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(John 8:31-36) To the Jews who had
believed him, Jesus said, "If you
hold to my teaching, you are
really my disciples. Then you
will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free." They
answered him, "We are Abraham's
descendants and have never been
slaves of anyone. How can you say
that we shall be set free?" Jesus
replied, "I tell you the truth,
everyone who sins is a slave to
sin. Now a slave has no permanent
place in the family, but a son
belongs to it forever. So if
the Son sets you free, you will be
free indeed. (NIV)
I. Living in Bondage vs. Living in
Freedom.
What’s all this talk about
spiritual. Freedom? Why do you
need freedom from sin?…. I’m glad
you ask! Let me put the answer
into four pithy statements:
1) God created men and women in
His image, to His lavish love and
grace on, to fellowship with…. He
gave his ultimate Creation
(mankind) “dominion” over the rest
of all that He had made.
2) Mankind and (womankind)
rejected God’s grace, sinned
against Him, and handed the
“dominion” of the world over to
satan. ( That’s why both Jesus and
the Apostle Paul call satan; “the
ruler of this world…the god of
this age“.)
3) All people (including you and
me) were born in spiritual
subjection to the “ruler of this
world.” Mankind, left on his own,
will naturally follow satan’s
wishes. We are “bound in our
sins.”
4) God, in His mercy, took the
only possible pathway to release
us from satan’s dominion. He, the
creator of the universe, became a
man, lived among us… taught us the
path to righteousness, then died
in our place, battled satan for
the dominion we gave away…took
back the keys of death and hell…
rose from the dead, victorious
over satan and sin and death, and
hell….opening the doorway for us
to accept his gift of salvation,
and experience freedom from the
bondage and slavery satan has
planned for us!
Jesus defeated the “bondage maker”
and became, for each of us, the
“bondage breaker”!
When you accepted Jesus Christ as
your Savior, if you have,
you inherited the divine right to
be spiritually free. The
possibility of living free from
constant willful sin is your
God-given guaranteed spiritual
birthright!
Question: Why would a Christian
person with the aforementioned
truths as their spiritual
inheritance live like none of
these truths are true?
1) In bondage to unbreakable
sinful habits
2) Bitterness and hatred
controlling one’s emotions
3) Selfishness and pride
destroying others and our witness
to them.
4) Rages that destroy our others
and our relationships to them
5) Or whatever you are thinking of
right now……..
Some of us act spiritually like a
person who inherited 20 million
dollars but continues to live on
welfare….
While satan no longer has the
power to disrupt or terminate your
spiritual walk…. If he can
convince you that he does, or that
you are not worthy of God’s
promised grace; you may
spiritually walk up to the welfare
counter to collect pennies,
instead of drawing some of your
inherited 20 million out of the
bank!
It’s time for us all to live in
spiritual freedom!
Many in this world do much sinning
in the name of freedom:
1) When a young man shoplifts in a
store, he’s not exercising
freedom, he’s simply playing
follow the leader with satan.
2) When a young woman shoots
herself full of chemicals, she’s
not living in freedom, she’s doing
what she’s told, step by step!
3) When a consenting couple has an
affair outside their marriage
relationship, they’re not being
free, they’re following the short
cut to personal destruction.
It’s time for us all to live in
true spiritual freedom!
It’s time to claim the authority
you have in Christ!
It’s time to stop believing
satan’s lies!
It’s time to resist his deceptions
in your mind!
It’s time to shut off his lies at
the doorway of your mind!
(2 Corinthians 10:4-5) The weapons
we fight with are not the
weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine
power to demolish
strongholds. We demolish
arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the
knowledge of God, and we take
captive every thought to
make it obedient to
Christ. (NIV)
(Philippians 4:8) Finally,
brothers, whatever is true,
whatever is noble, whatever is
right, whatever is pure, whatever
is lovely, whatever is admirable--
if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy-- think about such
things. (NIV)
Pastor…I want to be free…
You can be!
I want freedom in those areas of
my mind where I still feel bound
by satan. That’s your
spiritual inheritance!
I want to be able to face
temptation and so no… and then not
go ahead and do it anyway!
You can!
I want to be able to look back at
the weak areas of my life and find
pillars of strength!
You will…and so
will I!
II. The Reality of Spiritual
Freedom
Let me make sure we all understand
the theology of what I have been
saying:
If you are a believer, you have
confessed your sins, and invited
Jesus Christ to be Lord
of your life and indwell you….
It’s not an issue now of you
needing to beg God for additional
grace to release you from
temptation. He has already done
that! The difficulty seems to
be in getting us to realize just
exactly what Jesus has already
done for us!
Nothing is more foundational to
your freedom from satan’s bondage
than a true understanding and
affirming of what God has done for
you in Christ, and who you are as
a result!
If you see yourself as the
helpless victim of satan and his
schemes, you will continue to live
like his victim and be in bondage
to his lies.
If you see yourself as the dearly
loved and accepted child of God
that you really are, you will tend
to live like a dearly loved and
accepted child of God!
Several things are unarguably
true:
Point 1)As a believer you are now
“in Christ”…
(Romans 6:11) In the same way,
count yourselves dead to sin but
alive to God in Christ Jesus. (NIV)
(2 Corinthians 5:17) Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is
a new creation; the old has gone,
the new has come! (NIV)
(Romans 8:1-2) Therefore, there is
now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus,
because through Christ Jesus the
law of the Spirit of life set me
free from the law of sin and
death. (NIV)
(Ephesians 1:3) Praise be to the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every
spiritual blessing in Christ.
(NIV)
(Ephesians 1:13) And you also were
included in Christ when you
heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. Having
believed, you were marked in
him with a seal, the promised
Holy Spirit, (NIV)
(Ephesians 2:6) And God raised us
up with Christ and seated us with
him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus, (NIV)
Point 2) You don’t have to die to
get eternal life….. you have it
right now!
Point 3) satan cannot take your
salvation away from you!
(Romans 8:38-39) For I am
convinced that neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, neither
height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able
to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. (NIV)
Point 4) You are changed from
sinner to saint!
The New Testament does not call
believers sinners! It always calls
us saints!
If you see yourself as a sinner
you will probably sin like one. If
you see yourself as a saint you
will learn to live righteously
like one!
(2 Peter 1:3-4) 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.
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. (NIV)
III. The Gauntlet to Spiritual
Freedom (Neil Anderson)
Imagine that you are standing at
one end of a long narrow street
lined on both sides with two story
block houses. At the other end
stands Jesus Christ and your
eternal reward.
Your Christian life: is the
process of walking down that long
street of growing Christian
maturity… in Him.
There is absolutely nothing in the
street that can keep you from
reaching Christ and your eternal
heavenly reward!
When you come to Christ you are to
start the race toward the other
end and never turn
aside…..however…
Since the world is still under the
dominion of satan, imagine that
the row of houses on either side
is inhabited by beings who are
committed to keeping you from
reaching your goal.
They have no power or authority to
stop your forward momentum, to
block your path, or even slow your
step; so they hang out the windows
and call to you, hoping to turn
your attention away from your goal
and disrupt your progress.
Temptation comes because the
things the evil hordes present to
you are appealing! Satan’s
been at this far to long to make
the mistake of presenting you with
a temptation that is repulsive to
you.
His temptations always present
ways to serve yourself instead of
God!
If satan is not tempting you with
distractions to leave the path he
is accusing you of not walking the
path straight enough, or quickly
enough, or purposefully enough.
If satan can’t tempt you to commit
outright sinful acts, or to feel
like bug-spit because you are not
walking fast enough, he will
content himself with just getting
you so confused about what, in the
world, is going on around you that
you;
1) stand in the middle of the path
scratching your head….
2) or sit in a fetal position
rocking back and forth moaning….
(Romans 8:38-39) For I am
convinced that neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, neither
height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able
to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. (NIV)
