Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 291

October 17;   John 8:32;   76/260(II);   ‘Known Truth is Freedom’

John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 

The Lord Jesus tells us in John 17:17 that the Word of God is truth.  If anything contradicts the Word of God, that information is not true.  The Lord goes on to teach us that if we abide, continue in His Word we are His disciples (John 8:31).  Disciples do not read the Word of God on occasion, they have purposed in their heart to diligently spend time in the Word daily.  Jesus says that if we are His disciples, proving that we are by disciplining ourselves to abide in the Word, we will know the truth and the truth we know will make us free.  Even though the Word of God is truth, the Word cannot make you free if you do not take time to read it.  The Bible was true and was well able to help me in every aspect of my life before I became a Christian.  Since I did not know the Scriptures, they could not help me.  God’s Word is God speaking to us.  The Word is just as true as if the Lord Jesus Himself appeared to you and was speaking to you.  While on this subject, if you ever have a vision and the one speaking to you says things that contradict the Word, the vision is not from God.  The Lord would never violate His Word.  In John 8:32 Jesus said that if we continue in the Word we will know the truth.  The word ‘know’ means to come to know.  That means that our knowing the Word of God is progressive.  The more time we spend reading the Word, the more about the Word we will know.  The word know also means to know by experience.  In other words, as you read the Word and do what it says, you will see the validity of the scriptures.  Diligence in the Word sets a disciple of Jesus free.