The title of today’s message is, “Jesus Christ Sets Us Free.”  In John 8:32, it says that you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. 

“Truth”

John 8:32.  It says the truth will set you free but you have to know the truth, because the Bible verse says, “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,” so the first question I want to ask the remnants is, “What is truth?”

1. What is Truth?

You can see what truth is, looking at John 14:6, it is clear, Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Everybody knows this verse, so everyone knows that Jesus Christ is the truth, then on the opposite side, what is a lie?

2. What is a lie?

That is answered in Romans 1:25, do you know what it says? It says, “They exchanged the truth for a lie…” so when this Bible verse talks about “they,” it is referring to mankind, and they exchanged the truth of God, Who is Jesus, for a lie.  What did they do instead? What did we do instead? We worshiped and served created things.  So, a lie is literally anything besides Christ, anything that is not Jesus Christ. That is a lie, so who tells us these lies?  I think you all know what I’m about to say.

John 8:44, “You belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his own native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  Ultimately, what is the biggest lie that Satan had ever told us?

Biggest Lie -> Gen 3:5

It’s the lie that said, “You don’t have to listen to God; you are your own god.”  Satan is lying to us constantly saying, “Carlos, you can do whatever you want because you’re your own god.”  He says, “Chris, you know the difference between right and wrong because you’re your own god,” right? So ultimately we just live our lives doing whatever we want, and we think that’s great, we think that’s awesome, but how many of you guys can tell me, then, why is it a big deal to not believe in Jesus Christ?  Why is it a big deal to live within this lie, thinking that I’m God?

3. Why is this a big deal?

John 16:9, “about sin, because people do not believe in Me,” so not believing in Jesus Christ and living according to this lie that I’m God is a sin, so you might think to yourself, “Why is this such a big deal that I sin, then?”  Remnants, raise your hands, how many of you have thought to yourself, “Why is it such a big deal to live however I want?” It’s because, in John 8:34, which is the verse we read today, Jesus said, “Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.”  So, sin is a big deal because it makes us a slave.  

This is an example I want to give you guys.  How many of you guys had concentration time today?  Remnants, make eye contact with me, how many of you had concentration time?  How many of you guys prayed today?  Carlos, just because you close your eyes doesn’t mean I can’t see you.  Honestly? I didn’t, either, and I get it, because in the moment, you just kind of want to do what you want to do.

For example, lately, I’ve been reading a lot of books.  The world may look at me and say, “Esther, why is it bad to read a lot of books? It means you’re smart,” but it’s not. I’m reading those books because it’s fun and exciting, and I go on these adventures to distant lands, fighting and battling and use magic, whatever.  Some of you might not find that interesting, but you may find interest in social media, tik tok, and games. 

Let me ask you a question, how many times after you walk away from that game, that book, that comic, or cartoon, or movie, or drama, how many times do you walk away thinking, “I’m so happy with my life”?  After you walk away from that thing that gives you so much fun, how many of you guys walk away content and thinking, “I’m fulfilled”?  Nobody, right?  That’s the way it is for me, too. I read these books about far-off fantastic lands and strong warriors who fight, and there’s a romantic love story. In the moment, I think it’s so fun, but when I walk away, I think, “Where’s my warrior? Where’s my adventure? Who’s going to fight me?”  Actually it’s funny because after I read these books or watch these films, I go to Tiffany’s room and fight her. 

That’s what the things of the world do, they lie and trick us thinking it’s what we want to do, but we walk away from it in the end thinking, “My life sucks,” so you end up thinking your life is not complete, it is not good enough, so you have all these complaints, so you wonder, “Why is my life like this? Why can’t I travel and have money and have thousands of followers?”  Because these things leave you feeling so discontent with your life, you have to start filling your life with other things.

That’s why it’s so hard for you to put your phones down, it’s so hard for you to put down your tablets and computers. It’s hard to walk away from whatever you spend the majority of your time on, exactly because of this: we’re slaves, we’re incapable of coming out of that.  The more we go into these lies, the more we think, “This is what’s going to make me happy,” but as soon as we put that down, we are unhappy.  

It’s the same thing with going on trips and vacations, buying new things.  In the moment, you do it because you think, “This is what my life needs,” but as soon as you put that thing down or walk away from it, you’re back to square one.  That’s what it means to have greed, this self-idolization, where nothing is good enough.

But here’s the thing, because we cannot come out of this lie, that’s why God gave us Jesus Christ, because in John 19:30, Jesus says, “It is finished.”  Everything is finished.  The feeling that you don’t have enough or that you have to do something to be at peace, it’s all finished.  Because of Jesus Christ, we have the authority to defeat Satan who feeds us these lies.  Because we have Jesus Christ, we are with God, enjoying the peace and the blessing that comes from him and this joy that fills us up, so we’re no longer slaves, right?

It’s only because of Jesus Christ that we’re able to be set free from this sin, right? This sin makes us look for other things.  Here’s the thing, though, remnants.  I know you’re thinking, “Yeah yeah, Teacher Esther, I’ve heard this all before,” and you guys can probably do the Way of Salvation in your sleep. You probably close your eyes and think about trees being created to be rooted in the ground and fish being created to swim in the ocean, but this doesn’t seem real to you, right?  

This seems like a lie, and it seems really boring, right?  Let’s be honest, it’s boring.  The things of the world seem a lot better, right?  That’s why we don’t have concentration time, that’s why we don’t pray, because we hear this every day but it doesn’t seem real to us, so then, how do we make this real? How do you make this your reality?

John 8:31 If you abide in My Word

In today’s passage, John 8:31, “If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed.”  The Jews to whom Jesus spoke these words, they went to church and heard God’s Word, but Jesus wasn’t like, “If you go to church, you’ll be my disciples.” Jesus never said, “If you listen to your parents and sit in the front pews, you will be my disciples.”  Jesus said, “If you abide in My Word.”  

1. 2 Corinthians 4:4

We have to ask, then, how do we abide in His Word? Why is it so hard for us to abide in His Word? It’s because in 2 Corinthians 4:4, it says the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the image of God, that is, Christ.  Who is the god of this age?  It is Satan, and Satan is out there, trying to make you deliberately not remember this, to deliberately make this fake to you.

Satan blinds us, right?  But that’s why part of abiding in His Word means that we pray. What do we pray for? We pray to break down the forces of darkness that blind us, because if Satan prevents you from seeing this, what would help you see this and abide in this?  It is to pray to crush Satan in the name of Jesus Christ, right?  But we don’t pray, so we just keep living our lives, blinded by Satan, so we can’t see this.  

That’s exactly like the Jews in the Bible passage we read today who went to church and listened to God’s Word, they actually said to Jesus, “But Jesus, we’re not really slaves; how can you call us slaves?” It’s because they couldn’t see their slavery.  When we go into the world, we can’t see our own slavery unless we see Satan, and that’s why we pray in the name of Jesus Christ to bind Satan because even in Mark 3:15, what did Jesus Christ do?  He gave us the authority to drive out demons. That’s why, to abide in the Word and the Truth, the first step is to pray.  

Then, some of you may say, “I don’t really believe it, it’s so hard for me to believe that if I pray, the forces of darkness are bound, it’s so hard for me to believe that if I start praying, I can see my slavery,” so what do you pray for?

2. Romans 10:17

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is the Word about Christ, so you hear the message and pray about the Word.  This is faith.  Why is it so important to pray about the Word?  Because it means that you are repeating it, constantly in your head.  You’re praying and making it yours.  Let’s be honest, how many of you guys, just by hearing something once, can remember it?  It’s hard, it would be hard for anybody, right? So if you’re holding onto the Word and praying about it and reminding yourself about the message, that’s how our faith grows.  

But we don’t want to do that, huh?  Sometimes, we think, “Oh, but Teacher Esther, I listen to the message and I don’t really get it; I don’t understand why God is giving me this word. This has nothing to do with me, so how can I pray for something I don’t understand?” Good point, and that’s why in John 14:26, what does it say?

3. John 14:26

The advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you and remind you everything I have told you.  The Holy Spirit will teach and remind us.  “Oh, but Teacher Esther, this is hard to do, I want to do it, but I don’t have the strength to do it.”  But it doesn’t even matter because in Acts 1:8, it says, “The power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you,” the power of the filling of the Holy Spirit.  

So here, God is telling us to defeat Satan who is blocking us from the Word, and if we listen to the Word, then He will give us faith, and if we don’t understand or remember the Word, He will give us the filling of the Holy Spirit to teach us, and if we don’t have the spiritual strength to do it, He will give us the power that comes from the filling of the Holy Spirit. 

Literally God has given us everything we need to remain in His Word.  Nothing comes from us.  All we have are excuses, “I don’t understand; I don’t have time, I can’t remember,” and that’s okay, but that’s why you have to pray, because we have to pray about it for us to receive these things.  How do we know that, that all we have to do is pray about it?  

In John 15:7, it says, “If you remain in me and My Word remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be given to you.”  This means, if you’re holding onto the Word and praying about it, asking God, “Please let me understand, please let me believe and remember to hold onto this and have the strength to hold onto this,” God will give it to you.

The biggest hurdle for our remnants is that they don’t understand why they have to pray, right? So then you don’t pray, and then you don’t understand or believe in the Word or hold onto it.  It’s a very vicious cycle. That’s what slavery is, you can’t come out of it.  You don’t believe and you don’t pray about it, so you don’t receive strength, power, guidance, or faith, so you continue on, not believing.  

That is why it’s so important for you to understand who you are.  You were never created to live in these lies, just doing and saying whatever you want, going wherever you want, making friends with whomever you want.  That’s not the lives we have been called for.  You are the children of God who were created to be with God, to enjoy the greatest blessings of being able to subdue the world, of being able to conquer and have victory, no matter what situation you’re in.  But instead, we look for ourselves within these lies, and come out feeling even emptier, so that’s what it means to know who you are.

If you don’t know who you are, you’re going to be stuck in these lies, then you’ll not know why you have to pray about it.  Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be given to you.”  What is Jesus saying?  What do we have to do?

Evangelism

What does it say in Matthew 28:19-20?  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you,” so, this is our mission, to go make disciples and proclaim the gospel of Christ, to teach of Jesus Christ Who is the Truth, but if we’re stuck in these lies, these things we think we need, are we going to want to do that?  No, because we’re so busy trying to come out of our slavery, we’re so busy trying to find our own happiness such that we don’t really care what happens to anybody else.

Let me give you an example, how many of you guys have been angry at someone? I think everyone has, at some point.  When you’re holding onto that anger, how hard is it to pray for someone?  For some of the older remnants, how many have you realized, “I’m being deceived, I have to break down the forces of darkness but I don’t want to; I want to stay angry”?  You just want to stay angry.  In this situation, if you’re so busy trying to make yourself feel better, are you going to want to save anybody?

Do you want to pray for those people?  No, right?  And that’s what it’s like to be stuck in slavery, so we’re so busy trying to survive for ourselves that, who cares what happens to anybody else?  “I’m trying to live, trying to survive, trying to be okay, so who cares if other people are dying around me? I feel like I’m dying right now.” That’s a life of slavery from which we cannot escape by ourselves, and that’s why God gave us Jesus Christ.  Otherwise, we’re trapped in Satan’s lies, and Satan constantly tells us, “Don’t believe in this; this is a lie, believe in yourself; you can make your problems go away.”  

So, God gave us Jesus Christ as the solution to all problems, but if our problems aren’t going away, if they still eat away at us, you have to understand and see that we’re caught in this slavery.  We’re caught in this lie that Satan gives us, Satan tells us, “you’re God, you do whatever you want.”

Remnants, I understand.  I’m standing up here as a teacher and I’m telling you that concentration time and prayer time are hard, even for me.  But the reason why I can stand up here and tell you that we have to keep going towards that, it’s because I’ve seen my slavery, I’ve seen who I am without Christ, I’ve seen what it feels like to be unable to control my anger, to be unable to control my depression, loneliness, and sadness; I know what that feels like, and I know my identity is to be a child of God, because nothing else has given me peace other than God.

So you have to know who you are.  This is something I tell all the older remnants, it’s an assignment I’ve given them lately.  It’s to think about how your spiritual state affects everything else, right? I tell the older remnants, “Think about and see how you react to incidents, how you deal with your thoughts and emotions when your spiritual state is low.”  That’s the first step to knowing who you are, to realize and see your slavery. 

But all of that is impossible if you don’t pray about it, too, because in the previous message, you might not have heard it, but God spoke through the pastor, Satan knows if you’re just weakly saying, “Satan, begone,” you have to know how Satan holds you, enslaves you, and deceives you in order for you to say, “Satan, begone.”

Remnants, I know you’re in a place where this doesn’t seem real to you, but you have to continue to hold onto and pray about it.  Pray to bind the forces of darkness that blind you from this. Pray for faith and pray for strength.  God will answer you because He promised.  God always keeps His promises. Why? It’s because you have to save other people.  God has given you such an amazing blessing, “In order for you to do world evangelization, I will give you everything you need,” but instead, you say, “No God, I need [lies]” and that’s slavery.  

So, I know I threw a lot out at you guys, but ultimately, the first step is prayer, and when you bind the forces of darkness, you begin to see this [lies]. That’s what it means when it says Jesus Christ set you free.  You guys are children of God who were never meant to live in this, so if you’re having a hard time concentrating on the Word, at least, just start to pray.  Literally, for five seconds, a five second prayer, ask God to give you faith, to break down the forces of darkness, and to show you this [lies].

Remnants, for one month, I’m challenging you, five second prayer. If you can do it longer, that’s great, but just a five second prayer, okay? And God will answer you.  Having said that, let’s pray.

Prayer

Father God, thank You so much.  You have called us to enjoy true worship and yet Satan is constnatly deceiving us, trapping us within slavery, but Lord, we can’t come out of slavery unless it is by the name of Jesus Christ.  So, Lord, if there’s any of us who don’t believe that Jesus Christ is the only way and truth, if any one of us does not believe that Jesus Christ is the solution to all problems, Lord, we bind the forces of darkness that cause unbelief.  

In the name of Jesus Christ, we drive out all the demons that put the lies and unbelief into us.  May You give us faith.  Will You give us strength.  Lord, will You really allow us to see who we really are, because You have called us to save people and to do world evangelization.  So, let us really race towards that instead of living as a slave to the world.  Will you bless us and establish Your kingdom upon us.  In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Before praising, let us pray.  Tomorrow is Remnant Day and it starts at 2pm. Let’s pray for Remnant Day because our prayers break down the forces of darkness.  Why would the forces of darkness move?  So that we can’t understand the Word.  So, right now let’s pray for Remnant Day tomorrow.

Let’s pray for the missions fields.  The adults pray about it all the time, but remnants, pray for them right now.  You have been called as God’s warriors and soldiers.  He said He would give you everything you need to do that work, and part of that work is prayer.  So, let’s pray for all the missions fields, let’s pray for all our schools, that through the Christian clubs, your friends will come to know the gospel of Christ and be set free from their slavery.  After that, we’ll sing our praise.  

One more prayer topic, let us pray for the Sunday Message.  Yes, remnants, God is with us through the Word, He gives us His Word so we can grow in faith, so let’s pray for Pastor Park whom God speaks through, let’s pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit so that we can understand and remember and gain strength from the Word. After that, we’ll sing our last praise.