Where does sin originate? It is everywhere in the world. It is in every person. It is in the messages we communicate in every forum. It is in music and art. It is in pollution and poison. It is in every person and every person practices in it. It was in our fathers and mothers, grandparents and great grandparents.
But that had not always been the way. Adam and Eve were made in God’s own image. Upon creation of man, God said it was “very good” (Gen 1:31) and afterwards He rested. Adam and Eve walked daily with God and there was no sin. But they made a choice. They chose disobedience. They chose to bring sin into the world. It has been passed down ever sense.
The Jews that Jesus spoke with took great pride in their ancestry. Through birthright, they inherited all the promises and covenants that God gave to Abraham. They were the children of Abraham and he was their father. Their god was the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Their holy scripture was written by Moses.
But all of those ancestors were sinners, just like they were and just like you and I are today. If sin is inherited, then how can one prisoner to sin (one sinner) ever set another prisoner free?
Again, in our passage today, Jesus provides the answer to this problem. He is not of this world. Jesus is from Heaven. His Father is God in heaven. He is not born in to sin, He is free. He is outside of the prison. He, and he alone can set us free.
He offers us freedom through adoption. He offers to make us His brothers, children of the Father God. V35. A slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
In v 25., the people around him asked the question, “Who are you?”. While it is right to seek to grow in an understanding of God, something we do every week through bible study, this was the wrong question then and it is the wrong question now. The question is not, Who are you, God?, but Who am I? Am I standing on the foundation of sinful men or am I standing on the righteousness of Jesus? Am I defined by my sin or by the holy spirit that resides in me? Am I a body with a soul or a soul with a body? Do I want to be set free or do I want to decorate my prison cell and lie to myself and others that this is what freedom looks like?
My Answers:
9.
a.
freedom from sin. The only way to receive it is to hold to Jesus teachings, to believe in Him. In his teaching is truth and the truth is what sets us free (not our works)
b.
Freedom from daily worry. This is not to say I do not have concerns and compassion for others challenges, but I firmly know that God has a plan and I trust that plan is for the best.
10.
a.
Abraham. God. Gen 2:24, leave father and mother. They cleaved to a human ancestor, rather than to God. They took the promises of God to Abraham as their own because they were descendants of Abraham, not because of their commitment to God
b.
When the serpent tempted Adam and Eve in the garden and sin entered the world
c.
Freedom of the darkness comes through being in the light. Walking in the light every day, in prayer and faith and study is the way to avoid the path of darkness and being tempted by lies.
The Notes are Good 