. 00:25:05.139 --> 00:25:10.279 We need to be a community who puts up our hands and owns our mistakes. 00:25:11.420 --> 00:25:15.879 That recognizes that reconciliation, that being one with one another, 00:25:16.019 --> 00:25:21.019 is such a wonderful and beautiful thing worth, really worth spiritually fighting for. 00:25:21.019 --> 00:25:24.700 There's a friend of mine that said to me recently, 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.180 if you're only 10% responsible for the 100% of a fallout, 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:31.720 or something that's not quite right with the individual, 00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:35.019 you are still 100% responsible for that 10%. 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:37.619 You've got to own it. 00:25:37.879 --> 00:25:38.920 You've got to go towards it. 00:25:38.980 --> 00:25:41.740 That life really is found in the light. 00:25:41.740 --> 00:25:47.500 We're willing to bear the pain and the consequences of going towards opening the can of worms 00:25:47.500 --> 00:25:52.079 because we fully believe in the power of Jesus' light and truth 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:57.240 to bring transformation in a way that only the gospel can. 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:00.460 Light and truth. 00:26:00.539 --> 00:26:03.220 Do you know what we found the other day in our girls' outside playhouse? 00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:07.059 We found a wasp's nest. 00:26:08.299 --> 00:26:09.720 And I spotted it in the corner. 00:26:09.880 --> 00:26:12.380 It was the thing just the size of a golf ball. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.339 And so I go in and I see it and I come back into the house 00:26:16.339 --> 00:26:17.460 and I say to Alex, 00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:19.620 there's a wasp's nest there. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:21.259 We really should do something about it. 00:26:21.299 --> 00:26:22.940 And in my mind, that would just go to Google 00:26:22.940 --> 00:26:25.319 and find out somebody who could come and take it away, okay? 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:27.539 But what would have happened? 00:26:27.620 --> 00:26:28.900 They wouldn't have come out immediately. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:31.140 They would have come out in, what, a week's time or something like that 00:26:31.140 --> 00:26:31.839 and sorted it. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:34.699 What would have happened to that wasp's nest the whole time? 00:26:35.939 --> 00:26:36.799 Would have grown? 00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:38.399 Yeah? 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:41.279 Much bigger problem on our hands. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:42.359 Alex hears it. 00:26:42.419 --> 00:26:43.579 She takes a different approach. 00:26:44.459 --> 00:26:46.000 She takes a pair of oven gloves 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:47.139 or maybe they were gardening gloves. 00:26:47.220 --> 00:26:47.759 I can't remember. 00:26:47.879 --> 00:26:50.139 Out she goes, takes it, down it comes, 00:26:50.339 --> 00:26:51.359 stamps on it, dead. 00:26:52.619 --> 00:26:52.839 Right? 00:26:52.879 --> 00:26:55.819 And I do know, I realize I come off the worse in that illustration. 00:26:58.980 --> 00:27:00.759 But do you see the point? 00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:05.839 When it comes to the light shining in the darkness, 00:27:06.259 --> 00:27:08.519 the truth having its effect over the lies. 00:27:08.660 --> 00:27:10.420 Friends, what do we need to kill today? 00:27:11.819 --> 00:27:13.000 What do you need to kill? 00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:16.180 The father of lies, and this is so often what he does, 00:27:16.259 --> 00:27:18.539 he rings in our ears wedding bells, 00:27:19.539 --> 00:27:21.559 when the whole time it's alarm bells. 00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:24.759 What do we need to kill this morning? 00:27:24.879 --> 00:27:26.420 Where does the light need to penetrate? 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:28.740 Feel the challenge of this passage, 00:27:28.740 --> 00:27:30.099 is what Jesus is saying here. 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:32.319 And feel the comfort as well. 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:35.039 You know, what's really helped me this week 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:37.759 is to take a sticky note 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:40.480 and put it on the front of my Bible, 00:27:40.620 --> 00:27:43.160 and all it says is the word freedom. 00:27:44.460 --> 00:27:45.819 I find it so helpful this week, 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:47.660 just coming to God's word every morning 00:27:47.660 --> 00:27:50.819 and reminding myself what it is that we're doing, 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:52.519 reminding myself who I am, 00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:54.759 and reminding myself why his words, 00:27:55.259 --> 00:27:57.420 sticking here, abiding here, 00:27:57.460 --> 00:27:59.440 is the best thing that I can do with my day. 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:03.519 Everyone's driven by someone, 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:07.259 and everyone's living out something. 00:28:07.259 --> 00:28:10.779 And so let me just close with this thought. 00:28:14.140 --> 00:28:14.799 It's this. 00:28:14.879 --> 00:28:16.480 I remember Chloe, our first, 00:28:16.980 --> 00:28:18.779 our oldest girl, when she was really young, 00:28:19.779 --> 00:28:23.140 she had this wound, wind-up mouse train. 00:28:24.359 --> 00:28:24.539 Okay? 00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:26.000 And the two of us would just spend ages 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:28.480 building this track and getting this thing going. 00:28:29.619 --> 00:28:31.319 What would happen is I'd go out the room, 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:32.720 and what she thought was hilarious, 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:36.660 in a toddler's world of slapstick comedy, 00:28:37.180 --> 00:28:41.059 is to take that mouse off of the track 00:28:41.059 --> 00:28:42.980 and just let it run. 00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:44.200 Right? 00:28:44.259 --> 00:28:45.720 And so I'd come back into the living room, 00:28:45.799 --> 00:28:47.759 and I'd go hunting under the sofa for this thing, 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:49.799 trying to find it and put it back. 00:28:50.140 --> 00:28:52.299 Now, you could argue that that mouse was free. 00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:55.380 That train was doing its thing. 00:28:55.420 --> 00:28:56.259 In the words of Elsa, 00:28:56.980 --> 00:28:58.420 it's time to see what I can do 00:28:58.420 --> 00:29:00.100 to test the limits and break through. 00:29:00.220 --> 00:29:01.740 No right, no wrong, no rules. 00:29:01.740 --> 00:29:03.720 Or in the case of this, no tracks for me. 00:29:03.819 --> 00:29:04.559 I'm free. 00:29:07.859 --> 00:29:09.700 But where is that mouse going to flourish? 00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:12.880 Where is that train going to do its thing? 00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:16.920 By being in the place that it was designed to be. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:21.200 And Jesus has saved us out of a life 00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:23.599 where we were dominated by our sin. 00:29:25.420 --> 00:29:28.599 And where we lived our lives pursuing dead idols. 00:29:28.859 --> 00:29:30.579 And he saved us out of it and said, 00:29:30.579 --> 00:29:32.059 I've saved you for more than that. 00:29:33.179 --> 00:29:38.379 And he saved us to serve and love the living and true God. 00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:41.819 And so as we put this into application this week, 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:43.579 as we abide in his words, 00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:45.759 what we've got to understand 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:48.579 as we lean and embrace the promise 00:29:48.579 --> 00:29:49.899 that Jesus makes to us today, 00:29:50.899 --> 00:29:53.399 is that that is life back on the tracks. 00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:57.640 So do you want to be free? 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:00.019 Do you want to be free? 00:30:02.519 --> 00:30:03.300 Jesus said, 00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:04.759 if you hold to my teaching, 00:30:05.300 --> 00:30:07.220 you are really my disciples. 00:30:07.980 --> 00:30:09.740 Then you will know the truth. 00:30:10.660 --> 00:30:13.759 And the truth will set you free. 00:30:14.759 --> 00:30:15.340 Let's pray. 00:30:15.340 --> 00:30:15.360 Let's pray. 00:30:15.360 --> 00:30:15.400 Let's pray. 00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:15.440 Let's pray. 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:23.380 Let's pray. 00:30:24.140 --> 00:30:26.440 And so our loving Heavenly Father, 00:30:28.340 --> 00:30:32.060 Lord, I'm so conscious I never know where this lands. 00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:36.260 I never know what you are doing in people's lives. 00:30:37.260 --> 00:30:39.760 But Father, thank you that your spirit is the one 00:30:39.760 --> 00:30:43.800 who searches and knows every single heart and mind. 00:30:43.799 --> 00:30:44.980 And so I just pray, 00:30:45.139 --> 00:30:48.379 I plead that he would be doing his work 00:30:48.379 --> 00:30:50.819 of shining the spotlight on Jesus, 00:30:51.819 --> 00:30:55.000 of convicting us and challenging us, 00:30:55.419 --> 00:30:57.220 also comforting us, 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:00.299 and helping us celebrate the gospel. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:04.059 Father, I pray that he would be at work right now. 00:31:04.059 --> 00:31:06.179 And I just thank you, 00:31:06.299 --> 00:31:06.480 Lord, 00:31:06.659 --> 00:31:07.599 in our world 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:10.299 where we so often feel 00:31:10.299 --> 00:31:11.859 trapped, 00:31:12.740 --> 00:31:16.279 that there is a wonderful promise 00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:17.359 from the King of Kings 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:19.200 that he makes to us 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:22.379 that in his word 00:31:22.379 --> 00:31:24.899 is true freedom. 00:31:24.900 --> 00:31:27.480 So, Father, 00:31:27.560 --> 00:31:28.120 be with us 00:31:28.120 --> 00:31:28.640 as we 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:31.100 finish our time together. 00:31:31.980 --> 00:31:33.100 And as we move now 00:31:33.100 --> 00:31:34.040 into a time of communion, 00:31:34.259 --> 00:31:34.440 Father, 00:31:34.900 --> 00:31:36.420 massage these truths 00:31:36.420 --> 00:31:37.400 home to our hearts, 00:31:37.460 --> 00:31:37.800 we pray. 00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:39.440 In Jesus' name. 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:40.400 Amen. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:40.540 Amen.