Abiding in His Word, Proclaiming His Freedom John 8:31–36; Revelation 14:6–7; Romans 3:19–28

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, from God, the Father, our Mighty Fortress, and Jesus Christ, our Champion who came to fight for us.

Last Sunday we talked about proclaiming the Word of God when the world tells us to be silent. 

Today, on this Reformation Day, we’re going to follow up on that, and talk about Abiding in God’s Word, and Proclaiming His Freedom. 

This is based on our Gospel, from John 8, especially verses 31 and 32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

And, based on our first reading from Revelation 7, verse 6: Then I saw an angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 

There are an estimated 7.9 billion people on earth. That’s a lot of people who need to hear the Gospel, a lot of lives that need to be saved by grace and changed by faith. 

Thanks be to God, the Gospel has the power to save and change us all; and God has given His Gospel for all; He gave His Son for the world, that the world might not perish, but might believe, and live for eternity.

As many people as 7.9 billion are, there may be even more angels; we don’t know for sure how many; we’ll have to wait and see. But there will be many, each one glorious and beautiful as they all serve and praise God, along with the all the saints in Heaven, the faithful departed, who also serve and praise God.

We’ll talk more about this next week as we celebrate All Saints Sunday.

In the book of Revelation, John has a vision of many angels, but one in particular in chapter 7, an angel flying overhead, bearing good news for the world, the eternal Gospel, the truth that never changes, even though the world changes.

People may get the Gospel wrong at times, but that doesn’t change what the Gospel really is, and what Jesus really did for the world -- that always remains. 

The angel flying high above in John’s vision symbolized the spreading of the Gospel all around the globe, in every age, until Christ comes again.

The spreading of the Gospel started even before Jesus came into the world. It started with the promise that He someday would come into the world and rescue us.

The day Adam and Eve fell into sin and ran away from God, was the day the proclamation of the Gospel began. 

God sought out Adam and Eve; He found them, and He told them the truth they needed to hear; the truth of His law, and the truth of His Gospel.

His law was the judgment of their sin. God made it clear that by their actions they had brought a curse brought on themselves and their descendants, all humanity.

But God didn’t leave them with just a curse and a judgment, He also, and most of all, left them with grace and a promise, a promise that the curse would be lifted by One who would be from them, a descendant, but also from Heaven, the Messiah, God’s dear and only Son, who would crush the devil, and all his works, and all his ways.

Or, as, A Mighty Fortress puts it: But now a Champion comes to fight, Whom God Himself elected, (that is, who God has sent) You ask who this may be? The Lord of hosts (of angel armies) is He, Christ Jesus, mighty Lord, God’s only Son, adored (worshipped and praised). He holds the field victorious. He stands His ground against the formidable forces of evil; sin and Satan can’t stand up to Him.

God’s Son, the elected or chosen one, the Messiah, came to earth and He did what no man before had ever done, what no other person would ever do: He broke the curse of sin and death.

As we sing at Christmas time, in Joy to the World, far as the curse is found, that’s how far the Gospel goes.

The curse of sin is found across the globe, and so the salvation of Christ needs to be spread across the globe, the people of God proclaiming the forgiveness Jesus won, freedom from slavery to sin, that the world might repent and believe, and the curse, the deadly outcome of sin, might be broken, and the world would rejoice and be free.  

For as Jesus says in our Gospel, If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. That’s when you’ll really be free.

Political freedom is a blessing, but it doesn’t compare to spiritual freedom, the eternal freedom of the Gospel, free from guilt and judgment now, and free to rise in glory and live in joy forever. That’s the way to be truly free.

That we might have and keep this priceless freedom of the soul, that we may share it with the world, and hand it down to all generations, we must remain faithful to, and abide in, God’s Word, all of it; otherwise it can all be lost, and the curse will rule our lives again, rather than God’s grace. 

Jesus promised, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

Adam and Eve shared God’s Word and the promise of the Gospel with their children, and their children did the same, for many generations. But then the Word was nearly lost, not believed, except by one last family on earth, the family of Noah. 

That the Gospel would not be lost on earth forever, God cleansed the corrupt earth with a great flood. Noah’s family was saved in the Ark; and after the flood they and their descendants spread the Word of God and the promise of the Messiah, to the generations that followed, throughout the time of the Old Testament.

Then the promise was fulfilled; the Messiah was born, and a new era, a New Testament began. 

To overcome sin, to crush Satan and defeat death, to set us eternally free, Jesus, the Messiah, our Champion, as A Mighty Fortress calls Him, came to fight for us, to defeat sin and Satan; He died for our forgiveness, and rose for our eternal glory

Christ then ascended and sent His Spirit upon His disciples, and they remained in His Word as they proclaimed His Gospel, as did the next generation of Christ’s followers, and the next, and the next, for many generations.

After a while, though, the message became muddled, misunderstood, misused, misrepresented, corrupted, impure, and the Gospel was nearly lost. But thanks be to God, the Age of the Reformation began, and the Gospel was reclaimed. 

The pure Gospel of God’s grace in Christ was rediscovered by a monk named Martin. It was cleansed and clarified, so that it could be taught in truth and proclaimed in love, all around the globe, for all generations to come; that all might repent and by faith, embrace this truth that sets our souls free. 

That this eternal truth for the world might not be distorted or forgotten, we, with God’s help, hold to and abide in His holy and inspired Word. We base all doctrine on Scripture alone, for the Word will never mislead us, but will always show us the truth that sets our souls forever free.

This fallen world is always in need of reforming, and God’s Word is always up to the job. So we, the Church, are called to faithfully abide in, and boldly proclaim, God’s Word to the world in all its truth, with all its power.

As the world is always in need of reforming, we are always in need of transforming, always needing to be changed to be more like Christ. As we repent and believe, the Holy Spirit, working through God’s mighty Word and His healing Sacraments, is always powerful to do that, to make us more like our Savior, our Champion!

In a world not always friendly to God’s Word, sometimes scornful and condescending toward it, arrogantly and smugly dismissing it, or sometimes even hostile toward it; let us, God’s dear children, always trust and treasure it; let us never grow weary of God’s Word; let us never lose confidence in His Word; let us always rejoice in His Word and give Him glory for it, for His Word is the truth, and the only truth, that can set our fallen world forever free.

And as we joyfully abide in His Word and proclaim His truth, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will be with us, and will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, in whom we are truly and eternally free. Amen.