In Christ There Is True Freedom Series

In Christ, there is true freedom

This month in our series Dare to be different we have been considering Different Freedom.

This evening I want us to consider the truth that in Christ there is true freedom.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians wrote: “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free”. These words, written by Paul to first-century followers of Jesus are an important truth that is still relevant to us today in the 21st Century.

Throughout his letter to the Galatian Church, Paul speaks about how Christ’s death takes away fear,

he speaks about how God provides lasting forgiveness and restoration, and He speaks of the truth of knowing that Jesus Christ has set us free not just for a day, but for eternity.

If you are a disciple, if you have repented from your sin and accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour, then you have BEEN set free by Jesus, you HAVE freedom.

But freedom from what?

What is it that you and I are free from?

Listen to Galatians 5:1 again: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

When I look at the world today, when I look at the lives of ordinary people, there seems to be far too many people who appear to be living in some form of slavery.

Take a moment and think about how many people you know who are burdened with guilt, or bound by fear, or enslaved to sinful habits, or shackled with bad attitudes.

I’m sure you can think of a few people who are not living in freedom. Maybe you can even think of a fellow believer in Christ who seems to not be living in the Freedom Christ died to give them.

We are called to be people who are living in the freedom, knowing Christ as our Lord and Saviour has brought into our lives. Paul says Jesus HAS already set us free. In fact, let me remind you of the words of Jesus in John chapter 8:31,32,34-36, Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

Why is it, if Christ HAS already set us free, so many Christians still seem to be in chains and still in bondage?

If Jesus has already set us free why are so many still shackled by fear, by sin, by wrong desires, by the stuff this world offers?

The truth is Christ died to set us free from the burden of sin, but too often we choose to continue to carry it.

Friend, do you understand, in Christ you ARE freed from the burden of your sin?

Let me remind you what Jesus has already said to us ‘“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will…’ ...add more weight to your burden? No, Jesus said come to me ‘and I will give you rest.’

On many different occasions Jesus told people – come to me and I will remove your burden of sin. We HAVE been freed from the burden of sin. Jesus HAS died and risen. Jesus HAS already conquered death. Jesus HAS already paid the price for our sins.

Isn’t it time we actually started living in the Freedom that is already ours?

Let us return to Galatians 5:1 again: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Paul warns the Galatians not to put the yoke of the Law back on themselves again.

Paul told the Galatian church they had rejected the gospel of grace, there were people who had started to say that believing in Jesus was not enough, there were people who were teaching that to really be saved they was still a need to be circumcised and to obey the Letter of the Law.

Paul told them if they believed that circumcision or anything else needed to be added then they did not believe that Christ’s death on the cross was sufficient to save people from their sins.

Living under the Laws of the Old Covenant could never bring freedom. The Law brought condemnation and guilt.

The Old Covenant law laid a burden on the people, it held them in bondage.