7/04/19 

John 8:34-36

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

My favorite national holidays are Thanksgiving and the 4^th of July.  My early memories of the 4^th are of extended-family Bar-B-Qs and firecrackers.  This of course brings the memory of my mother telling my father not to buy the big ones because I would blow my fingers off.  It never happened; some near-misses though.

The text in John 8 contains two certainties.

1.      First to be in sin (unconverted) is to be in bondage.  Those who claim free-will should look closely here.  There is no encouragement to think of freedom while sin is the master.  I can say with confidence there is no place in Scripture where an unbeliever is told they have free-will, while there are ample instances such as the above.

2.       Secondly there is freedom for those who seek it.  That freedom is limited in location.  It is found only in Christ.  That is in the sphere of salvation that He bestows on all who place their trust in Him.  This is a non-legal, non-works, by-faith-only salvation.  “If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed”.  Amen.