If you listen to Christ, He teaches you the truth.

If you continually live, move, and have your being in Christ’s utterance, you are truly His disciple. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

It means you will be Christ’s disciple if you continually live, move, and have your being in His utterance, but what is a disciple? A disciple is a student or pupil.

If you live, move, and have your being in Christ’s utterance, you are truly His student. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Let’s simplify that.

If you continually live, move, and have your being in Christ’s utterance, He teaches you as His student. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Now, this is starting to make sense. If you are Christ’s pupil or student, He is teaching you the truth. If you’re following Christ, then He’s leading you. He’s speaking to you all the time. He’s correcting you sometimes. You need to listen. You need to seek Him and enquire of Him. You need to ask Him for direction and believe He will direct you. You need to stop resisting Him and second-guessing Him. You need to submit to Him when He corrects you. You need to stop being double-minded.

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Christ’s word is Christ’s utterance

If you continue in Christ’s word, Christ’s utterance, you are truly His disciple. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

What is the utterance of Christ? You need to understand that. You must continue in Christ’s utterance. What is that? How can you do that? Let’s find the answer to that.

Let’s look at the Greek word translated as “continue.” It means the following:

abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, not to depart, to be held, to be kept continually, to live, and to remain as one.
You could say the word “continue” means to live, move, and have your being continually in His utterance. So you’re living in Christ’s utterance continually. That still seems foggy. What does that mean?

If you continually live, move, and have your being in Christ’s utterance, He teaches you as His student. If you turn your will and attention to Him and listen to His voice, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

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CONTINUE IN CHRIST’S PRESENCE AND VOICE

God’s promise to you in John 8:31a-32 is conditional. You must continue in Christ’s word—whatever that means. Let’s start with Jesus’ word. What is Jesus’ word? Looking up the original language, the Greek word “logos” means “utterance.” It’s His spoken word, the statements He makes. His word is His logos, which is God’s utterance. If you prayerfully read the first chapter of John in the Bible, you find this utterance can’t be separated from Christ. In the beginning was the Word, the Logos, the Utterance, and the Logos was God. And the Logos was the Light that lights every person who comes into the world. Jesus Christ reveals Himself and speaks to every person who comes into the world. Some listen. Others flee from the Light.

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STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST

Now, it’s becoming clear.

If you stand in the presence of Christ continually, listening to His voice, He’ll teach you as His student. He’ll lead, teach, and correct you. If you listen to His voice and yield to His Spirit to the point He can say His words and do His acts through you, He will set you free from your slavery to sin. Without this, you remain a slave.

You can even be born again and find yourself as a slave to sin, constantly doing what you don’t want to do. The apostle Paul talked about that. And yet, you can be free. When you listen to Christ’s voice, it sets you free.

I’m talking about maturity. I’m not talking about being born again. When you’re born again, you’re born as a baby in Christ. However, God wants you to grow up. When you grow up, you experience all the promises in the Bible. Consider the works Jesus did. Consider the works the apostles and prophets did. Those were just a foretaste. God has much more for you. What are the limits on God?

Some people say it’s impossible to leave sin behind completely. Others say if you sin it proves you weren’t born again. Others have other ideas. All these opinions only bring up questions and doubts. God will answer all your questions before you’re finished. You can see that Truth sets you free from sin. And listening to Jesus Christ is the key to Truth.

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Truth Will Set You Free: BEING TAUGHT BY GOD

Now, it’s becoming clear.

If you stand in the presence of Christ continually, listening to His voice, He’ll teach you as His student. He’ll lead, teach, and correct you. Something in listening to His voice will set you free from your slavery to sin. Without this, you remain slaves.

You can even be born again and find yourself as slaves to sin, constantly doing what you don’t want to do. The apostle Paul talked about that. And yet, you can be free. When you listen to Christ’s voice, it sets you free.

I’m talking about maturity. I’m not talking about being born again. When you’re born again, you’re born as a baby in Christ. However, God wants you to grow up. When you grow up, you experience all the promises in the Bible. Consider the works Jesus did. Consider the works the apostles and prophets did. Those were just a foretaste. God has much more for you. What are the limits?

Some people say it’s impossible to leave sin behind completely. Others say if you sin it proves you weren’t born again. Others have other ideas. All these opinions bring up many questions. Hopefully, God will answer all your questions before you’re finished. You can see that Truth sets you free from sin. And listening to Jesus Christ is the key to Truth.

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TRUTH IS REAL AND YOU CAN KNOW THE TRUTH

Truth is real. Truth exists. And you can know the truth. Truth is within your reach. Consider the following Scripture:

If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ~ John 8:31a-32

Keep in mind that, in Scripture, when it refers to God’s Word, it’s always using a term in the original language that means a spoken word. It never uses a term that means “Scripture.” God speaks through Scripture, but so does the fallen, rationalizing human mind. God speaks through Scripture and every meand of divine revelation mentioned in Scripture. Truth isn’t too high of a goal regardless of what the intellectuals tell you. There’s a way you can find the truth, and that way is Jesus Christ and the revelation that flows from Him to you. While only apostles can establish apostle’s doctrine, every member of the body of Christ must have a real relationship with Christ and must yield to the Spirit to the point that the Holy Spirit can lead, teach, correct, comfort, and do His works through them. If fact, that is the only place of wisdom and knowledge.

Here’s a question you must answer before you can go forward. How can you take hold of what you just read in John 8:31a-32 and make it useful to you today? How can you know the truth and be set free?

Set Free

John 8:31a-32 tells you listening to the voice of Christ and acknowledging Him is the path to freedom. The truth will set you free.
Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

You want to be free, but free from what?

Read on from the same place in the Bible to find the answer.

Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ~ John 8:34-36

Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. However, Christ sets you free from sin, but you must continue to listen to Him and yield to Him. You must continuously live, move, and have your being in His leading, teaching, and correcting. If you hear without responding, you aren’t abiding in His leading, teaching, and correcting. However, if you respond to His voice in willing submission and obedience, you abide in His leading, teaching, and correcting. If you allow Him to say His words through you and do His works through you, He will set you free from your slavery to sin. If He sets you free, then you are free indeed.

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THE POWER OF GOD

What about the power of God and what He intends for the church? That’s something that I’m still not able to grasp. You may find God telling you His power and authority is already in your hand. If God’s people could just know and understand all the power and authority He’s put into their hands, then, every sickness would be healed. Then, no problem could stop them. Then, they would defeat every evil foe. Then, nothing good would be impossible for them. You’ll have to work that out with God directly. Focus on how you can know the truth and what that means for your life.

Nothing of the truth God is revealing is complicated. If anything, it’s too obvious and simple. However, some of it may be new and different. Anything outside of what we already think we know seems weird and unreal. That’s the trouble with paradigms or worldviews. They seem real, but they aren’t reality. Reality is truth, and ALL truth is hidden in Christ. Only He can reveal it to you. That’s an ongoing process.

God brings up truths you had never considered. It’s normal for human beings to have trouble accepting extreme changes in their thinking. People who easily change from one view of the world to another are just as easily swayed toward lies as they are toward the truth. If some of what God reveals to you seems a bit much for you, that’s normal. God may tell you things that conflict with what you considered reality. Some truths may be too hard to accept right away. In those times, turn to God. Ask Him about those truths that seem hard to understand. Ask God to sort them out for you and help you understand any truth. Don’t rush. Give it time.

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WHAT GOD IS DOING NOW

I can only imagine what unbelievers would think if confronted with the truth. They already turned away from the Light of Christ because they knew what that Light would do. It would convict them. It would expose their self-righteousness. It would expose their sins. That Light would ask them to turn from their sins. Those sins are their meaning and purpose. Those sins are the center of their lives. They look at the call of Christ to righteousness and holiness as a form of slavery. They hear about heaven, and it sounds like hell to them. They take pride in their intellect. They take pride in their self-generated goodness and self-styled morality. They love their independence from God, His righteousness, and His love. Then, God tells them everything they value is worthless. Picture the truth falling into the hands of people like that and what they would think. If they do hear the truth, I pray they have the patience to listen. I pray they ask Jesus Christ to reveal Himself to them and show them God’s ways are far above ways that exclude God.

And yet, God is currently working in a sovereign way. Many are turning to Christ every day. What death to self that must be! What a radical change!

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HEARING GOD’S VOICE

Preconceptions become strongholds and stumbling blocks. Worldviews and paradigms are preconceptions that seem real but aren’t real. They can deceive you. However, if you seek the Holy Spirit, He will begin to weaken those preconceptions and set you free. “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” 1 Corinthians 8:2

Rationalized theologies are some of the worst preconceptions. The Bible plus one assumption is an assumption. Once anyone rationalizes, it doesn’t matter how wonderful the personality teaching the lie is, it’s still a lie. Religious lies (called doctrines) bind you spiritually and keep you from hearing the voice of Jesus Christ.

Some of your friends and acquaintances make it harder to hear God. Peers pressure you. They’re under the influence of the false teachers, lying counselors, and false prophets you’ve been avoiding. They work against you spiritually. Some of your most caustic contacts stir up fear within you, and you react to that fear instead of listening to God’s voice.

Enemies from the outside distort your judgment. These are false teachers, lying counselors, and false prophets. They hide their lies in news media, all other media, and education. They plant their seeds through the themes of movies, cartoons, and novels. They influence you through entertainment and magazines. They can be very subtle or in your face, but they have their effect. If you’re spending time with any of these, you may wonder why you aren’t making spiritual progress and why God’s voice is hard to discern. Wonder no longer.

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Worldviews and paradigms are preconceptions. They seem real. They aren’t real.

Preconceptions become strongholds and stumbling blocks. Worldviews and paradigms are preconceptions that seem real but aren’t real. They can deceive you. However, if you seek the Holy Spirit, He will begin to weaken those preconceptions and set you free. “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” 1 Corinthians 8:2

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