John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. (NKJV).

After so many years of my Christian walk (coming up to 40!) I am beginning to understand a little more about this verse. Freedom! It’s something many have fought for politically and something many have paid the ultimate price for in that struggle.

I believe when the Kingdom of God is established more and more on the earth in every sphere, freedom will be experienced; but the freedom I want to think about here is a personal freedom from bondages, restrictions, limitations, frustrations, ceilings, and other walls that stop us being who God created and made us to be.

When thinking about this recently the thought came to me. LEARN, LIVE, LIFE!

Firstly we need to “LEARN” what the Bible has to say about an issue. Learn everything there is to know about it – which is an ongoing life-time commitment. It behooves us to know at least the basics of the issue at hand. Our text John 8:31-32 says you shall know the truth. There’s many ways of getting to “KNOW” that truth, including a revelation – like the lights just come on suddenly and we “see” it as it really is. But there’s also the regular way of good old fashioned hard work in regularly reading over the words, learning and memorising the truth. I would venture to say that most “revelations” come after we’ve had some time reading, learning and memorising Scripture even though we may not fully understand them in depth. Then at some point the Holy Spirit seems to just graciously open our mind and spirit to really see it as it is, we receive a revelation about what it means.

Then we need to “LIVE” the truth. Just do what it says! Here lies a major key to life I feel. (And I’m talking to myself here too). If only we would learn what the Bible says not to do then not do those things, then learn what it says to do and do them, I believe we’d live in a greater measure of freedom! Let’s change the Nike tick from Just do it, to, “Just live it”, meaning everything the Bible teaches to do and not to do. This is called obedience. No ifs buts or maybes or I can’t do that because I don’t really understand it. Whatever the Bible teaches about finance, let’s do it. Whatever the Bible teaches about work, let’s do it. Whatever the Bible teaches about relationships, let’s do it.

Then, “LIFE” will be the result of learning what the Bible teaches and living that truth in obedience. That’s how truth works. God’s truth when learned and lived has the ability to set us free from the limitations of the life we’ve lived so far. We all want the LIFE Jesus promised. And sometimes we wonder why we aren’t living in it to the full, when we do have some understanding that “LIFE” in fullness and abundance and blessing is promised. Remember this Scripture: John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”. (NKJV). We know this to be the truth!

We also know that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were deceived by a lie. They believed the lie and lost their freedom. Right there is a real key! Too often we do the same. We believe the lie promoted ultimately by the Devil, but manifested through our culture, peer pressure, our upbringing, our history, our life journey, and many other ways. Therefore, the result is, we don’t live in freedom, abundance, in the LIFE we know God has promised.

How much more can the opposite apply! When we learn the truth, believe and live the truth, LIFE and freedom be the result.

It is usually painful to own up to the fact that we’ve believed a lie. Adam and Eve knew this and they tried to hide from God. Sometimes we may not even be aware that we have believed the lie. We’ve lived this way for so long it has become a habit, or the only way we know how. But God in His love always comes to us with grace and mercy, and with clear conviction, but, with no condemnation. I love what Wilson, the next-door-neighbour on the program Tool Time says to Tim: “Truth, like surgery hurts, but it cures”.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV). We are no longer products of the past but products of the Cross! What we believed about ourselves, the lies and half truths that limited us and held us back, are done away with at the Cross of Calvary! But here’s an important point: The Gospel does not promise to fix the past. Even God does not alter the past. The Gospel does far more than that; it FREES us from the past! Hallelujah! That’s the truth!

Words are powerful. Good ones and bad ones. They have the power to influence our lives severely for good or bad. Words become thoughts, and thoughts become ideas in the sense of a philosophy or a doctrine or principles we live by. Doctrine means principles, instruction, learning. I coined a phrase years ago (I’m pretty sure this is original). “Doctrine received, believed, and practiced, determines a person’s behaviour, character, and destiny”. In other words the words and truths and principles we receive, and believe, and live, fashion and mould us into the shape of the power of the truth behind those words. My experience bears this out. I believed some lies about myself which had a restrictive effect upon how I viewed and valued myself. But the truth, God’s Word, has set me free from the lies!

Dr Nigel G Wright, Principal, Spurgeon’s College, London, says; “It matters to me what kind of person my theology makes me into. A good, generous and gracious theology (or rather: a theology about a good, generous and gracious God) has the power to form people into its image”.

Here’s a huge key. Firstly: John 8:31 If you ABIDE IN MY WORD… (NKJV). Then, choosing to believe what God says about us is our key to freedom and wholeness! John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. (NKJV).