Heavenly Father, we are indeed grateful that we can meet here tonight in freedom, in peace,
to understand you, to explore you, to worship you, to focus our lives together around you.
We thank you for that privilege and we understand that not everyone in the world, not all Christian people can do that.
So please protect that opportunity in this country.
Protect this church, protect all who would like to gather in the name of Christ.
And Lord, tonight as we open your word and think about how it applies to our lives,
please grant blessing and wisdom to the words I have to say and open our hearts to receive what you have to offer.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Can you all hear me all right? Is there a big echo sound? It means I should move this somewhere.
Can you hear up the back? Okay, I'm getting nods. That's good. It must just be my old age and my hearing.
Thank you for the invitation to be here tonight.
And it's always a privilege to come to a church where you're not regularly part of the congregation and to deliver a message.
But you always do it with a little bit of fear and trepidation.
Think, what have these people been through this week?
I've just heard about all the amazing things that are happening at the church.
Big changes and building projects.
And is it a school, a junior school that's, or preschool, is it?
A Chinese school?
Fantastic.
What a marvellous thing to be adding to your community.
But of course, I come in knowing almost nothing about you.
Nothing about your challenges this week.
Nothing about the pressures on your life.
Nothing about the sadnesses you've experienced or the joys you've had this week.
We come together with a common bond that we want to know Christ.
We bring all those things, all those stresses, all those joys, all those family situations,
to that one goal, to know Christ.
And the passage I've brought to you tonight, I think, is one that is extremely comforting,
extremely liberating for those who want to know Christ.
Because it's saying to us that if you know the teachings of Christ,
you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
If you come to this man through this book,
you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
It's an enormous claim.
It's one that you'd be right to be sceptical about.
One that we need to justify.
One that we need to explore and see what it has to offer us today.
Do you know anyone who's blind?
How many people here know someone who is blind?
Anyone?
One, two, three people, four people do.
That's quite a large percentage, actually, in any gathering.
It's not the most common of problems,
most common of afflictions in Australia.
But around the world is a very common problem to be blind.
In my Bible Society work, I've come across the names of a couple,
and forgive me, I need to read them because my Chinese expression is so terrible.
It's Ma Hongming and his wife, Zhao Bilian.
Two Chinese people, they live in a rural village.
They're in their 70s, and they've both been blind since birth.
I can't imagine how hard life has been for them.
How much they just haven't experienced.
How much of what I take for granted is completely dark to them in their world.
How difficult the just basic activities of life have been in a rural village in China,
blind since birth.
Well, we received a letter from them.
A letter that went to the Bible Society office, I think, in Singapore.
And they had received a Braille Bible that's produced at the Amity Bible Press in Nanjing.
Braille Bibles are enormous things, because you know Braille,
there's all the little bumps, and you run your fingers along the bumps to read when you're blind.
And these are Braille Bibles that can be understood by an older Chinese couple.
And the letter turned up in the office, and this is what it said.
Thank you for the Bible, which we read every day.
We have no worries about the future.
God is with us all the time.
People have asked us before if we're worried about what is to come,
since we're already so old and we have no children to support us.
We thank them for their concern.
We told them that we simply take whatever comes our way, whenever it comes.
After all, God is in control of our lives.
Why should we be anxious about tomorrow?
What an extraordinary thing to be able to write
as you come towards, I guess, the end of their lives,
having had such difficulties, such struggles,
but to feel such peace, such contentment,
such release from anxiety.
And it's come from the Word of God.
It's come from knowing the teachings of Jesus.
I can hear echoes of all sorts of Bible passages
that they would have read down the years,
from Matthew 6 or Luke 12 or Philippians 4, 6,
cast your cares, your anxieties on God,
who alone knows what tomorrow will bring.
Now, all of these echoes of Scripture
that must be in their ears as they think about it.
And our passage tonight also comes to mind
because here's a couple who know the truth
and the truth has set them free.
They know the truth about life.
They know what really matters.
And knowing that truth has set them free.
Now, of course, it hasn't set them free
from their daily struggles,
from making a cup of tea when you're blind
or from working out where the money's going to come from
or who is going to care for me when I'm old.
They've still got the daily struggles,
more struggles than we can possibly imagine.
But at a deeper level or a higher level,
at a more profound level,
they don't have a worry in the world.
The truth has set them free.
Well, friends, from this passage
that was really well read for us tonight,
thank you very much,
I want to leave you with just four thoughts
around what it means to be set free
in the truth about Christ.
Four thoughts about what it means
to be radically free.
Not free from every anxiety,
not free from worrying about what Christmas presents
you've got to buy for your uncle
or not worried about your job,
released from worrying about your job next year
or your marriage or whatever it is,
but radical freedom.
The kind of freedom you get
when you've profoundly grasped
what really matters in this world,
when you've really got the truth.
The first point is that
when you come to know the truth through Jesus,
you enter into a relationship
with him and his father.
And it's described in the Bible
as a disciple relationship.
When you know the truth,
you enter into a relationship
with Jesus and his father in heaven.
Very few religions actually offer you
a relationship with God.
Most religions are about law keeping,
about appeasing the anger of the deity
or about keeping your place in life.
Maybe adding some wisdom,
understanding the world a bit better.
But very few religions offer you this,
the idea that you would know God
and be known by God.
If you hold my teaching,
says Jesus in verse 31,
you're really my disciples,
my followers,
those who are known to me,
those who are close to me.
In a society like Australia,
Christianity has been preached
for a very long time.
After all, the Bible Society came here in 1817.
Bibles were available to the early convicts,
to the early settlers.
The message of Christianity has been preached
and many people turned up in the churches
and would hear that message.
But so many left it at that.
So many didn't take that extra step
that brings you into relationship with God,
to become a disciple of Jesus,
someone known to Jesus
and known by Jesus.
Deeply understood,
deeply known
in a deep relationship with God.
That is what Christianity offers.
That's the kind of understanding of yourself
that can set you free.
Uniquely among religions,
this is offered even to sinners,
even to those who fall short of God's standards.
that the truth will set you free
to be in relationship with God.
So firstly,
if you know the truth,
it sets you free
to be in a real relationship
with Jesus and his Father.
Secondly,
Jesus' teaching brings truth
into a world of spin
and lies.
Jesus' teaching brings truth
into this world
that is full of spin
and lies.
We've never had a time
where you have more access
to more information
about more things
than today.
The average person
has access on their phone
to more information
than all the professors
of the world had
in the 19th century.
More access to information
and power
than those who landed
on the moon had
in their computer systems.
You have profound access
to knowledge.
The libraries of the world
are open to you.
Whereas in the past,
to read a book,
you had to go to a library,
look for that book,
take it out,
or even worse,
go to a bookshop,
buy that book,
take it out.
You've got your online stores now.
You can download them
in moments.
You've got access
to the literature
of the world
that couldn't have been imagined
just decades ago.
And yet,
how do you sort out
the truth from the lies?
How are you going to work out
which books matter?
How are you going to work out
what teaching matters?
Even the religious sphere alone,
there's plenty of religious chatter,
plenty of options
available to you.
I had the joy
of going to an opening
of an art exhibition yesterday
called the Blake Religious Prize.
And this is a long-standing
religious art prize
in Australia.
It's a wonderful exhibition.
It has on display
all sorts of artworks
dealing with the religious matters
of our world.
And it's extraordinarily diverse.
You've got perspectives
from every religion.
You've got Christians,
you've got Jews,
you've got Hindus,
you've got anti-religious material
talking about religion.
There's all sorts
of religious chatter
going on,
all sorts of experiences
to be had,
all sorts of options
being made available to you.
But Jesus doesn't offer
an option.
He claims to have the truth.
He doesn't offer
one way forward.
He claims to be
the way forward.
He doesn't offer
a religious experience.
he offers
a relationship
with the true
and living God.
And so when he says
in verse 29,
the one who sent me
is with me.
He has not left me alone
for I always do
what pleases him.
He's talking about
a special relationship
with the living God.
He's talking about
the father
who has sent him,
who has not left him alone,
whom he always pleases.
He's talking about
his closeness
to God himself.
He's making a profound
and unique claim
to reveal God to us
because of
how intimately
he knows God.
in a world
of spin and lies,
Jesus doesn't
offer us an option,
but he holds
out to us
the truth.
In a confusing world,
that's very welcome.
Thirdly,
from this passage,
knowing the truth
about Jesus
releases you
from false religion.
You may be
someone who
wants to serve God,
who attends
something like
a prize exhibition,
yearning to find
religious experience
and understanding,
yearning to know
what is true,
deeply searching.
Well,
Jesus,
through his teaching,
promises to release
you from false religion.
And this is what
was so difficult
for the Jewish
teachers of the day.
In the passage
that we've read,
you see some of
the confusion
and difficulty
that the Jews
had with understanding
who Jesus was.
back in verse 21,
Jesus says,
I'm going to go away.
You'll look for me.
You'll die in your sin
because where I go,
you can't come.
And they say,
what is he talking
about here?
Is he about to
commit suicide
and leave us
that way?
What does he mean
we can't follow him?
There's confusion
among the Jewish
leaders about
who he is.
And a deep
contrast,
I think,
between Jesus
himself
and these Pharisees.
Whereas they have
endeavoured
to serve God,
endeavoured
to keep the law,
endeavoured to
every jot and tittle
of the law,
as they say,
every particular
commandment
in precision
will be kept
by us
to please God.
Jesus says,
to them,
you'll die
in your sin.
Extremely offensive
thing to say.
Imagine if that's
what your church
leaders are saying.
This is the way
to go.
And someone comes
along and says,
no,
you'll die in your sin.
You've got it
all wrong.
You've got it
wrong.
You are from below,
he says in verse 23.
I'm from above.
You're of this world,
but I'm not of this
world.
I told you,
you would die
in your sins.
If you do not
believe me,
if you do not
believe that I am
he,
you will indeed
die in your sins.
And with that
comment,
Jesus changes
the game
about religion.
The Pharisees
are thinking,
if I obey the law,
I will please God.
Jesus comes and
says,
if you only do
that,
you will die
in your sins.
If you believe
me
and follow
me,
the truth
will set you
free.
This profound
contrast is set up
between Jesus
and religion.
the Pharisees
struggle with
this.
You can
understand them
struggling with
this.
This is a very
difficult concept
to grasp,
but Jesus
keeps showing
them a true
understanding of
what God's law
is all about.
A true
understanding of
God's law
leads you to
commitment to
God himself,
changed hearts,
not just
changed behaviour
and obedience
to the law.
He presents
a very
profound
teaching here
to the
Pharisees.
In verse
21-22,
as we've
said,
he claims
to be able
to judge.
Sorry,
verse 26,
he claims
to be able
to judge.
I have much
to say in
judgment of
you,
you religious
leaders,
but he who
sent me is
trustworthy and
what I've
heard from
him,
I tell the
world.
Jesus takes
a position
of God
as judge.
What a
thing to
wrestle with
as a
religious
leader.
He claims
to be
super close
to the
father,
so close
that they
can't
understand
it.
He's
claiming
that they
are one.
The one
who sent
me is
with me.
He has
not left
me alone.
What a
difficult
thing for
a monotheistic
religion to
grapple with.
The Jews
have taught
that there
is only one
God,
but here
is this
figure
suggesting
that he
and the
father are
one.
Surely
that's
blasphemy,
surely
that's
sacrilege,
or it's
the truth.
This
truth will
set you
free.
But so
hard to
take.
Jesus
teaching,
when
grappled
with,
releases
you from
false
religion.
It
releases
you from
that idea
that you've
got to try
hard enough
to please
God.
It
releases
you into
the
relationship
you can
have even
as a
sinner with
the living
God through
Jesus Christ.
And
fourthly,
and finally,
Jesus'
teaching here
in fact
sets you
free from
sin and
from judgment.
It sets you
free from
sin and
judgment.
It's
spiritually
powerful.
at the
art
exhibition
I saw
an amazing
range of
religious
teaching
being depicted
in either
video
installations
or
paintings
or
sculptures.
If you're
into art,
I'd recommend
going over
to the
University of
New South
Wales College
of Fine
Arts and
seeing the
Blake
Religious
Prize
exhibition.
It's a
wonderful
insight into
thinking about
religion in
contemporary
Australia.
But the
teaching,
the teaching
on offer,
there's a
profound
difference
between what
Jesus has
to offer
and what
the religions
of the
world have
to offer.
Jesus
claims not
just to set
us free from
false
understandings of
the world,
to make us
wiser,
to wise us
up to
reality.
He claims
to set us
free from
our deepest
problem,
from sin,
from our
corruption at
heart.
What a
claim.
And it's a
radical
exclusive
claim.
It's this
radical
exclusive
claim that
drives
missionary
work around
the world.
If you
think you've
found the
core to
relieving
humans of
their burden
of sin,
well, you
want the
world to
know.
You want
that to be
spread far
and wide.
You want
that message
to ring
out here
in Australia
and abroad.
It's because
Jesus'
teaching is
so much
more than
just wise
words that
missionary
movements like
the Bible
Society begin.
Because we
know that
when people
know this
man, this
Jesus, that
truth will
set them
free in
profoundly
spiritual and
deeply
relational
ways.
Jesus isn't
just a good
option.
He's the
one through
whom truth
and freedom
and purpose
can be
found.
And thank
God, even
in his
time, many
came to
see this
immediately.
Verse 30,
even as he
spoke, many
believed in
him.
I think the
message of
forgiveness in
Jesus is
so liberating.
It's such
good news,
it's hardly
surprising that
people often
get it on the
spot.
That's what I've
been waiting
for.
I've been
searching the
world to
find the
answer, to
find the
truth, to
find the
way, to
find some
teaching that
would make
a difference.
And now
I've heard
it.
Now I've
heard it in
Jesus, the
revelation of
God, the
one who is
at one with
the living
God, the
Father, the
one whose
death can
set me free
from my
sin, the
one who can
remove judgment
from me.
Well, that's
something, why
am I waiting?
That's something
I want.
And I want
it right now.
And many on
that day
believed in
him.
And then in
verse 31,
Jesus said to
them, to the
Jews who had
believed him,
Jesus said to
them, if you
hold my
teaching, you
really are my
disciples.
Come to
Jesus and
accept the
freedom and
forgiveness he
has to offer,
and you are
now in
relationship with
me.
You're a
follower of
me, says
Jesus.
You're a
disciple.
Then you
will know
the truth.
You'll
have all
the spin
and all
the lies
pushed aside.
You will
know what
really matters
in this
life.
You'll
understand God
and yourself
and the
world that
you live
in.
You'll
know, even
if you're
blind and
lost from
the light in
a village in
remote China,
it won't
matter because
you'll know
the truth from
the lies.
It will set
you free.
And you'll
be set free
from the
struggles you've
had to
please God,
the attempts,
the failures,
the worry about
the law, the
worry about am
I good enough?
In Jesus, you're
found to be good
enough.
He sets you
free.
And that sin
and that
judgment, that
spiritual
condemnation that
so many of us
feel and know is
what we deserve,
passes away as we
come into a
relationship with
the living God
through Jesus
Christ.
Friends, this
Christmas, the
message of Jesus
coming into the
world will be
preached all over
the country.
How much we
long for people
to not just
hear it, not
just understand
the story, but
for it to enter
our hearts so
that we can all
experience that
freedom that
comes from
knowing Jesus,
the true and
living God,
in human form.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father,
it's miraculous,
it's miraculous
that we can
know you.
Heavenly Father,
it is stunning
that you would
come into the
world in human
form through
Christ, that we
might be able to
grasp you in a
way that we can
understand.
Father, it is
mind-blowing that
you have preserved
this truth for us
in the scriptures,
that we have
access to it here
in Sydney,
Australia, in the
21st century, in
our language, in a
format we can
understand.
Lord, may we not
take this for
granted.
May we saturate
ourselves in your
word.
And by doing so,
may we more
deeply understand
your truth and
experience that
freedom that it
gives.
In Jesus' name we
pray.
Amen.
I'll see you next time.