Telling the Truth

Jill Briscoe: Today on Telling the Truth, we hear more from Stuart Briscoe's series on the real meaning of Christmas. It's called, Why Christ Came. He'll begin in just a moment.

Right now is one of the most important times of the year for Telling the Truth. As we approach December 31st, generous friends have stepped forward with a special matching grant that will double your gift to help more people experience life in Christ. That means your support will go twice as far to help share God's word around the world through Stuart and Jill's biblical teaching, digital broadcasts, and global partnerships.

So don't miss this powerful opportunity to make an even greater impact before midnight December 31st, while your gift will be doubled through the special matching grant. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org.

Now, let's hear from Stuart with the second part of his message for the Salvation of Sinners.

Stuart Briscoe: Human beings, the pinnacle of the created order, were affected by the introduction of sin, the introduction of the shattering of Shalom between God and man. That's the essence of what sin is, and it manifests itself in different ways. Sin, according to scripture, is a defilement that affects human beings that needs cleansing. It is something that gets into human beings and twists and taints and warps what we are.

Created, according to scripture, in the image of God, we are capable of inordinate creativity. We are capable of acts of great courage. We are actually able to be incredibly loving people. But the terrible thing about it is this: whilst we're creative, we're destructive. Whilst we're loving, we're also cruel. Whilst we can build people up, we can tear people down, and we can do it in a matter of seconds.

The problem is that we have been defiled. So if it's true on the macro scale to say things are not the way they ought to be, on the micro scale, we need to say, I, I, I am not the way I ought to be.

Now, the problem with this defilement entering in is that it is rather like somebody living in a defiled, corrupted environment, their immune system begins to break down, and they become very vulnerable to viruses. And sin is not only like a defilement, it is like a disease.

A disease that like a virus grows and gradually takes the control of more and more. So it's not unusual to find people who in their youth will be brought up by godly parents and taught that certain things are wrong, and because they're youthful and because they're controlled by their parents, they agree and they say that's wrong and they don't do it. But then, wonder of wonders, they're 18 and they go off to Madison.

And they go off to Madison, and what is the first thing they do? They decide to experiment on what they had previously said was wrong. Why do they experiment? Well, for one reason, because it was forbidden before, because they were told it was wrong. And there's something very alluring about that which deep down you know is wrong. So you do it.

And then you do it, and it was such fun, you do it again. And then you do it again, and it becomes habitual by the time you're in your junior year, and by the time you're in your 30s, it's an addiction. You know who I'm talking about. It's a disease, it's a disease.

And what we discover when it becomes addictive, this sin thing, this defying, this this going against what we begin to discover is it now becomes a dynamic power. So that no lesser personage than the Apostle Paul admitted this. He said this thing that's operating in me is so powerful that I freely admit the good that I want to do, I don't do.

And the evil that I want to stop doing, I find myself doing it over and over again. And then he put his finger right on it, and he said, You know what the problem is? It's sin that dwells in me.

Not a pretty picture, folks. It just happens to be biblically accurate and experientially true.

Now, if we accept this fact that shalom was how God made it, that shalom was shattered, which is obvious on every hand, that we are a part of the shattered shalom, and that it isn't just a case that things are not the way they ought to be in general, but I am not the way I ought to be in particular, and that there is a biblical explanation of that, that there has been a shattering of the shalom between me and God, and that something is fundamentally wrong with me internally, spiritually, and this thing is called the dynamic of sin that is controlling me and is contaminating me, and like a disease, is gradually corrupting me.

If that is true, is there any hope? And the answer is, well, scripture says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And it sounds suspiciously to me as if maybe I'm one of them. Maybe that's what a sinner is.

Now, scripture goes into a little more detail, so we don't need to guess. We don't need to speculate on this. The Apostle Paul, in the particular passage I read to you, said in actual fact that at one point he sinned ignorantly. He sinned ignorantly.

Now, this is a little scary. What Paul is saying is this: you can actually be sinning and not even know you are. How could that happen? Let me suggest something to you. I think there are two things that we will never fully grasp and they're related. One is the holiness of God. How in the world can we, if we are tainted and twisted and warped, fallen, sinful, whatever term you want to use, not the way we ought to be?

How can we begin to grasp the intrinsic, innate, utter, total righteousness and holiness of God? We can't. It's pretty obvious that we can't because we don't. And you know why we don't? We don't even like the term. We don't even like the subject. Even in churches, they don't even like the subject.

I remember preaching at a very, very well-known church in America on one occasion, I preached a message on holiness. The pastor came to me afterwards, he said, Wow, that was quite a load. That was quite, he said, I'd never preached that here. He said, Have you preached that before? I said, Sure. It was the first of a series of 12. 12, he said. You did 12 messages on holiness? Oh, he said, we could never do that here. I said, Shame on you then. Shame on you.

Because I'll tell you something, if we haven't begun to understand or even be interested in the holiness of God, how in the world can we understand the sinfulness of man, which is the antithesis of his holiness? Look, if we don't understand the holiness of God, we don't understand the sinfulness of man. Is it not possible we could be engaging in sinful acts ignorantly? And the answer is, of course, we could.

Jill Briscoe: More teaching from Stuart and Jill Briscoe is coming up, so stay with us. Did you know you can find more life-giving content from the Briscos at tellingthetruth.org and on the Telling the Truth app? There, you can sign up for daily devotionals, watch videos, read blogs, and access a variety of other resources to help you experience life. And while you're there, you can also request this month's featured resource, as thanks for your gift of support to help share the abundant life Jesus offers with more people around the world. Visit us online or download the app today and experience life with Telling the Truth.

Now, back to Stuart for more of today's message.

Stuart Briscoe: Paul goes on to say this, in one of the older translations of the Bible, that what he did, he did injuriously. I love that word, injuriously. That meant he was doing damage by what he was doing.

Now, you and I know perfectly well that we can engage in actions that create reactions that create reactions that breed reactions, so that generations down the road, they will actually be suffering because of what we did. We know that's true. So there is an obvious sense in which sin is injurious.

But there's a sense in which sin can injure me personally as I do it. Years ago, I met Dr. Everett Koop, the Surgeon General. Dr. Everett Koop, at that particular time, had been leading a crusade trying to get people to believe that smoking caused cancer. And in those days, there was enormous reaction against what he was saying.

People didn't want to accept what he was saying. And I heard the story about a man who got tired in the end of reading in the paper every single day that smoking caused cancer. So in the end, he got so upset about it, because he was a heavy smoker, that he said to his wife, You know, I've got to do something about this. And she said, Do something about it! So he did.

And he canceled the newspaper. Why? Because it doesn't matter if it's dangerous, if it's desirable. We can sin ignorantly, we can sin injuriously. We can sin indifferently.

I don't know how many times I've had people come to me for some spiritual advice, come to talk. I've tried to be gracious, but I've also tried to be honest. And we're told to try to speak the truth in love. That's not easy. Sometimes you speak the truth, it doesn't come across very lovingly. Sometimes we are so loving, we'll bend the truth a little bit.

So you try to do this as a pastor, and it doesn't always sit well. I don't know how many times I've had people say, Well, that's your opinion. I said, You did ask for it, but I said, in actual fact, it isn't my opinion. It's what God says. Well, I know God says that, but God loves me. God loves me unconditionally.

So what are you going to do? Well, I'm going to do it. Oh, okay. Okay. So they go out and they sin, indifferent to the fact that God says, Don't do it.

You see, look, we got a problem. In the beginning, God created shalom. Shalom has been shattered. We know it on a universal scale, on a cosmic scale, on the relational, national, international scale, in politics, in education, in family life, in marriages, we know shalom is shattered. Will we accept the fact that the root problem is in me?

The root problem is in me. I'm the sinner. And will I accept the fact that I don't seem to have the will or the desire or the power to conquer it? I need a savior. I need somebody who can intervene.

And the good news is this, that God is looking down from heaven on this world that he created, characterized by shalom. And he's looking at it and he's saying, That's my world, and I want it back. Son, go get it.

And the little baby that was born in the stable and cradled in the manger is the eternal Son of God who came at the behest of the eternal, immortal, invisible, all-glorious God, at his behest, to get it back, one person at a time, one person at a time by saving them. For Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Now, what does it mean? What does that mean? Don't get alarmed, I'm not even going to go into details, I'm simply going to give you three points to take away and ponder. This is what it means that Jesus came to save sinners. It means, first of all, that he came to do something that would deliver us from sin's consequences.

And the result would be forgiveness, eradication of guilt, and reconciliation with God. Does that sound appealing? Does that sound like a step towards order, harmony, shalom?

The second thing that salvation does is it gives us deliverance from sin's contamination, sin's contamination. If there is something that is spiritually viral about our condition, wouldn't it be wonderful if internally, instead of having a sense of dysfunction, a sense that things aren't the way they ought to be, we could gradually, slowly but surely, begin to get a sense of inner health and inner wholeness?

You know what I mean? If we could be saved not only from sin's consequences but be saved from sin's contamination. And wouldn't it be marvelous if we could be saved from sin's control, where this thing called sin, this disruption of the shalom between God and us that has produced an anti-God dynamic within us, wouldn't it be great if another dynamic could come and overpower it and overwhelm it, become a counteracting dynamic?

So that we would be free. Have you noticed that just about every time you sing songs in a church, you'll sing something about being free? Have you ever asked yourself the question, Free from what? Free for what? You see, you should always you should always ask questions when you're singing songs. Somebody said, Christians don't tell lies, they sing them.

That's why you should think when you're singing. That's why you take a break sometimes. Let somebody else sing while you think what they're singing. So when you sing about being free, free from what? Free for what? Maybe the kind of freedom we talk about is not the freedom that Christ came to give. For the freedom that Christ came to give is not freedom to be what I want, it's freedom to be what I ought.

And freedom to be what I ought is freedom from the dynamic of sin that stops me being what I ought to be, counters it, and gives me the opportunity to live in newness of life. And that's why Christ came. He came to save sinners. And I'll freely admit, I'm one of them. Will you admit that?

Then will you take another very simple, basic step, the most sensible, logical step indeed, and say, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's the only logical step to take. Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Then read what Paul says about the transformation that happened in his life and look for it in your own. The reason for the season.

Jill Briscoe: Stuart, since mankind is fallen and sinful, how do we ever begin to fathom something like the holiness of God?

Stuart Briscoe: Well, you're quite right that mankind is fallen and sinful. To be fallen means that nothing, including me, is the way it ought to be. Nothing about me is the way it ought to be. That means that my ability to grasp truth is not the way it ought to be. It means I cannot possibly grasp all of it. It means I cannot grasp any of it perfectly. But what it does mean also is that God has given to me his Holy Spirit. He's given to me his revealed truth in his word.

When I expose myself to the word and I open myself to the Spirit of God writing it deeply upon my heart, then I begin to understand what it is that God is revealing about himself and his purposes. And I cannot escape the fact that when I get into a discovery of what God is revealing about himself, however inadequately, however imperfectly, I have to accept the fact that he is revealing himself to be holy. And I want to learn all that I possibly can about him. And I'm going to discover that this begins to have a transforming impact on my life.

Jill Briscoe: Stuart, how does the freedom Christ gives us, the freedom to be what I ought, set us free in a way nothing else does?

Stuart Briscoe: I remember immediately after 9/11, when I got back to America, I'd been in Europe when 9/11 happened. I was amazed at how many people said the same thing to me. They said, We are outraged that these people attacked our freedoms. And the word freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom seemed to be on everybody's lips. Now, that that was interesting to me and so I tried to engage people in what they understood by freedom. And generally speaking, their idea of freedom was the absence of restrictions. And that spelled out in the freedom to do what I want, to be who I want, to go where I want, to have what I want. So, in other words, it was the idea of freedom was an absence of restrictions on my desire to be what I desire to be.

And the freedom that Christ offers is not the freedom to be what I want, it is the freedom to be what I ought. In other words, it isn't a case of God taking away restrictions, it is a case of God taking away hindrances, taking away the things that would spoil us, taking away the things that would militate against us being what he created us and redeemed us to be. It's an entirely different view of freedom.

Jill Briscoe: Thanks for joining us today. We hope today's message has encouraged you to know Christ more deeply and live in the joy of His truth. Right now is one of the most important times of the year for Telling the Truth. As we approach December 31st, generous friends have stepped forward with a special matching grant that will double your gift to help more people experience life in Christ. That means your year-end gift will go twice as far to help share God's word around the world through Stuart and Jill's biblical teaching, digital broadcasts, and global partnerships.

Every day lives are being transformed as people discover the peace and purpose that only Jesus gives, and your year-end gift makes that possible. So don't miss this powerful opportunity to make an even greater impact before midnight December 31st, while your gift will be doubled through the special matching grant. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thank you for helping others experience life in Christ through the unchanging truth of God's word. Join us tomorrow on Telling the Truth for more of Stuart's series, Why Christ Came. He'll share the second reason that Christ came, to demonstrate truth. Tune in and experience life on Telling the Truth.