Evangelism & The Gospel: The Good News of A New Life of Freedom part 1
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The priority for most of the people to whom you witness is this:
The priority for most of the people to whom you witness is this:
The gospel is good news of a New Life for people — a New Life of freedom
[ PRAY ]
Do you know the story of the Moscow street orator? He was a new Marxist.
He was standing on a busy Moscow street corner, one day — it must’ve been about the time of Mikail Gorbachev’s reforms.
Anyhow this man is standing up on his “soap-box”, waxing eloquent, he says,
about “the freedom we’ll all enjoy after still new revolutions have come”.
A small crowd has begun to form about our Moscow orator as he stands precariously on the street corner.
— they still might be a little wary of the secret police despite their new reforms!
But the Moscow street orator is not afraid …not even when a very expensive looking black mercedes slows down and gradually passes them all by!
Says the orator: “When we get freedom, we’ll ALL drive in cars like that one!”
“I prefer my bike,” shouts a heckler from the back of the crowd.
The speaker ignores his critic; he goes on:
“When we get freedom, after the coming revolution, you’ll all be able to smoke cigars like that one!” he says as he points to a prosperous looking gentleman smoking what seems to be a big Havana cigar.
“I prefer my fag!” shouts the heckler just out of his line of sight.
And thisd went on for some time, you see; everything that the street orator said about the marvelous freedoms that would come — to every benefit and every liberty — the heckler had some smart-alec reply...
Our speaker had just about had enough
But then street orator thought he would appeal to people’s more undeniably basic longings; food he thought!
“When we get freedom,” says the speaker, “we’ll all be able to eat in a restaurant like that one (across the road).”
“But I prefer my own sandwiches!” quipped the heckler.
“When we get freedom,” screamed the orator, unable to take any more, “…when we get freedom, you’ll do what you’re told ! !”
You know, the Moscow street orator isn’t the only person who misunderstands the nature of true freedom.
It’s not just the socialists and political intelligentsia who are confused about true freedom...
SO many people today, don’t have the faintest idea of what true freedom actually is.
Yet the word ‘freedom’ is still on most people’s lips quite frequently.
When I have visited students in universities and colleges and schools …freedom is still on their minds — even in those places where they have sometimes made an idol out of “safe spaces”!
Freedom is still one of the top pre-occupations of the younger generations.
But it’s not just the young who are concerned …the word-wide rejection of traditional Western authorities, over the last 40 years, has been justified in the name of the quest for freedom.
Some people have longed for national freedom.
Others, in developing nations have longed for freedom from colonial powers …and still long for freedom from the interference of the super-powers!
Some people ache for civil freedoms...
…others from freedom from unjust racial discrimination.
Multitudes long for economic freedom — from hunger, poverty, unemployment or homelessness in its different forms.
But everyone, in the end, wants personal freedom …in some ways mysterious to them...
I mean, even those people campaigning most vehemently for those other freedoms, even those socio-economic activists know, that deep down, THEY are not liberated themselves at a personal level...
They might not be able to consistently identify/understand the private tyrannies with which they are oppressed...
…but they KNOW that they are frustrated, unfulfilled and UN-free.
Certainly, they don’t understand the chains of sin, as a Biblical doctrine,
but they can sense their own lack of inner freedom — even if the more proud ones will not admit it!
[ Eg. ]
They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
This is as true in Jesus’ day with those under the influence of the Pharisees in
…just as true,
as it is in our day with those who only have a vague belief in Jesus.
our day with those who only have a vague belief in Jesus.
People can deny it all they like,
but should they allow themselves to be honest with themselves,
they CAN sense their own lack of freedom from the entangling influence of sin in their lives...
Because they don’t properly understand their bondage to sin, we have to explain God’s freedom for them.
You see, my friends, “freedom” is a great way to begin explaining “salvation” to modern men & women.
I put it to you that freedom is not only a popular modern word, freedom is a great Biblical word.
Freedom is a huge concept, and, a treasured experience, in the Scriptures...
And Jesus the Messiah is introduced in the New Testament as the world’s supreme Liberator!
In Jesus Himself said that He’s come
“to proclaim release to the captives AND to set free those who are oppressed.”
Later on, after our reading (v.32), in , Jesus referred to Himself saying,
“If (he) the Son sets you free, you shall be truly free.” (v.36)
Later still, in the NT, He has His servant Paul urge His readers to
“keep standing firm in the freedom into which Christ/Messiah has set us free...”
Freedom is an excellent way to begin describing to modern people what it means to be “saved” by Jesus Christ.
To be “saved” by Jesus is to be TRULY “set free”!
To be “saved” by Jesus is to be TRULY “set free”!
Have you all experienced the beginning of that splendid freedom— that TRUE freedom?
Are you currently experiencing that freedom ...and recommending that freedom to others?
One of the problems, of course, with freedom in popular thinking is that only one half of it is generally acknowledged.
In the Bible there is both a negative and a positive aspect of true freedom.
It’s easier to start with the negative aspects of freedom — the negative things from which we are to be set free.
The tyrannies from which Jesus can set us free.
Over the this w/e & next, we must unpack the primary things from which we must be set free by Jesus.
What I am saying today is that the gospel is good news of a new life of freedom and that freedom must include freedom from guilt.
We Christian disciples must never be ashamed of this aspect the gospel message which has been entrusted to us.
Sigmund Freud used to insist that all guilt feelings are just psychological — and pathological, that is to say, unhealthy feelings at that.
Well of course, Sigmund, some guilt feelings are about false guilt which is unnecessary & unhealthy...
…at one time or another, most of us have laboured under some mistaken perception that we are going to be punished for something which we haven’t truly done or which is not truly wrong.
But that does not mean that there isn’t such a thing as true moral guilt …which is when we have a real liability of being punished for our actual wrong-doings & wrong intentions.
And thankfully, some modern psychologists, from Albert Mowrer to Jordan Peterson, are at least acknowledging that we must take human responsibility & guilt seriously.
The Bible has always said that we are — not just sinners — but GUILTY sinners.
That is to say, we are liable to consequences — to retribution from God — for our sins.
And every person who has any sense of conscience left — which they haven’t smothered with rationalizations — (they) KNOW, they experience, they’re aware of at least some of that guilt.
They know the truth of Mark Twain’s famous little witticism:
“Man is the only animal that blushes — and the only one that needs to!”
All of us are ashamed of things we’ve done or said in the past.
All of us have felt the power of guilt — the sense that there’s going to be a consequence for what we’ve done...
We simply must talk about this in our evangelism!
There’s an excellent video called “The Good Test” which demonstrates the way in which to have a brief & simple conversation about this...
However you handle this, don’t be afraid to have an actual conversation about this.
And be encouraged, the other person’s conscience is on your side whenever you yourself are admitting that this truth about guilt applies to everyone including yourself.
We need to help them see what this freedom from might look like as it’s promised in .
A little boy, Johnny, visiting his grandparents was given his first y-shaped shang-hai.
He practiced in the nearby forest, but he could never hit his target.
Anyway he came back to his Grandma’s backyard after another day of missing every target in the bushland.
He spies Grandma’s pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly.
Well, the stone hit the target for once ...and the duck fell down dead.
The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching.
Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch that day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.”
But Sally said, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you, Johnny?”
And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!”
So Johnny did the dishes.
Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing.
Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper.”
Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it.”
Again she whispered, “Remember the duck.”
Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, finally he couldn’t stand it.
He confessed to Grandma that he’d killed the duck.
“I know, Johnny,” she said, giving him a hug.
“I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. ...I love you, Johnny.
What I was wondering though, was how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”
Nobody who knows they have real guilt before God’s laws which they’ve broken...
…nobody who knows that they have ignored or defied or mistrusted a Holy God...
…nobody who knows that they have real guilt is FREE.
Even if they work hard to suppress their feelings or awareness of their guilt...
…even if they work hard at excusing themselves or blaming others for their sins...
…even then the whole process twists us into knots, and we’re not free...
Nobody is FREE who is not FORGIVEN, and also made aware of that experience.
That’s what we need to tell everyone who will hear us out …and they are so much more inclined to do so when we have carefully listened to their symptoms and realize that we are only sharing the antidote that we ourselves confess to needing.
They will realize that this is a truth which will set them free if you just talk meaningfully and humbly with them for a while.
This awareness of real moral guilt can soon become a crucial felt need in their life, if it isn’t already — before you even spoke with them.
So, how do we go on from this crucial awareness of guilt to more of the gospel message as we were discussing this process last week?
Well, we tell them the gospel story which is most relevant to this particularly crucial need: We tell them:
We tell them:
That Jesus has taken on himself the consequences of the guilt of our sin …as if He had sinned, bearing the personal & judicial consequences our fault & failure.
He has taken all the consequences which would have fallen on us, including unending separation from God & all the good things He had prepared for those who love Him.
He has taken all the consequences which would have fallen on us, including unending separation from God & all the good things He had prepared for those who love Him.
2. That Jesus has become a COMPLETE SUBSTITUTE for us, in the matter of all our responsibilities & failures, by virtue of Who He is & what He voluntarily chose to do for us. on the cross.
3. That Jesus legitimately makes us free from the consequences of ALL our sins iff we join in Him by really trusting His loving grace & mercy toward us.
And that means we say we want to turn away from all we were pursuing instead of being faithful to our Creator & Saviour.
We tell the story of how Jesus voluntarily allowed Himself to enter into the death and separation from God which is the normal outcome of our rejecting God with mistrust and disobedience.
We tell our friend or acquaintance:
Thu’ this which Jesus deliberately did, we can be FREE from the weight of our guilt
…because, on the cross, Jesus took on Himself, the weight of our sins as He underwent our complete judgement.