Bella Vista Church of Christ
10/25/2020 A.M.
Son Set Free – Indeed!
John 8.31-36 Galatians 5.1-6 & 13-15
Last week Jeff opened the door to Son Set Freedom... The idea in Galatians that Jesus came to die for a Purpose... Our Freedom.
This morning we want to follow up on that concept by noting...
• The Source...
• The scope...
• And the Sacrifice for Our Freedom.
Come... Let’s see what we can learn.
First... We note the source of Our Freedom...
From the lips of Jesus in John chapter eight... Beginning with the verse numbered thirty-one... 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.
It was this same Jesus who is found saying...
• I Am... The Way... The Truth... The Life... No man comes to the Father except by Me...
• Unless you believe that I am He... You will die in your sins...
• I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly...
Paul tells us that...
• It is in Jesus that we have redemption through His blood... The forgiveness of Sins in accordance with the riches of His grace.
• For through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
• It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Listen church... Jesus & Paul are not speaking of… Financial Freedom… Political Freedom... But freedom of a Spiritual Nature.
Son Set Freedom is not about changing our outward circumstances... But our inward nature.
I think this is important for us today... Because it seems easy for us to become so wrapped up in Economics and Politics... That we forget about the freedoms offered by Jesus.
Yes...
• I love our Country...
• I have Political Ideals...
• I believe our Political Freedoms are worth Protecting...
• I believe we owe those who have sacrificed...a tremendous debt of gratitude.
But let us not get... so caught up... so lost... in our Political System that we forget or take for granted the Freedoms made possible by Jesus.
Here it is... Our Son Set Freedom can become ours regardless of where we find our Political Citizenship... In a Democracy... Under Communism... A Dictatorship...Or a Monocracy.
Or where we are Physically or Spiritually...
• Paul was on the Damascus Road… Persecuting believers in Jesus...
• The Prodigal Son was a Jew in the pigpen of a foreign country...
• Peter was on the Sea of Galilee in a Fishing Boat...
• A Town Floozy was drawing water from Jacob’s Well...
• An Adulteress was taken in the act of her sin...
• A Thief came to a faith in Jesus hanging on a cross.
• A Prison Warden found Freedom following an earthquake in Philippi.
You see... Spiritual Freedom is not dependent upon physical or political circumstances...
• Jesus can set us free in a bad marriage without a divorce...
• He can set us free even in a divorce…
• Jesus can set us free when we’re out of a job... And our checkbook is overdrawn...
• He can set us free in a prison cell....
• From a hospital suite... In an addiction clinic... Or in a Hospice bed...
Here it is church... Jesus is more interested in setting us free Spiritually than Politically.
God help us to be more concerned about Jesus & His Freedoms than the defeat of the Roman Empire... Amen!!
It was Jesus who said... We become His Disciple... Enjoy His Freedoms...
• When we see Him as.... Our Way... OurTruth... Our Life...
• When Kingdom Righteousness becomes the first priority in life…
• When we love Him & His Kingdom with all our… Heart... Mind... Body... & Soul.
Secondly... We examine the Scope of our Freedom
What is it that Jesus came to set us free from...
First and Foremost... Jesus sets us free from sin and death
Paul presents this freedom vividly in Romans chapter six... Verse 20 beginning... When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap from those things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you’ve been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death… but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Listen... If we die without Jesus... If we die in our sins... Our end is Spiritual Death... Eternally lost... Eternally separated from God.
But Romans 8.1 & 2 give us the Good News of the Gospel.... There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus... Who do not give into the desires of the flesh, but live according to the Spirit... For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.
What one of us has not been a slave to sin... Under the bondage of our favorite sin?
We’ve all been there... Knowing that if temptation is not nipped in the bud... The sin can become so powerful that we cannot resist it.
Our evil desires become larger than our will to resist.
James says... Our own lust... Our own evil desires... Incite & Entice us to sin.
But again Paul tells us that God is bigger than our temptation!!
He can and promises to not allow us to be tempted beyond that which we cannot say no to... No temptation has seized us except what is common to man. And God is faithful... Listen Now... He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. But when tempted... He will also provide a way out so that WE can stand up under it.
Listen church... Since we were Born Again... There has not one single temptation come to us that God did not enable us to say no to.
Indeed!!... We have been set free from the bondage of sin.
And First Corinthians 15.55 tells us that we are also free from the bondage of death...Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?... The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Secondly... His forgiveness affords us intimacy with God.
The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah tells us that it’s our sin that separates us from God... Your iniquities have separated you from your God... Your sins have hidden His face from you.
The Hebrews’ Writer tells us the blood of bulls & goats could never forgive sins... Not a one!
Perhaps nowhere is this more vividly portrayed than in the tearing of... The Curtin...The Veil... that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in theTemple.
No one except the High Priest... could access that Veil and stand in God’s presence.
But at the point of Jesus’ death the curtain was torn from top to bottom... Unseen... Omnipotent… Hands tore the veil... Making our personal access to Jehovah God possible.
Paul writes in Ephesians 2.8... By Him...Jesus... We have access in one Spirit to the Father.
The Hebrew Writer makes the point that Jesus entered... Not the Temple Holy place... But Heaven itself... Making possible our forgiveness and a clear conscience. When Christ came as High Priest... He entered a greater and more perfect Tabernacle that is not man-made... Not a part of man’s creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves… But He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. If the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctified them... How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Jesus also offers freedom from Guilt... Past... Present... And Future.
On Pentecost… Peter told those present how to rid themselves of Past sin...
• Through... Faith in Jesus...
• Repentance...
• And Baptism...
Ananias told the repentant Saul... Arise and be baptized and wash away your sin.
In our study of Galatians... We heard Paul say... We are children of God by faith... For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ... Been clothed with Christ.
As Baptized believers we are reminded by John that God is ready to forgive us our present sins... If we… Acknowledge them... Confess them... If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us... But... But if we confess our sins... He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
This same John tells us how we can have our future sins forgiven... But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us... Continues to cleanse us from all sin.
Listen... There’s no reason any of us should go home this morning suffering from guilt. Because Scripture tells us how to obtain Son Set Freedom... The Forgiveness of Past... Present... and Future sins.
Jesus sets us free to act as sons not slaves.
Earlier in our lesson... We heard Jesus say... So then... if the Son sets you free... you will be free indeed...
In this statement... Jesus uses two slightly different words for free...
• The first speaks of one who has been set free...Given their liberty for some reason.
• The second word refers to one who is freeborn...
Now church... I gotta ask this morning... Are we… You & Your Preacher… Acting like slaves or like freeborn children of god???
Listen to God’s thoughts on this idea from Romans chapter eight... Beginning with verse fourteen... Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him... By JESUS we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ… Indeed we share in His sufferings so that we may also share in his glory.
Again I gotta ask... Are we living in God’s Kingdom as freeborn SONS or as slaves?... Do we see God as our ABBA FATHER?
Sonship evokes a world of difference in our attitude and behavior!!... Amen?
Jesus frees us from the Law.
One cannot read the Book of Galatians without understanding that we’re no longer under the law... with its burden of daily rituals and sacrifices that...
• Could never forgive sins...
• Never make us freeborn children ofGod...
• Never give us access to God by becoming Priest in His economy...
• Could never set us free from sin and death....
But NOW... We are under Grace.
Here’s the Gospel in a nutshell... Listen as I read about our Son Set Freedom... Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions… it is by grace you have been saved. God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Listen church... If these verses teach us anything... They tell\ us we are saved by our faith in God’s... love... Mercy... and grace... and not by works.
Our works are a result of our love for Him... Never to earn or merit our salvation.
Jesus said... If you love Me ... You will keep My commandments.
Church... There is a world of difference between works of love and works of merit.
The Law of Moses showed us that we cannot merit our salvation by works... Law Keeping.
Paul tells us in verse six of our text that what really counts in God’s economy today is our faith working through love.
Let me say this... And you take it home and give it some thought...
• We don’t do good works to merit our salvation... The Law showed that to be impossible...
• Our righteousness never forgave one single sin... But is like filthy rags in God’s eyes...
• We don’t do good works out of gratitude for what God has done for us... To pay Him back.
On the cross... Jesus said... TETELESTAI... It is finished... The debt of our sins has been paid in full… No payment remained!
Let us live as we sing... Jesus paid it all... A debt we cannot pay... Ever!!
Here it is church... We do good works because we are His Sons... And we want to be like our Father... Like Jesus.
Our creator God came to earth... Lived and died on a cross to serve and save us.
God’s greatest desire is our being formed into His image… The image of His First Begotten. Our having His... Heart... Mind... Disposition... And behavior.
His desire is that we use our faith in loving service to others.
We close our thoughts with the Sacrifice that makes our Freedom Possible.
God demonstrates his own love for us in this... While we were still sinners, Christ died for us... He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed... The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all... (Romans 5.8 John 3.16-17 Isaiah 53.5 & 6)
Have we responded to this sacrifice?
Has our faith prompted us to a to Obedience... Repentance... Confession... Baptism?
Have we... As Sons... accepted Paul’s challenge in our text... It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
This invitation & challenge is ours as we stand and sing this invitation song together.
