Don't Beat Around the Bush

I am reading in John 8

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed 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.’ 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”?’” (John 8:31-33 ESV)

This word “abide” means to continue, to remain, to stay, to live, and to stand. But this isn’t just about reading the Scriptures every day. But it also means to abide by what they teach, to comply with, to obey, and to conform to the word of God. It means to live the Scriptures out in our everyday lives to where they become what guides us and directs us in the way that we should go. So, kind of like a GPS or a physical map guides us where to go in a physical direction, the word of God guides us in how we ought to live.

And this is what is required of us if we are to be the Lord’s disciples, his followers, his students. And you can’t have salvation and no discipleship, for we are saved, i.e. delivered out of our lives of sin, and we are then raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So now we must walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh, but now according to the Spirit. For sin is to no longer be what we practice, but holiness is.

And why do we need this? Because we, as humans, are born into this world with sin natures, in the image of Adam, separate from God, and unable within ourselves to be acceptable to God. So Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now be slaves of God and of his righteousness. For he died to deliver us out of slavery to sin so that we will now serve him with our lives in walks of obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives.

“Jesus answered them, ‘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. 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.’” (John 8:34-38 ESV)

The Jews did not see themselves as slaves to anyone, so Jesus made it clear that if sin is what we practice, we are slaves to sin, and if we are slaves to sin, we will not inherit eternal life with God. But if Jesus sets us free, we are free. But this is not a mere status change. This is a lifestyle change. For Jesus didn’t die just to free us from the punishment of sin, but he died to free us from our enslavement to sin so that we will now obey him with our lives, and so that we will now walk in his ways and in his truth.

Also what he made clear to them is that just because they were physical descendants of Abraham it did not mean that they were eternally secure. For they were those who wanted to kill Jesus because his words found no place in their hearts and lives. And it is the same today. Many are professing faith in Jesus Christ and they feel as though heaven is now secured them. But they are still enslaved to sin, still living for the flesh and not for God. And according to the Scriptures, they will not inherit eternal life with God.

“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.’” (John 8:39-43 ESV)

There are many people today here in America who are professing faith in Jesus Christ and who are claiming God the Father as their Father. But Jesus’ words make it clear that a mere profession with our lips is not what makes something true. What makes it true is our actions. For if God is truly our Father, we will be doing his works which he prepared in advance for us to walk in them (Ephesians 2:10), and we will not be continuing in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and against our fellow humans.

“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.” (John 8:44-47 ESV)

Wow! Jesus really “cut to the chase” (came right to the point) there. He didn’t “mince words,” i.e. he didn’t speak in generalities or in vagueness. What he said was “as clear as a bell,” i.e. readily and easily understood. And we need more of that in our day and time, for far too many people are “beating around the bush,” i.e. they are avoiding having to answer or address something clearly and directly, and so they “sugar coat” what they are saying so that it sounds better than what it is, but that is not helpful.

Too many people are not telling people the truth because they don’t want to offend other humans, and so they speak indirectly, and they do “sugar coat” the messages, and they make them less offensive than what they really are. Or they literally just leave out the parts that they know will offend people and they only tell them what their itching ears want to hear. But if we don’t tell people the truth, we may be guilty of giving them a false hope of salvation and of eternal life with God based on a lie. Not a good thing!

So Jesus was direct, because that was the most loving thing to do, for these people were deceived by their own lies. And so he let them know that God was not their Father, but that their father was the devil, because their will was to do their father’s (the devil’s) desires, which was evident by their actions and by the fact that they wanted to kill Jesus, and by the fact that they would not believe Jesus, who was God in the flesh. And so he let them know that whoever is of God are those who heed the words of God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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