The Truth and Freedom John 8:31-32, NIV To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “The Truth and Freedom” based on John 8:31-32. Please repeat after me, “The Truth and Freedom. The Truth and Freedom.” Today is the 90th anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement. On March 1, 1919, ninety years ago today, Christians gathered in the churches, praying, announcing the Declaration of Independence, and marched on the streets, shouting, “Hail to the Independent Korea!” Korea was controlled by Japan from 1910 till August 15, 1945, suffering from persecution under Japanese imperialism. We lost sovereign power over our own nation. It was shameful indignity and sorrow. We eagerly desired the liberation of our country. Human beings aspire to freedom. Many people are bound by various problems of the world. They live in the midst of problems and pain. They want to be free from theses shackles. They want to have true freedom. Where can we find true freedom? The Lord Jesus gives an answer to this question. John 8:32 says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The Lord promises that the truth will set us free. 1. What is the truth? (Jn 8:31-32) What is the truth? First, let us think about what truth is. John 8:31-32 says, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” The Lord Jesus told the Jews that they would be His disciples if they held to His teaching and that the truth would set them free. When we understand and know the truth, we will be free from all kinds of shackles. The Lord Jesus was questioned before Pilate before His crucifixion. He also told Pilate about the truth. He declared that He came to earth to testify to the truth. John 18:37 says, “‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’” Pilate questioned Jesus, asking Him, in verse 38, “What is the truth?” Even though Pilate was the governor in Israel, the most powerful man there, he did not understand what the truth was. He had the power to kill or to save people as the governor of the Roman Empire. All the people shuddered and prostrated themselves before him, but he was restless, feeling empty somehow. Jesus was only an accused person who was brought before him. Although He seemed to know that Pilate had the power to kill or save Him, Jesus was bold and confident. Pilate was surprised at His confidence, feeling timid. That was why he asked, “What is the truth that you are talking about?” The truth that Jesus was talking about is not the knowledge of the world. It is the truth of eternal life, salvation, and the truth of God. According to the Bible, we can see that the truth means the Lord Jesus himself. John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” The Lord Jesus says that He is the way and the truth and the life. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is full of grace and truth. He himself is the truth. He is our God and the Savior. Karl Barth was a famous Swiss theologian. He came to Chicago and spoke at a conference. At the end of the lecture, a seminary student followed him and asked, “Professor, you have written many books, researching and teaching throughout your life. What is the most profound truth that you have found?” He was asking about truth. Professor Barth did not answer him in great detail. Instead, he sang his favorite hymn: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so. Hallelujah! “Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me, this I know.” This was his answer to the student’s question. “Jesus loves me. Jesus died on the Cross for me.” Jesus is the only way to salvation. Jesus is the only truth. He is the only way to eternal life. Hallelujah! This is the truth. The world, however, does not understand the truth. People are wandering around in the middle of sin, since they are spiritually blind. They are oppressed and blinded by the devil, groaning in hopelessness and pain. There may be many things that look like the truth but in reality, they are not the truth, only a disguise. They are wrong and false. People in the world are deceived by such lies, wandering around without knowing the truth or enjoying freedom. They live hopelessly, since they do not know God nor know that God is living, and they do not know that Jesus came as the Savior for all humankind. They do not even know that there is life after death. Many people live with pain without knowing the answers to the basic questions of life: where they came from, what they are living for, and where they are going. No one can provide answers to these questions except the Lord Jesus. Since only Jesus is the truth, He alone can help us to understand the purpose of our lives, proposing the way to salvation. God wants all humankind to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:4 says, “Who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” The following is a story from the Talmud, the Israelite book of wisdom. A man had three friends. One day he received a summons from the palace, saying that he was to present himself for a trial. He rushed to his closest friend and said, “Friend, I received this summons from the palace. Would you please go with me and prove my innocence?” His friend flatly refused his request. He went to his second best friend. The friend said, “I will go with you to the palace entrance but not any further.” Disappointed, he went to a third friend and said, “I am in trouble. Would you go with me?” The third friend replied, “Of course I will go with you. I will tell people that you are innocent before the king.” The Talmud says that the first friend symbolizes wealth. We cannot trust in wealth. The second friend symbolizes worldly friends. We cannot trust in people, either. The third friend symbolizes wisdom. True wisdom can help us when we are in trouble, and it will stay with us to the end. It signifies the truth. Who is this wisdom? It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth. That is why the Scripture says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Here, “to know the truth” is more than to know as superficial knowledge. It means to know by experience. Here is a cup of water. We know it is water, but we do not know how it tastes, warm or sweet, until we drink it. When we know the truth through experience, it really becomes truth for us. Even though we know Jesus Christ through knowledge, if we have not met Him through experience, however, we are likely to remain hopeless. “To know the truth” means to understand it through knowledge, to feel it through emotions, and to accept it through our willful determination. This is to know the truth entirely through experience. I pray that all of you will meet the Lord Jesus. I want your destiny to be changed by your meeting with the Lord. I pray that you will receive the wonderful grace and blessing from God. When we meet the Lord Jesus, we will receive enormous grace. Hopelessness will turn into hope, sorrow into joy, and curses into blessings. Hallelujah! We must meet the Lord Jesus. Even though you come to church regularly, if you do not meet the Lord Jesus, your life will remain meaningless. Nothing is more precious than the Lord Jesus. When we meet the Lord, He will never leave us but stay with us, leading our ways. Matthew 28:20 says, “And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age! And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age!” Even though all the people around us may forsake us, even when our parents and friends leave us, even if we are left all alone, our Lord will never leave us but stays with us, leading our way to the end of the age. This Lord is Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus Christ is the truth. When we meet the Lord Jesus, we will have joy, thankfulness, and enthusiasm. Rev. Moody was a famous evangelist. One day Rev. Moody and Dr. Torrey went to an observatory on a high building in Chicago. Looking down at the city of Chicago, he said to Dr. Torrey, “Dr. Torrey, I can jump from this place if the Lord tells me to do so.” He said this because he loved the Lord with all his heart. Of course our Lord would not tell us to jump. However, he meant that he loved the Lord so much that he would lay down his life if the Lord told him to do so. Hallelujah! Let us love our Lord this much. Even though the Lord sends us to the place of our death, let us obey Him. When we believe in the Lord Jesus and follow Him, we will have true freedom. 2. True freedom Second, I want to speak about the true freedom that the Lord gives to us. Nobody likes restrictions. People yearn for freedom. Do you know what children long for? They want to become adults. Korean parents are putting too much pressure on their children. When we ask some children, “What is your wish?” many of them will say that they want to be a father or a mother. Why do they want to be adults? This is because they do not want to whine. Their parents tell them to do their homework, sending them to various after-school academies and ordering them around, telling them not to watch TV, not to play games but to study. There are so many do’s and don’ts. Being fed up with so many orders, they want to grow up fast so that they can sleep as much as they want, eat anything they want, and play as much as they want. We know nothing would work that way when we are grown up, but the children are so tired and are apt to become rebellious. Freedom is different from dissoluteness. Many people seek freedom. That is why they want to go to the countryside over the weekends, to be free from busy and complex city life. However, there is no complete freedom in the world. There is no absolute freedom on earth. The freedom man seeks may bring about his own destruction. Freedom does not mean doing whatever we want to do. The hippy culture was first introduced in the 1960s in the US. Hippies wanted to defy conventional social order. They moved out of their houses, moving around from one place to another like gypsies. They refused to wear formal suits or neckties, wearing T-shirts and jeans. They also opposed the bondage of marriage, living with anybody they liked at a particular moment. They often lived with somebody, soon parted from each other, and lived with somebody else. They thought it was freedom. They wanted to do what had been forbidden. They smoked marijuana, enjoying drinks and debauchery. However, the freedom that they sought led them into deep despair. They did whatever they wanted to do, only to face vanity, despair, and hopelessness. They began to lament. Some of them wanted to come back to the Lord Jesus and started the Jesus Movement. They wanted to come back to church, but not many traditional churches were comfortable for them, because they were used to jeans and T-shirts. Traditional churches were too solemn for them. Calvary Chapel, led by Rev. Chuck Smith, was one of the churches that took them in. Many young men and women went to Calvary Chapel and were blessed. They had freedom in worship services, playing the guitar and drums, and praising freely. Rev. John Wimber was one of their leaders. He came out and started the Vineyard movement. From a certain point of view, the hippy culture brought changes in the patterns of worship services. They sought free style worship services. Some pastors in the churches for young men and women preached in jeans and T-shirts instead of wearing robes or neckties. Some may not understand how a pastor could preach in jeans, but the members are well used to it. Do not be alarmed even if I wear jeans without wearing a robe, which I do not think will happen. What is important is that the Lord Jesus is the truth. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Hallelujah! Freedom here means the freedom from sin. Jesus talked about setting them free, but the Jews asked Jesus why He talked about it, for they had never been slaves. John 8:33 says, “They answered him, ‘We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?’” Then Jesus replied in 8:34, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” What is sin? The Greek original word for sin is hamartia, meaning “off the mark.” Therefore, whatever is off the will of God is sin. Whatever is off the Word of God is sin. Whatever fails to please God is sin. Therefore, we must return to the Lord, following the will of the Lord. We must please the Lord throughout our lives. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All have sinned under the control of sin. We must repent of our sins and come to the Lord. The sinfulness of man has become so strong that man has become indescribably wicked. Think about Hitler. He killed six million Jews?genocide?during World War II. More than two million people were killed in the killing field of Cambodia. Stalin started the Revolution of Blood in Russia and killed more than 20 million people. It is obvious that humankind is slave to sin, but he denies it. Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s plays. Macbeth was killed by his wife. Even though there was no witness, she washed her hands again and again from the sense of guilt. Even though she may wash her hands millions of times, even if her hands were to be rubbed off from washing, sin still remained there. Jeremiah 2:22 says, “‘Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.” No matter how hard we may wash ourselves with soap, sin will remain before us. We are sinners because we sin. At the same time, we sin because we are sinners. Only the blood of Jesus can forgive us of our sins. The blood of Jesus shed on the Cross forgives all sin. There is power in the blood of the Lord Jesus. All are born in sin. As long as we are in the midst of sin, the devil is our father. John 8:44 says, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Since the Jews were deceived by the lies of the devil, they were not willing to hear the truth, wanting to kill the Lord Jesus. John 8:40 says, “As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.” Since non-believers are the slaves of the devil, they commit grave sins, hating, deceiving, hurting, and killing one another. Recently, Kang, an accused criminal, lured and killed many ladies, being seized by sin. We should not ride in a stranger’s car. I feel so sorry when I think of the murder victims who rode with him. We need to be freed from sin. John 8:34 says, “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’” Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. We must pray, “Lord free us from sin. Set us free!” During the era when Korea was under Japanese control, the Japanese compelled Koreans to worship Japanese gods. Faithful church leaders did not worship the Japanese gods for it was idol worshipping. They were severely persecuted for it. They were tortured and put into prison and deprived of all their property. Rev. Ki-chul Joo was tortured so severely and martyred in the end. Many forefathers of faith shed their blood of martyrdom during this time. They lost all their possessions. However, nothing could deprive them of their freedom. On the other hand, those who worshipped Japanese gods lived restlessly, having no freedom of mind. Who had true freedom? Is it those who have peace or those who have no peace? Even though they were deprived of their possessions, they were not deprived of freedom in their hearts. Even though they were tortured, they still had freedom in their hearts. On the other hand, those who were not tortured, who did not go to prison, and who did not lose anything, had no freedom at all. They lived hopelessly and insecurely. Jesus Christ died on the Cross to give us true freedom. When Jesus said on the Cross, “It is finished,” we were set free from death, receiving eternal life. The curses of the circumstances turned into blessings. Instead of disease and death, we have received the blessing of a healthy life. We have received the threefold blessing in our spirits, bodies, and circumstances. We have received the enormous grace of God through the Cross of Jesus Christ. We have received the grace of regeneration, the grace of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the grace of healing, the grace of blessing and prosperity, and the grace of heaven and eternal life through the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must give thanks to God for this wonderful grace. We must keep giving thanks to God throughout our lives. After the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the USA, a former slave was freed. He came out to the streets. He was so overjoyed that he ran around. He went to a market place and found a pet store, selling various pets. He went to the shop and bought a bird. He took the cage out and opened the cage, letting the bird fly away. He went back to the shop, bought another bird, and let it fly away. Third time around, he bought another bird and let it fly again. The shop master asked him if he were out of his mind. Then he replied, “Sir, you do not understand two things. Since you have never been a slave, you do not know how tragic it is to be a slave. Do you know how tragic it is not to be free? Secondly, you do not know how happy it is to be free from slavery. Since I am so happy and thankful, I want to give these birds some freedom, too.” Looking at the birds in the cage, he remembered his past. He wanted to enjoy and share the freedom with the birds by setting them free. Many people may ask us, “What difference does it make after becoming a Christian?” Many people reply, “I have peace in my heart. I used to be anxious and worried, but now I have peace in my heart.” There’s a deep, settled peace in my soul, There’s a deep, settled peace in my soul; Tho’ the billows of sin near me roll, He abides, Christ abides. Hallelujah! We are set free. Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery! Our old beings are crucified with the Lord Jesus, and we are resurrected again with Him as changed beings. In conclusion, I want to tell you a testimony of Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission. Hudson Taylor made a huge impact on the missionary work in China. At some point in his missionary work, he was very ill, being stricken with a nervous breakdown. He was spending painful days. The British mission headquarters had told him not to contact the Chinese directly, because it could cause some conflicts between nations. However, Taylor went deep into inland China and preached the Gospel to the Chinese people there. He wore Chinese clothes and had a Chinese hair style. The mission headquarters denounced him and cut the financial support of his family. His daughter was severely ill while he was on an inland missionary trip. She died soon after that, without giving him a chance to treat her. He was expelled from his missionary organization. He did not have any support. His daughter died. He could have cured his daughter if he had been near her, for he was a medical missionary. His being away may have caused the death of his daughter. He was totally dismayed. When he despaired in hopelessness, he became ill. He was having a terrible time in the mist of pain, a sense of guilt, and hopelessness. But it was the Word of God that raised him up again from hopelessness. He read John 15:5. The Scripture says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” This Scripture verse worked strongly in him. He thought, “Since the Lord is the vine and I am a branch, why should I worry? As long as I am attached to Him, the Lord Jesus, who is the vine, will provide me with water, nutrients, and everything. Why should a branch worry about anything, trying to do something? Lord, I leave all my cares and worries to You. Receive glory through my life.” He knelt down and repented of his sins, leaving all his problems to the Lord in his prayer. He received the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and felt overflowing peace within his heart. He got up from his bed at that moment and worked even more strongly in his China Inland Mission. This is true! It is not us who are doing the work of the Lord. As branches, what we have to do is to be attached to the vine. Then the Lord will perform wonderful works. He will make us bear much fruit. It is not us but the Lord who does the work. It is not our work but the Lord’s. The Lord will bless us in our spirits, in our bodies, and in all circumstances. He will pour His grace and blessing upon us. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” I pray that you will receive true freedom. I want you to be free from the power of sin and death. I want you to be free from worry, sorrow, and anxiety. I pray that you will be set free from all diseases and curses. This is my earnest prayer for you in the Lord. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy, we give thanks to You for today’s message of blessing, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We are set free in the Lord. The Lord Jesus our Savior has set us free from the curse of sin and the power of death. We are free. We now want to live for the glory of God for the rest of our lives. Be with us and pour Your grace upon us. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.