Word of Salvation – Vol.12 No.42 – October 1966

 

To Be Free Indeed

 

Sermon by Rev. K. Warren on John 8:34-36

Scripture Reading: John 8: 21-47

Psalter Hymnal: 333; 80:7 conf. of sin; 415:1,2,3; 306; 202:1,2,3; 245

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

How does a man become right again with God?

How does a sinner find the way to heaven?

It’s surprising how many different answers you get to a question like that!

A Roman Catholic priest told me some time ago that baptism has much to do with this question of finding the way back to God.  He said that baptism as it were – was a pipeline through which the grace of God is poured into a person.

But is that what the Bible teaches?

Another man said, when talking about heaven and how to get there: “Well, I’ll be right.  Don’t worry about me; I’ll be right.  I’ve never done anything really wrong, and I’m always trying to do good to other people.  And wouldn’t God reward me for that?” But is that what the Bible teaches?

And think of that conversation between Jesus and the rich young man.  Wasn’t that man firmly convinced that eternal life would be his, if he very faithfully would stick to all the commandments?  But is that what the Bible teaches?

NO, the Bible does not teach that at all!

Baptism does not save, good works do not save, sticking to the law does not save, being in the covenant does not save, NOTHING really does save!  Nothing…. but the BLOOD OF JESUS!  None can come to the Father, says the Lord, BUT BY ME!  There is no sinner who can come back to God, says Jesus, but by ME!

What a tragedy, congregation, when people are so blinded that they put their hope and trust in all these other things which I just mentioned, and many more!

And do you know WHY people do that, WHY they trust these other things?  Because they haven’t come to see that they are SINNERS!  Helpless and hopeless and lost sinners!  They haven’t seen their greatest need yet.

Today we talk a lot about NEEDS.

In magazines and newspapers people write about the great needs of mankind, such as food, and housing, and peace.

That’s all very true, but do you know what man’s greatest need is?  Do you know what your greatest need is?

The Jews in this chapter of John THEY don’t know it.  They don’t see their real need.  They don’t know that they’re sinners.  And they don’t want to know either!  They say in effect to the Lord: “And what’s wrong with us?  Don’t try to tell US off.  And don’t make the mistake of telling US that we’re not FREE.  For we ARE!  We are the most privileged people ever.  And we’re proud of it.  We are children of father Abraham, who was, after all, the friend of God.  We are a unique people!”

No, says Jesus, you’re NOT!  You are not any better than others.  I place you exactly on the same level as the Romans, and the Assyrians, the Egyptians.  The fact that you are in the covenant does not make you any better than the heathen, the unbeliever.  ALL have sinned, and that includes Abraham’s children.  ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

No, the Jew is not free.  For certain he is not free.  He THINKS he is.  He looks down on the heathen: THEY are worshipping idols, but not ME, I am free of that!  These unbelievers, these pagans, THEY live in constant fear of all their gods and goddesses, but not ME; I am free of that!

Your are NOT free, says Jesus.  No one is free!  Every man, woman, child, white or black, king or servant, rich or poor, child of Esau or child of Jacob, ALL come short of the glory of God.  ALL are sinners.  ALL are slaves of sin.

Are YOU prepared, my brother and sister, to face again that truth?  Am I willing to let these words of Jesus come down on me in full force?  A slave of sin!  Sin being the Master, the King, the Ruler of my life!

These words of Jesus: ‘Everyone who commits sin.’ – it has the meaning of: CONTINUALLY sinning, doing it ALL THE TIME, living a completely self-centred life, CONSTANTLY missing the mark, and every sin I do, making me a more helpless slave!  A prisoner, caught in the circle of sin.  You walk around and around, feeling for a way out, but there IS no way out, no doors, no windows, no holes, there’s just that tight circle of sin.  By yourself you never can get out of it.  By yourself you will never find a way of escape.

Man today can really be called the Master of the Universe, the King of Creation.  He has just about conquered and overcome everything.  He has conquered sickness and disease, he has conquered space and the atom and the sea.  Indeed, man has become mighty powerful!  Has he?  Has he really?

Has he learned to overcome himself?  Has he learned to keep his desires and passions and temper in check?  You know the answer just as well as I do!  This powerful man is still helplessly caught in that circle of sin!  After 2000 years of Christianity, of preaching the gospel and proclaiming Jesus Christ, the words of the apostle Paul to the Romans are so very true even today: he says:

“All are under the power of sin, NONE is righteous, no one understands, no one seeks for God.  ALL have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good; not even one.”

In this world many shocking and ghastly things happen every day.  Shooting, adultery, stabbing, robbery, drunkenness, destruction, violence: day after day.  A continuous stream of foul transgression indeed!

Have YOU ever asked yourself the question: Now HOW and WHERE do I fit into this company of sinners?  I don’t shoot or kill or steal, I look well after my children, my husband, my wife.  I’m a good member of the church, and a decent citizen of this country.

But don’t forget that it is only by the grace of God that WE DON’T shoot or stab, that we don’t stagger drunk through the city or go about robbing banks and blowing up safes.  It’s only God’s goodness that keeps us from doing these awful things.

But sinners we are!  And if we are ever in doubt about that, if we are ever wondering what we have done wrong, ask yourself these two questions; firstly: did I love God today with all my heart, soul, mind and strength?  The answer?  NO!  Secondly: did I love my neighbour today as I loved myself?  The answer?  NO!  So WE TOO, good churchgoers, decent people, WE TOO will have to take our place in that company of murderers, thieves, adulterers, robbers.  ALI have sinned and come short of the glory of God!  Slaves of sin!

Did you ever read story books, boys and girls, about slaves?  You might have read ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, and what a terrible life a slave had.  His master could do with him whatever he wanted.  He could make him work real hard, give him little food, and beat him whenever he wanted to.

And the slave could do nothing about it, for he was not his own master, he was not FREE.  And when the master wanted to get rid of him, sell him to someone else, out he would go!

Think only of that story in the Old Testament, of Ishmael and his mother, how they were sent away into the desert, and would have died had not God saved them.  They were the slaves, they had nothing to say, and the master did with them whatever He wanted.  But the SON, Isaac, HE stayed home.  HE would not be sent away, for he was the son, and that is why he had all the care and the love, and food and clothing and shelter, whatever he wanted: it was HIS!  HE was the SON!

Now you might say: Yes, but Ishmael was also Abraham’s son, and that’s true, very true, but .he was also a slave.  That Ishmael had Abraham as his father was no guarantee for a good life!  And that the Jewish people had Abraham as their father was also no guarantee for eternity.  They were still slaves!  Slaves to sin!

Yes, they were living in God’s house so to say, in the house of the covenant.  But they lived there as slaves, not as sons!  That at least is what Jesus is telling them!

And what would Jesus say of ME, of YOU?  No, no, put away for the moment YOUR OWN IDEAS about yourself.  They might not always be right.  See the mistakes the Jews made.

What does Jesus think of me?  How does HE look at me?  When HE sees my life, my relation to sin, where does He place me?  With the slaves?  Or with the sons?

This is a very serious matter!  How is that, congregation?  How is that, young people?  Yes, we are all in the house of the covenant, young and old.  All having received the sign and seal.  All in that circle of special people.  Not that it guarantees eternity!

Ishmael was in that circle too, but he was still a slave!  The Jews were in it too, but they were still slaves.  YOU are in it too, and can you say what you are?  A slave?  Or a son?  Do you know it?  A son in freedom?  Or a slave to sin?  Who rules my life, your life?  Is it sin, or is it the Lord Jesus Christ?

What do we worship: sin, or . . . the Saviour?  What do I flee, what do I run away from?  Sin, or . . . from the Son of God?

Sin in our lives, what part does it play?  Does it control US, or do WE control SIN, in the power of the living Lord?

No, we’re not talking about perfect people.  Even sons are not perfect!  But we’re talking about people in whose lives the POWER of sin is broken.  Who dare say it with the words of the Heidelberg Catechism: “that Christ has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil.”  Can YOU say that?  Dare you do it?  That THAT is your only comfort in life and death?

If not, verily, verily, I say unto you, truly, truly, says Jesus, you are still a slave of sin!  Most solemnly, most seriously, truly, you are still a slave of sin!

And SIN, congregation, is the most cruel, the most wicked, the most merciless of all masters.  Compared with sin, Nero and Hitler and Stalin were only little boys!  For sin, keeps you into the most darkest misery, the most frightening despair, it’s down, down, down right into the deepest pit of hell, forevermore..!  Of course YOU TOO know what the most wonderful thing is that a sinner can do.  To realise that he IS a sinner!  To realise that he is LOST!  Oh, what a blessed thing when a person may realise that by the grace of God.

Looking into the mirror of the Word of God, and getting the biggest fright of your life, for you see the ugly blackness of your soul.  Oh, the finest thing a person can do, to confess it, “I’m caught in this circle of sin, and I can’t get out of it!”

True, by ourselves we can never get out of it, but what does Jesus say?  I AM THE DOOR!  Congregation, JESUS IS THE DOOR!  There is no need to remain as a prisoner in that circle.  There is a door!  It is only one door, but that is enough.  And through that door you can go right out of that nasty, terrible, hellish prison of sin, through the door, into everlasting freedom!

The Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, believing in Him, remaining in His Words, trusting Him all the time as the Messiah, the Saviour sent by God, abiding in Him, and He in you.  Jesus is the door.  Have you gone through that door?

HAVE YOU GONE THROUGH THAT DOOR?

Oh no, WE don’t push back the bolt.  WE don’t push open the door.  WE don’t step boldly across the threshold.  WE don’t make ourselves free!  The SON makes us free.  He sees us there, in our tight little prisons of sin, crying for mercy, not being able to get out.  And HE breaks down the door: because He is the Almighty Son of God.  And HE takes us by the hand: because He is the King of kings.  And HE pulls us outside, into freedom.  And believe the Word of God: then you are really free indeed!

When, in the United States, slavery was abolished, there are many heart-warming stories about that tremendous day, when these thousands of poor slaves were told by their masters: “You are free.  You may go.  You can do whatever you like.  You are really free.”  How happy these people must have been!

But now imagine that there is a master who would have said: “You are free.  You are no longer a slave.  But I don’t want you to go.  I want you to stay with me, in my house.  I want you to become my SON!  I’ll adopt you as my son.  And everything I have, it is yours!”  Oh, that really would be unbelievable.  No master would do that to his slave!

BUT THIS EXAC0TLY IS THE GOSPEL!  This is the glad message for sinners.  Not only being free, no longer being slaves, but: Come into my house, I want you to stay with me, my son, my daughter, forevermore!

My brother, my sister, young people, are you free!  Have you gone through that door?  Can we say it of our congregation: Sons and daughters of God, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ?  Do we all sing that glorious song in Romans 8: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free.”?

Free, really free.  Let us then also LIVE as free people.  Let us shout it out, again with Romans 8:

If God is for us, who is against us?
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?
Who is to condemn?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  NOTHING!

Truly, truly, I say unto you, NOTHING?!

Amen.