I'd like to use for my text, John 8:31-36:
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed."
(John 8:31-36)
Just hearing the Word doesn't make you free. Freedom comes when it becomes "your" word, when it quickens in your spirit, when the light comes on, and suddenly, it becomes revelation to you. Only then can you truly "continue" in that word, for you can't continue in something until you start, and you can't start until you put your mind to it and take the first step.
Many people start something, but never finish it. I know people who have projects they started long ago and have never finished them. Why didn't they finish? They lost interest, obviously, or had other things come into their lives that they gave more importance to, I guess.
It's not those who start with the Lord Jesus who make it to heaven, but those who finish, those who "endure to the end shall be saved." Ever watch a race? People don't get excited about the start. It's the finish they're interested in.
People who bet on horse races aren't so much interested in the horse that leaves the gate first, as in the one who "continues" and crosses the finish line first, right? And there's just something really important about "continuing" that we seem to lose sight of too easily.
Jesus said, "Verily,verily I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (v. 34). A servant is one whose will becomes enslaved to the will of another. And that denotes a certain "continuing", doesn't it?
A servant is not just a servant for an hour or a day, but it just goes on and on. People in the armed forces know a thing about that, don't they? And so do you that are servants to poverty or sickness or disability. Your will is no longer your own, and you serve and obey the wishes of another.
Before Jesus came and gave Himself the ransom for your sin, you had no choice but to serve sin. There really wasn't any other option. Of course, I realize, some don't feel like they're serving sin. They love sin, and to them, sin serves them, giving them pleasure. I was once like that myself.
But people realize they're really servants of sin when they want to stop doing a certain thing, such as drugs or alcohol, or smoking for example. Or maybe it's lying or stealing, or some other type of addiction. One day they decide they're going to stop, only to find they can't. Why not?
Because their will is enslaved to another, and they cannot do what they want. But, good news! Jesus said in verse 35, "And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever."
What is that saying? The servant, the one whose will is enslaved to another abides not in the house (the place of his captivity) forever. But the Son abides forever, the one who set you free abides forever to keep you free. Now, that's good news!
To that person, and it may be you, that is enslaved in a sin that has been seemingly impossible to stop, here's good news: Jesus freed you from your captivity. You don't have to stay in captivity to it any longer. There's no excuse for saying, "I can't get free," because Jesus has made you free.
You've got to get a revelation of what the Lord Jesus has done for you! Not what He's going to do, but what has already done. And you won't get that revelation without continuing in His Word! Jesus said in John 6:63 "...The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."
Listen up! I'm speaking life to you. I'm helping you here. Now it's up to you to do your part. For example, if you have a problem with pornography on the Internet, Jesus is not going to unplug your computer. Yeah, it would be nice if He did, but that's not going to happen any day soon. It's going to take some effort on your part. You have to unplug that computer.
But if you submit to the will of God and do your part, He will supply the power and strength it takes for you to be free. Now, like it says in John 8:31, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed."
It's going to take your effort to continue in His word. Don't expect to forever be spoon fed.
If you see a six month old baby in a diaper, sucking on a bottle, you say, that's cute. But if you see a grown man in a diaper sucking on a bottle, that's not cute any more. There's something way wrong with that picture.
And yet, that's what I see when I look around. There are so many "adult baby Christians" living in sin, who, year after year, keep struggling with the same old sins, never getting free, and never getting into God's Word and learning that Jesus set them free.
Pick up your Bible and feed yourself. Once you learn how to feed yourself, you can then grow strong in God's Word. His Word will become revelation and freedom to you, and you can begin to feed others.
We have billions of people in the world today that are without salvation and a living, breathing relationship with Jesus Christ and His Father. The fields are prime for the harvest. There's work to be done, folks. Let's not let the crop rot in the field. We're not talking about corn here!
These are souls that are going to hell if we don't do our job. Don't you think it's high time for all of us to grow up and walk in the freedom Jesus gave us, so we can help others get free? For whom the Son has set free is free indeed. Together, let's tell them the good news!
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Jerry Baysinger was a twenty-one-and-a-half-year civilian employee of Missouri State Highway Patrol and operator of his own successful furniture repair business, when in 1993, he was diagnosed with five melanomas and liver cancer. Given a month to live, he resigned from the Patrol and went home to die. 
