What did Jesus mean when He said, “The truth will set you free”? In this continuation of the Agape Kingdom Fellowship series, Will Duffy dives even deeper into that question—exploring how truth is not only central to salvation, but critical to emotional, relational, and even physical healing. Will shares raw personal testimony about confessing sin, the torment of secrecy, and the release that came through truth-telling. Citing James 5:16 and biblical commentary, he draws a direct connection between unconfessed sin and sickness, and urges the church to stop concealing sin and start living in the light. This is a
Greetings to the brightest audience in the country and welcome to Bob Enyart Live. Today we are getting into an Agape Kingdom Fellowship sermon series that Will gave at Agape Kingdom Fellowship on the truth, specifically what Jesus said, the truth will set you free. That is way more applicable than we perhaps realize. That’s not just talking about in a courtroom, you know, speak the truth and that will set you free. It’s not just a salvific. The truth will set you free. Of course, both of those are true. However, that truth goes so, so much deeper. The truth will set you free in so many different ways that you have never before considered. With that said, let’s jump right in. This is part two.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning, everyone. So great to see everybody. Today, this Sunday morning, is going to be a continuation of the message where we looked at the phrase that Jesus uttered in John 8, 32, which has impacted and influenced the world in an immeasurable way. That phrase is, the truth will set you free. Now this phrase undoubtedly has many meanings, but we looked at it specifically in regards to sin. And I firmly believe that the truth will set us free from the bondage of sin. It’s no wonder that God has so much to say in the Bible about lying and deception. We lie to ourselves. We lie to others in order to keep our sin hidden. In order to keep our sin in the dark. We talked about my own personal story. One that has led me to believe that our sin also affects our physical health. And we talked about how I can personally testify to the power of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The power of the truth setting one free from the chains of sin. Of course, after that sermon, I remembered something from my past. This happened years ago, and I wasn’t sure if I had ever told my wife about it. These are the moments where you really get to see if you’re able to be honest with yourself. It would have been easy for me to just brush this memory off because it happened so many years ago. It would have been easy for me to just tell myself, I bet I told her. I probably just forgot that I told her because it was so long ago. But what’s the right thing to do? The right thing to do is obvious. Just make sure I told her. Just make sure. Double check, right? So that’s what I did. And unfortunately, it was something I had never told my wife. Ugh. That hurt. And it led to some painful conversations. But it was a good thing. The truth will set you free. I never again have to wonder if I ever told this to my wife. I don’t need to try to forget what I did. And now my wife knows me better. But what’s more important than that? More importantly, my wife knows the truth. You cannot, I’m saying this right now, you cannot, it is impossible to have a solid marriage if you do not know the truth about your spouse. You cannot. And again, the whole truth. Nothing but the truth. their actions, their desires, even their thoughts. What a terrifying thought to be a spouse in a marriage that lives in fear as they are unsure if they know the truth or not. Today, we are going to look at what the Bible says. What does the Bible say about sin? Does it say we should conceal sin and hide it from those around us? Or does it say we should bring sin to the light? Does the Bible say that sin affects our physical health? Or is sin purely spiritual in nature with no connection to our physical bodies? And after we look at what Scripture says on these things, I’m going to make a passionate plea to the church. I think it’s likely that the church has gotten this one largely wrong. And we will look at what the ramifications have been to people due to the church getting this one very wrong. Now, I shared my own personal experience previously, and I talked about sexual immorality because that’s my story. But the message was not just about my story, it was about sin in general. Some people, I think, missed that. It was not specific to sexual immorality. People struggle with all kinds of sin. And I believe the truth will set you free from any of them. Any sin. But who cares what I think? What does Scripture teach? The one thing I did not expect the Bible to explicitly state is that sin affects our physical health. I didn’t expect that. And obviously, just because the Bible doesn’t explicitly state something, that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Right? Right? People often act as if the Bible was intended to be an exhaustive resource, and I don’t see evidence for that. When we study the universe, we are studying what? We are studying God’s design. And the design lets you into the mind of the designer. That’s incredible. We have access through just what’s around us, the creation. We have direct access into the mind of God. How many of us are taking that for granted? And so I was not expecting to share any explicit scripture with you today about sin affecting our physical health. But I called my sister recently. And I invited her to come to church. By the way, my wife gives me such a hard time for doing this. My sister and her family, they have their own church that they’re plugged into. So my wife’s like, don’t do that. But I do it anyway. My sister asked me what I was preaching about. And I told her that I’m talking about sin and its effects on us and how to become free from sin in our lives. And then I told her that I think sin actually affects our physical health as well. And she said, Will, I want you to look up James 5.16. Thanks, Kristen. Open your Bibles and to James chapter 5. And verse 16 could not be more clear. Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. There you have it. Confess your trespasses to one another that you may be healed. There’s a lot going on here in this one verse. We need to spend some time here. First, I want you to notice who it says to confess your sins, your trespasses to. Normally, we’d think God, right? That’s the normal line of thought. We confess our sins to God, but no. This says, confess your trespasses to one another. This is the antithesis. This is the exact opposite of concealing sin. This is a complete 180 from keeping sin to ourselves. This says, confess our sins to one another. And come on, do we really not understand this sentiment? Isn’t it obvious? I think if we don’t immediately understand why we should confess our sins to one another, it’s probably because we don’t want to do it. That’s probably the reason. It’s because we are ashamed or embarrassed or some other probably selfish reason. Are you more likely to continue in your sin if no one knows about it or if everyone knows about it? I think we all know you are more likely to continue in your sin as long as no one knows about it or just a few people know about it. Think about people in your life who have left the church or have left their faith or have even left their family over sin. Certainly not. you have people that you know of in your life. Why did they do this? When we want to continue in our sin, we tend to leave those who know about our sin and instead surround ourselves with a new group of people, one who is not aware of what we want to continue doing in our lives. After James 5.16 says to confess your trespasses to one another, it says that you may be healed. Wow. There it is. Now, you might be thinking that this is referring to spiritual health, not physical health. That’s fair. That’s fair for you to think that. But let’s take an honest look here. This entire section in James 5, guess what it’s about? It’s about your physical health. Verse 13, is anyone among you suffering? Verse 14, is anyone among you sick? Verse 15, and the prayer of faith will save the sick. And then we get to verse 16. Confess your trespasses to one another that you may be healed. This is definitely talking about physical illness and therefore physical healing. Further, I was reading in the Word Biblical Commentary That commentary is well known for its expertise on the original languages that the Bible was written in. While I wish I was an expert in Greek and Hebrew, I am not. And so, I still understand the importance of Of the original languages. Understanding what these words meant. Not only in the original language. But also what these words meant in the ancient cultures as well. Super important when studying the Bible. Here is what the word biblical commentary says. About James 5.16. James implies that sometimes sin is a cause of illness. as well as a hindrance to healing, which is the thrust of verse 16a. And then, here is what the word biblical commentary says, specifically about the Greek word here for heal. The word eosthai, to heal, except when it is part of OT quotations, is always used in the New Testament to refer to the healing of physical illness. We have explicit scripture linking sin to our physical health and commanding us to confess our trespasses to one another that we may be healed. I’m only just beginning to understand in my own life, at 40 years of age, why justice has been so important to me in my life and why injustice has always bothered me so much. It drives my life. I don’t know if they do this anymore. They probably do. But when I was in grade school, they would always ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. What I wanted to do when I grew up. And you know what? I did not know. I just didn’t know. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. And so they would ask me this question and I didn’t have an answer. And then one day… It hit me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I was dead set from that point on on doing this. I wanted to join the FBI. I wanted to help bring justice to bad guys. There appears to be so much injustice in the world, and there is, And as Christians, what are we always told? We are told to take comfort in the fact that men will one day have to face God for their actions. Now, of course I believe that. But man, that’s just hard to swallow still. At least for me. Super hard for me to swallow. It just, it doesn’t feel fair to That down here on this earth and in this life, when it seems someone is getting away with murder, now that is a figure of speech, but sometimes it’s actually quite literal. It’s just very difficult that down here on this earth when people get away with terrible things, it’s hard to sit back and be content knowing one day they will pay. One day they will pay. But God, He knows what He’s doing. God knows what He’s doing. These people, they’re not escaping the effects of their sin. Simply because they just haven’t gotten caught yet. Or simply because they found a way of getting out of any real punishment. No, they’re still being affected by their sin. In reality, they’re being affected and usually it’s in many ways that we cannot see. We cannot see it from the outside, but you can bet they are feeling them. You can bet they are experiencing them without a doubt. They are absolutely dealing with issues affecting their life, whether it’s physical ailments or just the torturous reality of hoping you’ll never be caught and the fear and the anxiety that might come from what would happen if the truth ever comes out. Just that is a terrible way to live. Remember, I experienced this in my own life with my wife. And I can tell you, it was a very torturous existence. The gut pain from the sin, the lies, the constant fear of what would happen if I got caught. And then all of the physical issues that came from living this life. It was terrible. Consider that there are people out there who have killed someone. There are people out there who have raped someone. There are people out there who have molested a child. There is no moving on with your life when something like that has happened without any repercussion, without serious consequences in your life. God’s design is perfect. His design is perfect. All of these things that we’re talking about actually point to the Creator. Think about it. If there is no God, there is no sin. The fact that we’re talking about sin points to a Creator. And if there is no sin, then why are people all over the globe… struggling to heal themselves with purely physical solutions like diet and supplements and medication. The pursuit is endless. You see, God’s design not only points to the reality that He exists, but it’s also the only true and complete cure. The truth will set you free. People attempt to hide from the reality that what they’ve done is affecting them. But it is. They try very hard. these people, they first attempt to hide from God, assuming that he doesn’t really exist or that he’s not really necessary in order to heal. All the while, they’re living tortured lives and they’re looking for every possible solution that might exist except for God. First, it’s doctors. I need a doctor. I don’t need God. I need a doctor. Then it’s a prescription. I just need to take this medication. God is not necessary. Then a diet change. Then adding supplements. Then exercise. The list never ends. And it never will. It never will… Because you can’t do this completely without both acknowledging God and acknowledging your sin. You cannot. So what do people do? When all else fails, and they still don’t want to allow the truth to set them free… Then they start to medicate with other substances. The alcohol, the drugs, any other addiction, right? Anything to take our minds off of the reality of what we did, of who we’ve become, and of where we stand right now. You can run. You can definitely run. But you cannot hide. I ran for years. I ran for years. People run for decades. Literal decades. People run for their entire lives. They run. And while I was running for years, the answer was right there. It was right in front of me. John 8, 32. The truth will set you free. The truth will set you free. The truth will set you free. We need doctors. We need medication. We need supplements. We need to watch our diet. We need all these things. But if you think that this can be done in a vacuum without also dealing with your sin, good luck. That is going to be a very long marathon, one that may not end until your life ends. The choice is yours. It’s really that simple. You can continue to ignore John 8, 32 and continue to not believe that the truth will set you free Or you can choose to submit to this incredibly powerful word of advice straight from Jesus Christ. If you have sin in your life, and that sin has not been confessed to one another, you will not be fully healed. You will not. Remember, this is so important. I hope this is coming across. God always knows the truth. Okay? There’s never a moment in God’s life where He does not know the truth. God always knows the truth. So, when Jesus told us that the truth will set us free, He was not telling us about getting the truth to God. God always knows the truth. This isn’t about telling God the truth. When you think about it, that’s kind of silly. And then you know the truth of what you’ve done. And you’ve always known the truth of what you’ve done as well from the very moment that you decided to do it. So this also isn’t about you coming to the truth of what you’ve done. When Jesus said the truth will set you free, that can only mean those around you. Knowing the truth. Your spouse. Your kids. Your family. Your friends. Your church body. And again, I can only share what I’ve experienced personally. And from my own personal experience, the more people… who know that truth, the better.
SPEAKER 01 :
Stop the tape. Stop the tape. Hey, we are out of time. If you want the rest of this sermon, you can get this sermon and all of Will Duffy’s sermons and all of my sermons, Dominic Enyart, and all of Bob Enyart’s sermons by going to enyart.shop. That’s E-N-Y-A-R-T dot S-H-O-P. Click on these sermons. You do not want to miss it. Hey, may God bless you guys.
