Title: Faith Without Freedom (John 8:31-32)
The title of the sermon is contradictory. Could there be such a thing as a belief without freedom? Christian freedom is freedom from the shackles and curses of the law and from slavery to the devil. Isn't it the freedom to be forgiven from the penalty of sin? All these freedoms are possible only through faith in Christ. However, if you believe in Jesus but are bound by the law, sin, and slavery of the devil without freedom, how should you view this kind of faith? No, is this dual appearance possible in reality? Available. see the text again
John 3:1-2 “There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, who came to Jesus by night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who came from God. for no one can do this sign that you are doing."
It started with the lineage of Abraham and received the law as an absolute command through Moses. It is a nation that has consistently observed the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath, the temple, sacrifices, feasts, ordinances, regulations, tithes and offerings, and taboo foods for 1,500 years. They were circumcised on the eighth day after they were born, and they became enslaved as people of the strict law, servants of the law, and slaves of the law. They are a people who believe that even if the heavens fall, they will receive blessings and salvation by keeping the law. Our nation's Confucian customs are also deeply rooted. Ancestor worship, ancient history, and gravestones have been accepted as national beliefs prior to rational thinking and judgment. When we were young, when we bowed in oxygen, did we ever find out about a rational basis? How much less is it not a chain beyond imagination of the customs of the Jewish law that have continued for 1,500 years? Clearly they are Jews who believe in Jesus. If the Jews really believed, they would have to obey the words of Jesus, the truth, and enjoy freedom. Were those Jews really free?
Look immediately after John 8:33. They say they believe in Jesus, but they claim that they are descendants of Abraham's lineage. In Matthew 3, John the Baptist rebuked the Pharisees who claimed to be descendants of Abraham, you brood of vipers, how could you escape the wrath to come? They said they believed in Jesus, but there was no freedom from their lineage. Why on earth did you believe in Jesus while following the fact that there is salvation in lineage? Moreover, the Jews who believed in Jesus were still bound by the devil's servants. Following the text in John 8:44, they have not yet been freed from the devil. How should we view our faith in Jesus even though we are children of the devil?
Jesus wanted to set the Jews free from the law. This meant that, in Jesus' eyes, the Jews were seen as slaves to the Law. But did the Jews really know what their situation was? no. Rather, they firmly believed that only by keeping the law would they be saved and that God would keep them. It is a false conviction. It is the foolishness of bravely holding on to the law with the spirit of a soldier and falling into a curse. This belief was warned by Paul in Galatians. It is another gospel, a cursed faith.
Galatians 3:10 "Cursed are all those who are of the deeds of the law, for it is written, Cursed is anyone who does not always do all the things that are written in the book of the law."
Galatians 3:13 "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree."
The problem is that modern people think like Jews. If you really believe in Jesus, who fulfilled the prophecies of the law on the cross and abolished the works of the law, you must be freed from the law. But are you enjoying that freedom? We need to look at a few things about freedom here.
These laws end in curses and hell. Therefore, you must know the law of curses right away and enjoy complete freedom from them. However, if you do not know the law, you know that it is the truth that the leader will lead you through grace, love, and the law, not the Holy Spirit, so you hold onto the law and meet. According to a survey published in the newspaper, 70% of believers in our country said they did not know the law. It's serious.
In Calvin's view, he said, "Through the law all mankind is under the curse and wrath of God, and therefore needs to be set free from slavery to the law."
It means that you are optimistic and reassured by measuring your faith with the so-called wrong answers. Here, we must follow the apostle Paul's faith and take on the mission of proclaiming the gospel of the cross by correcting what is not right.
The problem is that it is not easy for legal people to come to the gospel. Just as in the days of the early church, we gained freedom from the law only when we were prepared for death, just as we cannot prepare for death and come to the land of 3.8 parallel 567 freedom, we must be prepared for all kinds of persecution and bullying in this age to gain freedom from the law and go to heaven. Who would you choose to be?
According to the text, the Jews who believed in Jesus believed in Jesus who healed and gave bread, but did not believe in Jesus who fulfilled the law. Those who believe in this way are servants of the devil and servants of the devil, so they eventually reject Jesus and fall into the lake of hell fire.
Romans 7:6 "Now that we have departed from the law, being dead to the castration of which we were enslaved, therefore we shall serve with new things in spirit, not with old things of ceremonies."
Galatians 5:18 "If you are led by the Holy Spirit, you are not under the law."
Today, we do not serve God with love according to the Holy Spirit, but we forcefully worship and donate according to the Ten Commandments. It is under the law.
I hope Dasarang Church will serve God in freedom according to the Holy Spirit, not the law, and furthermore, like Paul, dedicate ourselves to giving freedom by proclaiming the truth to the souls who fall into a curse due to the misuse of the law.