THE GREAT ESCAPE – Living in Freedom!
1 Peter 2:16
INTRODUCTION:
Imagine you and I had a chance to talk. How would you answer this question, “Who are you? How do you perceive yourself?” Would you just give a superficial answer? Would you tell me what you think I want to hear? Or would you be honest with me and with yourself to describe how you really see yourself as an individual?
One middle-aged woman who was haunted by memories of ritual and sexual abuse she suffered in her childhood gave this honest answer to how she saw herself. “I think I’m evil; I’m just no good for anybody. People tell me I’m evil, and all I do is bring trouble.” (The Bondage Breaker, Neil Anderson – page 43)
This woman was held in bondage by the lies of the enemy. She had swallowed the devil’s lie hook, line and sinker; she believed she was worthless and good for nothing. She believed the devil’s lie that she was always going to be that way.
What about you? Have you fallen for Satan’s lie? Are you filled with self-doubt or condemnation? Do you believe the lie, that while your sins may be forgiven, that you may be a Christian, YOU ARE HELPLESS TO CHANGE; that no matter how hard you try, you will always be a certain way. You too are evil; you’re nothing but trouble.
It is time for you to make The Great Escape! It’s time for you to break free from the prison walls that hold you captive, to let the shackles that hold you captive fall from your hands and feet. You can be free!
YOU ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION. Jesus has done everything necessary for you to live in freedom. Satan, your captor has been totally defeated!
• Colossians 2:15 (MsgB)
He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
It is up to you to live in freedom. I can’t believe for you; I can’t repent for you. I can’t forgive others for you. I can’t put on the armor of God for you. No one else can do these things for you; you must take personal responsibility for your freedom in Christ and open your prison doors. No one else can open the door for you; only you can push the door open to the freedom that is yours. All I or anyone else can do is to proclaim the freedom Christ has given to us; all we can do is tell you the doors are unlocked, so open the door.
• 1 Peter 2:16 (NIV)
Live as free men . . .
• Live as free people . . . (GW)
The only way to live in freedom is to embrace the truth. You must expose the lies of the enemy, uncover every deception. The only way to neutralize the lie and disarm deception is by believing and acting upon the truth.
ILLUSTRATION: If I show you a time bomb ticking toward a deadly explosion in your life that only you can defuse, you can choose to live in denial. Unfortunately denial won’t prevent the explosion. You could acknowledge that there is a bomb, but believe you are helpless to disarm it and just watch the clock tick down to zero. Or you can believe that cutting the red wire that leads to the timer will safely disarm the bomb, but may be paralyzed by fear unable to cut the wire. Or you can choose to cut the wire and prevent the bomb from going off.
If you are here today and believe that Jesus took your place and died for your sins, and if you believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead then you need to know some things about yourself. This is what God says about you:
o You are a child of God (John 1:12)
o You are Jesus’ friend (John 15:15)
o You have been justified (Romans 5:1)
o You are united with God in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17)
o You have been purchased by God and belong to Him (1 Corinthians 6:20)
o You are a member of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27)
o You are a saint (Ephesians 1:1)
o You have direct access to God (Ephesians 2:18)
o You are forgiven of all your sins (Colossians 1:14)
o You are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)
o You are free from all condemnation (Romans 8:1-2)
o You can know everything in your life will work out for good (Romans 8:28)
o You cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39)
o You are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
o You are confident God will complete His good work in you (Philippians 1:6)
o You are a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)
o You are free from fear because God has given you a spirit power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:17)
o You are born of God and the devil can’t touch you (1 John 5:18)
o You are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)
o You are connected to Christ (John 15:1,5)
o You have been chosen to bear fruit (John 15:16)
o You are Christ’s personal witness (Acts 1:8)
o You are a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
o You are God’s coworker (2 Corinthians 6:1)
o You are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16)
o You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 2:6)
o You are God’s Workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)
o You can approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
o You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13)
While all of these things are true, it’s not good enough for me to believe them; it’s not enough for me to declare them. You have to believe it to be true; you must make a personal declaration. “I am a child of God. I am God’s friend. I have been purchased by the blood of Jesus and belong to God. I am forgiven. I have direct access to God. I am a new creation. I am God’s workmanship. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit.”
The theme of the 2005 youth convention was “I believe.” What you believe about God and about yourself is critical to your future. What you believe becomes your actions; your actions develop your character, your character determines your future. You can change your future; you can change your character and your actions simply by changing what you believe! Lining up what you believe about God, and making what you believe about yourself agree with the Word of God is what the Bible refers to as being transformed by the renewing of your minds. What you believe changes everything!
YOU ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION. No one else can believe for you; no one else can take every thought into captivity. Only you can speak the truth to defuse Satan’s lies; only you can break free from the conforming power of the world and be free to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It is up to you.
God has not called me to be a prison guard; I’ve been called to proclaim freedom. I’m here to announce that your prison doors are not locked; Jesus has taken the keys from Satan and opened the doors. You are free!
Peter said, “Live as free men;” ladies, “Live as free women.” It is up to you to choose to be live in freedom. This morning we are going to focus on three scriptural truths that are essential for you to believe if you are going to live in freedom. You must believe, [1] I am a child of God. [2] I am alive in Christ. [3] I am a new creation.
The battle for your freedom is within your mind. Satan wants you to believe the lie; the devil wants you to listen to the voices in your head that keep you from living in freedom. Only as you personally believe the truth and renounce the lies of the enemy can you be free.
• Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
God’s word is truth. God’s word will expose the truth about what you really believe. It will cut through the deception and lies that fill our minds. It will break the chains of the devil so we can really begin to live in freedom! Are you ready to let God’s word cut through the deception that you have accepted? Are you ready to turn the light on the devil’s lies? Are you ready to live in freedom?
1. I am a child of God.
• 1 John 3:1 (NIV)
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
Living in freedom is possible because of God’s marvelous love He has poured into our lives; the Father God loves us and has called us to be His children. The reality that you are a child of God is foundational to being able to live in freedom.
Your attitudes and actions, your point of view and personality, your responses and reactions to the events and daily happenings of life, everything you say and do is directly affected by what you believe about God and what you believe about yourself.
o If you believe God is angry at you, then you are never going to feel like you can measure up to His expectation. You will continually be afraid to get close to God because He’s upset with you.
o If you believe you are a helpless victim of Satan’s schemes, you will live in bondage to the devil’s lies.
o If you believe you are unloved or unworthy of God’s affection, you will miss out on the joy of being accepted as His child.
o If you believe you are alone in this world, just another person in the sea of humanity, just a number, an orphan then you will most likely live a life filled with fear and anxiety.
o If you believe you are loved by God that you are His child, His treasured possession, then you will live your life with a sense of security and peace regardless of what life may throw at you.
Christians who live in bondage to the enemy, who are defeated and depressed, who struggle with habitual sin, who have a poor self image, who have let other people label them as a loser, these folks have missed this essential and foundational truth. If Satan can keep you from knowing how much God loves you and if he can convince you that you are still an orphan and not a child of God, then you are destined to live a joyless empty life.
Don’t believe the devil’s lies. Let God’s word act as a scalpel to cut out the cancer of deception within your heart and soul. Believe the truth and be set free from the chains that hold you captive.
• John 1:12-13 (NIV)
[12] Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— [13] children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
• Romans 8:16-17 (NIV)
[16] The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. [17] Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ . . .
God loves you! You are His child! Believe it! Confess it! Live it!
2. I am alive in Christ.
• Ephesians 2:1, 4-5 (NIV)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins . . . [4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
On the day you were born, you were both alive and dead. Each of us is basically made up of two parts: the physical and the spiritual. The physical is the flesh and blood, the stuff our body is made of. The spiritual is the inner you, your soul and spirit; it is immaterial and not physical.
While you were born very much alive physically, you came into this world dead spiritually. All of us started out both alive and dead. Physically our hearts were beating; we were breathing and haven’t stopped breathing since, and because we are alive physically we have grown and developed. Yet we were dead spiritually, void of life or power; we could do nothing for ourselves. Our spiritual being could not grow or develop because it was lifeless; your spirit was dead.
Fortunately that is not the end of the story. Because of God’s great love for us He did not want us to go through life as living corpses. God sent His Only Son Jesus to make it possible for us to be made spiritually alive. Jesus died on the cross conquering death hell and the grave; He paid the penalty for our sin so that we can be forgiven. Therefore when you, by faith, believe that Jesus died for your sin, God comes and breaths life into your spirit being. God has made you alive in Christ Jesus.
• 1 John 5:12 (NIV)
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
You have been given life, but more than just physical life. You have been given eternal life through Jesus Christ. When God resurrected your spirit from the dead, He gives you life that will never die.
• John 3:14-16 (NIV)
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, [15] that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. [16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• John 17:3 (NIV)
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Eternal life is not something you hope to get someday when you die and go to heaven. Eternal life is a reality you have NOW! Everyone who knows God and His Son Jesus Christ have received eternal life.
Knowing Jesus is more than just “head knowledge,” to know about Him or know who He is. Knowing Jesus is to be in an intimate relationship with Him.
ILLUSTRATION: How many of us could say we know President Bush? Well on the one hand we all know him in the sense that we recognize his face, and we have heard him speak so we know his voice. Some of us may have read a biography or other things written about him so we know something about his life. Most of us know he grew up in Texas and is the son of another president. But do we really know George W. Bush? Would we be welcomed into his office, or would the secret service quickly escort us out of his presence? Does the president know your name; would he recognize you in a crowd?
It is one thing to know about Jesus; it is an all together different story to really know Him. Really knowing Jesus is to move past a religious experience into a loving personal relationship. Knowing Jesus in this way is what it means to have eternal life.
Would you like to know something else about eternal life? Eternal life is eternal! When God brings your spirit to life, Satan is powerless to take that life away from you. Once you have stepped into the light of Christ, how can the darkness overtake you again? Jesus has utterly defeated Satan by the cross; therefore the devil has no power over your life. No power that is except what you choose to give him!
• Galatians 4:9 (NLT)
And now that you have found God (or should I say, now that God has found you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual powers of this world?
You have been given eternal life. Why would you want to choose death over life, darkness instead of the light, evil instead of righteousness? Having eternal life, being made spiritually alive means something else. Because you are no longer dead spiritually means you are now alive to grow and develop as a new creation in Christ Jesus.
3. I am a new creation.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
If you don’t understand your identity as a child of God, if you misunderstand that God has given you eternal life, that you are a new creation in Christ Jesus, then you will most likely believe that there is little difference between you and your non-Christian friends. About the only difference you can see is that you go to church on Sundays and maybe you try to pray and read the Bible.
When you don’t see the change, the transformation from death to life, from being a sinner to a saint, from living as an enemy of God to being adopted as His child, then Satan will take advantage of the opportunity pouring on the guilt and flooding your mind with doubt. Satan will cause you to question your salvation, to question God’s love.
Not understanding your identity in Christ gives Satan the chance he needs to make you live in continual defeat; your misery and despair escalates because you mistakenly believe there is nothing that can be done to help you. If only you could die and be free from the guilt and the pain; someday in heaven you will know the joy of eternal life, but for now it’s a continual struggle to make it from one day to the next.
Don’t believe the devil’s lie and fall into his trap!
• 2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)
[3] His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. [4] Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
God not only gives you everything you need to live a life of godliness, but he has also set you free from Satan’s hold on your life. You can break free and “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
You have been transformed! You are a new creation!
• Ephesians 5:8 (NIV)
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light!
As a child of God, because you are alive in Christ, because you are a new creation YOU CAN LIVE A VICTORIOUS LIFE OVER SIN. We can live as children of the light by overcoming the darkness that once dominated our lives. Remember WHAT YOU BELIEVE DETERMINES YOUR ACTIONS.
Paul talks about what has happened in our lives because we have been united with Christ in His death in Romans 6. This is what you need to believe about yourself.
• Romans 6:1-11 (NIV)
[1] What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? [2] By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Paul emphasizes that as believers in Christ Jesus we should not continue to live our lives in sin. Why? Because we have died to sin! Notice he does not say we will die to sin, but it is something that has already happened because we have identified ourselves with Christ and His death. YOU ARE A NEW CREATION BECAUSE YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD TO SIN.
Paul shows us that death to sin is a reality that has already taken place.
[3] Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Notice the progression from that which took place in the past to what is now a reality for all of us who are in Christ. We who “were baptized into Christ” have also been “baptized into his death.” Having died with Christ, “we were therefore buried with him.” Because we died with Christ and have been buried with Him, we also have been raised with Christ in order that “we too may live a new life.” Look what Paul says next:
[5] If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. [6] For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—[7] because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Paul leaves no room for doubt; those united with Christ in His death will also be united with Him in His resurrection. Therefore, because “our old self was crucified with Him,” the body of sin has died and “anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” As a new creation you are free from the power of sin; it is a present reality in your life. Freedom from sin is not something we wish for; it is something we have because we have died with Christ.
[8] Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. [9] For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. [10] The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Freedom from sin is a done deal! None of us need to continue to live in sin any longer. Christ died and He cannot die again; death has no power over him. He died to sin once and for all that He might live his life for God. If we died with Christ then we too will live with Him. Look how Paul concludes this:
[11] In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We are dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Believing this doesn’t make it true; it’s true whether you believe it or not. It is true because Jesus died on the cross; it is true because Jesus was resurrected again to life on the third day. Nothing we can do or say will change the reality that it is true. However, we must choose to live in the freedom of this truth.
Even though you may not feel dead to sin, you are to count yourself dead to sin. You are to see yourself as numbered among those who have already died to sin; you are free from sins dominion in your life. Don’t live by your feelings; live by faith in the Son of God who has set you free from sin.
The more you count yourself dead to sin—THE MORE YOU BELIEVE IT—the more it will be a reality in your life. What you believe will affect your actions; you will live in freedom from sin.
Being a child of God, made alive in Christ to live as a new creation does not mean we live a sinless life.
• 1 John 1:8 (NIV)
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
We may fall into sin’s trap. We sin because we believe Satan’s lie and try to live our life independently from God. However, because we have died to sin, WE DON’T HAVE TO SIN.
• 1 John 2:1 (NIV)
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
You are a child of God; you are alive in Christ; you are a new creation. Now live in freedom!
This sermon is adapted from The Bondage Breaker, Neil T. Anderson. Chapter 3 “You have every right to be free”
