Truth For Life

Bob Lepine: Are you a faithful disciple of Jesus or a fickle follower? We're beginning a new series on Truth For Life where we'll take a closer look at some of Jesus' "truly, truly I say to you" statements. Today Alistair Begg opens our study with a passage in John chapter 8 to help us understand how we can be sure we're true disciples.

Alistair Begg: Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin." Now as we study this passage today, I think there are a number of questions that are both raised and answered. One obviously is: what does it mean to be a true disciple? Another is to consider the question: is it possible that the practice of religion may prove to blind us to our real need? And then thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, where then is true freedom to be found?

We begin with, and I have a heading in my notes if this is helpful to you, Jesus in verses 31 and 32 provides instruction for those to whom we might refer as aspiring disciples. Verse 30, which we didn't read, tells us that as Jesus was teaching in this way, there were many who believed in Him. And as we've already seen in studying John, the level of belief, the significance of that belief, varies. And it is in the context of the wider context that we discover just what that actually means. Certainly, there were numbers of people who were professing a belief in Jesus.

But when we read on in the chapter, we discover that when push comes to shove, verse 43, if your Bible is open, these same individuals, Jesus says to them, "You are unwilling to hear God's word." He's speaking to the same people described at the end of verse 30 and those who are now to whom we're now introduced, the Jews who had believed in Him. J.C. Ryle, the one-time Bishop of Liverpool, commenting on this, says they appear to have acted under the influence of temporary excitement without considering what they were doing.

These people are excited by Jesus. They're the kind of people that would routinely come to church services if it were now. They are intrigued by the things that He says. They're interested in His dealings. They're curious about so much. And in one sense, they've begun to believe Him. But what does that believing actually mean? And so what Jesus is doing here is not seeking to reduce His numbers, but He is seeking simply to clarify for those who have now begun to follow Him in this way, just exactly what it means for them to be disciples.

And so He says to them, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples." He's making the point that it is possible to talk about discipleship in a way that has a connotation of affection or diligence, and yet it may not be anything other than a superficial moment of excitement that has carried people along. So He wants them to understand. Abiding in His word means holding to His word. It means embracing His word. It means, if you like, living in His word, continuing in His word.

He was aware of the fact that there were in His company people that we might refer as fickle followers. They were there for a little while and then they were gone, and then they might reappear or whatever it would be. We've already seen that at the very beginning of our studies, actually in chapter 2. It says at the end of 2: "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them."

Why did He not? Because He knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for He Himself knew what is in man. In other words, He's able to distinguish between the fickle and the faithful. That is why He, on one occasion, gave to His followers the parable of the sower. You remember that. You can read it in Matthew 13:20 and 21. "As for what was sown on rocky ground..."

Okay, remember some seed is fallen and the birds of the air come and snatch it away. "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away." And it would appear as we come here in John chapter 8 to this section, that a number of the people that He is now addressing are from the rocky category.

They are from this environment, what we might refer to as the instant bloom, instant fade. The seed goes in, and immediately you've got a response, but it withers quickly because there is no subsoil to contain it. Now the Bible is replete in relation to this, and it's good for us to pause. It's unsettling, perhaps, but it is a good unsettlement. When you shake something, you find out, a plant I suppose, if you shake it, you find out whether there's a pretty good root structure in it.

So if this is a little bit of a shake, we find out whether we're rooted. 1 John, he writes of those who went out from us because they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. The ground of our salvation is the work of Christ. The evidence of our discipleship is our continuance in Christ. One of the reasons we're in the company with one another is to do what the Bible says, in order that we might be those who continue to the end and are saved, and not that we might be among the company of those who are instant bloom and instant fade.

Here's how it finishes: "For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence to the end." Ah, but wait a minute, says somebody. This seems to be calling in question of what we were studying in John chapter 6. Because in John chapter 6, you were reminding us of the security that is ours in the electing purposes of God. We pause for a while on verse 37 of John 6: "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."

So this is the juxtaposition, you see, between the sovereignty of God in His purpose from all of eternity and the human activity and responsibility of man. The one does not exist in a vacuum. And let me just quote to you what we said on this occasion when we were looking at 37. And we addressed the question: well, what about the issue of people falling away from the faith? And this is what I said:

Anyone who after making profession of faith returns wholeheartedly to sin, renounces his former Christian allegiance, displays no remorse in doing so, and continues in apostasy to the end of life, that individual was surely, despite initial appearances, never born of God. Some Christians, indeed we could say all Christians, stumble and fall. Some fall back a long way. And they know it.

And yet even in that position, they retain some desire, some degree of awareness of what they had left behind, and they testify to a lingering desire to return. That is the difference between apostasy and backsliding. Sinclair Ferguson always helps us, doesn't he? Because you see what happens is that people say, "Well, if the grace of God brings me to Himself and secures me, then given that I am now secure, can I just go ahead and play the game, do whatever I want to do? After all, quote, 'Once saved, always saved.'"

Ferguson: When rightly understood, the doctrine of election, the saving purposes of God, never leads to moral carelessness. The logic of election is not, "I have been chosen for salvation and so I can live anyway I please," but, "I have been chosen for salvation, therefore I will live in a way that pleases God." You understand why it is so important that we grasp this. Ryle again says, "The person, he that has true grace will not fall away. He that falls away for good has no true grace."

It's interesting that Jesus has now been gathering a crowd. He's had occasion prior to this chapter to say even to His disciples, "Do you want to go away?" And they said, "No, we're going to stay." And not only have they stayed, but others are present. And so He says, "Well, let me tell you, you aspiring disciples. If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." What is the truth? Well, it's the truth of the gospel. It's the truth of who Jesus is.

That Jesus has come as a substitute and as a savior. And what does He set us free from? He sets us free from the guilt of sin, from the burden of sin. He sets us free from the dominion of sin. Sin remains, but it no longer reigns in the Christian life. And so Jesus is driving this home. And incidentally, genuine faith in Jesus is founded when a person comes to the place where I say, "You know, I acknowledge my total inability to get myself out. I acknowledge my total inability to liberate myself."

"I'm trapped, and I can't free myself. Jesus, you hold the key to freedom. I've fallen down, and I can't get up. Jesus, you can lift me up." You see, Jesus is talking about people who had a casual interest in Him, not the people who had said, "I've fallen and I can't get up. I'm trapped and I can't be liberated." That's the key. That's the moment. Have you had that moment?

From instruction for aspiring disciples, now in verse 33, and in some measure in 37 and 38, we pay attention to the reaction of the Jews themselves, these religious people. And it's very straightforward, isn't it? They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" How can those who have never been enslaved be set free? Now the response might be regarded simply as curiosity, but I think it's more than that. I think it's animosity.

That's why I try to put emphasis on the "you" there. How is it that you say? You say, well, why did you do that? Well, if you have your Bible at 8, if you look forward to verse 53 of chapter 8, these same individuals are having the conversation, and they say, "Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?" I mean, who do you think you are? It's a question of identity.

John is writing in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that by believing you might have life in His name. And they said, "Well, we're starting to believe in you, Jesus." And Jesus says, "If you're truly believing in me, you will abide in my word, and the truth will set you free." And immediately they go, "No, no, no, no, no. You don't understand. We are the offspring of Abraham. We've never been enslaved to anybody." Now what really gets them is surely this, that underlying Jesus' statement is the assumption that they are currently slaves.

And that's offensive. It's always offensive to religious people. Religious people always go and say, "Well, I'm quite happy with the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount and so on, but I don't like this stuff about Jesus setting me free. I mean, it makes it sound as though I need to be set free." Well, that's exactly what it means, and that's why it feels that way. Surely they're not denying their history, are they? I mean, they had 400 years enslaved in Egypt.

Perhaps more likely that since they are the offspring of Abraham, they believe that they have a sort of inward freedom that comes as part of the high privilege of their pedigree. "You don't understand. We are the offspring of Abraham, and we really don't have anything at all to say about that." Now Jesus in verse 37 acknowledges that they are the offspring of Abraham. Look at that. "I know that you're the offspring of Abraham," He says.

"You've got a biological, a physical context, a physical descent, but you don't have any spiritual kinship. My words find no place in you." Why did they have no place for Jesus' words? Because they had no place for Jesus. If you got a place for Jesus in your heart, you'll be interested in the words of Jesus. You love somebody, write me a letter, tell me things. "You are the descendants of Abraham, I know that. But..." because He'd already told them, "Listen, whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

They were intent on killing Jesus, verse 37. "I know that you're the offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me." Why? "Because my word finds no place in you." The entrance of the word of God brings light. The resistance to the word of God, it leaves us in darkness. That's what the Bible is actually teaching. You know, I just read that line earlier this morning: "They were intent on killing Jesus." And I wrote underneath it: what kind of disciple seeks to kill the one they're following?

Well, you know of one, don't you? Judas Iscariot. So proud of their pedigree that they were blind to their need. They had a high opinion of themselves and a low opinion of Jesus. "I speak of what I've seen with my Father," verse 38, "and you do what you have heard from your father." Now He's going to go on and absolutely confront them when He says, "I know that Abraham is your father in terms of your pedigree, but you know who your father is? Satan's your father."

Now let me just apply this because perhaps you're saying, well, this is interesting, the reaction of the Jews, that's a long time ago and a long way away. I think if we're honest, we can acknowledge that now, as was true then, a heritage of religious privilege does not guarantee a right response to Jesus. You see, religious... and this is why I ask the second question, do you think that religion can blind us to our real need?

People who are religious, who have no understanding of their real predicament, in their imagination they're actually free. They believe they're free. "I don't listen to anybody, I can do what I want to do. I am the master of my own destiny" and so on. It's not true, of course. And what Jesus is going to do in this context is simply show them that they're out of touch with reality, that they're blind to the truth about themselves.

Religious people, and I mean that by people for whom religion as an external structure means something significant to them, and they are often, as I'm suggesting, quite proud of their lineage, and they are often in an accompanying fashion, usually quite proud of the contributions that they've been able to make, their endeavors. And as a result, they are easily tempted to rest in some fancy position of privilege. And this can involve all kinds of things. It can involve the dependence on rites and ceremonies.

"My great uncle was a Roman Catholic priest, and we've always felt very strongly about many of these things." Which is fine, that's good. But do you think that the priestly lineage is the key to freedom? You think if you were free, you might believe that, but you're not. Rule-keeping or a self-oriented kind of contemporary perspective. When you think about these things, you realize that as was true with these folks, let's say, for example, when they are saying, "We've never been enslaved to anyone."

Reinhold Niebuhr, who was once a pastor in Detroit, makes this comment. He says, "No amount of contrary evidence seems to disturb humanity's good opinion of itself." So the evidence, if you like, they were blind to the reality of it. How about what Jesus is saying here? You see, Jesus is dealing with the immediate historical reality of the Jew, but the view of human nature which Jesus conveys in these verses is abundantly verified by human experience. You are in bondage. You need to be set free. The greatest need of man is to know his greatest need. And that is addressed in Jesus.

Bob Lepine: You're listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. What Alistair just said bears repeating: the greatest need of man is to know his greatest need and how it's addressed in Jesus. That's why at Truth For Life, we're committed to teaching the Bible clearly, verse by verse. Our prayer is that God will work through these daily messages to bring unbelievers to saving faith and to establish the faith of existing believers. And as a result, our hope is that pastors will be encouraged and local churches will be strengthened by Bible-based preaching.

That's why Alistair hosts the Basics Conference each year. It's a time for pastors and those in church leadership to encourage one another to do the basics of ministry well. And this year, the Basics 2026 conference is taking place September 29th through the 30th in Valencia, California. If you're in pastoral ministry, there's still time to join Alistair along with guest speaker Hershael York to study the Bible together and enjoy a time of fellowship and refreshment. Find out more or register by visiting basicsconference.org.

I'm Bob Lepine, glad you have studied the Bible with us today. There are many who reject God's wisdom and authority because they fear that their freedom and fun will be constrained. But is that the case? Alistair Begg answers that question tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.