But Why?

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing all right today? Touching the high spots in the chapters of John’s gospel and there’s just one more thought out of Chapter 8 that I wanted to pass along. He says, “You’ll know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Lack of commitment ends up in slavery and uncertainty.” You become enslaved to those things which are your habit patterns that you have formed before and you are uncertain because you don’t know which way to turn. I’m talking to somebody who feels exactly that way this minute. You feel bound. You don’t know which way to turn. You’d like to get out of the mish-mosh of life that you’re in but somehow you don’t know what to do. You’re uncertain, you don’t know, and you feel enslaved and bound. Am I right? He says, “You’ll know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Why? He says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” As you read God’s word and pray over it and start to obey it, Jesus our Lord enters into your life by his liberating power and he says, “I’ll make you free indeed.”

Now, in Verse 31, he said, “Disciples, indeed, if you continue in my word.” Start obeying God’s Word. That’s the acid test of whether you’re His disciples. And then he says, “Knowing God’s truth,” putting it to work in your life and into your mind and in your unconscious, by the computer portion of your mind. He says, “Jesus will make you free indeed.” The Son will make you free indeed. Disciples indeed, free indeed. Well, there’s one other principle that I’ll just remind us all of. And he says in Verse 34 of John 8, “Verily verily.” Now, this is important to him because he emphasizes it, “Truly, truly believe me.” We would say, “I say unto you, whosoever committeth a sin is a servant of sin.”

Talk about freedom. He said, “If you’re living in sin, you’re a slave. You’re serving sin.” I suppose one of the most tragic and obvious illustrations of this is the crack epidemic that we’re seeing now not only in large cities but all over the country. One of the biggest problems that you and I as citizens and certainly the government face. But you talk to some of these people who have been hooked by this devilish drug, crack. And if you gain rapport with them and they begin to tell you the truth, they say, “Well, I just have to, I have to.” You say, “Why do you steal?” “I have to so I can get some more crack.” “Why do you engage in violence?” “I have to. I can’t help it, I have to.” Why? The servant. You’re the servant, crack is the master. You’re the servant, sin is the master.

You’re the servant, your desires are the master. That’s what Jesus was saying. And the only one who can make you free is the Lord Jesus Christ. Somewhere among my collection of pamphlets is a little red covered book on prayer. I can’t even find it anymore since we moved but it’s in my mind and heart the memory of what these people said. This man and his wife were great prayer warriors. And so it was that they came upon a young married lady who unfortunately had become enamored of another person, not her husband. And they were involved. Well, she was miserable and yet she was hooked. And she came to this man and his wife and said, “I don’t know what to do.” Well, he said, “Jesus can set you free.” She said, “I don’t think anybody can set me free, I can’t help myself.” Well, they said, “We’re gonna pray in faith.” And so this man and his wife knelt down together with this miserable young woman. And said they prayed in faith that God would deliver her. In the name of the Lord Jesus they prayed in faith and received the answer by faith. Well, she got up from her knees and she said, “I don’t think anything’s gonna work.” And she went on home.

Early next morning, the telephone rang. It was the same lady on the phone. “Oh,” she said, “God has done it, I’m free! God has done it.” She said, “This morning when I woke up I started the usual procedure of thinking about this man and I couldn’t even remember his name. God has set me free.” [chuckle] Listen, Jesus can do that for you. “If the Son of God therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.” Now, where’s this start? Commitment to Jesus, commitment to what he says in his Word. Knowing the truth, there were no, means no in a personal relationship, knowing the truth means knowing in your own life. He shall know the truth by experience, I think you might put it. And he says that is going to make you free. Why? Because it puts you in touch with the liberating power of the Lord Jesus Christ. You follow me there? Oh, that’s great truth. Free indeed.

Alright. Now let me just stop momentarily in the 9th Chapter of John. Our Lord Jesus is not interested in theoretical questions. They said, “Who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind?” How could the little baby in his mother’s womb do any sinning? And yet they had assumed that that might be true. A man who’s blind from his birth and they said, “Who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind?” Well, I suppose the obvious thing was that the parents must have been sinful, but they inserted this other evidently just to run their mouth, I don’t know how they came upon that kind of a question. But there it was.

Well, the Lord Jesus very patiently answered them, said, “Neither hath this man sin nor his parents. But that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: The night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I’m in the world I’m the light of the world.” And he proceeded then to heal this man. And you know the story. Put clay on his eyes, said, “Go wash it off in the pool of Siloam,” the man came back with sight restored. “That the works of God should be made manifest in him.” Now, here was a grown person. His parents later said, “He is of age, ask him.” So he was grown. And he had been blind all these years. Now, that’s not a pretty picture. That’s not a pleasant thing to think about, is it? I can’t imagine what it would be like to be without sight. God has been good to me, I still have pretty good eyesight.

My father used to look at me and say, “God gave you a pretty good carcass boy”. [chuckle] Well, He did. I can’t imagine the experience that many of you who listen to these broadcasts have because you’ve been deprived of sight. If it came to me, I don’t know. Would I be bitter? Would I be resentful? Would I be despondent? Would I give up? I don’t know. I don’t know. My heart goes out to people who are not so blessed as I am. But here was a man who had never seen, never seen the sunset or sunrise, never seen the smiling faces of little children. Never seen the loving look on mother and father’s face. Never saw all these years. Now, why? Here’s one of the few answers to the ‘why’ questions of life. He said that the works of God should be made manifest in him. When that little baby was born, those eyes couldn’t see. Only God was aware of the fact that he had a date with that baby boy 18 or 20 or 21 or 22 years later. That the works of God should be made manifest in him. Can you take that in for yourself, beloved? I don’t know whether it’s too much to expect or not. When you’re hurting, preacher talk doesn’t work all that well, I know. People have written to me and said, “It’s easier for you to say trust the Lord, you don’t have to go through what I have to.” And I know that’s true. But can you take that in?

Here’s a young man who had never seen, and the reason for it was that God had a date with him. That was the reason. But that the works of Christ might be made manifest in him. Phaneroo is the Greek verb and that means ‘wrapped up in a human package.’ That this man might show God’s work in a human package. [chuckle] Oh, boy. What does God have in mind when He lets me go through the wringer? What does God have in mind when He allows troubles or accidents or illness? Or as it was in the case of this man, unavoidable loss of sight? What does God have in mind? Jesus said, “God wants to make him a package full of God’s work.” Would you believe that today, beloved? Some of you are suffering, some of you are deprived, and some of you are handicapped and some of you are shut away in a nursing home. And some of you are anchored to a wheelchair because of arthritis. I have a good friend who’s lost both his feet because of poor circulation. And he has to be lifted out of bed and into the wheelchair and then out of the wheelchair and back into bed.

“Oh, why? Why should it happen?” you cry out. Jesus said, “That the works of God should be made manifest in you.” And God wants to show His grace and the beauty of His love and the sweetness of His patience and the brightness of His hope. And the shining of His holy presence through you, beloved. Believe it and live it today.

Dear heavenly Father, today may we obey Thee and love Thee, and serve Thee and thus be packages of God’s works. In Jesus name I pray this. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!