Are You Free?

Are you free?

John 8:31-47

If you listen to the messaging around us, freedom is often described like this: live however you want, be whoever you feel you are, and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. That is the air we breathe. Freedom, we are told, means no restraints, no authority, no limits placed on your life except the ones you choose for yourself. As Princess Elsa popularized this theme for a generation of young girls, “No right, no wrong, no rules for me… I’m free.” And that sounds like freedom, but what if it is actually something else?

And if we are honest, that idea does not just live out there in the culture. It lives in our hearts. There is something in all of us that resists being told what to do, especially when it comes to our desires. We want our anthem to be, “No right, no wrong, no rules for me…I’m free.” But this is like our ancient relatives in the Garden who followed that song and it did not result in freedom but slavery.

Do you feel free? Not in theory, not in principle, but in the real, everyday moments of your life. Are you free to control your thoughts? Are you free to say no to temptation every time it comes? Are you free from habits you wish were gone, from patterns you said you would break, and from the need for approval that so often shapes your decisions? Are you free from the fears that seem to govern your life? Or does it feel like something else is in control?

Because here is what we all know, if we are honest. There are things we do not want to do, and we still do them. There are patterns we try to break, and we return to them. There are desires we know are not right, and yet we keep following them. And at some point, you have to ask the question: if I cannot stop, am I really free?

Real freedom is not just the ability to choose. Real freedom is the ability to choose what is right and actually do it. And if you cannot do that consistently, then something else is shaping you. Something is pulling you. Something is ruling you. And that means what we often call freedom may not be freedom at all. It may actually be slavery. As music legend Bob Dylan once wrote, You’re gonna have to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you are going to serve somebody.

In other words, everyone is mastered by something. The question is not whether you serve. The question is what you serve? Or who you serve?

So are you free from sin, or are you simply free to sin? Because those are not the same thing. One feels like freedom, but it leads to bondage. The other may feel like surrender, but it leads to life. And here is what makes this so important: you may think you are free, and still be completely enslaved.

Now as we come to this passage, we are still in the middle of Jesus’ teaching at the feast. He has been teaching publicly. The crowds have been listening. There has been confusion, division, and growing tension. And at the end of verse 30, we are told something significant:

"As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

That sounds like a turning point. That sounds like success. That sounds like the moment you would expect affirmation. But notice what Jesus does next. He does not affirm their belief. He tests it. Verse 31 says, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him…” In other words, He is now speaking directly to those who would say, “Yes, we believe.” And what unfolds in this passage is surprising and sobering. Jesus shows us something we do not naturally assume. You can have a kind of belief in Jesus and still be a slave. You can respond to Jesus, be interested in Jesus, even say you believe in Jesus, and still not be free.

Which means the question is not simply, “Do you believe?” The question is, what kind of belief do you have? And Jesus answers that question by pointing to one defining reality: what do you do with His Word? We will walk through this passage asking 5 questions which I pray will help you discover if your belief is true.

First, Are You Abiding in the Word? (John 8:31–32)

Not all belief is the same. There is a kind of belief that responds quickly but does not last. There is a kind of belief that looks real for a moment but never takes root. So Jesus now turns to those who believe and presses a deeper question: is your belief real?

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

John tells us these are people who had “believed in him.”And yet Jesus does not assume their belief is genuine. He tests it. “If you abide in my word…” Abide means to remain, to continue, to stay. It is not a one-time response. It is an ongoing posture of life. As D. A. Carson notes, John’s Gospel repeatedly shows that there is a kind of belief that appears real at first but does not last. It is not rooted deeply, it does not endure, and it does not transform. Which is why Jesus draws a line here between momentary belief and true discipleship.

And notice where that remaining happens. “In my word.” Not in religious activity. Not in emotional experiences. Not in a one-time decision. But in a sustained, ongoing relationship to the Word of Christ. This is where the weight of the passage falls. The Word is central to discipleship. To abide in Christ is to abide in what Christ has said. And then Jesus gives the result: “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

So what is this truth that sets people free? It is not merely information. It is not simply knowing facts about God. It is the truth about who Jesus is and what He has come to do. It is the truth that we are not neutral, not independent, but enslaved to sin. It is the truth that we cannot free ourselves. And it is the truth that God has acted in Christ to do what we could never do. The truth is that Jesus is the Son sent from the Father, who lived without sin, spoke the very words of God, and came to rescue those who are bound.

And this truth reaches its clearest expression at the cross. There we see both the depth of our slavery and the power of God’s salvation. Jesus takes the penalty of sin upon Himself, bears the judgment we deserve, and rises again so that sinners can be forgiven, freed, and brought into the family of God. This is not abstract truth. This is saving truth. Truth that exposes, truth that humbles, and truth that liberates. To know this truth is not just to understand it, but to receive it, to trust it, and to be changed by it.

Abiding leads to knowing. Knowing leads to freedom. Which means if there is no abiding, there is no real knowing. And if there is no real knowing, there is no true freedom. It is like a plant that receives water once and then is left on its own. For a while, it still looks alive. The leaves may still be green. It may even appear healthy from a distance. But without continual nourishment, it begins to wither. Slowly at first, almost imperceptibly, and then more visibly over time. The problem is not that it never had water. The problem is that it did not continue to receive it. And the same is true spiritually. There are people who have had a moment with the Word. They heard it, responded to it, maybe even felt something deeply. But they did not remain in it. And over time, what once looked alive begins to fade, because true life is not sustained by a momentary response to the Word, but by a continual abiding in it.

So here is the question: Are you abiding in the Word? Is the Word shaping your thinking, correcting your desires, guiding your decisions? Or does it have little place in your life? Because Jesus is clear. True disciples do not just hear the Word occasionally. They live under it continually. And it is possible to say, “I believe in Jesus,” and yet have no real relationship to His Word. No hunger for it. No submission to it. No consistency in it.

And according to Jesus, that is not true discipleship. So ask yourself honestly: do you abide in the Word, or are you like a guest who only occasionally visits it? Because that may reveal more than you think. It may reveal whether your faith is real, or whether it is a response that never took root. Here are 4 quick applications on abiding in the Word.

1. Prioritize Daily Intake

Do not treat the Word like something you visit occasionally. Treat it like something you live on. You would not expect to be physically healthy eating once a week, and you should not expect to be spiritually healthy with sporadic exposure to Scripture. Set a daily rhythm. Open the Word even when you do not feel like it. Consistency matters more than intensity. If your Bible is closed most of the week, you are most likely not abiding in it.

2. Press it Deep

It is possible to read the Bible and still not abide in it. Abiding means the Word stays with you after you close it. Slow down. Meditate. Revisit what you read. Carry a verse into your day. Let it shape your thinking, your conversations, and your decisions. If the Word never lingers in your mind, it is not yet abiding in your heart. My verse that has struck me this past week, Joshua 21:44–45,

And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

This word has come back again and again to me to comfort me about the plans and promises of God for me, my family and this church.

3. Submit to the Word

Abiding is not just hearing the Word, it is yielding to it. When Scripture confronts your desires, your habits, or your assumptions, do not reshape it to fit your life. Let it reshape your life. The test of abiding is not agreement in easy places, but obedience in hard ones. If you only follow the parts of Scripture you already like, you are not abiding. You are merely editing.

4. Stay Connected to the Word through the Church

Abiding is not meant to happen in isolation. God has given preaching, teaching, and the community of believers to help you remain in the Word. Sit under faithful preaching. Talk about Scripture with others. Invite accountability. Let others help you apply what you are hearing. If the Word only enters your life on your terms, you will drift. Abiding requires staying under it with others. The church was given to you to help you abide. Do not forsake it.

Second, Are You Misunderstanding Freedom? (John 8:33–34)

There is a kind of freedom that sounds right, feels right, and is widely celebrated, but is deeply misunderstood. And if you misunderstand freedom, you will never recognize your need for it. John 8:33-34,

“They answered him, ‘We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, “You will become free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’”

Their response is immediate and defensive. They appeal to their identity. “We are offspring of Abraham.” In other words, we are already in the right place. We belong. We are not outsiders. And then they make a striking claim: “We have never been enslaved to anyone.” This is a people whose history includes slavery in Egypt, exile in Babylon, and life under Roman authority. And yet they say this because they are not thinking about their spiritual condition. They are measuring freedom by their heritage, their status, and their outward position rather than the reality of their hearts.

And we do the same thing. We tend to define freedom by what is happening around us rather than what is happening within us. If no one is restricting us, if we can make our own choices, if we can live according to our preferences, we assume we are free. But Jesus does not allow that definition to stand. He moves the conversation from the external to the internal, from circumstances to the heart, and He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

This is exactly what Paul says in Romans 6, that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. That word “practices” speaks of a pattern, a settled direction, a way of life. Jesus is not describing a single failure. He is describing a condition.

Sin is not merely something you occasionally step into. It is something that, apart from Him, you live under. It shapes what you love, influences how you think, and directs the choices you make. That is why the language is so strong. Not influenced by sin, but enslaved to sin. Because sin does not remain passive. It does not stay contained. It does not politely remain in one area of your life. It grows, it deepens, and it begins to exercise control. It is like calling it freedom because you chose it, even though now you cannot stop choosing it. It is like treating something dangerous as if it were harmless. There was a woman who kept a tiger as a pet, raising it, feeding it, living alongside it as if it were tame. For a time, it seemed manageable. Familiar. Even safe. But a tiger is still a tiger. And eventually, what she had coddled turned on her and took her life. What was once embraced became what destroyed her.

And you can see this in everyday life. A person may say, “I am free, I can do what I want,” but over time it becomes clear that what they want is not neutral. Their desires begin to narrow their life. What started as something they chose becomes something they feel compelled to choose. They return to the same patterns, the same habits, the same sins, even when they know better, even when they have tried to stop. And at some point, the question has to be asked: is that freedom, or slavery?

Because the ability to do what you want is not freedom if what you want is ruling you. If your desires set the direction of your life and you cannot resist them, then your desires are not serving you, you are serving them.

So the issue Jesus presses is not whether you feel free. It is whether you actually are free. Not free from external restriction, but free from internal domination. And that brings the question into sharper focus for all of us: have we misunderstood freedom? Have we called something freedom that is actually bondage? Because Jesus says there is a category we do not naturally use about ourselves. Slave. And He says everyone who practices sin fits into it.

Which means we have to wrestle honestly with this: are you free from sin, or are you simply free to sin? Because those are not the same thing. And if sin still masters your desires, your thinking, and your patterns, then no matter how free you feel on the surface, underneath it all, there is still a deeper captivity.

Third, Are you Set Free by the Son? (John 8:34–36)

If Jesus has just exposed the reality of slavery, now He reveals the only source of freedom. And the contrast could not be more important.

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

Jesus takes the language of slavery and moves it into the picture of a household. A slave may live in the house, may work in the house, may even appear to belong to the house, but he does not have a permanent place there. He does not have security. He does not have inheritance. He does not remain. But the son is different. The son belongs. The son remains. The son has authority in the house.

And here is the point Jesus is making: if you are a slave, you cannot free yourself. No slave wakes up one day and simply declares himself free. No amount of effort, no amount of resolve, no amount of self-improvement can break that condition. If sin is your master, you do not have the power within yourself to overthrow it. Which is why Jesus does not point them to a strategy. He points them to Himself.

“So if the Son sets you free…”

Freedom is not something you achieve. Freedom is something you receive. It comes from a Person. The Son. The one who belongs in the house, who has authority, who can do what no one else can do. And notice how absolute this promise is: “you will be free indeed.” Not partially free. Not temporarily free. Not externally improved while internally unchanged. But truly, deeply, actually free. Free from the guilt of sin, free from the penalty of sin, and increasingly free from the power of sin.

And this freedom did not come cheaply. The Son who sets you free is the Son who went to the cross. He stepped into the place of slaves. He took upon Himself the guilt of our sin, the penalty we deserved, and the judgment we could never escape. On the cross, He was treated as condemned so that we could be welcomed as sons. The chains that bind us were laid on Him. The debt that enslaved us was paid by Him. And when He rose from the dead, He did not just make freedom possible, He secured it. Freedom is a finished work accomplished by Christ.

This is why the offer of freedom is not self-improvement, but substitution. Jesus does not come to help you manage your sin. He comes to deliver you from it. He does not come to make you a better slave. He comes to make you a son. And He does this by grace. When you come to Him in repentance and faith, He breaks the mastery of sin, brings you into His family, and gives you a new standing, a new identity, and a new power to live.

So, are you still trying to fight sin in your own strength? Are you still trying to manage what only Christ can break? Or have you come to the Son and been set free? Because if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Fourth, Are You Resisting the Truth? (John 8:37–43)

At this point, the issue is no longer unclear. Jesus has spoken plainly about truth, sin, and freedom. And now the question becomes: what do you do with what He has said? John 8:37–43,

I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

Jesus acknowledges something outwardly true. They are physically descended from Abraham. They have the right heritage. The right background. The right association. But then he exposes the deeper issue. “My word finds no place in you.” In other words, the problem is not access to the truth. It is the reception of the truth. The Word is coming to them clearly. But it is not being welcomed inwardly.

It is like someone going to the doctor, receiving a clear diagnosis, and hearing exactly what needs to change, but instead of following the treatment, they question it, delay it, or ignore it altogether. The issue is not that they did not understand. The issue is that they did not want what the diagnosis required.

And you can see it in their response. Instead of receiving the truth, they are moving toward rejecting the One who speaks it. “You seek to kill me.” That is how strong the resistance is. The truth is not neutral to them. It provokes them. It confronts them. It exposes them. And rather than submit to it, they push back against it even to the point of wanting to kill Jesus.

Jesus presses even further. “Why do you not understand what I say?” And then he answers his own question. “It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.” This is not an intellectual problem. This is not about lack of clarity or lack of information. This is a moral problem. They cannot bear it. They are unwilling to receive it.

Because we often assume that rejection of truth is mainly about confusion. We say, “They just do not understand.” But this kind of resistance comes from the heart. A refusal to accept what is being said because it confronts what we love, what we want, and how we want to live.

The Word of God does not simply inform. It exposes. It corrects. It calls for surrender. And when that happens, there are only two responses. You either receive it, or you resist it.

When Scripture speaks clearly about something that touches your desires, your habits, or your identity, what is your instinct? Do you lean in and submit? Or do you begin to explain it away, minimize it, or push it to the side? Do you say, “That is hard, but it is true”? Or do you say, “That cannot be what it means”?

Because the issue is not whether the Word is clear. The issue is whether the heart is willing. And Jesus is showing us that your response to the truth reveals your condition. It reveals what has authority in your life. It reveals what you love. Which means the question we have to ask is not simply, “Do I hear the Word?” The question is: Do I receive it or do I resist it?

For if the Word of Christ consistently finds no place in you, if it is regularly pushed aside, reinterpreted, or ignored, then according to Jesus, it reveals that something in you cannot bear his Word. And that brings us right to the edge of the final and most sobering question.

Fifth, Whose Child Are You? (John 8:44–47)

Now Jesus brings everything to its most direct and unavoidable conclusion. The issue is no longer just belief, or freedom, or even response to truth. The issue is identity. The issue is family. The issue is: who do you belong to? John 8:44–47,

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

These are some of the most sobering words Jesus speaks in the entire Gospel of John. And notice who He is speaking to. Not pagans on the outside. Not obvious opponents at the beginning. But people who would say they believe, people who have the right background, the right heritage, the right associations.

And yet Jesus says, your true identity is not determined by what you claim, but by what you reflect. He draws a clear line. There are ultimately two families. Those who are of God.

And those who are not. Those who belong to God hear His Word. They receive it. They respond to it. They may struggle with it at times, but they do not reject it. There is a recognition. There is a receptivity. There is a willingness to be corrected, shaped, and led by it.

But those who are not of God do something different. They resist the truth. They reject the Word. They follow their own desires. And Jesus says that pattern reflects a different father, “Your will is to do your father’s desires.” Just as a child reflects the nature of their father, so a person’s life reflects their spiritual origin. And then Jesus describes the devil in two ways that tie directly to what we have seen in this passage. He is a murderer, and he is a liar. He opposes life, and he opposes truth. And those who follow him will do the same. They will resist the truth, and they will move away from the One who speaks it.

That is why Jesus says something so simple and yet so searching in verse 47: “Whoever is of God hears the words of God.” Not perfectly, not without struggle, but truly. Which means the issue is not whether you have heard the Word externally, but if you believe it internally. Do you receive it, and submit to it? Does it consistently find no place in you? Because Jesus makes it unmistakably clear: “The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

This is where the whole passage comes together. Belief is tested by abiding in the Word. Freedom is misunderstood apart from truth. Sin enslaves unless the Son sets free. And the truth is often resisted rather than received. And now we see why. Your response to the Word reveals your identity. It shows whose voice you follow, whose desires shape you, and whose family you belong to.

So here is the question: whose child are you? When the Word of God comes to you, do you hear it, receive it, and follow it? Because according to Jesus, that is what reveals whether you are a child of God or a child of Satan, whether you are a slave or a son.

On Palm Sunday over 20000 years ago, a crowd gathered around Jesus. They welcomed Him, celebrated Him, waved branches, and shouted praise. In a sense, they believed in Him. But within days, many of those same voices would cry out, “Crucify Him.” What happened? They believed, but they did not abide. They welcomed Him, but they would not receive His Word. They wanted a king, but not a King who would tell them the truth.

And that is exactly what we have seen in this passage. People who believed, people who were close, people who were listening, and yet Jesus exposes that the difference between a slave and a son, the difference between false belief and true faith, comes down to one question: what do you do with the Word of Christ? Do you abide in it or avoid it? Do you receive it or resist it? Because your answer to that question reveals everything. It reveals whether you are truly free or only think you are. It reveals whether sin is still your master or whether the Son has set you free. It reveals whose voice you listen to and whose child you are.

And here is the good news that stands at the center of Palm Sunday. The One they rejected, the One they resisted, the One they would soon crucify, went to the cross willingly. He did not come just to expose slaves. He came to free them. He bore the penalty of sin, broke the power of sin, and rose so that all sinners who repent could become children of God.

If you are here this morning and you recognize that you are not free, that sin still masters you, that you have resisted His Word, then do not turn away. Turn to Him. Repent of your sin, stop trusting yourself, and place your full trust in Jesus Christ. Do not argue with His Word. Do not resist His Word. Receive it, and receive Him. Because He has the authority to do what you cannot do. He can forgive your sin, break its power, and make you new. And as Jesus promises, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

And for those of you who do belong to Christ, who have been set free by the Son, hear this as both a comfort and a call. Your freedom is real, but it is not maintained by drifting from His Word. It is sustained by abiding in it. Do not move past the Word that set you free. Let it continue to shape your thinking, confront your sin, and direct your life. Because the same Word that brought you out of slavery is the Word that keeps you walking in freedom. So do not settle for a shallow, distant relationship with Scripture. Abide in it. Live under it. And as you do, you will not only remember that you are free, you will walk in that freedom more and more each day.

And those of you who have tender consciences and your assurance of salvation often feels weak. You see your sin, you feel your struggle, and you wonder if you are truly free. Hear this: the presence of that struggle is not evidence that you are still a slave, but often that you are a son or daughter who is learning to walk in freedom. You do not look to your perfection for assurance, but to Christ. You do not trust your performance, but His finished work. Keep coming to the Word. Keep turning from sin. Keep trusting Him. Because those who are of God hear His Word, and even when they stumble, they return to Him again and again.

Let me close with one more warning and invitation. Jesus is not speaking primarily to open opponents, but to those who had some level of belief, people who were close, who were listening, who thought they were in. And yet He exposes that there is a kind of belief that does not save, a belief that never abides, a belief that leaves a person still in slavery. Which means it is possible to be near Christ, familiar with His Word, from a Christian family, and still not be free.

There was a man who knew this well. Charles Wesley had religion, discipline, and knowledge, but he was still living as a slave, not a son, until the truth of Christ broke in, not as something he must achieve, but as something Christ had already done. He later described it like this in the great hymn of the faith:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

That is what Jesus is offering, not a better version of slavery, but sonship and freedom. The same Christ who turned Wesley from a slave into a son can do the same for you.

And that same Christ stands before you now. The One who broke Wesley’s chains is the One who can break yours. The One who opened his prison is the One who can open yours. The One who called him out of darkness is the One who calls you now: “If the Son sets you free… you will be free indeed.” So do not stay where you are. Do not settle for a life that feels free but is still bound in sin and nature’s night. Do not cling to chains that Christ has come to break.

Look to Him, trust Him, and follow Him and then you can sing with Wesley, “My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.” The prison door has been opened, and the chains have fallen off. The question is not whether freedom is possible, it is. The question is whether you will walk out of the cell and with the whole church confess,

Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

True freedom is only found in Jesus Christ and if he has set you free, you are free indeed.