Christian Freedom
The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Welcome!
Business Meeting After church today!
INTRODUCTION:
INTRODUCTION:
What if I told you that the majority of people who live in the United States of America were living as slaves and don’t even know it? Would that shock you? This doesn’t have anything to do with politics or anything to do with race. This is grounded in biblical truth and the reality of the world in which we live in.
Listen to what Paul says, Romans 6:6 “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”.
There is a kind of slavery which is much worse than human slavery, and that is slavery to sin. It is being under the power and control of an evil force that has been in the world since the beginning. We wonder why people do the things that they do. Why do drug addicts continue to use even though it ruins their lives and they know it? Why do thieves steal even when they know they will end up in prison. Why do people lie even though they know it ruins relationships? Because they are enslaved to sin.
Now listen to this verse about Jesus: Luke 4:18–19 ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.””
One of the great Christian truths is that salvation brings true freedom. And one can live as an earthly slave, yet be truly free. And one can live in earthly freedom and yet be hopelessly enslaved. And Jesus is the key.
1) God’s word does not enslave us, but sets us free
1) God’s word does not enslave us, but sets us free
John 8:31–32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.””
Explanation:
In this verse Jesus lays out the condition for the truth that follows:
“If you Continue in My Word”
If we do this, then this will happen (you will be set free).
What does Jesus mean by continuing in His word?
The NLT says “If you remain faithful to My teachings”
The NIV says “if you hold onto My teachings”
This is the mark of a true believer: one who aligns his life with the Word of God permanently
There are a lot of people today who claim to be followers of Jesus, they would say that they are Christians but their lives do not line up with the Bible. Jesus is clarifying what is a true disciple
And notice also this is not just a one time thing. The word Jesus uses is, “CONTINUE” which speaks of an ongoing action.
To align ourselves with Jesus and His principles at one point in our lives is not enough. It is the continuation of obeying Jesus, the long term commitment that Jesus is expressing here.
Real Life Examples
This happens in churches all the time. And it has happened in this church many times. Someone will come in and express a desire to follow Jesus. And they will begin down that path, reading the Bible, aligning themselves with God’s truth. And then over time things will get hard, or temptation will come, or something else and they will slowly drift away and drift back into their old ways and old sinful habits, and eventually out of the church.
And then you see or talk to that person and they are cussing every other breath, haven’t been to church is months or years, and want nothing to do with God except for Him to allow them into heaven
What happened to those people? They were not true disciples in then first place. They started out and then fell back into the world, they did not continue in His Word.
Discipleship is lifelong. If you have committed to following Jesus and things get difficult, do not stop! Do not fall back into your old ways! Do not start hanging around the old crowd who tempts you to sin! Do not turn around and pick back up that old life! To do so is to forfeit heaven, to accept hell, to leave Jesus, to fall away!
Perseverance is the key! Staying steady in your walk is the key! You don’t have to be some super spiritual person who is so expressive and waving their hands and shouting, most of them never make it anyways.
It is the people who come and remain steady and remain consistent and steady that seem to become true followers of Christ.
We continue in Jesus’ Word one decision at a time.
When you leave this place of worship today, you will face decisions. And if you are serious about salvation, you must make your decisions based upon biblical principles. You may very well this week encounter something that you heard in this sermon today. Often God will prepare us with the sermon for what is coming. But you will have the choice to obey or disobey. One decision at a time.
What will you do tomorrow when you are at work and no Christians are around you to hold you accountable? What will you do when Friday that old crowd comes over and tries to get you to go out with them? What will you do when following Jesus costs you dearly? Will you still continue in Jesus then?
Let me encourage you with this. I have never regretted obeying Jesus. NEVER! And you will not either.
Jesus says when we continue, we will know the truth
Jesus says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”
One of the reasons people stop following is because they do not do it long enough to experience its power. People come with messed up lives or looking for hope and if things get hard or they do not find it quickly they give up and turn back. You may hear something like, “I’ve tried God and it does not work”. They did not see an immediate difference in their lives because their commitment was shallow and short lived.
But those who do continue in the Word, discover the absolute truth of Scripture. “you will know the truth”…..That is every promise, every truth, every principle, every prophecy, every declaration comes from the very mouth of God and is absolutely true.
Scripture has the ability to authenticate itself. When we make a real commitment to obey the Word of God, we will come to realize that it’s source is truly God
Once we begin to see that Scripture authenticates itself, and every word of the Word of God is true, then do you know what happens? It becomes much easier to trust.
“You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”
Many see God’s Word as restricting. The majority of the world’e response the Christian faith is that if I become a Christian then I will live a boring and dull life. I have to follow all these rules and it will take all the things I love away and make me miserable.
But Jesus say that’s actually backwards. Committing our lives to do what Jesus tells us to do will actually bring true freedom to us and give us real, satisfying, life.
It is through the knowledge of spiritual things that God saves people. When people hear spiritual truth and take it in and digest it and think about it and honestly evaluate their lives against it…..that is what God uses to save people and free them from sin.
You take a man who has never really thought much about God at all, considers himself a good person, probably go to heaven he thinks because he is good in comparison to the world. And someone comes and gives him spiritual truth and he really listens to it. And he hears that he is a sinner and he will be judged for those sins when he dies. And that begins to disturb him deeply and then he hears about Jesus and that salvation is offered to the whole world through Christ and that Jesus forgives sins and clothes sinners with His righteousness. It is the truth that sets him free.
Someone once said: “He who is a slave to the compass is the master of the oceans; the rest have to sail close to the shore.”
The compass is what the sailors used to guide their ships with. Submitting to that compass would actually gives freedom to sail wherever they wanted. This is also the case with truth.
Truth will liberate you when you submit to it. We must let truth enter into our minds and hearts and work deep down within us revealing and transforming our lives.
Application
How can we remain in God’s Word if we do not read it regularly? It is not enough to hear it preached once a week, we need to make it a part of daily lives.
The Bible is not a book of rules to follow, as most people see it, but a book of principles. these principles teach us how to act and respond in any given situations and in our day to day decisions.
Be careful about reading the Bible for signs rather than principles to live by.
Example:
Let’s say your praying about having a baby and you are reading through the OT and come across the story of Hannah in 1 Sam and God gives her a baby and you take that as a word from God that your going to have a baby. That is a very dangerous way to read the Bible and can actually hurt your faith.
Read the Bible to extract principles to live by, and live by them. Do not rely upon the circumstances from Scripture to match your circumstance. Remember it was the Word of God that Satan used in the wilderness to tempt Jesus, and he will use it with us too. I’ve had this happen to me many times and have learned that the teachings of Scripture is what we can trust.
The goal of a disciple is to be controlled by the Word of God. To love it, to search for it, to make it our life ambition, to come under its authority and live by it, to cherish it, and to share it.
2) Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin
2) Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin
John 8:33–34 “They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”
Explanation:
The world’s idea of slavery
These Jews are thinking of enslavement as when the Israelites were in Egypt and lives as slaves for 400 years. And they tell Jesus, they have never been enslaved, how is it that you say we will become free.
But Jesus is not talking about human slavery, but Spiritual slavery. The concepts are very similar, each has a master/slave relationship. The slave serves the master, has no control over his own life, and is indebted to that master for life.
In fact the 400 years of slavery in Egypt is a picture of the slavery to sin that affects the entire human race.
Who is it that enslaves the world? Jesus says, “sin”
Rom 3:9: “Both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin”
The Bible teaches that sin is a master who controls and dominates the human race. It is a powerful force that controls people and forces them to obey its will. It is seductive and stealthy controlling the world and the world not even knowing it.
Principle: Most people who are enslaved to sin do not know it. That’s the issue with the Jews here who deny ever being enslaved! That is because people who serve sin have no idea it is that power that they are obeying, following, and devoting their lives to.
Most people see sin as one individual bad habit that they need to change to make everything better, or make them acceptable by God. If I just quit cussing, or if I just stop this bad habit then I will be ok. If I could get rid of this besetting sin, I will no longer be a sinner. God will be pleased with me. NO, sin dominates and controls the human race.
Why do alcoholics drink their whole lives away when deep inside they’d love quit and be sober?
Why do greedy people work their lives away storing up money knowing they are wasting their lives?
Why do homosexuals continue to live in homosexuality when they would much rather be heterosexual?
Why do people continue in destructive sinful habits, ruin marriage, fly off the handle with anger, murder people?
Because sin enslaves humanity. It forces people to serve it.
Who does Jesus say is enslaved to sin?
“Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin”
There are no sinless people. The Bible says “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).
So who is Jesus speaking of when He says “those who commit sin” if everyone has sin.
He is talking about those who practice sin
Notice Jesus does not mention levels of sins, like those who murder others, or those who rob banks
It’s the practice of any sin!
Scripture makes the difference between the sinner and the saint by those who practice sin and those who practice righteousness.
And doesn’t that match up with this passage very well? Those who continue in my Word are truly My disciples. Those who practice righteousness, that is doing what is right by God’s Word are those who have been freed from the power of sin
But those who practice sin, even small things on a regular basis is evidence that they are enslaved to sin, and have yet to be set free.
Sin always promises freedom, but it brings bondage. And one of the most deceitful parts of sin is that those who are in bondage to it think they are free.
When Satan says he’s going to give you freedom, it’s freedom to do what you want. The kind of freedom Jesus gives is the freedom to do as you ought to do. Those who do as they want are not free at all. They are actually slaves of sin.
All sin has great consequences. Most of the time we do not realize the consequences sin brings until much later on when the sin has run its course. And Satan knows this all too well. So he makes sin seem appealing and fun, until it brings to destroy that person whom has taken the bait.
Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
3) Only the Son of God has the keys to house of slavery
3) Only the Son of God has the keys to house of slavery
John 8:35–36 “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Explanation:
Jesus is making the exclusive claim that only the Son can set us free. Only Jesus can bring true freedom to us. No matter what we do, we cannot free ourselves from sins power and grip.
One of the biggest lies Satan tells us is that we can free ourselves. That we can clean ourselves up and make ourselves whole.
Jesus told a story about a man who cleaned himself up, and when he did the demon left him. But it came back with 7 more demons and last state of the man was worse than the first.
I am telling you the only One who can set men free is the one has the keys to death and hades. And Jesus Christ can come into your life and deliver you from that overwhelming power in an instant! No greater power on earth than the power of Jesus. He will deliver you, He will save you, He can give you true freedom that you could never give yourself!
Look what else He says, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”
Freedom from Jesus is permanent! There is no going back! There is no falling back under sins power! There is no more alcoholic, drug attic, adulterer, liar, immoral person, the one whom Jesus sets free is free indeeds and will never be enslaved again!
People says once an alcoholic always an alcoholic. NOT IN CHRIST! Maybe in CR but not in Christ!! I am not an alcoholic but I once was. I am a new creation. I am a child of God. I have been set free and alcohol has no grip on me when I gave my life to Jesus.
Application:
You don’t have to fear when you come to Christ. You don’t have to wonder if you’ll make it or make a fool of yourself. It is the power of God working in us that sets us free, and it’s the power of God that keeps us free.
That offer that Jesus gave that day 2,000 years ago is still on the table today. It is offered freely to the world to come out from under the cruel tyranny of sin and come under the gentle yoke of Jesus.
But that means we must consciously and completely turn away from the sin in our lives and turn to Jesus with all of our hearts. We must leave our old lives behind before Jesus can give us new life. We must be willing to commit our lives to His ways, His teachings and continue in them indefinitely, and then He will bring true freedom.
Have you truly done that? I’m not talking about a prayer, or church membership, I am talking baout a full unrestricted commitment to Christ. Have you don’t that? Why don’t you come to Jesus today? Come and just see how great He is and the wonderful life He has for you.
Romans 6:6–7 “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”
~PRAYER~
Business Meeting
Business Meeting
Opening Prayer
We only have one item of business since this is a special called business meeting
Vote to Replant Eastview
Meeting adjourned
