JOHN 8:31-36
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to
my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know
the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him,
“We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of
anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus
replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son
belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free
indeed.
1. You are NOT free.
a. Sin controls us.
ROMANS 7:14-18 NLT
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The
trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really
understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it.
Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong,
this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing
wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good
lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I
can’t.ROMANS 7:19-23 NLT
19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is
wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not
really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have
discovered this principle of life- that when I want to do what is right, I
inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But
there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This
power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
b). Sin produces passions and desires that imprisons us.
ROMANS 7:24-25 NLT
24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that
is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen!