May 24, 2010

John 8:31-59
Bet ya can't eat just one. If there ever was a good example of sin's power over us, it was that old Lays Potato Chips commercial. Ever had a craving for something that you just could not resist? Of course you have had such a craving. Everyone has them. Has it ever been related to doing something wrong or sinful? Of course you have. Everyone has. The glorious thing about Jesus is that He came to set us free from those cravings. The very first time that you gave in to that sinful craving it was like someone slapped hand cuffs on your wrists and a ball and chain on your ankle. Got ya! Now you can't get loose. Oh you don't give in every time the craving comes, but over time it reels you in. After a while you cease even struggling.
Do you want to be free? Of course you do! Everybody does! Actually, not everybody wants to be free. Some people kind of like the familiarity of their sin. It is like the time Jesus asked the lame man, "Do you want to be made well?" Of course he did! But then, why did Jesus ask? Laying paralyzed by the pool was all the man ever knew. If He were healed, then he would have to start working. Life would be different. Being set free from the bondage of sin is something Jesus can do for anyone. But it will cost you your life. He wants your life.
Actually, when you come to understand the truth about your life and His life, the exchange of your life for His freedom is really quite a bargain for us. The problem is that most of us don't really know truth. We don't understand the depth of the depravity of the sin that besets us, NOR do we understand the great limits of the holiness, justice, mercy and grace of Jesus. (They are infinite.) When those all come into focus and balance, and we embrace them, the shackles fall off. Then, as the song says, "I can never go back to the old way ever again." That's the glory of Jesus.
How do we learn that truth? Jesus is the truth, and He speaks the words of God to us. We learn it from Him. We learn it by gazing into His face, the face of God. We learn it by submitting to His name rather than exalting our own name. That is when the shackles fall off. Isn't He beautiful? May His name ever be exalted. May my name be only His.
The day Abraham died, the truth was revealed to him, and for the first time he really lived. How so? When he died, he came face to face with the Son. When the Son left heaven to become flesh, to become Jesus, Abraham rejoiced. Abraham knew that He (God the Son) left Eternity (actually He didn't leave Eternity, He just entered time and space by adding flesh to His person) to enter time to break the shackles of sin. Oh there was joy with Abraham because the Son from Eternity entered time and space to reign over sin and death. That is our Jesus! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John