“SPIRITUAL BONDAGE” (Jn 8:33)
Scripture reading: (Jn 8:12-44)
August 25th, 2002
Int. The word bondage is found 39 times in Scripture.
1. (Exo 1:14) "And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour."
2. (Deu 5:6) "I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."
a. "Being delivered from 'Bondage'; God then gives them the 'Ten Commandments'.
3. The phrase “House of Bondage” is found ten times in Scripture.
4. (Deu 6:12) "Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."
5. (Ezra 9:8) "For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem."
6. (Nehe 9:17) “And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
7. (Acts 7:6) "And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years."
I. CONSIDER FIRST THEIR CONDITION.
A. THEY WERE IN BONDAGE WHICH THEY DENIED.
1. Their fathers had been slaves in Egypt.
a. WE BE ABRAHAM'S SEED: Matthew Henry says: "It is common for a sinking decaying family to boast of the glory and dignity of its ancestors, and to borrow honor from that name to which they repay disgrace; so the Jews here did."
2. Their nation had been enslaved in Babylon.
a. It had repeatedly been subject to the Assyrians.
b. It was enslaved by Herod the Great.
3. They were at the very time they spoke, groaning under the grievous and insupportable bondage of the Romans.
4. The Life and Words of Christ by Geikie (S-2-6) pg 259-283 "Judea under Archelaus and Rome. The rejoicing of the nation, that the scandal of an Edomite sitting on the throne of David was past, knew no bounds.
5. A Negro conqueror, at the White House in Washington, in the days of slavery, would scarcely have raised such indignant hatred, or have been so revolting to the national instincts of the white population of America, as an Edomite reigning on Mount Zion was to the Jews.
B. CONSIDER THAT DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE UNDER DIFFERENT DEGREES OF BONDAGE; BUT ALL ARE UNDER BONDAGE.
1. Some, like the creatures, are in the bondage of Corruption.
a. (Rom 8:21) “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
2. Some, like Israel was; are in hard bondage.
a. (Ex 1:14) “And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor.
b. (Deu 26:6) "And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:"
Ill. As they had done to Joseph--but, "a gem cannot be polished without friction."
3. Some, like Israel of old, weep over their bondage.
a. (Exo 2:23) "And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage."
4. Some, like Israel, refuse to listen to good advice.
a. (Exo 6:9) "And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage."
5. Some, like Israel literally live in a house of bondage.
a. (Exo 13:3) "And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten."
6. Some, like Israel of old, have been delivered from the house of bondage.
a. (Josh 24:17) “For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:”
7. Geneva Bible Foot Notes: "Some of the multitude, not they that believed: for this is not the speech of men that agree with him, but of men that are against him."
C. HE THAT IS IN BONDAGE WILL OFTEN CRY THE LOUDEST : “NEVER IN BONDAGE TO ANY MAN.”
1. Pulpit C. says: "They were all children of kings;” “Solomon’s feast was not too good for them."
2. They had rung this cry into the ears of John the Baptist, when this last prophet had called upon them for repentance.
3. Jesus told them the truth: (Jn 8:44) "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."
4. They didn’t believe their own Scriptures. (Gen 15:13) “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;"
5. They were at this very time under the Roman yoke, and paid tribute to Caesar.
6. And yet, consider their question to Jesus. (Jn 8:33-b)
II. CONSIDER MAN’S CONDITION OF BONDAGE TODAY
A. THE WORLD HOLDS ALL ITS DEVOTEES IN BONDAGE.
1. It enslaves the intellect by its opinions,
2. It enslaves the heart by its pleasures,
3. It enslaves the imagination by its promises,
4. It enslaves the soul by its religion.
a. Clark's C. says: "The bondage of sin is the most grievous bondage; and freedom from its guilt and influence is the greatest liberty. (Rom 8:15).
B. NOTICE HOW THEY DEFEND THEIR BONDAGE.
1. “We...were never in bondage to any man....” (Jn 8:33)
a. How about Antiochus? He had offered a "hog" upon their altar in their Temple.
2. Matthew Henry says: "What it was that they were grieved at; it was an innuendo in those words, You shall be made free, as if the Jewish nation were in some sort of bondage.”
3. C. H. Fowler says on "Bondage and Adoption." "The natural man neither fears not loves God; one under the law fears: one under grace loves. The first has no light, the second painful light, the third joyous light. He that sleeps in death has a false peace; he that is awakened no peace; he that believes true peace. The heathen baptized or un-baptized has a fancied freedom, the Jew or leagalist a grievous bondage, the Christian the glorious liberty of the children of God. An unawakened child of the devil sins willingly; one that is awakened sins unwillingly; a child of God "sinneth not." The natural man neither conquers nor fights; the man under the law fights, but cannot conquer; the man under grace is "more than conqueror."
C. NOTICE THEIR TOTAL BLINDNESS TO THEIR CONDITION.
1. Matthew Poole says: "How carnally doth a carnal heart understand spiritual mysteries!
2. Thus Nicodemus, hearing of being born again, grossly dreamed of entering into his mother’s womb, and being born again.
3. The woman of Samaria, hearing of living water, dreamed of water that should so satisfy her thirst, as that she should never come again to the well to draw.
4. The Jews here hearing of being made free (Jn 8:32), dream of a freedom from human bondage and slavery.
5. Every unconverted man and woman is a servant, a slave, a captive. (Jn 8:34-b)
6. All “servants of sin” (Vr. 34) are “taken captive by the Devil at his will.” (2 Tim 2:26)
7. Clark's C. says: "As if Jesus had said: And now that I am speaking of a slave, I will add one thing more, viz. a slave has no right to any part of the inheritance in the family to which he belongs; but the son, the legitimate son, has a right.
8. “He can make any servant of the family free, though no slave can. He can divide or bestow the inheritance as he pleases.
9. “Our Lord seems here to refer to the sending away of Ishmael, mentioned, (Gen. 21:10-14).”
III. CONSIDER CHRIST’S DELIVERANCE FROM SPIRITUAL BONDAGE.
A. CONSIDER WHAT IS INVOLVED IN HIS DELIVERANCE.
1. He gives deliverance from guilt and condemnation. (Rom 8:1)
2. He gives deliverance from the dominion of sin. (Rom 6:14)
3. He gives deliverance from the accusing voice of the Law.
a. “....Ye shall be free indeed.” (Jn 8: 36)
4. He gives deliverance from the darkness of ignorance and error;
B. NOTICE THAT OUR LORD PROMISES THAT ONE MAY BE FREE INDEED. (Jn 8:36)
1. A man may be physically free without being free indeed.
2. A man may be socially free without being free indeed.
a. He may be in the full enjoyment of social and political privileges and yet a captive.
3. A man may be mentally free without being free indeed.
a. His intellect may be sound and grasping, his mental vision clear and far reaching, and still be a prisoner.
4. William Jay said: : "What a difference must a Christian ....feel between the shackles of some systems of divinity and the advantage of Scriptural freedom, the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The one is the horse standing in the street in harness, feeding indeed, but on the contents of a bag tossed up and down. The other, the same animal in a large, fine meadow, where he lies down in green pastures, and feeds beside the still waters."
Conclusion: Our Lord promises not merely a present deliverance, but also a glorious future existence as well.
1. (Isa 11:6-7) "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. {7} And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."
2. (Isa 11:9) "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."
Mrs. M. B. C. Slade wrote the following poem:
"With shouting and singing, And jubilant ringing,
Their arms of rebellion cast down;
At last every nation the Lord of salvation
Their King and Redeemer shall crown!
The kingdom is coming, Oh, tell ye the story!
God's banner exalted shall be!
The earth shall be full of His knowledge and glory,
As waters that cover the sea."