There is something else Jesus said that many people have misconstrued. Consider these words…

John 8:32 NLT
[32] “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

How many people quote the second part of what Jesus said but ignore the context.

Truth Is, first, objective. Truth is truth wherever it is, regardless of circumstance or source. Truth remains true whether we believe it or not. There is no such thing as “my truth”.

Truth applied also becomes subjective, when one believes and acts or doesn’t act on it. For example, the truth is that gravity gives weight and pulls and holds objects to the earth. Without gravity, everything not attached to the earth would be weightless and float. Now, apply the truth. If you jump out of an aeroplane without a parachute, gravity will pull you to the earth and you will be killed. Whether you believe it or not, it will happen.

Now, let’s consider the truth, including its condition, Jesus promised that, if applied, will happen.

First, there is a condition, without which the truth remains objective.

John 8:31 NLT
[31] “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples IF you remain faithful to my teachings.”

The only ones who will ever experience the truth of Jesus’ words are those who are His faithful disciples. Objective truth without application will never happen. It’s like looking at a plate of wholesome food and declaring the truth, “That food will nourish me.” Without eating the food, it will not nourish you.

Second, there must be an application.

Knowing, believing, and and applying the truth is the process of freedom. By knowing, Jesus meant more than mere intellectual knowledge. Many people know that good food nourishes but how many choose good food over junk food?

Knowing (meaning, according to the Greek “ginosko”, coming to know, realise, learn, or ascertain), involves the conviction that what I know is true and what I do about what I know to be the truth will make the truth happen for me.

Let’s look at the way Jesus explained this truth.

Matthew 7:24-27 NLT
[24] “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. [25] Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. [26] But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. [27] When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Having established the first principle, let’s examine the meaning of the true freedom that Jesus offered and we experience when we faithfully follow Him and obey His teachings.

John 8:34-36 NLT
[34] “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. [35] A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

The core truth that Jesus revealed is that sin makes us slaves. We are slaves because we sin and…we sin because we have a sin nature that enslaves us. The bottom line is that we can’t help sinning because we are slaves to our sin nature… and we can never free ourselves from our sin nature which we inherited from the first man and with which we were born.

Romans 5:12 NLT
[12] “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”

This was the Apostle Paul’s struggle…

Romans 7:15, 18-20 NLT
[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…
[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. [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.”

Trapped in this hopeless situation, Paul discovered that there is only one way to freedom from the power of his sin nature.

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…”

Real freedom is, then, NOT freedom from the rules or the people that enslave us from the outside but sin that enslaves us to ourselves on the inside.

Only Jesus has the power to set us free from sin’s dominion over us. He has done it, first, by perfectly fulfilling all of God’s law and then dying as a law breaker for us.

Second, by believing in Him and doing what He instructs us, He breaks the power of cancelled sin. We have His power in us, by His Spirit, to say “No” to sin and “Yes” to His commandments. We can choose not to say or do the wrong thing because He has cancelled our debt of sin and given us a new nature that hates sin.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
[17] “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

1 John 3:9 NLT
[9] “Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life (seed) is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.”

Through the power of His Word in us, we are free to live new lives not controlled by sin.

Romans 6:4, 6-8 NLT
[4] “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives…
[6] We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. [7] For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. [8] And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.”

Now let’s go back to what Jesus said.

When we faithfully follow Jesus, and adhere to His teachings, we will understand the truth that He has died to set us free from our enslavement to sin. Now we can live free from the guilt, shame, and fear that sin brought on us.

John 8:35-36 NLT
[35] “A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

Hallelujah! This is true freedom!