Thursday, October 29, 2015
John 8:31-36 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 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'?" Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
THE TRUTH THAT SETS SINNERS FREE (4)
Jesus says, "If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed...." In our day many contend it doesn't matter if one departs from the Bible in some things. In fact, they are inclined to criticize those of us who hold strictly to Bible teachings, as though we're the ones who don't know what freedom is.
Well, "a little leaven leavens the whole loaf" says the Bible (Galatians 5:9). A bark beetle can kill a fifty-foot pine tree. A mere spark can burn down an entire forest, including mountain retreats and hideaways within it. The leaven of doctrinal error has eaten away at -- if not destroyed -- "the gospel that sets sinners free" in much of the visible Christian church today -- including mainline Lutheranism. I remember hearing that Pope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt and slept on the floor as acts of penitence to bring himself "closer to Christian perfection." Clear evidence that the church of the pope, in our day as in Luther's, continues to reject the gospel that sets sinners free, even as it remains in the bondage of sin and work-righteousness.
On his part, Luther was "wedded" to the book of Galatians (he called it his "Katherine von Bora"), for that epistle of Paul sets forth wonderfully the gospel of the truth that sets sinners free, even as it warns against the loss of that truth. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).
With the Reformer in another of his hymns, we pray:
Thou holy Light, Guide Divine, Oh, cause the Word of Life to shine!
Teach us to know our God aright And call Him Father with delight.
From ev'ry error keep us free; Let none but Christ our Master be
That we in living faith abide, In Him, our Lord, with all our might confide.
Hallelujah! (The Lutheran Hymnal, 224:2)
