Knowing the Truth That Will Set You Free:  John 8:32

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- July 11, 2004

       Iron Eyes Cody is a native American actor who once did a TV spot for the Keep America Beautiful campaign. He was an Indian drifting alone in a canoe. As he saw how our waters are being polluted, a single tear rolled down his cheek, telling the whole story. This powerful public service commercial still shows up on TV screens after 17 years. 
In 1988 Cody repeated an old Indian legend in Guideposts magazine. Here it is:

      Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood.  One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees, bright with flowers. There he fasted. But on the third day, as he looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one tall rugged peak, capped with dazzling snow. I will test myself against that mountain, he thought. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders and set off to climb the peak. When he reached the top he stood on the rim of the world. He could see forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Then he heard a rustle at his feet, and looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke. 
      "I am about to die," said the snake. "It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley." 
      "No," said the youth. "I am forewarned. I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite, and your bite will kill me." 
       "Not so," said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you." 
       The youth resisted awhile, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful markings. At last the youth tucked it under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass, when suddenly the snake coiled, rattled, and leapt, biting him on the leg. 
     "But you promised..." cried the youth.
     "You knew what I was when you picked me up." said the snake as it slithered away." 

As we consider this holiday weekend and celebrate the anniversary of our National Declaration of Independence from England, we need to be reminded that true freedom comes in dependence upon God. We need to be reminded that God is good. God has only the best in mind for us.

Two weeks ago, we considered the qualities that God produces in those who believe in Him and follow Him…the fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. That is what God desires to produce in us as He lives His life in and through us.

This week we want to consider how the enemy of our soul, Satan, tries to tempt us and bring devastation into our lives. In John 8:32 Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free…”  (John 8:32)

True freedom will only be found in a right relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. Once we have accepted Jesus as our own personal Savior and the Lord of our lives we are truly free…free from sin and death that follows sin. It is then that we are truly free to be what God has always intended for us to be.

It is interesting that the Jew’s response to Jesus’ statement about the truth setting people free was that they were Abraham’s descendants and had never been in bondage to anyone.  “They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that you say, ‘You shall become free’?”

Of course, they had conveniently forgotten about their slavery in Egypt, and the bondage to the Babylonians and their current subjection to the hated Romans. They had been placed under bondage again but the Jewish people had not been subdued by the Romans, it was true.

However, Jesus plainly had in mind a spiritual bondage. He said, “whoever sins is a slave to sin.”  Sin is a powerful destructive force in our lives. One wonders how such slavery or bondage comes about.

As we are Christians, we know that temptation dogs our path every day. The question we will face somewhere in our lives today or tomorrow is:
* “How does the tempter work?
* How does he come to us to destroy us?”

Our consideration of these questions takes us back to the Book of Genesis and into the Garden of Eden. When the tempter comes to us he seeks to create:
1. Suspicion of God’s Character
2. Disobedience to God’s Word

He attempts to cause us to doubt or deny the Goodness of God.
He knows that when he is successful in creating this doubt or a denial of the Goodness of God then at that point we will come to reject God’s Word. For Adam and Eve the fruit is only the point of disobedience. If the devil had come to Eve and said, “Here sign this paper. Say that you are done with God. She would never have signed. The tempter never comes to us dragging the chains that will enslave us. No, he comes bearing the crown that will ennoble us. 

He comes offering pleasure, expansiveness, money, popularity, freedom and enjoyment. In fact he never hints at the consequences. He only promises that we will fill all the desires of our hearts. And that is how we are destroyed.

Here is the lesson for us:  The temptations that destroy us strike at the heart of God:
1. At God’s integrity
2. At God’s Goodness

When we deny God’s goodness…we reject His Word.
When we reject His Word…we do so at our own peril. The result of sin is always devastation in our lives. “The wages of sin is death…” Scripture tells us quite clearly.

Let’s look at the story of Eve’s temptation for a few minutes:
Note that there are some things that are true about her that are not true about us.
* She has no poisoned blood in her veins.
* She does not have a heritage on which she can blame her sin.
* Eve comes, as Adam does, as the direct creation of God, and when God created Adam and Eve He declared that His creation was good.
* There was nothing imperfect in their environment. There was nothing in that environment itself that would lead them away from God.

The tempter comes to Eve in disguise. He comes as the serpent that was crafty…more crafty than all the other wild animals God had created. But there was nothing to warn Eve or to alarm her. She doesn’t know who is behind the serpent. The Tempter disguises his person:  When the tempter comes to us… he doesn’t take the form of the coiled snake.
* He doesn’t come waving a red flag to warn us.
* He simply slides into our life. When he appears it seems almost like a comfortable companion.
* There appears to be nothing about him that you should dread. The Scripture tells us that he comes as an angel of light; as if he was a minister of God. One point is certain…when he attacks he wears a disguise.

Mephistopheles in Faust says, “The people do not know the devil is there even when he has them by the throat.”

Not only does the devil disguise his person, but he disguises purposes. When he approaches Eve, he doesn’t whisper, “I’m here to tempt you.” No, it is more like he wants to conduct a religious discussion. He wants to discuss theology.
He begins with Eve by saying, “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”  You can’t argue with that. The devil merely says, “Look, I only want to be sure of your exegesis, I want to establish the idea God was trying to get across. Did he really say you can’t eat of any of the trees of the garden?”

In this discussion about God, Satan also wants to focus Eve’s attention on that single tree in the center of the garden. He essentially says, “It seems to me a thing inconceivable that God wouldn’t let you have fruit from any of these trees.” And Eve jumps to God’s defense. She is a witness here for God. “No, we can eat of all of the trees in the garden but that one tree – that tree there in the center – we can’t eat from that one, we can’t even touch that tree.”

God didn’t say that. He didn’t say anything about touching the tree. Eve defends God here by being stricter than God himself. Sometimes we believe that we will be holier if we go beyond God’s commands and become stricter than God Himself.
Satan shifts our focus and there emerges that one thing you want so desperately that you will do anything to get it. And you forget all the good things God does for you.

The second part of the tempter’s strategy is to attack God’s Word. When Eve responds that only the tree in the center of the garden is off limits and that to eat of that tree or to even touch it would mean death, the tempter says, “Surely you don’t believe that do you?” Eat a bit of fruit and surely die? Come on, do you really believe that? That’s just a bit of exaggeration God is using to get your attention. He can’t really mean that; did He?. Surely, you are too sophisticated to believe that God placed you in this beautiful garden and among all these trees and all this fruit and would really be too upset about your taking one piece of fruit…from the tree in the middle. Surely die? You don’t believe that do you? God surely doesn’t mean that.”

We believe in the inerrancy and authority of Scripture as a whole, except on that one particular issue between us and God. We are sure that he doesn’t mean it when he says “You will surely die.”

Madison Avenue gives us a word from the sponsor on TV about a perfume that has been on the market for some time. Only this time it comes with a new tag line:  “Here is a fragrance that is so alluring, so charming, so exciting,” he whispers, “you can call it ‘My Sin’.” You would never guess from this that the fragrance of sin arises as a stench in the nostrils of God.

Does God really mean all the terrible things he says about the results of sin?  Are the wages of sin really death? I thought God was a God of love.
Does he really mean it when he says he will judge his people and that the unrighteous will go to hell?
Does he really mean it when he warns us that sin brings punishment?

God is serious about sin because he is serious about us. He is serious about sin because he loves us. He knows the devastation that will come into our lives because of sin.
So, not only does Satan attack the Word of God, but, as we have seen, he attacks the character of God.

He explains to Eve, “For God knows that when you eat of that tree your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The tempter slanders God’s goodness. He implies this:  “Do you know why God gave you that command? He wants to spoil your fun. He wants to keep you on a tight leash. He doesn’t want you to be free and experience the good life. He is out to deny you the pleasures of life. He wants to hold you down. Once you are like him you will know good and evil. And you will enjoy experiences beyond your wildest dreams. God has an ulterior motive, a hidden agenda and it is an evil one.

Something painful happens in your life and you ask: “Why?  Why God?  Why me, God?”
That question mark is like a dagger into the heart of God. How easily we suspect that when some reversal happens in our lives God is against us. Our view of God is that He is up there in Heaven just waiting with his finger poised over the Smite Button; waiting for us to mess up.

How often do we hear people who experience one of life’s difficulties, a family tragedy, a reversal of fortune or some other bad experience blame God…question or doubt God’s goodness? “How could God do that to you, to us, to me? When that happens the tempter has done his work.
And even when something good happens to us we  can doubt God’s goodness. God doesn’t really want me to enjoy this, He will pull it back like some sadistic parent. So we knock on wood and hammer at the heart of God.

Now the forbidden fruit pleases Eve’s eye. She saw that it was desirable for gaining wisdom and she ate it. She listened to the lie of the tempter and her senses took control.
When you get God out of your life, when you question God’s Word and God’s goodness, then your senses become alive to what is evil. What was once out of bounds to you becomes what you desire more than anything else on earth, even if it is something that can destroy you.

“A piece of fruit?” someone might ask. “Surely not a piece of fruit. You’re not going to tell me that Eve sinned by eating a price of fruit in the orchard. You are not going to tell me that’s why Adam sinned and why murder came into their family. You’re not going to tell me that a piece of fruit damned the race.”

No…it is not the fruit…but the disobedience to God’s Word and the suspicion of God’s character. Remember, whenever you come to doubt or deny the goodness of God, then at that point you’ll come to reject His Word. The essence of sin lies in doubting God’s goodness and then rejecting His Word.

Let us remember that God is Good and His Word brings us life and blessing and freedom. The Truth will really set us free.
The garden belongs to you as a good gift from His hand. Enjoy it.

-- Dennis Gleason