John 8:31-36

Until John, we have been using older manuscripts of Ryle's Expository Thoughts. Just recently, though, EP Publishing has put out a lightly updated version of Ryle's work, which I am now working from. If you are interested in a physical copy of the Expository Thoughts, you can find it HERE.

John 8:31-36

1. These verses show us the importance of steady perseverance in Christ’s service.
2. These verses show us the nature of true slavery.
3. These verses show us the nature of true liberty.

"Patient continuance in well-doing is the only sure evidence of grace. It is not the one that runs fast and furiously at first, but the one that keeps up their speed who “runs so as to obtain.”

"There is no slavery like this. Sin is indeed the hardest of all taskmasters. Misery and disappointment by the way, despair and hell in the end—these are the only wages that sin pays to its slaves. To deliver men and women from this bondage is the great object of the gospel."

"The noblest liberty is that which is the property of the true Christian. Those only are perfectly free people whom the Son of God makes free. All else will sooner or later be found to be slaves."

Questions:

1. Ryle points out that it is not how one begins but continues in the Christian life that is the surest evidence of grace. Just as time and wear test metals, so they test the genuineness of someone's faith. Have we seen people start well but fall and not get back up? Do we find our confidence in a decision in the past, or are we continuing day-by-day to look forward to Christ and pressing on?
2. We see that the nature of sin is to be a slave of sin. Many today will refer to sin as making a mistake or as a problem, but do we know something of this slavery which sin really is?
3. We see lastly that those whom Christ makes free, are free indeed. Ryle calls this the noblest liberty and it consists of being freed from the guilt and consequences of sin, and gives a boldness on the day of judgment knowing one is no longer under condemnation. We all know the slavery of sin, but do we know something of this being set free?