Introduction
We were blessed to be born in a free nation. A place that does not restrict its citizens to believe in a certain way, or to live under oppressive rules. The truth is, our freedoms are not what they once were here in America.
Even though freedoms are being eroded in our nation, it is still the freest society in the world comparatively speaking. That is, if we choose to be.
I am convinced that there are people that are walking around thinking that they are free when they are not. It has been said that the hardest prison to escape from is in your mind.
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John 8:36 ESV
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
So if any individual is not a blood bought son or daughter of the Living God this morning, they are not, cannot be, truly free. And there is nothing worse than to watch people walking around in a prison without walls.
This nation was built for the specific purpose of providing a safe haven for every individual to live free from religious persecution and other tyrannies that had been imposed on them back in Europe.
Freedom is the state that emerges AFTER God has acted to remove all hindrances-social, spiritual (sin and death), economic, and institutional -that block our creational purpose.
What is your creational purpose?
To know, love, worship, and enjoy God forever.
This is a freedom that has been won for us by the death and resurrection of the Messiah. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Christian seeks to live into this freedom and to join with God in freeing others, while we await freedom’s full realization at Christ’s second coming.
As a born again believer, I have always been shocked by what people allow themselves to be hindered by. We can see all around us the need for deliverance, but few people receiving it.
They have been deceived by Satan into believing that they are free already.
The Opportunity of Freedom
Contrary to popular opinion, none of us are born free. That is a concept popularized by secular movies that deny the spiritual aspect of every human created in the image of God.
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Galatians 3:22 NLT
But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.
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Psalm 58:3 ESV
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
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Psalm 51:5 ESV
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Further, Jesus Himself declared
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John 8:34 ESV
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
We know we have sinned, but have been given the opportunity for freedom through Christ. He is the ONLY pathway to freedom.
There are no life hacks
This isn’t a subject for debate
We are given proximity to the truth before we are given opportunity for freedom in salvation by grace.
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John 8:35 ESV
The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
A slave can never obtain inheritance with those they serve. They must be freed and accepted into the family for inheritance to be valid.
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John 8:36 ESV
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Choosing Freedom
There is a lot of entitlement among the human species these days. Many wake up each morning fully convinced that this is their world, you and I just happen to be living in it.
They are fully persuaded that the world is their oyster and it is ripe for the picking. No behaviour in the pursuit of what they perceive is owed them is restricted. In other words, anything goes.
I have heard the popular saying, “I’m going to get mine” from young people in pursuit of wealth and fame. All the while their attitude and behavior leave a path of destruction in their wake. We are faced with a generation that does not mind hurting or destroying others that get in their way.
But they think they are free...
Because to have ANYBODY give them a parameter for their lives would be considered OPPRESSIVE.
The Bible tells us specifically about these people.
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2 Timothy 3:1–5 ESV
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
In another passage, Paul states that we were such people.
What changed? How did we escape being the statistics of prophecy?
Simple!
We chose life instead of death!
We chose freedom over captivity!
We chose faith over fear!
When we choose Him (because He first chose us) we are truly choosing freedom.
Jesus came to:
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Galatians 4:5 ESV
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
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John 1:12 ESV
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
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1 John 3:1 ESV
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
The world doesn’t understand our freedom, because they are bound in their hearts and minds unless they too receive Jesus as Lord! This is a vital spiritual truth for us to carry before us everyday!
Walking In Freedom
Now we come to the most important part for the believer, the active in their faith Christian.
Are we truly walking in the freedom that the Lord is given us?
Just because we are in the family doesn’t mean that we are walking out our lives as good sons and daughters. After the Book of Acts, the Bible tells us how to walk out that freedom and be strong members of God’s family.
Sadly, not many avail themselves to all that God has provided for them.
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Romans 8:1–17 ESV
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Freedom wasn’t given to you so that you could do whatever you want.
Freedom was given to you so that you could do the right thing, according to God’s standards!
Agreement from the world or any other entity outside of God and His Holy Word is not to be considered validation for your behaviour. Your judgment will come from what He has spoken.
Conclusion
Do you identify with what has been said here this morning?
Do you choose freedom?
This nation is about to experience revival, because people created in the image of God are tired of the lies they have been living under.
Pray
