Jesus said unto the Jews who believed on him, "If you abide in my word, you will really be my disciples, and ... the truth will keep you free."1 - John 8:31f

In one of his great hymns, Charles Wesley writes:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night.
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray -
I woke; the dungeon blazed with light.

My chains fell off; my heart was free.
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

The words by Wesley serve well as a bridge between the message of last week’s sermon and today’s. Wesley refers to his days "B.C." as imprisonment, darkness, and slavery to sin. But when the light of Christ shone into his heart, he experienced a dramatic "anno Domini." He was liberated and freed. But he did not just stay there. He, like Lazarus, "rose, went fort…