True Freedom

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?