The Freedom of Choice
Ps 47:4 He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob whom He loves.
Illustration: The story of the hamster. (Susie)
Adam and Eve given freedom to choose. Why did God put the tree there, knowing they would take from it?
They could have changed things as soon as sin entered.
Gen 2:9 The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—23therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Given the freedom to choose; Adam looked to Eve, Eve looked to the serpent. Who do you look to?
We are people who look to others for permission
q Abortion
q Drinking while pregnant
q Getting out of an abusive relationship
We wait for others to change things
q Suffragettes changed life for women. Laid down their lives for freedom.
q Wilberforce, changed slavery laws
People who took risks; who chose to move out of the cage life had dealt them.
Illustration: The black door and the grey door.
Israel given freedom to choose Josh 24:15
They could have stayed wondering what the Promised Land would be like but they chose to go over the Jordan. = Received their inheritance.
Susie can have the whole house, but chooses to stay in the comfort zone of what she knows; she will eat the food in the cage and not experience all the foods out on the table.
What keeps Susie in the cage?
q Fear
q Insecurity
q Unworthiness
What will coax Susie out of the cage?
q Love
q Trust
q Obedience
Christ’s redemption = freedom to choose life/death, eat/hungry, drink/thirsty, light/darkness to follow or stay.
To make a choice = making a decision
Keep running on the wheel of life in the cage or run with God and experience the fullness of life.
John 10
1“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
7Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All who ever came £before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
God makes one choice for us, our inheritance.
q Abundant Life
q Intimacy with Him
q Eternal dwelling
If the door has been opened why are you still in there?
Come and feast at His table, experience His presence and explore everything He has given you in Christ.
