Oh, sometimes I want to say something, and I don't have the words for it, but I don't know. The word is just beautiful. This is what we're here to hear. You're not here to hear me. Remember that. So I pray that you've come with a hunger for John chapter 8 this morning, and that God ministers that to us, as Ed said, through the vessel. Throughout chapter 7, and eight, the tone so far has, the way John works is in the first part of John, it's constant opposition and back and forth between Jesus and the people who don't like him. And then when we get to about chapter 12, it becomes Jesus speaking to his disciples who are actually with him. And so by the time we get there, we're gonna be really ready for that. But in the meantime, here we still are, as the tone is one of constant resistance, constant opposition to Jesus. So whether it's the crowd, or the Jews, or the people of Jerusalem, or the Pharisees, everyone seems to be opposed to Jesus, and it just gets a little bit discouraging. And then we read in verse 30 of chapter eight, as he spoke these things, many came to believe in him. Finally, a positive response to Jesus. Many, I love that, I mean, not just some, he didn't say some came to believe, many came to believe in him. And why did they come to believe in him? It's not this time because they saw the amazing miracles he was doing. What does it say? As he spoke these things. So they were convinced, based on what Jesus said, that no man spoke like this man speaks. He must be telling the truth. And so they believed in him and they wanted to identify themselves with him as his disciples. And so we want to celebrate, don't we? But how many of us are cynical? And we wonder, should we be cynical? Is there a reason to be cynical? Or is it just being realistic? We want to be glad that many came to believe in Jesus, but we remember these verses in chapter 2. When Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name. I mean, look at that. Look at the language. Many believed in his name, observing his signs, what he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, was not entrusting himself to them. For he knew all men, and because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. And we have to ask ourselves, what's in man? What's in us that makes Jesus so pessimistic about all these people now believing in his name? Remember too what happened in chapter 6. Many of Jesus' disciples, it doesn't say here many of Jesus' pretended disciples who obviously weren't. No, many of Jesus' disciples And granted, they were not true, but they looked for all the world. They would have looked for all the world to us, like true disciples. They were not walking with him anymore. Believing in Jesus is apparently not always what it might appear to be. Finally, remember that there were some people saying, this truly is the prophet. Others were saying, this is the Christ. So all of these people are believing in Jesus. And then we have to ask, were they really? I don't want to ask that question. I want to be positive. I want to be optimistic. But we have to ask the question, were they, are they really? Now the question is not, be careful, it is not, were they believing in him enough? You know, like they were believing in him, but are they believing enough? That is the wrong question. What's the question? It's this. Were they believing in, what's the word? In Him. Him. As He is revealing Himself to them, which is all the difference in the world. Are they believing in Him? And so I just ask you, ask me, are we believing in Him? Therefore Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. So in your handout here is a warning not to confuse a superficial believing that's only temporary with the believing that submits wholeheartedly to Jesus' word. We've seen that over and over so far in this gospel and a believing that's therefore permanent. What Jesus says to abide in my word. What is the picture you get when you think of abiding in his word? I just would describe it as to be rooted permanently, saturated in his word. so that it's His Word that's shaping me. It's His Word that's making me who I am. We could say in human terms, I'm borrowing the language of Paul here, we could say in human terms, because of the weakness of our flesh, that this is what it is to abide in Jesus' Word. It is to be slaves to His Word. And we use the word slaves because of the weakness of our flesh. Because it is what it is, and it's not what it is. We'll see that in a minute. With our consciences bound by His Word. Anything other than that is not true discipleship. And therefore it is not truly believing in Him. as he's revealed himself. But even in Jesus' warning, there's an invitation and a promise. You hear, Jesus speaks, and you hear a warning, you tremble. And at the same time that you tremble at his warning, you hear and you rejoice in the invitation and the promise in those same words. If I'm abiding in his word, what am I? I am truly his disciple. And if we speak of this because of the weakness of our flesh as a kind of slavery, that's what we're going to call it, we also have to be able to see that in this slavery is the only true freedom. In this slavery is the only true freedom. And so Jesus says, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you what? Free. Here's a new theme in the Gospel of John. Maybe not a new theme, but a new word expressing the same old theme. To be the slave of truth. Now if you think about it, to be the slave of truth has to be a fundamentally different thing from being the slave of a lie. If you're the slave of truth and you're the slave of a lie, or the slave of a lie, then you have to call, it's almost like you can't call the one slavery, right? Because of the nature of the master who is truth. A lie is a cruel master. It kills and destroys. But the truth that we find in Jesus is a master that sets you free. And it sets you free from what? The tyranny of the lie And it gives to us the deepest kind of happiness and joy. If you want to call that slavery, call it slavery. I don't care. But that's the only true freedom in which we find that happiness and joy. Whatever we are to call as abiding in His Word, whether a kind of slavery or the ultimate freedom, it's the only escape. It's the only escape from tyranny. It's the only place where we find peace. Peace. In the midst of the warning, there's a promise. If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. And we say this is good news. Let us abide in his word. Done. Finished. We're there, right? And yet we come to verse 33. They answered him. We are Abraham's descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Now, the Jews are not denying that they were politically enslaved to all sorts of people. and physically enslaved. I mean, didn't it start out being slaves to Egypt, and then you've got many people after that. Then, of course, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, now they're enslaved to the Romans. So, what are they saying? Their point is that as Abraham's descendants, and by the way, they're not just saying, well, if I follow my lineage back, I get to Abraham, so that makes me good automatically. No, they're saying that since I'm Abraham's descendant, I then know the truth because the law is our possession. God gave it to Abraham's descendants at Mount Sinai. And so, since the law was given to them, to me, and I know the truth, then whatever my outward status, I might have the Romans ruling over me right now, but at the end of the day, deep down, I am fundamentally a free-born child of the God of Abraham. We are Abraham's descendants, therefore, by default, we have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it then that you say you will become free? Now, what, did they just give Jesus a real opportunity to answer them? Not really. They said, we have not been enslaved, let's make this clear, I'll make this statement. Now you explain yourself, Jesus, how can you say that? So here's a question for you. These are the people that were just believing in Jesus' word? The question is, were they abiding in Jesus' word? Or were they believing in Jesus only because, and therefore only for as long as, he fits the truth they think they already know? As soon as Jesus challenges their, and these are the most cherished assumptions, how quick they are to contradict his word, and brothers and sisters, aren't we at some level like this? If I have come to terms with what I believe the Bible says, then I'm good with that. I will submit wholeheartedly. And I say I submit to the authority of the Word. But as soon as the Word seems to be saying that I'm not quite comfortable with, what happens? We have a resistance. We have this saying, I don't like that. I won't submit to that. We are called to a wholehearted submission, even as they deny that they're enslaved to anyone. We have never been enslaved to anyone. They show they are enslaved. Do you see it? And how do we see their enslavement? One commentator put it really well, I think. He said, there must be some powerful spiritual force holding back these would-be believers. These people who said, I want to identify with you, Jesus. You must be telling the truth. No one ever spoke like you spoke. And then suddenly they say, no, no, Jesus, I don't agree with that. What's happening? Some powerful spiritual force must be holding them back from what they just recognized to be the truth and the right course of action. Anyone in this position is not free, but is a slave. And the depth of our enslavement is revealed in this, that one thing the lie does is deceive its slaves into believing they're what? They're free. Oh, wretched people that we are. That the nature of our master is that our master convinces us, the slaves, that we're free. The Jews said to Jesus, we are Abraham's descendants. We've never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, he calls them to submit to his word. Anyone who practices sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son does remain forever. Now for those in Sunday school this morning, I'll invite you to consider these things in the light of what we talked about this morning. For the rest of us, hopefully we'll make it clear. What does Jesus mean when he says, the slave does not remain in the house forever, the son does remain? It is difficult for us to ever overstate the privilege that belonged to the Jews. Remember, the Jews are not just saying, my bloodline goes back to Abraham, so I'm good. No, they're saying that in light of that bloodline, I have spiritual privileges, spiritual privileges, and they were right. What does the psalmist say? He says, he declares his words to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. And as for his ordinances, they have not known them. And he doesn't praise the Lord that they don't know them. He praises the Lord that God gave his ordinances to us, the Jews. The Apostle Paul writes, what advantage has the Jew or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God. But what Jesus is saying here is that it's entirely possible to be physically the descendants of Abraham, and therefore to know the law of God that he gave to Israel at Mount Sinai, and even to profess allegiance to that law, and to be devoted to that law, and still be sinning. Living a life fundamentally characterized by sin. Not always doing horrible things, but a life characterized by sin. But whoever is sinning is by definition a what of sin? A slave. A slave of sin. And the slave, Jesus says, does not remain in the house forever. In the Old Testament, there was a real sense in which the nation of Israel was God's house. It was God's household. And God said, Israel was my son, my firstborn son. It's God's household. Every Jew, if you were a Jew, and you came from Abraham, through Isaac, whether you were saved and born again or not, you were born into that household. Born into it. And you know, the only way for you to get cut off from that household was what? There was only one way to get cut off from that household. killed, executed, stoned. That got you cut off. Otherwise you're in and you stayed in. Even if you're worshiping false gods. But as real as this household was in the Old Testament, Israel, it was only what we call a typological household. It was a household that was shadowing forth the real true household that it pictured. It was a copy. And so, therefore, it was temporary. Because once you get the real thing, you don't need the copy. Once the substance has arrived, we don't need the shadow. The shadow disappears. The sun in its full glory dispels all the shadows. The household of ethnic Israel, which all these Jews that Jesus is talking to, they said, we're in the household. And Jesus says, you say you're in the household? Yeah, but that household is just an anticipation of the true household in which there's only one true son. And who is that one true son? Jesus. And in this household, there are also all those who truly abide in Jesus' word. And they are children in that household. So that typological household in the Old Testament, do you know it consists, typologically, Israel was God's son, but in reality, do you know what that household mostly consisted of? Slaves. Slaves of sin in the household. But when Jesus comes, Jesus renders that household of the Old Covenant obsolete. because in the household where he alone is the true son, there is no room for slaves. There is no room for slaves in the household in which Jesus alone is the true son. There is only room for those who are free. Free from what? From the tyranny of sin. Free to abide in Jesus' word. Now we should be able to better understand Jesus' words. See, the Jews said, hey, we're in the household and we're not cut off by execution. And Jesus says, there's another way to be cut off from the household. And that is for the entire household to be rendered obsolete. And for the true substance to which that household pointed to come. And you will not be in that household, you will be cut off. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The sun does remain forever. Therefore, Jesus says, if the sun makes you free, you will be free indeed. True freedom, one commentator says, is not the liberty to do anything we please. And isn't that naturally, instinctively what we think of when we think of freedom? Freedom is I can do whatever I please. Well, in a sense it is, but in a sense it's not. Not biblically true freedom. True freedom is the liberty to do what we ought. And yet, if that's all it was, it would be a burden. Freedom is not a burden. Because when we think, oh, I ought to, but I don't want to. No, true freedom is I ought to, and I do it, and I want to. Glorious freedom. That's what it is to be free, Jesus says, free indeed. To be free to do what I ought, and to be glad that I want to do what I ought. That's the only true freedom, isn't it? There's a promise here, and yet also a warning. Anything else, though it has the appearance of freedom, because some people are going to say, well, I think there's two kinds of freedom. And the other kind of freedom is to not want to do what I ought, to want to do what I ought not to, and then to be free to do what I ought not to. But that's not freedom, Jesus says. It has the appearance of freedom. The devil, the liar, would deceive us into believing we're free. when all the while it is not freedom but slavery, slavery to sin, slavery to a lie which leads on the path to death. Jesus continues in verse 37. Verse 37, I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. Now how can Jesus say to these Jews who just a moment ago, what were they doing? Believing in Jesus? Wanting to be his disciples? And now he says, you want to kill me. You're seeking to kill me. I think the explanation is this. The fact is there were a bunch of Abraham's descendants who wanted to kill Jesus. And these Jews who were just believing in Jesus, they might have a bit of a struggle saying, yeah, there's some Jews that I think are pretty religious and upstanding, Abraham's descendants who want to kill you. Yeah, so Jesus says that. His main point isn't which descendants of Abraham want to kill him. It's just that a number of them, very prominent ones, want to. And now, what he's saying is that by your failure to abide in my word, you said you were believing, but now you're not abiding. These Jews who a moment ago were believing, they have, if you're not believing and you're not abiding, what are you doing? You are aligning yourself fundamentally with your fellow Jews who seek to kill me. That's where you've aligned yourself. And I don't want to do that. Don't put me in that camp yet. I might not be in the camp of abiding in your word anymore, as I thought I was going to, but I'm not in that camp. And Jesus says, no, no, no. This is fundamentally about two different worlds. Abiding in my word or seeking to kill me. When Jesus says, you seek to kill me, he's talking about the Jewish people as a whole, and he is identifying, whether they liked it or not, all of those in whom his word has no place, with that ultimate collective guilt of the nation. That's uncomfortable. Jesus places them in the same category, and he does this because these reasons. They're not abiding in his word, because his word has no place in them, because they're not free-born children who know and love the truth, but they are slaves of sin, and all such slaves of sin are always aligned, fundamentally, with those who crucified and put to death the Lord of glory. That gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, it was my sins that held him there, as it were. I hear my voice in the crowd of mockers, and the crowd saying, crucify him. It's not just our voice like, kind of, but not really. No, it's our voice that said, because we were slaves of sin, crucify him. That's the nature of fallen man and his slavery to sin. We cannot be slaves to sin and not cry out for this crucifixion of the one who speaks the truth. So Jesus assigns then to us in our slavery to sin the heart and the guilt of those who seek to kill him. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you seek to kill me. Why? Why do you seek to kill me? Not because you're terribly bad people and you're even worse than the people here at Living Word Bible Church. That's not why. No, the reason you seek to kill me is simple, because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen in the presence of my Father. Therefore you also do the things which you heard from your Father." Do you see how Jesus is exposing this vast gulf? This irreconcilable dichotomy. What does someone say, I forget who it was that said, there is no meaning of East or West. As far removed as the East is from the West, that's in the Bible. Why do the Jews do these things they do, Jesus says? Why do they do these things like seeking to kill Jesus? Well, because these are the things they heard from their father. Because it runs in the family. And second, related to that, because Jesus speaks the things which he has seen in the presence of his father. What does that tell us? Well, apparently their father harbors an inextinguishable, murderous hatred for Jesus' father. It's not just a dislike. Their father hates Jesus' father. So therefore, whenever Jesus speaks the things he has seen in the presence of his father, Therefore, in your handout, by the necessity of their nature, of their family likeness, they are going to be provoked to do the things they heard from their father who hates his father. How do you escape from this? Are we beginning to see in this how vast, how apparently unbridgeable, I'm going to use that word a couple of times this morning, how unbridgeable is the gulf between unbelief and belief? We like to think in our self-confidence and our optimism about our human nature that the gulf between me being unbelieving and being believing is a simple matter of a simple step. I'm this close to it and I can step over a little crack and be there at any time. And Jesus says, he paints a picture of a gulf that is so vast there is no bridge that can be built over it by man. between belief and unbelief. How do you bridge the gulf between believing, between being unbelieving and believing? The Jews have been put in a difficult spot. Look at the wisdom of Jesus. He says, you do the deeds of your father. He doesn't say who their father is. So he invites them to make the identification themselves. Now the problem is, if they are going to say, whoever their father is, they have to be saying that he's of the same nature with them and would seek to kill Jesus. So whoever their father is would seek to kill Jesus. So which is the lesser of two evils? To admit a father other than Abraham, because they would say their father is Abraham, or to claim Abraham as their father and potentially slander Abraham's name by saying he would be seeking to kill you too, Jesus. Or is there another alternative? Well, they hope there is. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. What is this blindness? We're gonna see, Jesus will explain it in a moment. The Jews want this to be their vindication. Abraham is our father, therefore that means we're right. They want the spiritual privileges of their physical descent from Abraham to be the proof that they're his true spiritual children. Jesus said to them, if you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill me. Did they ever respond to that yet? They haven't dealt with that yet. Because even if they say, well, we're not trying to kill you, they have to deal with the fact that some of their esteemed fellow descendants of Abraham are trying to kill him. And so Jesus points that out, and they just sidestepped the entire issue. They just said, Abraham is our father. So that must mean we're all right. And Jesus says, wait a minute, you sidestepped the issue. You are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father, and he doesn't name him yet. Is Jesus just insinuating things to get them worked up? No, no. Why doesn't he name their father? I think we can suggest an answer. I'm just going to skip over some that we have there. He doesn't name their father, because even as he's exposing how vast, how apparently unbridgeable is the gulf between him and these children of a different father, two different fathers, how far apart can you get than that? He still gives them the opportunity to see their hopeless condition for themselves, to confess on their own, and there's a tension here. The truth of his word. He invites them. Who is your father? What are your deeds telling you about who your father is? And if they can come to see that and to repent and to confess, then this is the way to life. But what do they do? They refuse. Wretched people that we are. Do you feel this? They said to him, we were not born of fornication, of sexual immorality outside of marriage. We have one Father. Now what do they do? They're being driven to desperation here because the first thing they're pointing out, I don't believe myself, I do not believe they're implying that Jesus was born out of wedlock. I don't believe that's what they're doing here and there's reasons that I would say for that. But I believe what they're saying is this, Sarah, we were not born of some affair that Sarah had out of wedlock with Abraham. You're saying we have a different father than Abraham? No, no. We're born of Sarah's union with Abraham. So we are descendants of Abraham. And of course, Jesus never denied that. They're pretending now to believe they're just getting worked up. And so they pretend to believe, Jesus, it sounds like you're denying that we're biologically descended from Abraham, even though Jesus just said they are. But then in the very next breath, they admit they do know what Jesus is talking about. And this is where our blindness, our slavery to sin, it leads us to being irrational. We've seen that over and over in John's gospel. They know Jesus is talking about a family likeness, because now they say, we have one father, God. Why? On what basis? They still have not explained trying to kill Jesus. So apparently they're still saying that all the spiritual privileges of our physical descent from Abraham, we have the law, we have the ordinance, we have the temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, we love these things, therefore we must be the true spiritual children of God. But what about the things they do? What about seeking to kill Jesus? Is that really what God does? They haven't answered Jesus yet. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For it is from God that I went forth, and from him that I have come. For I have not come on my own initiative, but that one sent me." That very one, you claim as your father, sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Is this not what we're all asking here? I can't believe they don't understand Jesus' speech. It's so obvious to me. I'm smarter than they were, apparently. No, he says, it is because you are unable to listen to, to receive my word. If the Jews cannot make sense of what Jesus is saying, and they can't at some level, they hear him saying, and it's all like gibberish. What does he mean by that? What about this? This doesn't make any sense. But is that because Jesus is being vague? Is it because he's unclear? No, it's because their own values and their own commitments make them constitutionally unable. The Greek is ou dunamai, no power. They have no ability to ever know the truth. You cannot come to know the truth if you have commitments and values that are opposed to the truth. And how many of us are born into this world with commitments and values that are opposed to the truth? Every single one of us. Unable, then, to ever know the truth. Unable to ever abide in Jesus' Word. You can start out looking like you are. You can want to believe, as it were, but not abide. And so we see again, throughout John's Gospel, that we are not neutral people who are equally capable of choosing what is spiritually evil or choosing what is spiritually good. Because we are already, Jesus says, what? Slaves of sin. And to be the slave of sin is, in a very fundamental way, not to be free. We have values. Whether we're guilty of all sorts of criminal activity, or whether we live the most exemplary good in moral lives, As slaves of sin, we have values and commitments as the slaves of sin that make us constitutionally unable to ever receive Jesus' word. Where do those values and commitments come from? Jesus answers, you are of your father, the devil. And you want to do the desires of your father. Do you see again how unbridgeable is the gulf between unbelief and belief? Between God's word having no place in me and me abiding in Jesus' word. Between the one and only son of the father and the children of the devil. We can't say, well, I don't think Jesus' words apply to me here. He's only talking about the Jewish leaders or some worst class of sinners. because there's only two fathers. We're either the children of God who love Jesus, who know the truth, who abide in his word, or we're children of the devil who are fundamentally aligned with the people who hate Jesus and are seeking to kill him. We're either slaves of sin, slaves, Or, we are been made free by the Son. Jesus is addressing these words, remember, not to the Pharisees, but to those who are just now believing in him. Identifying with him as his disciples, he says, you are seeking to kill me. You are the children of the devil. Paul says that we were all, Paul says, we were all by nature slaves of sin. Therefore, we were all, think of it this way, we were all at one time, children of the devil, bearing the family likeness, carrying the family nature, and Jesus, as Jesus says, wanting to do the desires of our Father. Do we comprehend what that means? And Jesus says of the one we all once owned as our father, this is what he says of him. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies. So we ask ourselves, what does that mean for us who were by nature the children of a liar? who were by nature the children of the father of lies, Jesus answers what it means for us. Because I speak the truth, you do not believe me. Did you see what he just said? He does not say, even though I speak the truth. He doesn't say, in spite of the fact that I'm speaking the truth, you don't believe me. He says, Because I speak the truth, therefore you don't believe me. It is the truth itself. It is the truth itself that provokes and that hardens our unbelief. And that's not due to any fault in the truth. It's due to my own enslavement to sin as children of the devil, the father of lies. And so when the truth is spoken to me, that truth provokes my unbelief. Because he speaks the truth to me, I do not believe. As children wanting to do the desires of our lying father, we did not believe. As Jesus says, we could not believe. He uses those words precisely because. He speaks the truth. So Jesus concludes with these words. Which one of you convicts me of sin? Those are astonishing words, wonderful words. If I speak truth, why do you not believe me? So he acknowledges the irrationality of it, and yet he gives the logical answer. Look what he says, he doesn't leave it hanging. He who is of God hears the words of God, receives the words of God. The problem is, if we're not of God, how can we ever hear and receive the words of God? He says, for this reason, you do not hear and receive the words of God. This is why, because you are not of God. Only those who are of God can receive the words of God. And so again, these verses are very simply one theme hammered home over and over and over again. And it is this vast unbridgeable gulf between unbelief and belief. I say unparently unbridgeable. It is unbridgeable by us, and we see this in all these ways. Slaves of sin. Remember, slaves does not mean, well, my heart hates sin, and I wish I could escape sin because I hate sin. No, slaves means my will is bound to my sinful desires. I want to do the things my father does. Children of the devil. Wanting to the desires of our father. Believing lies and characterized then by the lies we've believed. Number one, believing I'm not truly enslaved. Unable to believe in Jesus precisely because he speaks the truth to us. Because his word has no place in us. We were not of God, therefore we could not receive his words. We could not know the truth. Is there no escape? Jesus says this, not to drive us to despair, but to drive us, to drive us to God and the mystery of his sovereign grace. Augustine, who was a bishop 1,600 years ago in North Africa, he wrote these words, And in a sense, we can only fully understand and speak these words after we've been set free. When we look back at our life of sin and slavery, he says, at times, a man's slave, worn out by the commands of an unfeeling master, finds rest in flight. But where can the servant of sin flee? himself he carries with him wherever he flees. An evil conscience flees not from itself. It has no place to go to. It follows itself. Indeed, he cannot withdraw from himself, for the sin he commits is within. He has committed sin to obtain some bodily pleasure. The pleasure passes away. The sin remains. What delighted is gone, the sting has remained behind. Evil bondage. This is what Martin Luther meant when he famously spoke of the bondage of the will. This is what Jesus speaks of here in John chapter eight. And it is then this evil bondage. Do you see the miracle that is required now? It is this evil bondage that explains the necessity of God's miracle working sovereign grace. And what is this grace? It's the grace that in John chapter three gives to us the new birth. It gives and imparts to us the new birth and opens our hearts to know the truth. Mystery of mysteries. What happened? Was it me that bridged the gulf between being unbelieving and believing? Or was it God that bridged that gulf in His powerful, miracle-working, sovereign grace? And did God bridge that gulf, in part, by revealing to me the hopelessness of my condition? Do you see the hopelessness of your condition? And do you, in seeing that, B, are you driven to the Savior? To the God who does what is impossible? As we say, as Jesus says, what is impossible with man is possible. And his point isn't that, well, God will possibly do it if you take the first steps over the gulf. No, he's saying that this is what God does. It's what God does. What we are wholly unable to do, as Jesus just said to those slaves of sin, children of the devil, unable to come to him because his word has no place in them. Because he speaks the truth, what we are wholly unable to do, God does. And so we read in Romans chapter eight, verses one to two. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Jesus said, the slave does not remain in the house forever. Who does remain? The son remains forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. The question then is, number one, are you free indeed? Are you abiding in Jesus' word? Which is just to say this, are you living every day as one who is free? And what is freedom? It is the liberty to do what we ought and the delight in doing what we ought because it's what we want to do. Praise God for setting us free from our bondage, our slavery to sin. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray, Lord, that you, by your Spirit, reveal to us through the word of Jesus that vast, apparently unbridgeable gulf between being unbelieving and believing. And as we see that then, may we never cease for all eternity to praise and glorify you for taking us who were slaves of sin, children of the devil, wanting to do the desires of our father, unable to receive or listen to the truth, precisely because it was the truth, taking us from this hopeless place of slavery and bondage and setting us free into the liberty of the sons of the children of the children of God. who have been united with Jesus. Lord, help us to go forth from here now in the true freedom of those who abide in your word, who are shaped this week in every way by the word of Jesus and the gospel he has preached to us. Father, we pray that if there are any here who have not believed, that as they are confronted here, even as these Jews were 2,000 years ago, with the hopelessness of their condition, that precisely this hopelessness, that even as you open their eyes to their true slavery, they would even now be drawn, that they would even now come to believe, to see in Jesus their only true freedom. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.