Sermon Central
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How Jesus Sets Us Free
Contributed by Gordon Brownlee on Oct 17, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: The Christian finds personal freedom at the Cross of Christ
How Jesus sets us Free
The Christian life is based on certain principles that provide us success in the after life, but also here on earth. This is where we learn about the importance of the Cross of Christ.
When we refer to the “Cross”, we are talking about a foundation of Christianity which is based on every benefit delivered to us by Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Of first importance was the fact that Jesus was crucified and shed His blood in order to redeem us back to God. This selfless act literally purchased us for God and paved the way for an eternal relationship.
7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
But, on further inspection we find that there were other advantages that the Cross offered us.
• The Curse
We were freed from the curse once imposed upon Adam.
13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
• The Serpent
The Serpent has had power over Adam’s race, but he has lost power over those who are now found in Christ.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
• The Law
The Law of Moses was moved out of the way as our chief standard of performance.
14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
• The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
The Tree which is synonymous with how fallen man thinks and acts has been moved out of the way. No longer do we have to gauge the meaning of life based on our own standards of good and evil.
20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
• Sin nature
The fallen nature of man is always set towards rebellion, but every act of disobedience has been crucified.
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
• Sin behavior
Behavior that is unfitting for God’s people is the result of men moving and acting upon their old nature; this is the Adamic nature. Acts that lead to sinful behavior have been removed at the Cross.
14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
The above verses make another important point. Unbeknownst to many Christians, it wasn’t only Jesus that died on the Cross; it was also the place of our death. No, we didn’t die physically; instead Jesus supernaturally invited us into His own death so that we could come to know His life. In this way everything that once bound us to the fall or made us improperly relate to the world can get moved out of the way. Even today there is no limit as to how many ways our lives can be changed at the Cross of Christ. This process can be summed up in one simple statement:
Jesus died for your redemption; but you died with Christ to gain transformation.
Once we let the Cross separate us from our former way of life, the resurrection power of God begins to move in our hearts, minds and actions. Jesus raises us up into a new and living way which is empowered by His Spirit.
