John 8:31-33 – So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples.” Let’ quickly set aside the notion that these people did not have a saving kind of belief, a saving faith. Let’s simply just believe what the Word says here. First of all the original word came from the word “pisteuó.” The same word for those whom the Word uses for those who came to believe in Him. (V30) The Word says here that these people had move from non-faith, or nonbelief in Jesus, to faith and belief in Him. So these former nonbelievers had become believers, genuine saved believers.
Further proof of their saving belief is Jesus saying that if they “continue” in their faith. So we see that these people who came to believe have the option to continue in their very real faith. We see that these new believers had free will to choose to believe in Jesus and afterward they had they had free will to not continue to believe in Jesus. A believer does not have his free will removed after coming to Jesus. In fact the glorious, beautiful wonder of the Lord bringing about the salvation of mankind, and keeping them, is such a grandiose, chest pounding, tear invoking wonder of how incredible is God that it is almost impossible to conceive. God gives overwhelming reasons to remain in Him, in His love, there is no reason to remove free will after conversion. As scripture calls the man who steadfastly rejects God a fool, how much more so is the one who has walked with God for a time and then simply walked away. So Jesus says “If” (not “since”) they continue then they are truly the disciples who will be with Him in Heaven. “If” they do not continue they will not be His disciples and will not have their eternal place with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
“They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” The unbelieving descendants of Abraham who did not receive the truth and so remained in the dark, could not grasp that they were slaves to the evil one and to the world. Thinking they knew truth they couldn’t understand what they did not know. Thinking they could inherit the truth by the blood of mankind when God declares that the only truth of salvation was the shed blood of perfect divinity.
It is truth that prideful and ignorant people think they know but are blind. One of the obnoxious statements that people who own pets but are not parents say to parents is that they know what having a child is like because they have a pet. Often there is no explaining to them how wrong they are. I love our dog! But loving him has very little resemblance to how I love my sons. So people state they understand the Truth of God’s word while looking through the storefront windows. So blind, so sad. We must yield completely to Jesus and grow in our love for Him. As our love grows our understanding and belief grows. We are stripped of the chains that once bound us and the poundage of dropped burdens free us celebrate our liberty in Him. Be free. Be who the Lord has created you to be. His beloved child. Once the chains are dropped we are free, free indeed. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
This entry was posted in Devotion and tagged John, Micah, Numbers, Psalm by Bob with
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