We say we have freedom in Christ, but what does that mean?
We are now free from sin, but we have a responsibility to stop sinning.
We are free from the old law because Christ fulfilled the law.
We are not free from the responsibility of doing what Jesus says.
We also need to understand that freedom has a cost. If you don’t understand what freedom is you do have, how do you exercise that freedom? What can’t you do? What can you do?
Many people claim to have freedom in Christ, but many of those have no clue as to what that means to be free in Christ. Does it mean you can do whatever you want with no consequences….absolutely not! We have freedom in Christ, but the Bible also warns us regarding some inaccurate conclusions that people think they have.
Galatians 5:1: So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Galatians 5:13: For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
We could discuss the freedom of America or anywhere in the world and what it means to be free, but that is not what I want to discuss today.
Okay, lets put down here some of what the definition of freedom is:
free·dom ˈfrē-dəm
1
: the quality or state of being free: such as
a
: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action
b
: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : independence
c
: the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous
freedom from care
d
: unrestricted use
gave him the freedom of their home
e
spoke the language with freedom
f
: the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken
answered with freedom
g
: improper familiarity
h
: boldness of conception or execution
2
a
: a political right
b
But I also found this one: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint: “we do have some freedom of choice”
then look around the world right now…everyone seems to want to take our freedom of speech away. Don’t you ever wonder why they fight so hard to take away our freedom when so many have lived and died to set us free? Why are so many bent on destroying Christians and Jewish people? Why do people hate God so much?
Well, I am going to go with the last definition here for this lesson. I do know that we, as humans, don’t want to be enslaved to anyone or anything. We claim we want to be free and to most we cherish our freedom. Just ask people in countries where there is no freedom what they would do to have the freedom that we have had. People in these countries put their life on the line to get here and away from the evil in their own countries.
Do you personally value being free? What are you free from? Are you being oppressed? Are you being persecuted as many are around the world? Are you somehow being controlled? Do you have choice in what is going on in your life, your home, your work, your country? Can you talk freely or do you have to constantly worry about someone and all the woke garbage going on? Can you discuss anything that someone is not going to be offended by? Do you have freedom of choice to worship freely? Can you make godly choices without someone hating you? What can you say that someone doesn’t seem to take offense to? If you don’t agree with the other side, they want to destroy you. Why? What happened to free speech, and opinions? If you don’t agree with the left wing garbage you become the enemy and for what? Don’t they even see that their own families will also be affected by the garbage they spew out there, and the freedoms they do all they can to take away from people…on both sides.
Freedom can only be understood when we understand that from which we wish to be free. Do you really want freedom from all restraints? Do you not want boundaries that apply to you as well. Freedom from what? Freedom from who? No matter how much freedom you want there still needs to be some rules and consequences for those things. So….To ensure freedom to all, some restraints must be in place.
Well in the book of Galatians it deals with the problem of certain Jewish Christians who were teaching that all Christians needed to obey the tenets of the Mosaic Law. This was a problem.
Acts 15:1 says, While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
So why would that be a problem? Peter said in that chapter, “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” ( Acts 15:10). Paul’s words here in Galatians 5:1 are similar, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” 6) Paul in essences reminds them that they are now free from the burden of the Mosaic Law. Yet, that was exactly what they wanted was to still restrict people into doing what they wanted even though it was no longer necessary to do that. In verse 13, however, he reminds them that freedom is not anarchy. He says, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Know this…study this…let in inside of you: Christians are free, but they are not free do to anything they want.
What is the relationship of the Christian to freedom. We are free from sin. We no longer want to sin. That doesn’t mean from time to time we might, but we are free now not to sin. John 8:31, 32 ” Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Even if you are living in a country where you see no freedom, can’t move around, can’t talk about things, and no matter how much persecution you are under…you can still make choices to follow God, do what is right in His eyes. Things in this world are not going to get better because we are living in the end times and God said things would get worse, but in our mind, in our heart…we can be strong in the Lord knowing that no matter what we face here on earth…heaven is right around the corner and no one will ever persecute you again. Hang in there. Trust God to get you over that finish line.
Don’t be enslaved to sin any longer. Stop committing sin. Confess it to God and repent….that means change your direction. Ask God to forgive you, and help you.
John 8:33, 34 “They answered unto him, We are Abraham’s seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin.”
So stop sinning. Choose to stop sinning. If something or some situation is what tempts you to sin…get away from it or whoever it is. Make a conscious choice to stop sinning and daily ask God to help you not sin. Temptations will always come our way this side of heaven. We must work on staying strong in the Lord, praying for help, and doing whatever we can to get out of the circumstances that tempt us. (example: if you get drunk or do drugs…stop hanging out with people who do, stop going to those places no matter what others think) It is God we need to please and not man, and God is willing to help His kids.
Romans 8:2 states, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Peter said, the Mosaic law was a yoke which we were not able to bear ( Acts 15:10).
There are many people today who say that we are under no law at all. That is a lie. But to be under no law is to be under sin, because sin is lawlessness ( 1 John 3:4). Just look around at today’s society. Are you free? There sure is a lot of sin and lawlessness all around us.
Having freedom does not mean that we are free from all things. Rebellion does not bring us freedom, but quite the opposite. If and when we realize what true freedom is we will understand that true freedom in Christ there are limitations on our actions. (example…if you think you can do whatever you want and you want to hurt someone in any way…that is not freedom. You do not have the right in not only society to do it, but you sure don’t have that freedom with Christ) We can’t go around acting like the world does, we are better than that in Christ.
The Christian is in bondage to Christ. I’ll take that bondage. He gave His life to save mine and He has never once let me down. How could I not follow Him, trust Him, and want to do what He wants me to. He doesn’t desire to hurt me so why can’t I believe and trust Him to lead me right?
Peter, Paul, and James both considered themselves bondservants to God and Christ ( Titus 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1). The Greek word “doulos” literally means a slave. If that is slavery to be a bondservant of God I am willing to be that for Him. I know He always has my best interest at heart.
Remember John 8:31…Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.
So…no fake preaching, no stretching the truth, no substituting words, no taking out of context, no opinion over the truth of God’s word, no telling people that God changes and He is not okay with sin. God is never okay with sin.
Romans 6:18…Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
Shouldn’t we start living like we are Christ’s and not be people of this world?
Are we servants of Christ? I sure pray so. So then we need to start acting like it don’t we?
Hebrews 5:9…In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.
1 Peter 2;21…For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
What? Suffer? Does that mean that now you won’t be His? You won’t do right because somehow you might suffer? I hope not. No one wants to suffer, but if it comes…will you still be standing for Christ through whatever it is you must face? I pray so.
Galatians 5:13, 14… “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Loving others does not ever mean you think sin is okay and go along with it to appease them. You don’t make excuses for their sin. Everyone will stand before God and give their own account for their own sins. We as Christians don’t say that anything God called sin is now okay and that somehow God has approved that sin. Don’t be on the wrong side of this.
My family and I went to visit Washington DC like a month before the towers came down. We were going to go visit NY, but didn’t. I was once very proud of my country and felt it an honor to go and see all the places in DC that honored my heros, and the history of our country. To see the memorials of those we lost in battles, and it was an honor then. Well, I can tell you that I no longer think my country is on the right track and I no longer honor those in leadership at this time. I do not feel honor to those in leadership positions, and I do not like or approve of what is happening to my country. I do however love my country. I honor all our fallen soldiers, police, first responders, and thank them for their service and the families of them. As I stood at the cemetery there of our military…my heart ached. Today, even more so because as I said my country is not what it used to be and what this leadership has done to my country makes me sick. So much hate in them and all they do is go around and blame others for their mistakes and their intentional destruction of America. You would think that because they have families themselves, they would want to leave their own families a free and great nation, but that is not what they are doing. Okay, that is my rant for this day. Sorry!
As I went to all the memorials I understood then, and I understand now freedom is not free. It had a heavy price. Oh, people freedom is not free. But even though I am saying this…I also want you to know that you, if you are a Christian, have great freedom in Christ. Yet, you do not have the right to destroy what God has given us, nor hurt others just to hurt them. God is our leader not the DC nuts. We can’t even vote right because there is so much cheating out there and that is not a conspiracy theory. They are cheating to keep the power over us no matter how much they try to destroy us as a people/nation.
It took the death of God’s son on the cross to purchase our freedom and redeem us from the bondage of sin. So a question to you is this… What will you do with your freedom? Do you acknowledge the sacrifice that Jesus made for you at the cross and give him your loyalty? I know I don’t want to spend one day on the wrong side of God. I need Him. If the other side wants to call that a crutch let them, for I know exactly who I serve and why. Their opinion of me is wrong so why should I care. They won’t change and neither will I on my opinion of who God is.
Now deeply consider this statement: Although Jesus paid the price for your sin, if you reject him, you will pay for your sin yourself eternally. You will be separated from God for all eternity. There is no appeal, no get out of hell card, no deals made on your behalf. The state of your walk with the Lord the instant you take that last breath on earth…is what and were you will find your eternity to be. No Jesus: no heaven ever! You might even think hell will be a party and all your friends will be there and you will have a great time…not so. It is called hell for a reason. It lasts forever. Or…you can choose to follow Jesus and know where you will be. That doesn’t mean you just say you will…it means you will follow the Lord, that He will be your Lord, you will have a relationship with Him, and you will listen to Him. God has offered us all heaven. We make the choice. You can’t just say it…you need to live it. Don’t put this choice off if you have not already made it. You don’t know what even five minutes from now might bring your way. Choose wisely my friend for God doesn’t want you to go to hell, and He truly is offering you a way to heaven. Take that offer. It is an amazing gift to you.
Now, may the Lord bless you, keep you, provide for your needs, heal your body, care for your loved one, and give you His wonderful peace even in the midst of the storms.
God bless you!
Freedom is not free!