When Jesus spoke and taught various truths, He did so for a reason – He meant what He said; which is why I will inject oftentimes that reminder that what I’m sharing with you here are ‘His words, and not mine’.

And when Jesus really wanted to drive home a particular point, or truth, He added the phrase ‘verily, verily...I say unto you’, which means ‘most assuredly’. In fact, when you read through John’s gospel, we have it recorded 25 times where Jesus began a statement using that expression...’most assuredly’. I quoted one of them yesterday which is found in John 8:34 where Jesus said: “Most assuredly I tell you...whoever commits sin is a slave to sin...”; then adding in His next statement “and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.” (35)

With the new year only a couple of days away, many sincere believers will be gearing up to make a resolution to ‘read through their Bibles’ in 2026. I’m not knocking that practice at all; but I will say that one of the traps we can run into when resolving to ‘read through’ our Bible is we tend to focus on getting God’s word ‘read’...but not always acted upon, which leads to problems for us (Matt. 7:24-27; James 1:22-26). And that is where we can easily miss out on when God might want to speak to us about a particular truth, but we are more intent on needing to get the ‘truth read’ (so we can check off our box for the day).

Case and point: go back and read what Jesus said there in John 8:34- ‘whoever sins is a slave to sin’. I know - who has time to stop and really ponder what that means when you still have 25 verses left to read in that chapter?

I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but if what I’m sharing here at this moment is sounding ‘repetitive’ to you, then that might be an indication that you have yet to ‘get it’, or ‘see it’...this truth that brings genuine freedom, which Jesus is talking about there in that passage. And if...you are ‘seeing it’, then when you hear/study this once again, it should be received with great joy as you feel that ‘truth’ being driven even deeper into your ‘spirit of understanding’... and it thrills you to be reminded once again...what Jesus came to do for each and every one of us...who ‘have ears to hear’ and desire to be 'free'.

If you are unsure as to which ‘camp’ you are in at the moment (grasping this or nor grasping this ‘truth’), let me help you out here: If you still see yourself today, or consider yourself as still being ‘ a sinner’, as opposed to you ‘were a sinner’, then you might not be ‘getting it’ yet; which is why I am often compelled to circle back and go over this once again. I know it blesses me personally, every time I do, so let’s take our time with it. I am also aware that I personally can’t enable you to ‘see anything’ as it is only by the spirt of revelation that any of us can receive truth (Luke 10:21; Matt. 16:17; Eph. 1:17-18; Acts 16:14).

We are told that when Jesus was talking here (John 8:31-36), that He was speaking to “Jews who believed Him” (31), but when He informed them that they ‘shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (32), something ‘rose up’ in them and they refuted what Jesus said, claiming they had ‘never been in bondage to anyone...given they were descendants of Abraham’ (33). Sigh....

Apparently they had forgotten about their entire history of being enslaved or taken captive by various enemies. We probably do that more than we care to admit, boasting how we are a ‘lifelong Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian or Catholic, etc.’ and somehow are exempt from such incriminating statements made by Jesus. But Jesus doubled-down, telling them and us, as well: “If you commit sin, you are a slave of sin” ...and you are deceived to think you will ‘abide in God’s house forever’; His words, not mine.

Take a look at what God was trying to impress upon His people back in Leviticus 26: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.” (13-14).   -Let. That. Sink. In.-

If you are a ‘slave’, then you are a captive to another master. And Jesus made it known upfront that He came to ‘set the captives free’ in ways we could have never imagined (Luke 4:18; Acts 26:18). That is what the bulk of Romans 6 is trying to convey to us, that we are no longer ‘slaves to sin’ but of ‘righteousness’ (16-22).

And yet, how many sincere but misguided believers today have been conditioned, indoctrinated, and taught to believe...that they continue to be ‘sinners’ or are ‘saints who sin’...and will most likely ‘always sin on this side of heaven’. You can call yourself whatever you want that makes you feel better or comforted, but if you continue to commit sin, then Jesus said you are a ‘slave to sin’...and there is no place in heaven for you. (John 8:34-35). And if you believe contrary to that, then you have been deceived; but you don’t have to be deceived anymore because you can ‘know the truth, and the truth will set you free’.

God never intended for His people to be enslaved to anything or anyone, period. Not back then in the OT days and not today in this dispensation of ‘grace’, which is widely misunderstood, and I will come back to this later. Read that passage again, from Lev. 26:13-14, where God is laying the groundwork (foreshadowing) or the ‘blueprints’ as I like to say, as to His ultimate plan for what He was going to do ‘spiritually’ for all humanity when He sent Jesus. Ezekiel lays it out quite nicely for us, where God spoke through him foretelling of a future time when He said: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (26-27)

Did you see that: “I...will cause you to walk...’ in order to keep His commandments.

Friends...it’s ALL HIM...doing it...IF/WHEN...we are ‘abiding in Him’. This is ‘grace’ at work IN us...IF...we are truly ‘abiding in Him’. If you continue to sin on an ongoing basis, then you are not abiding in Jesus, because whoever claims to abide in Him, ‘ought himself also to walk just as He (Jesus) walked’ (1 John 2:6); and “whoever abides in Him does not sin.” (1 John 3:6).

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself- ‘what is it about this ‘message’ that we feel compelled to oppose and resist and push back on? Who in their ‘right mind’ would resist and refuse true freedom when it was offered to them? We know Jesus asked that one man: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6).

Guess what He’s asking us today? “Do you want to be made free?” (See you tomorrow?)