(SLIDE 1) BREAK FREE: GALATIANS 5:1 – “IT IS FOR FREEDOM THAT CHRIST SET US FREE. STAND FIRM, THEN, AND DO NOT LET YOURSELVES BE BURDENED AGAIN BY A YOKE OF SLAVERY.
(SLIDE 2) THE OPPOSITE OF FREEDOM IS BONDAGE! BONDAGE – subjection or slavery restraints. The basic concept of bondage is “loss of freedom" (IMAGE of PRISON CELLS/SHACKLES/CHAINS. The idea connotes servitude to another. JEWS – EGYPT.
SIN IS an ENSLAVER IN a negative sense. It makes you do things you don’t want to do and prevents you from doing what you think is right to do by God. (John 8:34) Jesus answered them (Jews), “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever sins is a slave of sin.” (2 Pet. 2:19) For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
SIN IS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCE! It takes away our freedom in Christ. It brings us into bondage again from the things Christ free us from. Sin is not only evildoing humanity, against society, against others, or oneself. But against God. SIN TAKES PEOPLE AWAY FROM GOD! IT SEPARATES YOU FROM A HOLY GOD. It makes your conscience hard and rebellious towards God.
SIN ruin lives. It ruins families and relationships. It destroys a promising future and good lives. EX: ADAM/EVE – SHAME (But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.
CURSE: to the serpent – “cursed are you above all livestock and wild animals! You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
To Eve: I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor, you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you (subordination).
To Adam: Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil, you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and dust you will return (physical death).
CAIN/ABEL – Genesis 3:10-19 CAIN got jealous of his younger brother Abel because the LORD accepted Abel and his gift, 5, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. 8 One day, Cain lured his brother to go out into the fields."[a] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.10 But the LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on, you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth."13 Cain replied to the LORD, “My punishment[b] is too great for me to bear!
JACOB/ESAU- Jacob deceived his brother Esau twice; 1) birthright and 2) the blessing of his father. "Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing (Gen. 27:35-36). Esau desired to kill Jacob once his father passed. And they live separate lives for many years.
JUDAS ISCARIOT – greed; sold his master for money and then committed suicide
Ananias/Sapphira – lied to the Holy Spirit (God) and died instantly
Scriptures insist that on their own, people cannot defeat sin. They are helpless to reform themselves. And this is a fact of life. We may earnestly desire to do good, but evil is too powerful for us. We cannot do the good we wish to do.
Romans 7:18-23 - 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[d] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[a] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind, I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin.
CHRIST SET US FREE FROM:
1. From sin and Satan – (Mat. 1:21) – “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall name him Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.” (1 John 3:8) The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil, and through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives (Heb. 2:14-15). He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (I John 2:2)
2. From the works of our sinful nature - the flesh (Rom 8:12-14) 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,[a] you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,[b] you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children[c] of God.
3. From subjecting ourselves to the law (Gal. 2:4; 5:1)/legalism/traditions/practices The law is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12) but it also brings condemnation. It is powerless to rescue us from the dominion of sin. In the first century, many clung to keeping the law/commandments of God to salvation. It makes sense: If we lead good lives, we will be alright with God. The trouble with this position is we do not lead good lives for sin is too strong. Another thing, if you break one law, you break all, and you are cursed. But the other defect is that the way of the law is not the way for which Christ died.
(3:10-11) 10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”[d] 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law.
What Christ did? He redeemed/ransomed us from the curse of the law. (3:13) 13 But Christ has rescued (redeemed) us from the curse pronounced by the law.
How did he do it? He became a curse for us on the cross. (3:13b) When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”[g]
Why did he do it? He did it to fulfill the promise God gave to Abraham. (v14) 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham so that we who are believers might receive the promised[h] Holy Spirit through faith.
Yes, sin is a destructive force, but the power of Jesus is even more destructive that His power defeated and dismantle the power of sin. HE GAVE US FREEDOM TO BREAK FREE FROM SIN! He broke our chains, swung our prison doors, and torn down the strongholds in our lives. The work of Christ has freed us from the bondage of the law/sin/flesh/Satan. AND IT OPENS FOR US TO RECEIVE THE PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT THRU FAITH! WE DEPEND ON THE POWER OF CHRIST THAT DEFEAT sin and SATAN! The BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST CLEANSES US FROM ALL SINS (1 John 1:7). Forgiveness is ours because of the blood of Jesus.
What does this mean to all who would put their faith in Christ?
5:1-4 and 6-12 – WE CAN CHOOSE TO BREAK FREE FROM THE CYCLE OF SIN-CONFESS, SIN-CONFESS. Now through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can say “No’ to sin and “Yes” to choices to please God! WE CAN CHOOSE NOT TO SIN and choose to walk by the Spirit. The power of Jesus is greater than the power of the one who is in the world. THRU HIS POWER, you CAN RECOVER WHAT SATAN STOLE FROM You! I hope to encourage you with a recovery story, a testimony of life changed by Jesus at Saddleback Church in California:
RECOVERY STORIES - My Name Is Elaine - I’M A BELIEVER WHO STRUGGLES WITH CODEPENDENCY
I grew up in a loving home. We took vacations together and kept in close touch with our extended family. Faith and church attendance were important in our lives, and I was involved in church youth groups throughout my young adult life. I met my husband in the summer of 1966. We started dating in the fall, and he asked me to marry him just before Christmas. I should have known things weren't going to be easy. One clue was Howard's arrival at church on our wedding day two minutes before we were to walk down the aisle. Howard wasn't accustomed to family gatherings, but I naively thought I could "fix" him. I also convinced myself that his drinking habit wouldn't be a problem. Nine months and twelve days after our marriage, our son Jim was born, followed two-and-a-half years later by his brother, Troy. At this point, I was attending church only a couple of times annually; my life felt complete without it.
My parents and siblings never realized the anguish I was enduring due to Howard’s drinking and unfaithfulness. It was easier for me to look the other way and pretend I wasn’t hurting. I didn’t want to become a statistic and was determined to keep our family together. I put my hope in Howard's repeated promises to change. Every time I reached my limit and thought I couldn't go on any longer, he'd promise to clean up his life. Things would get better for a while, but he would revert to his old patterns, hurting me again and again. After 28 years, I was still holding on to the false hope that I could remedy the situation.
We moved to California in 1982. At that point, Howard started using drugs along with alcohol. He hit bottom in 1994, and our sons and I managed to get him into rehab. Afterward, I thought everything would be okay. "What else could go wrong?" I asked myself, fully expecting a negative answer. But Howard made an inappropriate comment to our younger son's wife. Although Howard tried to apologize, she was offended, but the damage had been done. The incident tore apart our family and caused lasting bitterness. That was the final straw. I was ready to give up on my marriage, convinced that I didn't have it in me to forgive Howard this time. In the spring of 1995, our friend Jim asked whether we would like to attend his church's Easter service with him and his wife, Gail. We agreed, and that was our first Sunday at Saddleback Church. Howard wanted to return the following weekend, and God began softening our hearts. Howard committed his life to Christ, and I recommitted mine. Now, with Jesus Christ included in the equation, I began for the first time to experience real hope. Jim, Gail, Howard, and I were baptized together, and Jim and Gail have stayed with us through our tough times. Since then I've seen a miracle happen in my husband. We renewed our wedding vows, and we'll celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in February of next year. Although I prayed daily for reconciliation with my son, I hadn’t seen Troy in several years and had never met my grandson Jordan. Two years ago, I began receiving Mother's Day cards from Troy, and he finally called to talk. He phoned again after their new baby, Jacob, was born, and when I was in the hospital with pneumonia, he called to say that he and the boys were coming out to California for a visit. One evening I went to Jim's house, and Troy walked into the room with both his sons. This was the beginning of our healing process, and I know God will continue to help us every step of the way. Sometimes I'm asked, "How could you forgive 28 years of shame, grief, and pain?" The reality is that it's hard for me not to forgive when I know that Jesus sacrificed so much for my forgiveness. We can't change ourselves or others by forcing the issue through sheer willpower. Only Jesus Christ, our Higher Power, can facilitate lasting change in our lives.
THE POWER OF SIN IS BROKEN. By His stripes, we are healed; by His nail-pierced, we're free. We have the victory. The power of sin is broken. Jesus overcame it all. Hallelujah, the victory of Jesus over the power of sin and Satan is ours today and every day! Hallelujah, You have won it all for me. Death could not hold you down. You are the risen King, seated in Majesty; You are the risen King! Jesus, you are greater than Satan and his lies and deception. God of peace, I crush Satan under my feet (Romans 16:20).
