OPEN: As Americans we enjoy a number of basic freedoms that very few people on the face of the earth enjoy. What I’d like to do now is ask you what freedoms you know that we have as Americans?
(The audience responded with a number of liberties we have)
Of course many of us knew of our freedom to worship God as we see fit, the freedom to bear arms, the freedom to assemble peacably, the freedom of the Press. The least commonly known freedom in the Bill of Rights is the freedom to petition our government correct policies we disagree with, without fear of being punished by the government.
But most of us knew and believed strongly in our right to have freedom of speech.
The Internet has become one of the foremost champions of this “Freedom of Speech”, and Facebook is the one place on the Internet where people really have the opportunity to put Freedom of Speech into practice.
On Facebook, you can post almost whatever you want. And you can say almost anything you want on Facebook (some limitations).
About 2 yrs ago Facebook became the most dominant social network anywhere in world. It was a place where people could gather and say whatever they wanted… all except in places where governments don’t like freedom of speech.
Places like China, Iran and Vietnam.
In those nations, they do everything they can to stop their people from accessing Facebook. They have their own “homegrown” alternative to this social network (which is closely monitored). And, in Vietnam, for example, the government has ordered all domestic internet providers to remove Facebook’s IP addresses from their servers. In other words: you can type Facebook on your computer… but you won’t get it.
(http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/09/social_networks)
It’s like going down to the grocery story and finding that the government outlawed eggs. You may want the eggs. You may have money for the eggs. But you can’t buy them because they don’t carry them. Why? Because the government says the provider (the grocery store) can’t provide them.
But most governments don’t have to worry about Facebook being a place of social upheaval, because most of the people on Facebook are there to be entertained. There’s some political comment on that site, but for the most part, Facebook is all about “ME.”
There are people talking with one another, flirting with each other, sharing favorite songs and pictures, and expressing their ideas on a variety of subjects.
If the government took away all of our freedoms - the freedom to worship/ bear arms/ assemble peacably/ freedom of the Press & speech - very few people on Facebook would even notice, because they’d still be free to do what they’ve always done– entertain themselves. The freedoms that our nation’s founders died for could disappear --- and many of those on Facebook wouldn’t even notice it.
Now – here in John 8 we have a similar situation.
Jesus is telling the crowds that He has come to offer them freedom.
In verses 31-32 we’re told “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.’” John 8:31-32
Now notice, Jesus said this to those who believed in Him. These people believed in Him, but they had a hard time … BELIEVING Him. When He said He came to set them free they got irritated and upset. They were already free – they were Jews.
It would be like telling an American that they aren’t free. They’d get upset and say “yes we are! We have the freedom to do all kinds of things. Freedom of speech, to bear arms, to assemble, to worship, etc. Yeah… we’re free!
But Jesus said – No! You’re not!
Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” John 8:34
Jesus was basically saying:
· I don’t care WHO you are
· I don’t care WHERE you live
· I don’t care WHAT you think.
When you sin you’re a slave. You’re in chains no matter who you are/ where you live.
(pause)
Now, is it true that all have sinned?
Well, of course it is.
First, that’s what Jesus said.
Second, it is a deep-seated teaching of Scripture.
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
And, third it is a provable concept.
ILLUS: Let’s say we have a righteous person in this congregation.
How many times a day do you think a righteous person might sin.
Let’s be generous and say only sin like that 3 times a day.
They say something they shouldn’t say, or do something they shouldn’t do, or think something they shouldn’t think. But – on average – they only do these things 3 times in any given day.
· 3 times a day for 7 days a week = 21 sins a week
· 21 sins a week times 52 weeks a year = 1092 sins a year
· 1092 sins a year times 60 years = 65,520 sins during a 80 year lifetime (if we start at 20)
And THAT’S a righteous person!
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God!
I John 1:10 says “If we say that we have not sinned, we make (Jesus) a liar…”
Why would Jesus be a “liar?”
Well, because Jesus said He came to die for our sins - that we were all sinners in need of His sacrifice. And if we say that we’re not a sinner, we’re saying he didn’t die for us. In fact we’re saying He lied because we didn’t sin and He said we did!
ILLUS: Years back a young man wanted to get baptized.
I began to ask him the usual questions I ask any convert:
· Did He believe that Jesus was the Christ?
· Did he believe he was a sinner?
· Did he intend to make Jesus His Lord?
But I only got the 2nd question.
When I asked if he believed he was a sinner – he got upset.
“I’m not really that bad a guy!” he protested. “I’m not a sinner!
I said “Well, I can’t baptize you then, because Jesus only came for sinners.”
He changed his mind rapidly.
So, we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
And from what I’ve read about Facebook and seen ON Facebook… that’s a pretty fair assessment. There are a lot of folks on that site who are in the chains of sin.
· They say mean things
· They curse and share foul jokes
· They post political cartoons that are mean-spirited
· They share pictures that are impure and immoral
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
And Jesus came to tell us the Truth and by that Truth to free us from the slavery of sin.
So, does that mean that you CAN’T be free without Jesus.
Well, no, apparently that’s not entirely true.
Turn with me to Romans 6:16-22.
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey— whether you are SLAVES TO SIN, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been SET FREE FROM SIN and have become slaves to righteousness.
I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in SLAVERY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS leading to holiness.
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. (vs. 20)
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become SLAVES TO GOD, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (vs. 22)
Soooo… you can be free WITHOUT Jesus.
You can be free from God! But then you’re a slave to sin.
OR you can be free from Sin… and a slave to God.
You can be free from one or the other.
But if you’re free from one, you WILL be a slave to the other.
Either sin will be your master… or God will.
But you are the one who makes that choice.
ILLUS: Years ago I brought a beat up car door onstage to illustrate this truth.
It was an old ugly car door I got down at the scrap yard.
But it was free.
It didn’t have to go anywhere it didn’t want ever again.
It would never be slammed again
It would never be dinged by pebbles as the car made its way down the road.
The window would never roll up and down again.
But, then, nobody wanted it either.
It was worthless. It had no value (in fact the scrap yard didn’t even want me to bring it back).
By contrast, the doors on your vehicles are slaves to the car.
They are attached.
They have to go …where the car goes.
They get slammed. Dinged. Abused and misused.
The windows go up when you want them to and they go down when you want.
But because they are slaves to the car… they have value.
My point is this.
If you decide to be a slave to God… you go where He wants you to go.
If He wants your “door” to be slammed, or you “windows” to go up and down… that’s what’s going to happen, but because you are a slave to Him. You are attached to Him and His will for your life.
But because you are a slave to God, you’ll be free from the threat of hell.
You’ll be a free from impurity and wickedness and shame.
And you’ll be free to receive His forgiveness and love.
It all depends on what you intend to be a slave to.
So, first – all have sinned
2nd all are slaves to either sin or God.
But now - third – since all have sinned, and I am a sinner, does that mean I can’t help but sin? Am I doomed to sin, no matter what I do?
No. In fact – in I John 2:1 – the Apostle John wrote:
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
Now I want to digress for a moment and address a false teaching that has arisen out of this issue. Some have taken passages like this which say we don’t have to sin, and have come up with the false doctrine known as “perfectionism”.
“Perfectionism” is the false teaching that says Christians can reach a point of ultimate and unchanging sinlessness. From that point on in their lives they NEVER sin.
I know of at least one denomination that has made this a central teaching of their churches. And I know of at least 3 or 4 of our brotherhood’s preachers who’ve taught this.
It ain’t true.
It never was true.
It’s built on a false understanding of Scripture.
It’s a very appealing doctrine, but it can’t stand up to real life application.
ILLUS: One of my preacher friends who taught this false doctrine invited me out to eat with him years ago. Now, I was there to eat. He was there to talk doctrine. But I knew I was in for a long theological debate when he asked me “Jeff do you believe that you can ever be sinless?”
Of course I knew what he was asking. And I knew WHY he was asking it. He wanted to enlist me in his cause.
I just wanted to eat.
I didn’t want to get into an argument at the dinner table.
So I cut to the chase.
“Well Fred (his name wasn’t Fred by the way) have you reached that point of sinlessness in your life?”
He thought about that for a moment and then quietly said “No, I haven’t reached that point in my life.”
“Well, Fred, do you know anyone else who’s reached that point of sinlessness in THEIR lives?”
Again he gave it some thought and finally said “No” he didn’t know of anyone who was sinless either.
“Well, I tell you what Fred, when you find someone who’s reached that point in their lives, you come talk to me again about this and we’ll discuss it.”
That ended the discussion… and allowed me to finish my meal.
My friend was being honest with me.
A pure life where a person NEVER sins is a pipe dream.
No one manages it, and those who do drive themselves to distraction because they can’t attain it.
But now, if we can’t attain total sinlessness, if we can’t reach a point in our lives when we never sin again… what did John mean by saying:
“I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
Well, John meant that our aim in life should be to avoid sinning.
ILLUS: I have often had conversations with people who want to be baptized into Christ, but they’re afraid that after becoming Christians, they’ll mess up and sin again and it will all be for naught. This is a real stumbling block for many people.
Years ago, I came up with a way of helping people to understand what Christianity is all about. I say, “here’s the deal. The more you walk with Jesus, the less you’re going to sin.”
And I ask them if they’ve ever skated? (yes, they’ll say)
Did they ever “fall down”? (yeah a lot)
If they skated again today, would the fall down as much as they did to begin with? (no)
Then I talk about professional ice skaters.
Do they ever fall down?
Well, yeah, but a whole lot less than you or I would if we tried those stunts.
Why don’t they fall down as much as we do?
Because they’ve spent more time on their skates than we have.
In fact, they’ve spent so much time on their skates that’s it’s almost like walking for them. But they still fall down – once in a while.
John tells us he wrote his letter so we wouldn’t sin.
The more we walk with Jesus in His light the less we’re going to fall into dark behaviors.
But if we do sin… we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus
You see, all this starts when we become Christians.
Paul writes in Romans 6:
“…don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— BECAUSE ANYONE WHO HAS DIED HAS BEEN FREED FROM SIN. Romans 6:3-7
CLOSE: In our nation we do have freedom.
We have the freedoms to bear arms, to assemble peaceably, to worship, and the Freedom of Speech.
But Kendall Faull recently wrote something on Facebook I thought was insightful:
“Even if we ended all wars, fed all the hungry, stopped all government corruption, followed the constitution, set everyone free, ended evil socialism, ended government debt, educated everyone, and created the most prosperous, free nation even beyond what America once was...
People are still lost and going to Hell without Jesus. We need revival not revolution.”
Kendall Faull
The question today for you is this: how free are you?
Are you ONLY free as an American?
OR are you FREE as a child of God?
Are you free from sin, free from condemnation, free from shame and guilt?
Do you know the truth of Jesus?
INVITATION
