Freedom Part 2

This is a continuation of related posts. You can read the first installment here, and the second here.

God wants you to be free--wholly, utterly, completely free.

God's laws bring you freedom. (Now before you think I'm contradicting my last post, read on.)

Think about it, if you obey the seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery" you will be free from diseases, heartache, strife, guilt, and more, for example.

Rules actually give us freedom. When you follow a budget and set rules for yourself with your spending, you are free to buy bigger ticket items, go on family vacations, relax in your retirement age, etc.

The problem is that we cannot, in our own power, keep God's law.

The law was given for a few different reasons, but one of those was to show us how utterly we can't keep it!

Romans 5:20a

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.

Now that's not to say that God's law is evil.

Romans 7:7,12

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not!...The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Keeping the law will make your life more peaceful, as I mentioned previously, but it is not how we are saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

But as I said, we have no power to keep that law. The law shows us that we cannot save ourselves, we need a Savior. When we believe on Jesus, His Spirit actually indwells us and empowers us to overcome sin.

I Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

See also John 14:17, Romans 8:9, Romans 8:11, Ephesians 2:22, II Timothy 1:14, and James 4:5.

And we get a brand-new spirit. Our spirit is recreated, in the likeness of Christ

II Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

You are no longer a murdering, lying, adulterer. You are now clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

Isaiah 61:10

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

You do, however, have a choice (the freedom) to live in your old ways. You can choose the abundant life God has for you, or not. You can choose peace and joy, or misery.

Jesus says, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)

You don't have to live that abundant life, if you so choose. You can choose to live in hell here on earth.

Read this parable of The Lost Son, from Luke 15.

¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴ for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

Your sins are forgiven you (if you believe on Jesus Christ), God loves you. He wants you to come home, He wants you to choose the abundant life He has for you. You are not kicked out of His family. You may think that true freedom is doing whatever you please, but true freedom actually comes from submitting wholly to the Lordship of Christ.

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

I will explain next time the consequences of living a sinful life, and it's probably not what you may think.