"When The Son Sets You Free"
INTRODUCTION
In the movie Brave Heart Mel Gibson plays the role of a man from Scotland whose name was Wallace. It was a great movie - very graphic in the battle scenes but it really gave you a feel of what battles were like back in those days.
Wallace was trying to win Scotland’s freedom from the cruel rule of England. The King of England at this time was a man named Longshanks and he was as cruel as he was wicked. Longshanks hatred for both Scotland and Wallace grew as the movie progressed as Wallace won many victories against England..
But in the end Wallace is betrayed by a friend and captured by Longshanks who is now older and very ill. It is Longshanks plan is not merely to kill Wallace but to have him beg for mercy and a quick death.
As the movie ends Wallace is brought to the court yard before a jeering crowd - the mock him spit at him throw things at him.... And then the Kings executioner begins to torture him... telling him that if he begs for mercy they will make the death quick.
Meanwhile Longshanks is up in his room - on his death bed - waiting to hear his enemy Wallace beg for mercy....
After not responding Wallace tries to speak - though it is difficult because his throat is missed up from being tortured -- the man in charge of the torture gets the crowd to be silent so they all can hear Wallace beg - but instead of begging for mercy -- Wallace summons up what little strenght he has left to scream with great force the word --FREEDOM!!!! it’s sound penetrating the air - and reaching the ears of Longshanks.
Freedom is a powerful word, it is a driving concept. Men have fought battles, gone to war and sacrificed greatly in order to gain freedom for themselves - or for their country...
Yesterday was the 4th of July - a day where we celebrate the anniversary of America’s freedom from England.
In 1776, 50 men signed a document written by Thomas Jefferson. "When in the course of Human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve a political bond which they have committed with another and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitles them.... We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
That document was the Declaration of Independence signed in congress on July 4th 1776. Declaring America’s freedom from the oppressive rule of England.
And "Freedom" has been the battle cry of this country for over 200 years...
But unfortunately today, many in our country have a much different idea as to what this freedom is, than did our founding fathers...
Many in our society today are clueless as to what freedom is. Many think that freedom means, that they are free to do what ever they want - whenever they want.
Millions of unborn are murdered each year and its called the freedom of choice. Pornography fills the magazine racks and movie screens and they call it freedom of speech... Cults are formed, magic practiced, the physic network grows, black is worn and satan in worshipped and they call it freedom of religion.
And many believe that freedom means that they are free:
to do drugs and have sex with whoever or whatever they want -- . they think it means that kids are free to do whatever they want to do in school - go or not go --- study or not study.
and others think that freedom means - you can do whatever you want behind closed doors or whatever it takes to get a ahead...(and you could probably add more to those list.)
And tragically or ironically the things that are supposed to be evidence of their freedom, have in reality enslaved them..
Many who get involved in drugs and drinking find themselves enslaved to: addiction, prison, lost homes, lost families...etc
And sex; anytime, anyplace, anyone has led to: aids/death/std’s, unwanted pregnancies, destroyed families, broken hearts from being used... and the inability to enter the marriage bond pure and undefiled.
And kids who use their freedom in school to blow off school -- if they are not fortunate enough to have a mommy and daddy to take care of them end up uneducated flopping burgers or washing dishes the rest of their lives.
You see, for many their pursuit of freedom resulted in even greater slavery...
Do you think the people at happy hour are free?
The group White Heart has a song called Independence Day (quote some of the words here)
Jesus had just recently been baptized by John the Baptist and he had been tempted by Satan. And news about Him was spreading throughout the whole country-side, as he went form synagogue to synagogue teaching the people.
Then Jesus returned to the place where he grew up, Nazareth and he went into the Synagogue. And Jesus stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And Jesus unrolled the scroll and read,
"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS ON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PREACH GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR, HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM FREEDOM FOR THE PRISONERS AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT FOR THE BLIND, TO RELEASE THE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE YEAR OF THE LORD’S FAVOR."
Then Jesus rolled up the scroll and handed it to the attendant and then he sat down. Jesus had spoken with such great power and authority that the eyes of everyone in the synagogue was upon Jesus. And then Jesus said, "TODAY, THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED IN YOUR HEARING."
The Gospel is a message of freedom... It is a message of good news for the poor; freedom for the prisoners; sight for the blind and of release for the oppressed. And it is a message that is still needed today...because far too many are still not free.
You know, I love the words of Jesus recorded by John in the 8th chapter of his gospel...
"SO, IF THE SON SETS YOU FREE, YOU WILL BE FREE INDEED...."
-- JN 8:36
Are you free? You can be; because if the son sets you free you shall be free indeed!!! Jesus is the author of freedom and in Him find freedom from at least 6 things.
Freedom From The Law ("Do to Be")
ROMANS 7:1-7
Paul in these verse is teaching the Jewish Christians an important lesson. (The church in Rome was made up of Jewish and Gentile christians who were not getting along so well. In fact, Paul wrote the book of Romans to teach them and us, that there is no distinction we are the same before and after Christ).
And we know that Paul is talking to the Jewish christians because he says in verse one, "I am speaking to men who know the law."
You see the Jews were still keeping the law, and that was not necessary bad - it was just that they were acting as though by keeping the law they were more righteous then the gentiles.. And Paul tells them -- "do you know what you are acting like, you are acting like a woman whose first husband is dead - is now remarried but lives as though her first husband is still alive..."
Paul in these verses is drawing analogy or an illustration from marriage. (Paul’s intent here is not to provide teaching on marriage, he and other writers do that in other places in God’s Word).
Paul is simply using marriage here to illustrate his point.
Suppose a woman is in her second marriage, let’s call her Jane for the sake of illustration.
Now Jane’s first marriage was not that great, as a matter of fact it was terrible. She could never satisfy or meet the expectations of her husband. No matter what she tried to do it didn’t work, she never did the right things and never was quit good enough. In this relationship she was constantly carrying around the burden of trying to please him, trying to be something so she would be accepted and have worth in his eyes. Jane was trying "to do to be", and she kept coming up empty.
And in like manner, The lost sinner, the one who is not in Christ and under His grace, is still married to the law. He is still subject to the righteous requirements of the law. Did you notice what I put on your outline right next to being free from the law (do to be).
That’s really a good summary of what keeping the law taught. If you were to be righteous by keeping the law, you had to Do certain things to be righteous. And do you know what? No one could ever be righteous by keeping the law, everyone no matter how hard they tried could not meet the laws expectations. "ALL SIN AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD" and if that was not bad enough James the half brother of Jesus in his letter writes in James 2:10, "WHOEVER KEEPS THE WHOLE LAW AND YET STUMBLES AT JUST ONE POINT IS GUILTY OF BREAKING ALL OF IT."
Being under the law is like holding on to a long chain over a steep cliff, it only takes one bad link to kill you, it only takes one sin to condemn you.
WE can never be good enough or do enough on our own to made righteous in the eyes of God apart from Christ.
And like Jane, not only is her husband telling her she has to do to be, but society is telling her and anyone who will listen that you have to do something or be something to be valuable and accepted.
Society says, "You’re valuable only if you are pretty, and you produce. And you are definitely more valuable if you can slam dunk a basketball, throw a touchdown pass or hit a home run. Or if you have a Dr. after your name, star in a movie, hold political office, or have a 6 figure salary and an expensive car. And where does a value system like this leave the average person, in a constant struggle to be somebody or do something to be accepted, and they try real hard, but most don’t make it and they never really had a chance, and they feel that they have no value, nothing to offer that they are worthless.
The lost sinner is in a dark, hopeless and desperate situation. The world is telling Him he has to do something to be something, to have value, to be accepted AND he tries to please the world to do what it wants , but he continually finds himself coming up empty.; And the law is telling him that he has, to do to be, he has to keep all of the law to be righteous. Both are demanding from him.. And he can’t satisfy either one.
As we consider the concept of freedom let’s go back to our illustration of Jane to illustrate the power and magnitude of our freedom in Christ. Jane is now in her second marriage. And things are different, they are incredible, her knew husband loves her (really loves her), spends times with her, encourages her, and with him she can do no wrong. It is a complete reversal in her life, no longer is she carrying along the heavy load of having to do to be, he accepts her and loves her just as she is. Jane is now living a life and experiencing a freedom, that before she couldn’t even imagine existed. You can just about see the smile in her face and the new found joy in her heart.
(and wouldn’t it be silly for Jane to live as though she is still married to her first husband - to still feel unworthy, unacceptable - and try to measure up - that’s what it like to go back to the law once you have been set free by Christ)
Through Christ the lost sinner is set free, he has been set FREE from the burden of do to be, For him the law is dead, that marriage is ended and no longer has power over Him, he is now married to Christ and his grace.
He has been set free, he has value, he has worth and he is accepted, just as he is. Christ died for Him, just as he is, Christ loves him just as he is. He is now under grace. He has nothing to prove to anyone - he is accepted by the one who matters most.
The Gospel’s message, the Gospel’s power, The Gospel’s Truth, is a message of freedom and it is still throwing open the prison doors, shattering sins shackles and dispelling the darkness.
That’s pretty cool...
And that’s not all...
Not only does the son set us free from the bonds of "do to be"
He also gives us;
Freedom From Worry
Does worry ever enslave people today?
Have you ever been enslaved by worry?
Statisticians at the University of Wisconsin have studied the things that we worry about. They found that the average individual’s worries can be divided into 4 headings:
40% - things that never happened.
30% - things that happened that they can’t change
22% - petty worries
8% - legitament worries
Someone has said, "worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s trouble."
A man was worrying all the time about everything. He was a chronic worrier. Then one day his friends saw him whistling. "can that be our friend? No it can’t be. Yes it is." Thy asked him, "What happened?" He said, "I’m paying a man to do my worrying for me."
"You mean you aren’t worrying anymore?" "No whenever I’m inclined to worry, I just let him do it." "How much do you pay him?" "Two thousand dollars a week." "Wow! How can you afford that?" I can’t. But that’s his worry."
Worry distorts our thinking, disrupts our work, disquiets our soul, disturbs our body, disfigures our face. It destroys our friends, demoralizes our life, defeats our faith and deflates our energy....
If you have ever found yourself caught up in the clutches of worry - you know those things to be true.
The word for worry in the bible - is a compound greek word consisting of the words divide and mind --- and it means to divide the mind. Worry divides the mind between positive thoughts and damaging thoughts.
When the son sets us free he truly sets us free, and He wants to set us free from the destructive power of worry.
On that great hillside sermon Jesus told us;
MATTHEW 6:25-34
Do people worry about their life? about money? about food? about their body? about fashion?
Why is that?
Said the Robin to the sparrow
I would really like to know
Why those anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so
Said the sparrow to the robin
I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly father
Such as cares for you and me
Jesus taught that if God takes care of the lilies and the sparrows he will certainly take care of us. God knows that we have needs - He knows what they are; "For the pagans run after these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them..."
Okay Jesus said don’t worry - (a ko na ma ta ta - Lion King)
But why is it so hard to really break free from worry...
If you really want to break free of worry you need to do 2 things; the first is found in this text in Matthew...
>>> You need to "seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well..."
Seek God first and let Him take care of all of that other stuff.
>>> The next key to breaking free of worry is found in Philippians
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:6,7
Do you see the key for breaking th chains of worry? "present yourt requests to God" -- put your worries and concerns in his hands and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds.
The word for guard in this verse is a military term used to describe the posting of a sentry. God will post his peace to Guard our hearts and minds so that worry cannot get in...
And I can tell first hand that this really works....
And did you notice the common element in both seeking God’s kingdom first and presenting your request to God; they both have within them the element of trust....
WHEN THE SON SETS YOU FREE YOU SHALL BE FREE INDEED!
FREE FROM: THE LAW (DO TO BE); FREE FROM WORRY
Freedom From Fear
Christ has set us free from fear...
Many people live in constant state of fear; they are always afraid of something, they see a crisis, a problem and a calamity around every corner.
HOW DOES CHRIST SET US FREE FORM FEAR?
Jesus said the following in Matthew 12;
"I tell you, my friends do not be afraid of those who kill the body and can do no more. But I tell you who to fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." -- Mt 12:4,5
(what’s the worse anyone can do to you?)
When we fear God >>>>>>>>> We fear nothing else
When we don’t fear God >>>>>>> We fear everything else
When you fear God you come to Him and love him and as John says in 1 John 4:17; "perfect love casts out fear..."
Freedom From Hopelessness
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you...."
Have you ever been without hope?
Have you ever watch a sports team play who has lost all hope of winning?
Why do people give up?
Why do people say such things as: "why bother" "what’s the use" "why go on"
A study was done on POW"s in the Korean war of 1,000 men who died in captivity - and the only reason they could come up with to account for their death was they had lost hope.
Why do people commit suicide - because they feel that there is no use in going on - things will never change, never get better, life will always be this way. That’s what many today believe life stinks and then you die....
Christ frees us from this mind set because we have a living hope... Here me things will not always be this way... Things will get better.... better than we could ever imagine....
"He who sits on the throne says; "I am making everything new...."
-- Rev 21:5
Freedom From Purposelessness
"What do you want to do"
"I don’t know what to you want to do"
"I don’t know"
"Me neither"
That’s how many people live their lives - no direction - no purpose - and to live like that can be enslaving.
Christ frees us from that and gives us direction and purpose;
he has given us a work to do...
"God is our maker, and in our union with Christ, he has created us for a life of good works, which he has already prepared for us to do." Eph 2:10 (GN)
"I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me, in order that I may complete my mission and finish the work the Lord gave me to do..." Acts 20:24 (GN)
"the one thing I do however is to forget what is behind and do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God’s call through Christ jesus to the life above." Phil 3:13,14
Freedom From Condemnation
"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1
The word actually means "the result of judgement" So a good way to understand this term would be the sentence a judge pronounces at the end of a trial.
If you are still in your sin when you stand before God. God will bang the gavel and pronounce you guilty and sentence you to eternity in hell.
Christ frees us from that condemnation... he paid the debt we owed.
When are we freed form this condemnation?
> when we are in Christ.
How do we get in Christ? Ro 6:3; Gal 3:27
Max Lucado in one of his books writes;
It happened too fast. One minute Barabbas was in his cell on death row playing tic-tac-toe on the dirt walls, and the next he was outside squinting his eyes at the bright sun.
"you’re free to go"
Barabbas scratches his beard. "What?"
"You’re free, they took the Nazerene instead of you."
Barabbas has often been compared to humanity, and rightly so. In many ways he stand for us; a prisoner who was freed because someone he had never seen took his place.
But I think Barabbas was probably smarter than we are in one respect.
As far as we know, he took his sudden freedom for what it was, "an undeserved gift." Someone tossed him a life preserver and he grabbed it, no questions asked. You couldn’t imagine him pulling some of our stunts. We take our free gift and try to earn it or diagnosis it or pay for it instead of simply saying "thank you" and accepting it.
Ironic as it amy appear, one of the hardest things to do is be saved by grace. There is something in us that reacts to God’s free gift. We have some weird compulsion to create laws, systems and regulations that will make us worthy of our gift.
Why do we do that? The only reason I can figure is pride. To accept grace means to accept its necessity, and most folks don’t like to do that. To accept grace also means that one realizes his despair, and most people are not too keen on doing that either.
Barabbas, though, knew better. Hopelessly stranded on death row, he wasn’t about to balk at a granted stay of execution. Maybe he didn’t understand mercy and surely he didn’t deserve it, but he wasn’t about to refuse it.
We might do well to realize that our plight is not too different than that of Barabbas’s. We, too, are prisoners with no chance for appeal.
Why some prefer to stay while the cell door has been unlocked is a mystery worth our pondering.
