The Absolute Promise of Freedom

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Joh 8:32 AV)

 This promise is predicated on being in the word of God continually.  The previous verse defines who a disciple of Christ would be.  That is, those who continue in the word of God.  Those who read, study, and apply the word of God are the disciples of Christ.  If we accept Christ as our payment for sin, then do not continue in His Word, we may be saved, but we are not a disciple.  With this in mind, the Spirit made one word, which is used twice, to jump out at me this morning.  Note Jesus uses the word ‘shall’ twice.  If we continue in His word, then we shall know the truth.  And if we know the truth, then we shall be made free.  These are guarantees.  Whoever makes a life habit of reading, studying, and applying the word of God will most definitely know and understand truth.  Consequently, those who read, study, and apply the word of God will most definitely be freed from a myriad of troubles.  Sin will begin a march towards defeat.  Doubts will flee.  Our relationships will improve.  Circumstances will become opportunities rather than hindrances.  Most of all, the flesh will not get in the way of drawing closer to God.

Learning to ride a bike and the freedom that comes with that knowledge is what every child strives for.  With ten siblings, this process was rooted in common tradition.  We stared with a big wheel.  For those who do not know what that is, a Big Wheel was a trike with a huge front wheel and two smaller back wheels.  The pedals were attached directly to the large front wheel.  You sat very low to the ground with the large wheel in front rather than underneath.  With the Big Wheel, we learned our limits of travel and the necessary safety skills to navigate the neighborhood without incident.  We were not allowed to go very far and we were limited to the sidewalks only.  After the Big Wheel came a bicycle with training wheels.  This gave us a bit more freedom. However, we were still limited to the sidewalks and we always needed an older sibling to go with us if we left our block.  After a bit, the training wheels came off.  Still limited by lack of experience, we could not ride in the street.  If we were to leave our block, we had to get off our bikes and walk them across the street to the opposite sidewalk.  As we got older and our bikes got bigger, we were allowed more liberty.  From bicycles to motor vehicles, each step gained a bit more freedom.  The interesting thing is the more freedom, the more information required to safely navigate that freedom.  The skillset of traversing in a Big Wheel versus an automobile is minuscule.  There are traffic laws, vehicle maintenance, and proper etiquette necessary for driving a vehicle.  The more truth we learned about safely traversing the world, the more liberty, and freedom we gained to do just that.  The more truth we learned, the freer we became.

The same is true with the word of God.  Unfortunately, the carnal mind sees the word of God as nothing more than a book of rules which limits our freedom.  Not according to Jesus.  The more truth we learn, the freer we become.  These rules are boundaries meant to keep us safe within the freedom we have.  To ignore truth is to invite circumstances that would limit freedom.  If I ignored traffic laws while riding my bicycle, I could have had that bike impounded, or worse, got hit by a car.  I may have had more temporary liberty, but the consequences would have permanently limited freedom.  What I find very comforting in the verse above is the absolute promise of freedom.  I shall be free.  Freedom is not something that may or may not come.  It is a guarantee.  We all want to be free.  We want to be free from the old man, or the flesh.  We want to be free from what we once were.  We want to be free from anxiety caused by fear.  We want to be free from the influences of the world.  We want to be free.  The only way we will get there is by learning and applying truth.  The only way to do that is to continually be in the word of God.