Herbie Newell: 00:00

Welcome to the defender Bible study, a weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is a ministry of us begins by being rooted in God's word.

Miguel Zayas: 00:25

This is the body of Christ broken for you. This is the blood of Christ shed for you. Your sins are forgiven. Go and sin no more. These are the words I heard as people lined up to receive communion in a historic church in the university city of Tartu in Estonia.

Miguel Zayas: 00:49

When the parish priest said these words, I could see people leaving that place of repentance freer than when they had knelt before the altar, as if a weight had been removed from their lives. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Defender Bible Study Podcast. Today is Monday, March 2025, and my name is Miguel Zayas. I serve as the senior director of our global orphan care team, working along with our partners around the world impacting the lives of more than 20,000 children globally.

Miguel Zayas: 01:24

Today, we are continuing in our study through the gospel of John. Let's get right into it. Now I grew up in a more Pentecostal environment, so this scene was a bit unsettling. I was in an old church building filled with people standing in line to have a person with a white robe and all the regalia making a pronouncement like this. To be honest, it was two things at the same time.

Miguel Zayas: 01:48

It was unsettling and impactful. Unsettling because it was a very different expression than what I was familiar with and yet impactful because I could see people walking away free. This scene has played out in my mind many times through the years. In today's passage, I was reminded of this one more time. Last week, David reminded us to stop from time to time to enjoy the vista as we study God's word together.

Miguel Zayas: 02:25

One of the vistas I'd like for us to take a longer look at this morning is this. The Bible was written to a people in a place and at a particular time. Too often when we read the Bible, we jump straight into personal application. What does this mean to me? How should I apply this to my life?

Miguel Zayas: 02:48

What am I supposed to do with the words I am reading? Now this is not bad, but it does miss out on a greater understanding of the text so we can better apply the meaning in a deeper way. As I understand, who was John writing to? Where were the people he was writing to? And what was going on during that time?

Miguel Zayas: 03:14

I begin to grasp in a richer sense the meaning of what I am actually reading. Today, we're diving into John chapter eight verses 31 to 47. It's a passage that challenges us to examine what it truly means to be disciples or followers of Jesus. In verse 30 last week, we read that many people believed in Jesus. Yet by the time we get to the end of chapter eight, people are picking up stones to kill him.

Miguel Zayas: 03:50

The title for this talk today is this, honest devotion, walking in freedom, and facing up to our inner Pharisee. So let's read together from John chapter eight verses 31 to 47. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.

Miguel Zayas: 04:30

How can you say that we will be set free? Jesus replied, very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, yet you are looking for a way to kill me because you have no room for my word.

Miguel Zayas: 05:10

I am telling you what I have seen in the father's presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father. Abraham is our father, they answered. If you were Abraham's children, Jesus said, then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.

Miguel Zayas: 05:42

You are doing the works of your own father. We are not illegitimate children, they protested. The only father we have is God himself. And Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own.

Miguel Zayas: 06:05

God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.

Miguel Zayas: 06:27

When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.

Miguel Zayas: 06:53

The reason you do not hear him is that you do not belong to God. Wow. This is such an explosive text. Did you hear this back and forth? Remember, these are people, the Jews, who had believed, and he was addressing them quite directly.

Miguel Zayas: 07:17

There was this question of who's your father and illegitimacy and your father is the devil. Did you hear what Jesus said? You belong to your father, the devil. The reason you do not hear him is that you do not belong to God. Here's Jesus, the miracle worker, a healer, someone who feeds 5,000, walks on water.

Miguel Zayas: 07:47

These acts brought him some notoriety after all. People are attracted to him. They travel looking for him. But he goes from popular preacher to a person about to be marked for death. Jesus says things like, I am the bread of life.

Miguel Zayas: 08:04

I am the light of the world. He turns over tables saying to leaders, you must be born again. He meets with a woman, and because he spoke to her heart, an entire city comes to no repentance. He even tells a woman caught in adultery that he does not condemn her, but admonishes her to go and sin no more. Jesus goes from a giver of life to a conspiracy that one day would lead to a cross.

Miguel Zayas: 08:36

Now here's something I've noticed through the years. People are attracted by the stuff that God does but will often reject the prophetic voice of God. Now it's easy for us to read this passage and think, hey. I identify with Jesus. I'm not like those Pharisees.

Miguel Zayas: 08:58

But what if we're more like the Pharisees than we care to admit? What if in our desire to be right, we've missed the vulnerability of being rebuked by truth? This happened to me in that opening little story I told you about Estonia. My upbringing was a particular way, and I was in a church that were doing their tradition different, and it was unsettling. But what I was I able to see what God was doing in the moment as people were being set free?

Miguel Zayas: 09:38

Often when we read passages with the words Pharisee or Sadducee, we reduce them to the religious people. In essence, distancing ourselves from a hard truth, we are all of us, the Pharisee from time to time. Consider this. God chose to reveal who he is to a people. Those people were the ones who were going to bless the whole world.

Miguel Zayas: 10:11

These people were gonna usher in the coming messiah and make everything that is messed up and broken in the world right again. The people of God had the word of God, the law, the commandments, the truth. They held on to that truth for generations, doing what it said, all the feasts and sacrifices, all the things. Yet when God, Jesus, Messiah, stood in front of them, they did not notice who he was. You see, the people had understood the importance of their calling.

Miguel Zayas: 10:53

However, that sense of obligation and responsibility that this inspired was replaced with feelings of privilege and position. I have often asked myself the question, if Jesus walked into my church, into my life, my situation, would I recognize him? So as we explore this passage, we'll consider these three key truths. Going back to our title, honest devotion, walking in freedom, and facing up to our inner Pharisee. So number one, honest devotion is about being rooted in and living by Jesus's words.

Miguel Zayas: 11:44

Jesus says, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. What does it mean to hold on to Jesus' teaching? You see, it's not just about agreeing with Jesus or identifying with him because he's the hero in the story, and let's be honest, Jesus is always the hero of this story. But it's about letting his word transform us even when it challenges our assumptions and comforts.

Miguel Zayas: 12:18

Are we merely hearing Jesus's words, or are we truly holding onto them? What does it look like to even hold to his teaching when this truth confronts our deeply held beliefs and traditions? Confronts our deeply held beliefs and traditions? Are there areas where we've become complacent or even selective in our obedience to his word? Think about a time when Jesus' truth challenged you.

Miguel Zayas: 12:49

Did you respond with openness or resistance? So the question really is is how can we cultivate a posture of humility and receptivity to his word? Number two. We're talking about walking in freedom now. So we need to recognize that we're trapped, that being trapped by sin is real and that only Jesus can set us free.

Miguel Zayas: 13:21

You remember when Jesus is going this back and forth and he's, you know, that you're a slave to sin and and the question of, well, we've never been a slave to anyone. So the Jews respond to Jesus by saying, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. Yet, if you simply read the the story of the people of God, you'll know that they were currently in Jesus' time under Roman rule. Their ancestors were enslaved in Egypt and in Babylon. You see, more importantly, they were enslaved to sin without realizing it.

Miguel Zayas: 13:55

And Jesus points to a deeper slavery. It's the bondage of sin. And isn't that true for us too? We think we are free, yet we remain in mindsets that hold us captive. What happens when we encounter a truth that challenges what we've always believed?

Miguel Zayas: 14:20

Do we reject it because it makes us uncomfortable? Even as believers, we can still struggle with areas of bondage like fear or pride or anger or addictions or self righteousness, an over realized sense of worth or value comparing ourselves to others? In what ways do we, like the Jews, deny our own spiritual bondage? Are there hidden sins or struggles we've been reluctant to bring into the light? And how does recognizing our need for Jesus' freedom shape how we serve even here at Lifeline as we serve the children and families here within our organization?

Miguel Zayas: 15:10

And outside of our organization, you and your homes as you're listening to the podcast, how does recognizing our need for Jesus and his freedom shape how we do life and how we serve the people around us, whether our families, our friends, our communities, our churches? Jesus says everyone who sins is a slave to sin, but he also promises freedom to those who abide in his word, whom the son sets free is free. So what steps can we take to experience his freedom more fully in our lives? As Karl Barth, the Swiss theologian, writes, when we say god, we say grace. And when we say grace, we say freedom.

Miguel Zayas: 16:09

One of the wonderful things of working here at Lifeline, and if you're connected to Lifeline through the years, you'll know that at Lifeline, we work with children and families who have experienced deep brokenness. Many of them long for freedom, freedom from trauma, addiction, or generational cycles. But ultimate freedom isn't just about changing circumstances. It's about surrendering to the truth of Christ. And no matter where you are or how you're listening to the podcast today, whether you're at home just listening or you're in the car, you're listening or you're somewhere on your journey and you just got this podcast in your ear and you're paying attention to hear what's being said at Lifeline at the Defender podcast, maybe the Lord is even now beginning to speak to you about areas in your life in which you need freedom, about things that you have accumulated through the years and you've set up as little idols and monuments in your lives, in our lives.

Miguel Zayas: 17:11

As I'm saying this to you, this is an an honest reflection in my own heart and in my own life, that there are areas that I need to constantly bring back to the Lord and say, Lord, this is yours, and I want your freedom. And finally, number three, facing our own inner Pharisee. See, often when we resist to trust Jesus, we are exposing our own inner Pharisee. Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of those who claim to follow God but reject him. He says, if God were your father, you would love me.

Miguel Zayas: 17:47

Their rejection of Jesus reveals their true father, the devil, who is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. You see, our actions and attitudes reveal who we truly serve. Even as believers, we can fall into patterns of resisting and even refusing to trust and instead trusting in our own strength, resisting God's truth, or prioritizing our comfort over his calling. I think this is true. Many people admire Jesus, but struggle to let his word reshape their thinking.

Miguel Zayas: 18:29

In an opening scene to the movie Jesus Revolution, there's this moment when a pastor of a small church in Southern California by the name of Chuck Smith meets a young hippie, Lonnie Friz Frisbee. In this scene, they're sitting at the dining room table when Chuck asks Lonnie the question, tell me about your people. Lonnie's answer will shape the trajectory of a movement that saw hundreds of thousands of young people's lives. Some estimate as many as 600,000 people across America, young people who came to Jesus during this time of the Jesus revolution. Lonnie told Chuck about his journey to know God.

Miguel Zayas: 19:18

Really, it was the journey of an entire generation to experience God. That journey was filled with drugs and psychedelic trips, which left them empty until they encountered Jesus. Lonnie told Chuck that if the church would only open their hearts to what is uncomfortable, there are thousands that are ready to know Jesus. He told Chuck that the problem is this, your people reject them. Lonnie asked the pastor, how can they believe in the one in whom they have not heard?

Miguel Zayas: 19:56

My people, Lonnie says, can only walk through doors that are open to us. And your church, Chuck, well, that's a door that's shut. Eventually, this relationship became what is known as Calvary Chapel, seeing thousands upon thousands of former druggie hippies finding freedom in Christ and planting churches all over The US and around the world. There was a scene in the movie when these young people were coming who were living on the streets, struggling with all kinds of addictions and struggles, but wanting to know Jesus, and their feet because they were barefoot would just be dirty through the course of the day and the weeks. And they walked into the church and leaders and elders and the church began to complain.

Miguel Zayas: 20:53

Pastor Chuck, pastor Chuck, don't you see our beautiful rug? It's being destroyed by these young people. They're making it dirty. And there's that cut scene when pastor Chuck Smith is sitting outside the church with a washbasin and a towel, washing these young people's feet, making room for them. Are there areas in our lives where we claim to follow God but resist his truth?

Miguel Zayas: 21:28

How do our daily choices, our words, our priorities, and relationships reflect our allegiance to Jesus? Are there ways we've allowed the enemy's lies to influence our thoughts and our actions? You see, we have to face our inner Pharisee. And when we face our inner Pharisee, it opens us up to what I call the vulnerability of rebuke. It allows God's truth to speak into our lives and allow God, by the spirit of God, to speak his truth into our life and lets me be vulnerable to God in his rebuke of Aries in my life that have not yet fully submitted to him.

Miguel Zayas: 22:24

Are there areas where we've become like the Pharisees, stuck in religious mindsets that resist fresh expressions of truth? How do we respond when Jesus' truth challenges our comfort traditions or our assumptions? Are we willing to be vulnerable to rebuke, or do we shield ourselves by saying, I am with Jesus, while resisting his transformative work in our lives? Think about a time when you encountered a fresh perspective or an experience that challenged your understanding of faith. Did you respond with openness or resistance?

Miguel Zayas: 23:02

We go back to how do we cultivate a posture of humility and receptivity to Jesus' truth even when it's uncomfortable. I'd like to pray for us today as we close out this podcast. And in my prayer, I just ask that the Lord speaks directly to each of us. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus because you say come. Father, that we would recognize that without you, there is no freedom, that you are the son who truly does set us free.

Miguel Zayas: 23:44

And, father, I ask you, by your spirit, as we read your word and I did my best to expand on what your word may mean for us, that you would convict us of the areas that we have resisted you. And, Lord, we repent for walking in our own form of religiosity and rejecting the transformative power of your word. Father, today, would you convict us and would we be ready to repent and come to you once again to be set free? Father, we thank you for all of this in Jesus's name. Amen.

Miguel Zayas: 24:36

Thank you, and God bless.

Herbie Newell: 24:39

Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender Bible Study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at info@lifelinechild.org.

Herbie Newell: 25:08

We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible Study.