This Friday is July 4th. It is the day that we celebrate our freedom as an independent nation. We also celebrate the freedoms that we have as citizens of the USA. These freedoms are fundamental to what it means to be a citizen and are preserved in the Bill of Rights. Some of these freedoms include: the freedom to practice any religion or none at all, the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the right to bear arms, the right of due process, and the right to vote.
While we have all of these freedoms as citizens of the United States of America, are we really free? Does all of the hostility and rage reported in the news really represent freedom? The endless chase for more money and stuff – is that freedom? The fear of death that leads people to use whatever resources available just to prolong their life a little longer – is that freedom? Sinful “Pride” boldly marching through our communities – is that freedom? Think about it: You can be “free” and still not be truly free.
Here is what John 8:31-36 records for us, “31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
The Jews in Jesus’ day boasted of their freedom as a child of Abraham very much the same way we boast about our freedom as Americans. Yet, as free as they were, like us, they were not truly free. In verse 34, they bragged that they had “never been in bondage to anyone.” In their frustration to defend themselves, they “overlooked” prior bondage to the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians.
The most important bondage they chose not to recognize is one that all souls are enslaved to without Christ. Jesus tells us in verse 34, “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” As a citizen of the land of the free and the home of the brave, it’s ironic that the more we think we can do what we want, the freer we are. This kind of thinking isn’t restricted to our country or new. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
There in the Garden, the serpent tested: “If you do what you want, if you eat this fruit, then you will be free, then you will have the knowledge of good and evil. The more you get to do what you want, the freer you are!” This is far from the truth, because thinking that you have the freedom to do anything you want without regard to God or others merely makes you a slave to sin.
The question is: do you really want to be truly free? If you do, then listen to what Jesus says in verses 31 and 32, “31 If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Doing whatever it is that you want to do isn’t true freedom. True freedom doesn’t come from a country’s constitution or a politician’s promises. True freedom comes from the truth that will set you free. True freedom is found only in Jesus because, “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
