Recently I went on a mission trip with Eight Days of Hope. On this trip we worked with local churches and the city of Buffalo NY to revitalize and improve one of the districts in Buffalo. We were able to help over 300 families with home improvement projects or lawn care. We also shared the Gospel and over 20 people accepted Jesus Christ as Lord.
I have the honor to be on the devotions team that helps bring devotions every morning and evening for 8 days. The theme for the week was Jesus Said. We got to pick things that Jesus Said and share that with the hundreds of volunteers there to love and serve, Here is one of those devotionals.
Jesus here in John 8 has been teaching a large group of Jewish people and they are starting to figure out who he really is and many believed in him. Then Jesus Said this:
“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.”– John 8:31–32
What a great couple of verses. Jesus says, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciple. Jesus tells these new believers that a mark of a disciple is that they abide in his word.
How many of you are disciples of Jesus Christ?
So just think about that in your life. Are you abiding in the word of Jesus?
In the Old Testament book of Joshua God tells his followers to “Meditate on my word day and night.” A very similar idea.
That word Abide means to remain in or dwell in, to stay connected to something. Is abiding in God’s Word a regular part of your life?
Jesus then said, “and you will know the truth.” So As you abide in God’s word, as a disciple, you will know the truth.” Abiding in God’s Word equals knowing the truth.
The word know is translated from a Greek verb that means “to know experientially.” to experience it and live it.
Understanding something with the mind, is called “head knowledge,” and that is very different than knowing something experientially. When you experience something you really know it. It goes from your head to your heart.
When we take Jesus at His word and practice and experience “the truth that comes from him,” then we can “throw off our old sinful nature and our former way of life” and “let the Holy Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes” so that the truth we live by sets us free “to be like God—truly righteous and holy”.
Jesus then says that the truth will set you free.
Many people think freedom means freedom to do whatever you want to do, but that’s not freedom, not according to God in his word, God calls that slavery.
It’s slavery to sin, slavery to ourselves, and Jesus came to give us freedom from sin.
When we abide in God’s Word and God’s Word gets into us, it leads us to the truth, Jesus is the Truth. Jesus said that I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by me.
Now let’s bring it all together. Why should we abide in the word of God?
Because God loves you and He knows better than you do what is best for your life. He wants us to follow his ways and not our ways. He wants us to understand his truth, not our truth.
He wants us to be free and not a slave to sin or fear. The truth sets us free. Jesus sets us free.
So meditate on God’s word day and night, memorize His word, read His word, walk in His word, obey His word, do His word, live His word.
When we receive the message of the gospel and the teachings of Christ, and then we abide by them and live it out. That’s being a disciple of Jesus.
Those who know the truth are born-again believers who live in fellowship with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ:
When Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” He was telling His followers that obedience to God is the only way to experience true liberation—spiritual freedom from sin.
The freedom Jesus offers is a restored relationship with the Father, who is the source of true life.
Jesus offers forgiveness and eternal life if we believe in him, and then as a disciple he wants us to abide in His Word.
Maybe you are born again spiritually and are a disciple of Christ. I want to encourage you to keep going and keep growing. Stay in God’s Word and keep living it out.
If you don’t know that you are born again, you can do that right here, right now. By believing in Jesus, trusting in Him alone for your salvation and forgiveness.