Are You Free Indeed

You take your Bibles. We'll turn if you would to John chapter eight. Psalm that Ian just sang is being sung from the Lord's perspective. He is the master and we are the masterpiece that he is molding. Sometimes as we minister to others, we can get a little bit frustrated with their lack of progress.

But you know something we're just like them. Lord still working on us too. And thank him for his for his mercy, his goodness, and his patience toward us. John chapter eight and we'll begin reading in just a minute from verse 31. While you're turning there, this July 4, an introduction to where we're going with the message this morning.

I'd like to read a few words from some people that you might recognize if you've remember studying your civics in school. These words read, we hold these truths to be self evident. That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We therefore, the representatives of The United States Of America and General Congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions do in the name and by authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. That they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved, And that is free and independent states.

They have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. This of course is from the declaration of independence. From where did these men learn about freedom? And come to cherish its soul.

Not from the rationalist and the humanist of France as some would have us to believe. But from the word of God, the Bible, which most of these men knew, far better than the majority of our leaders today, our people and most likely many of our preachers. These men, many of them were students of the word of God and it is from the word of God that they came to cherish freedom. Particularly, religious freedom. As many of our colonies were started by those who came seeking religious freedom to the shores of this country.

The Bible tells us that Christ came to make or set men and women free. He came to liberate us. Something they would have known well. We'll read from John eight thirty one this morning. John eight thirty one.

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, we be at, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, you shall be made free. Jesus answered them, verily, verily I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin is the servant of sin and the servant abideth not in the house forever but the son abideth forever, abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

I know that you are Abraham's seed but you seek to kill me because my word hath no place in you. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, we thank you for today for these that have come. Pray Lord not only that we would cherish the freedom to worship and other liberties that we have, United States Of America, to remember those who died and who placed their lives on the line, that we might have this freedom. Lord, but help us also to cherish a even greater freedom.

Freedom from sin. And death and hell. That are ours in Christ Jesus. We thank you today for that freedom. We pray Lord if there's one in our midst today that is yet to come to know you as their Lord and savior to receive your gift of everlasting life.

The repentance and faith in your son. We pray that today, they would see their need of a savior. Humbly come to you to receive the freedom that only you can give. In Jesus precious name, we do pray. Amen.

Christ came to make men free. Christ came to make men, men and women, boys and girls free. He came to rescue us. He came to deliver us from bondage. Each and every one of us.

Christ came to free. John three seventeen, you all are familiar. Many of you with John three sixteen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Maybe not quite as familiar with the next verse up here that says, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.

Now, we throw around that word saved a lot as Christians in church and sometimes, we don't think stop to think, well, what is the word mean? We, of course, relate it to salvation from sin but the word saved means to be rescued, to be delivered. Christ didn't come into the world to condemn us. Christ came to the world, the son of God, God in human flesh to die on the cross for us that he might rescue us, that he might deliver us. From a power.

That had an iron grip. On everyone of our lives. A grip from which we could not free ourselves but only Christ could free us and we're not talking about freedom from Great Britain. We're not talking about freedom in Christ day from Rome. And we're talking about his freedom from sin.

For that is what Christ came to free us from and a freedom that each and everyone of us needs. For we all need to be rescued from the power of sin. In Romans eight, I mean, John chapter eight, if you're still there, if you look in verses 33 and for 34, They answered him that is Jesus. We be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, you shall be made free.

Many of those who are listening to Jesus that day, when he said in the previous verse, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They said in themselves and then they said out loud to Jesus, what do you mean? We're not in bondage. We're not in bondage. We're we're proud Jews.

We've not, we're pre Jews. We've never been slaves of anyone. What are you talking about? Be made free. Jesus clarified it.

Verse 34, verily verily I say unto you, whosoever commit a sin is the servant or the slave. The word often translated servant, Doulos in our King James version can also be translated slave. Whoever commits sin is the slave. Of sin. And as the Bible points out in several places, we all sin.

We are born with a sin nature and we sin often. And we become a slave. We are a slave to it. Christ did not come to free them from a tyrannical government or master He claimed he came to deliver them and us from a worse master a worse tyrant Satan, sin, death, and the inescapable or seemingly inescapable condemnation of the law in hell. Christ came to free us from an eternity of punishment.

In Galatians one It says, who gave himself for our what? Sins. Sins. That he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our father. Why did Christ came?

He came to give himself. He came to give himself as a sacrifice to take the punishment, to take the penalty that we were deserving for not his sins but our sins. That he might deliver us from the power of sin and from the penalty, eternal penalty of sin to deliver us one day from this evil world to present us holy and spotless before his throne in heaven. To give us everlasting what? Life.

And the place that he has reserved for his children in heaven. An inheritance that was not ours but was Christ and through his death has become ours. Because sin has been defeated and death has been defeated and the condemnation of the law has been averted. By Christ's death on the cross for he hath made him that is Jesus should be sin for us who knew no sin. That we might in turn be made the righteousness of God in him.

But it all hinges on one person, Jesus Christ and on the sacrifice that he made on Calvary's Cross and his resurrection from the dead. We read this last Sunday last Sunday night. First Corinthians fifteen fifty six and fifty seven, the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Death is a formidable foe.

The Bible says, we point out, this point on the man wants to die but after this the judgment. And if we're judged based upon our works, we all fail the test. We'll all be found guilty because our works are as Isaiah sixty four six says, filthy rags. We have nothing to offer God. We can't be saved by works of righteousness which we do because our works are tainted by sin.

No matter how hard we try in ourselves, it's still tainted by sin. But Christ, the sinless one came and he took our place and he paid our penalty. He paid the ransom price to rescue us, to free us from the clutches of sin and hell. He defeated death on that cross because he defeated death, because he wasn't a sinner and died on our place, we now have the opportunity to be free, to be free in Christ Jesus. No more in bondage to sin.

Hold your place there in in John eight and if you would turn over to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two, Paul describes here what we were before we came to know Christ Jesus as Lord and savior. The power of sin in humanity today and the binding slavery in which they find themselves. Causes them to be described as here found in Ephesians two and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. As far as God was concerned, we were dead to him in trespasses and in sin until we came to Christ.

He says, describing who we were before Jesus, where in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among also, whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. Paul says, this is who you were before you came to Christ. You walked according to the course of this world.

You were pulled along by the prince and power of the air who is Satan. We had our conduct, our behavior as the rest of the world in verse three. Fulfilling the lust of our flesh and its desires. Becoming therefore the children of wrath. As God's wrath abides on sin.

The soul that sinneth, it shall. It shall die. That's the plight in which humanity has found itself. The plight that you and I were in. Or are there's only one who can free us from that and that's Jesus Christ and it's based upon his mercy as it reminds us here in verse four But God who is rich in mercy for his great love where with he loved us.

Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace, you are saved. Because of God's mercy and his love. He sent his son to die on the cross when we were dead to him in sin. That he might quicken us, make us alive, and free us from its power. And from sin's condemnation in hell.

And just as the Jews were enslaved in Egypt, many hundreds of years before and could not liberate themselves. For four hundred years, the Jews were enslaved in Egypt and they could not liberate themselves. So, we are in bondage to sin and an incapable of liberating ourselves. This country liberated itself via our founders and many of those who gave their lives to free us from the tyranny of Great Britain in that day. But you cannot free yourself from sin.

There is only one and that is Jesus Christ and so Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to change your plight and mine, to free us from sins, slavery, and its condemnation. Just as God freed the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt when he brought the plagues and he parted the Red Sea. You see, there is a barrier between us and God called sin. When Jesus Christ died on that cross, he bridged that gap. He broke through that barrier and if we, as the Bible says, will put our faith and trust in him, we can be saved.

We can be freed. We can be delivered. In our hymn book, we didn't sing it this morning. There's a song entitled and can it be. I'm going to read just the verses of it here.

It says, and can it be that I should gain an interest in the savior's blood? Died he for me who caused his pain. For me, who him to death pursued. He left his father's throne above, so free, so infinite his grace. Emptied himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race.

No condemnation now I dread. I am my lords and he is mine. Alive in him, my living head, and clothed in righteousness divine. No condemnation now, I dread. Because of Jesus Christ, my savior.

And what he has done for me. On the cross of Calvary, I have been freed. Take your Bibles, turn if you would to Romans chapter six. Romans chapter six. Just turn back a few pages.

Not far. Romans six. Let's read verses 17 through 23. Paul puts it this way. Verse 17, he says, but God be thanked that you were the servants, the slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you and that's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded your members, servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members, servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when you were the servants or the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed?

For the end of those things is death. Remember back to before you were saved? Remember those things of which you're now ashamed? Praise God. They're under the blood of who?

Jesus Christ. And they're forgiven forever. Verse 22, but now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

What did Jesus come to free you from? The slavery of sin. That you might become the servants of God. The servants of righteousness. That your end might be that in eternal life in heaven rather than eternal suffering.

In the lake of fire. For God loved us and did not want us to have to face that bitter end. Separated from him. And suffering forever. So, can Christ came and he suffered on the cross.

In your place and mine. He came to free us from the bondage of sin. He came to free us from the condemnation of the law. You see, there are many people today that are trying to get to heaven. They're trying to get in the good graces of God.

They're trying to please God by doing good works. By following and keeping the law. But Christ remind Christ and Paul reminded those to whom they spoke in the New Testament. That the law cannot save. The law condemns.

You see, if you could keep all of the law of God and never trespass and never transgress it and never break it, it still wouldn't save you. All it would do was reveal that you were already what? Righteous in yourself. See, law doesn't say and the law can't say but here's the sad part, for all of us have sinned and what? Come short of the glory of God.

You see, the law doesn't reveal that we're already righteous. What does the law do? It reveals that we're sinners and that we've broken God's law and that we are already condemned. So, the law can't save. All the law can do is condemn and every time we look at the law that says, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor or lie.

We're reminded of all the lies that we told. And the guilt that that brings and the judgment that would come for that if it were not under the blood of Jesus Christ The law condemns and without Christ, we are under the condemnation of the law and we are unable to get out from under that condemnation except by one. And in Christ Jesus, we can be freed, delivered from that as well. Romans chapter eight verse one, there is therefore now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me what?

Free. Free. From the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemn sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

You see, and Christ died on that cross in his flesh. He took upon himself your condemnation and mine and he paid the penalty for sin for us. That we through faith in him might be freed and delivered and forgiven and redeemed. Who walk not under the condemnation of the law in the flesh but walk in the spirit spirit that Jesus Christ, his holy spirit has given to us, who have been freed from law and there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. John three eighteen, the next verse after 17 obviously says, he that believeth on Jesus, on him is not condemned.

But he that believeth not is condemned already. Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. If you've put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, if you've come to him and surrendered, your trust in him then you are not what? You're not condemned. That is the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus.

A gray, a greater, more wonderful freedom. Civil freedom We sang a hymn as we began the service today, hymn two zero five. It's entitled Once for All. I'm going to read the first two verses to you. It says, free from the law.

Oh, happy condition. Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, grace hath redeemed us. Once for all. I'm going to sing it.

I like this song. Let me do that first verse again. Now, free from the law, happy condition. Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, grace hath redeemed us once for all.

Now are we free? There's no condemnation. Jesus provides a perfect salvation. Come on to me. Oh, hear his sweet call.

Come and he saves us once for all. Once for all, oh sinner receive it. Once for all, oh brother believe it. Cling to the cross, the burden will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once for all Christ came to free us, to give us liberty.

From what? From sin. That we might serve the king of kings and the Lord of lords. Are we free now to sin? No, we're free to do what?

We're free to serve Christ. For that is what we were created for. Is to serve him. Christ has freed us from the tyranny of sin that we might willingly ly choose to serve the our creator and our father in heaven. First Peter two twenty four and twenty five, who is own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness.

By whose stripes you are healed. For you were a sheep going astray but now you are returned to the shepherd and bishop of our souls. When we're saved, we simply return. To our Lord who made us and created us. To do the things which we were created to do in the first place, having been freed from the enemy who had stolen us away.

And placed us under the bondage of sin. In Romans six fifteen, Paul writes, what then? Shall you sin? Because you are not under the law but under grace. God forbid.

Know you that to whom you yield your servant, yourselves servants to obey. His servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Paul says, you've been freed from sin. Why would you want to live? Any longer.

Under therein, under its way. Listening to the things of our flesh and the world that only bring ruin and destruction and misery. Christ didn't save us so that we could do whatever we wanted. He saved us so that we could follow him. And he has given us his spirit to change our desires.

That we might want to do those things. That please him. We have been freed. And how are we set free? We're set free by receiving the words, the message of Jesus Christ.

And his offer of salvation. By his death on Calvary's Cross. John eight thirty one and thirty two. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed.

And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. But you must what? You must believe on his words. You must embrace his message and his person.

You must surrender to him as your Lord and savior. Trusting in him to save you from sin and hell. And to be your Lord I did that when I was nine years old. I didn't exactly know all of what that meant. But I knew this.

I knew I was a sinner. And I knew I was condemned to hell. And I knew if I died that's where I would go. And I knew that Jesus Christ came and died on the cross to save me. He rose again from the dead and he offered me with his hand out.

Eternal life in him. If I would repent, turn to him for my sin to receive him as the Lord and savior of my life and so I did. And he saved my soul. Now, I wish I were always an obedient son. Often I am not but my sins are under the blood of Jesus Christ and he said, he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out And I am secure in him.

There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Because there was a day when I came to Christ and I said, Lord, save my soul. Be my Lord and savior and he did. And he gave me the gift of eternal life and he made me his child and he freed me from slavery to sin. Can you say the same?

If you can't, you don't have to leave here today without making that decision. For Christ died for you, to free you as he did me. And many who have gone before. Jesus said, verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation. It is passed from death unto life.

You can pass today from death and hell and the condemnation of sin and the law to forgiveness and everlasting life in Jesus Christ. Amen. And I plead with you as we close here in just a moment in prayer and have a invitation I plead with you to come. I plead with you to open up your heart to Christ. And allow us to show you from God's word how you can be saved today in Noah.

It will become the greatest day of your life. For all eternity. Amen. And if you're here today and you're a Christian, reminded the verse that we started the service with today. Stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Christ has made you free from sin. He's conquered it. It is no longer your master. Don't let it rule in your life. When you sin, go to Christ.

Go to God. Repent and forsake it. Let him cleanse you of it. And serve him with all your heart. Thank him every day.

Don't allow sin to rule. Don't allow the law to condemn you. Don't allow Satan to feed you doubts about the power of Christ and what he did for you on the cross and make you think you have to earn your way to heaven. Christ earned your way to heaven. When he died for you on Calvary's Cross.

Would you receive him today and serve him? Not out of duty but out of love. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for your word and for the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus. Lord, I pray that we would remember and take advantage of the freedom that we have and say no to sin and hell and the devil.

No to the flesh and the world. That we might serve you we might confess to you when we fail Lord that we might follow you with all of our heart and gratitude growing every day for what you've done for us and we pray Lord that there's one here today that's never trusted Christ as savior that as we sing this hymn of invitation today that they would come. Lord, we might have the opportunity to show them today how they might be saved and know it. For all eternity. In Jesus precious name, we do pray.