Cost Of Freedom 3 Series

Opening illustration: “What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer” (E.M. Bounds). The church is going in the wrong direction. It only needs the Holy Spirit, and everything will change. The greatest example is found in Acts 2 and the lives of the apostles therein.

Introduction: The Spirit of God is always the spirit of liberty; the spirit that is NOT of God is the spirit of bondage, the spirit of oppression and depression. The Spirit of God convicts vividly and tensely, but He is always the Spirit of liberty. God who made the birds never made birdcages; it is men who make birdcages, and after a while we become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on one leg. When we get out into God’s great free life, we discover that that is the way God meant us to live "the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Oswald Chamber)

What role does the Holy Spirit play in our freedom?

1. He will convict us of our SIN (John 16:8)

Conviction is not CONDEMNATION. No. Rather, conviction is ILLUMINATION. Thus, when the Holy Spirit brings conviction, it is UNTO LIFE. The gospel is the GOOD NEWS unto those – and only those – who believe.

Conviction is a revelation of the Truth to a person – both about themselves and about Jesus Christ. Conviction will always carry BOTH. In fact, the real essence of conviction is that a person sees their unbelief – in the light of seeing Jesus Christ as their Savior.

If I saw only my sin it would result in condemnation – there would be no redemption in Christ to turn to. But if I saw only Christ and not my sin – there would be no repentance. And actually, it isn’t possible to see Christ but not my sin. If I think that is what I’m seeing – Christ, and not my sin – I’m deceived.

Think of conviction as meeting Jesus Christ – of actually experiencing Him. It really is that. Conviction isn’t merely a doctrine. It is the Holy Spirit revealing to me Jesus.

What does it produce? “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)

What is the process like?

Human beings commit many SINS. We do many things that violate God’s holy law. But all of these are really the outcome of THE SIN. THE SIN is that we violate God Himself. We do this by continuing to live life on our own terms. We live independently of God. This is THE SIN. The Bible calls this, "unbelief."

Unbelief is the opposite of belief, or faith. So, it is important to first understand what God means by the term, "faith, or belief."

When we hear the word BELIEF, we tend to think of believing THINGS. To us, belief is limited to things that we consider to be true. But in the Bible, the word BELIEF means much more than that. "Belief," in the Bible means to, "have faith." And FAITH in the Bible carries more than just intellectual assent that something is true. Rather, "faith," includes a full surrender to God.

To put my faith in God through Jesus Christ means that I rest my whole self upon Him. But note that this really means unconditional surrender. Too many Christians think that faith in God means that we trust Him to do what we ask. No. Faith means that I put my whole self in His hand for HIS WILL. In short, faith means I give MYSELF to God.

The world is a sinful place, and one of the Holy Spirit’s tasks is to convict the world of its sin. No amount of preaching, pleading, or pointing of fingers will bring about the conviction of sin, unless the Holy Spirit is at work in the sinner’s heart. It is the Spirit’s job to convict. And what is the most basic sin of which the world is guilty? Jesus specifies it as unbelief.

Now notice: Adam was created one with God. That meant he was spiritually alive. But Adam sinned against God by declaring independence from God. That resulted in spiritual death. That was THE SIN. It was THE SIN OF UNBELIEF – unbelief being a refusal to surrender to God. And it resulted in DEATH. But now, through Christ, faith is surrender back to God. The result is that I am delivered from spiritual death, and once again come alive through Jesus Christ.

What we see here is that faith is NOT a force we generate. Faith is not merely a, "belief system." No. Faith is a relationship word. Faith denotes a relationship of trust, dependence, but more, a relationship of full surrender to God. Faith means I belong to God.