The Gospel of John

Truth and Freedom

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 26- 70

Genre:

Track: 026

Dictation Name: RR197P28

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Not unto us oh Lord, not unto us but unto Thy name give glory. For Thy mercy and for Thy truth’s sake. Help us oh God of our salvation for the glory of Thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins for Thy name’s sake. Let us pray.

Our Father we thank Thee that Thou art judge over heaven and earth. That the future of all things depends upon Thee. That Thy sovereign grace alone can make us whole and that in the fullness of time even as Thou did bring forth Thine only begotten Son Thou shalt bring forth the fullness of Thy victory so that Thy righteousness, Thy justice shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Make us ever confident in Thy victory and bold in Thy service. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture is John 8:30-49. Our subject: Truth and Freedom. John 8:30-49.

“ As he spake these words, many believed on him.

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.”

We have here an intense confrontation because of the fact as we are told that many believed on Him. What He had said in the preceding section, verses twelve through twenty nine, have brought forth faith in many. So the hatred and confrontation had now intensified, it had increased. To those who believed Him Jesus said ‘if you abide in my word then are you truly my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free’. One scholar, Plummer, paraphrased these words to read ‘if you abide in my word so that it becomes the permanent condition of your life then are ye my disciples in truth and not merely in appearance from being carried away for the moment’. The words ye and me are the focal points in these words. To abide means to obey his word and more, it becomes a condition and nature of our lives. Then we are in the truth, Jesus Christ, who makes us free. In verse thirty three we are told they answered Him, the question has been raised: who are they? Does it refer to those who believed or to His enemies? Well the cynicism of the question indicates the nonbelievers. As Abraham’s seed they held that they had never been in bondage to any. This was an absurd statement because Israel and Judea had long been in bondage to one nation after another and were currently in bondage to Rome. Perhaps they were referring to the fact that they had never been personally slaves to another man. In any case our Lord‘s answer is to define slavery as a religious fact. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant or slave of sin.

The reference to committing sin is to continue in sin. Where sin becomes second nature to us we are in slavery to it. Our freedom then is gone and an outside power is needed to give us freedom. In terms of biblical law slavery was bondservice. For one reason or another you were sentenced to make restitution and you worked off the debt you had incurred or the penalty by being in servitude to days to up to six years. A distinction is drawn here is between freedom and bondage. A bondservant is not fully a member of the family although he lives with them until he pays off his debt. He can be sent away when his tenure is ended whereas a son remains as a member of the family. In verse thirty seven Jesus openly calls attention to the plan by the religious leaders to kill Him. They call themselves Abraham’s seed and they are physically Abraham’s descendants but they are not spiritually Abraham’s family because they seek Jesus’ death. Because they are religiously alien to Abraham our Lord’s words have no place in their lives. Their hostility is to Christ’s words and they are not of Abraham’s covenant or they would obey His word. In verse thirty eight our Lord calls attention to their diverse parentage. Jesus is the son of God and also Abraham’s true son but their religious parentage is an alien one. Religiously and covenantaly they were far from Abraham and their words and works manifest their very foreign nature.

Their indignant response was Abraham is our Father. But Jesus answered:

“If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”

There is a unity between faith and action. To profess to be of the true covenant while denying it in practice is a contradiction. In modern terms they were antinomians. They confessed the covenant in name only not in faith and works. Because of this they seek to kill Him who told them the truth of God. This did not Abraham but in this they’re consistent. Abraham was not their true father. They answered to maintain that they were not born in fornication, implying that Jesus was a bastard and not they. They boast of their physical descent and do not deal with the covenantal issue. Moreover they added, we have one father, even God. This accusation of being a bastard was one that was raised not in our Lord’s time except in this one instance obliquely, not openly. It was not raised as long as there were any witnesses to the life, birth, death, resurrection of Christ. Only after that generation was dead and gone did they invent stories about His supposed illegitimacy, about many other aspects of His life, to cover the truth. But our Lord now tells them that the issue is a moral and covenantal one. If they were God’s children they would love His Son; because they did not they become liable in time all the sins from Adam to the present. This is very clearly stated by our Lord in Luke 11:37-51. This is a passage which is not often preached on or talked about but is very, very important. Our Lord says there:

“Woe unto you for ye build the sepulchers of the prophets and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you allowed the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them and ye build their sepulchers.”

In other words you build monuments to prophets whom your fathers killed and you won’t face up to the fact that you are no different. Therefore said the wisdom of God I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation. From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and temple, verily I say unto you it will be required of this generation.

Well that’s a very important statement, what our Lord is saying is very simply this: that when we step outside of the covenant, when we move into the world of sin, we become heirs not of the covenant but all of the sins from the slaying of Abel by Cain to the present time. We are then in a covenant with death, we have then abandoned the covenant of God and we have assumed the responsibility that marks the world of sin and we have the inheritance of that guilt. Very clearly we are all heirs not only genetically and in terms of properties but also morally, we are either covenantal heirs or judgment heirs. Our Lord therefore requires that we know the truth and be faithful to it. Morally the religious leaders were blind and death. They could not hear His speech, the outward expression nor His word, His meaning. The reason for this is plainly stated inverse forty four. Their parentage is alien, their father is the devil the tempter of Eden, there is a personal devil. He is the power for evil and you our Lord says is manifesting his nature as his children religiously. You will therefore express his nature and you will do his will. He was a murderer from the beginning and he hated the truth, he denied it because there is no truth in him. What he lies he speaks out of his nature. The inability of the religious leaders to believe Jesus when He speaks the truth rests in the fact that they belong to the world of the lie.

The fundamental lie, Genesis 3:5, is that every man is his own god and law maker, his own determiner of good and evil. The long literature of demonology has a curious and reoccurring note. People sell themselves to the devil in some form or another and he prospers them for a time and then they are betrayed. And why not? One who sees himself as god will do one thing, betray all others who claim to be gods also. This is why the ungodly do fall apart. They are scattered from the tower of Babel to the present. None of them can convict Jesus of ever sinning, if therefore follows as the sinless one He speaks the truth. Because He says truth and His being expresses truth they do not believe Him. The implicit fact is that they disbelieve Him because they love and revile in the lie. He that is of God heareth God’s word; you therefore hear them not because you are not of God. Their moral nature determines what they will hear. The absurd answer to this by the religious leaders was to accuse Jesus of being a Samaritan. Had he not spent a few days in Samaria, on top of that they say He is the one who is devil possessed. Our Lord’s answer is brief, I have not a devil rather I honor my Father and ye dishonor me and therefore my Father. Clearly he binds the doctrine of truth to His person. In John 14:6 he says:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Truth is at least a moral fact, supremely it is Jesus Christ. In the modern world truth has been separated from morality and limited to factuality. So two plus two is truth whereas to say homosexuality is evil is held to be an opinion because biblical morality cannot by definition be true. Our Lord not only grounds truth on morality but on himself, His person as God incarnate, as the truth of all creation, of all being. There can be no truth in God’s creation except on God’s terms so that every effort to try freedom and truth apart from the triune God is a step towards death. The truth alone can make us free and alive because Christ the truth is life. All this is stated by John in His prologue: the word who is God made the world and is now come into it to redeem His fallen handiwork. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ in His person. The world could not comprehend, understand or encompass that truth but it shall be judged by Him. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. We thank Thee that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the light. That in Him we are heirs of all creation and we have been delivered from the heirship to all the judgment from Cain’s murder to our day and to the end of time. Make us ever mindful of Thy grace and mercy, in Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Question] Here Christ seems to be saying they cannot hear Him, they cannot understand the truth. …

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Question] And in Romans 1 Paul seems to say that the invisible things are clearly seen by the ungodly but they reject them.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Question] I’m not clear on the distinction there.

[Rushdoony] Yes. What we have is a moral fact described, the epistemological fact with regard to knowledge is as Paul says with all things in heaven and earth. The fact of creation, the fact of God, the fact of the triune nature of the Godhead are known by men because God is the creator and has left the print of knowledge of Him on every atom of our being. However morally Paul says we hold back, we suppress the truth in our unrighteousness or our injustice. So there is the epistemological fact, it is inescapable knowledge, the moral or ethical fact that men refuse in all their being to see the truth and they suppress it.

Our Lord here saying they do not see it because they will not see.

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes, exactly.

[Unintelligible Question]

[Rushdoony] Yes. If you reject God then your whole perception is altered, it’s warped. I often think about the statement about Charles Darwin. When challenged he admitted there was no way to explain the eye, how could it evolve, how could millions of variations taken place, have taken place to produce an eye. How did the pre-eye function and what use was it. Well of course the whole point was that everything in his theory required millions and billions and trillions of miracles. He was compelled with regard to the eye when challenged to admit I have trouble with that, I don’t know how it could be accounted for but he wouldn’t go any further. It was there as plain as could be but neither he nor his successors have ever faced up to the fact that they have a monumental faith in chance. Well, that is a moral blindness and this is what fallen man has, a moral blindness. He will not see the truth because he does not want to know the truth, it condemns him. Any other questions or comments, yes?

[Question] What was Charles Darwin’s faith?

[Rushdoony] Oh he was a believer in the ultimacy of chance if he had been honest enough to state that. He was not honest even in the writing of the book because what he did throughout was to insist on chance variation and then in a passage to make sure that he wouldn’t be hit too hard on that he spoke vaguely of a power or a mind behind all of it.

Which was tossed in to satisfy a possible critic. So he really believed in nothing except himself. Any other questions or comments? If not let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father we thank Thee that by Thy grace we are members of Thy kingdom, called to serve Thee. Give us joy in our service and grant that we be ever mindful that this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.