TRUE FREEDOM
“If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”
In America we celebrate our freedoms with fireworks and patriotic songs. The privilege of living in this country is wondrous and glorious. The people who live in America have great freedoms and opportunity to an extreme degree . . . freedom of worship, freedom to travel, freedom to vote, freedom to speak. But the greatest freedom for a person is not political or social or economic. Ultimate freedom is a matter of the heart and it is spiritual in nature. It is a liberty that is experienced in the soul and is deeper and more satisfying than the freedoms we celebrate on Independence Day.
True freedom, which only comes through Christ, is to be free from the dark and destructive shackles of sin. As we think about our national freedoms in July, let us consider the greatest liberty there is to experience . . . to be free from the bonds of sin. There are at least three ways in which Jesus frees Christians from sin. First, Christ has brought freedom from the penalty of sin. The Bible says that the one who sins will die (cf. Ezek 18:4; Rom 6:23). And every human being is deserving of death, even eternal death in hell.
With that in mind, how gladly do we hear Romans 8:1,2. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” True freedom is to be saved from the fierce wrath of God against all sinners and the awful and everlasting penalty that His justice demands. It is freedom indeed to be saved from a hell whose flames burn with the anger of an Almighty God.
Second, true freedom is to be free from the power of sin. Galatians 5:1 says, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject
again to a yoke of slavery.” The Spirit of God makes His residence in the soul of a Christian and gives him new desires. A Christian has a sincere desire for God. He truly loves the teaching of Christ because he truly loves Christ. He begins to have a longing to be holy and he develops a hatred for sin. Christianity is not simply a matter of going to church, but of loving God and no one genuinely loves God without a change of heart.
In Christ we are freed from the penalty of sin, which we deserve. We are being made free from the power of sin, as God’s Spirit cleanses us through His word. And one of these days, we will be set free from the very presence of sin forever and ever, when we are clothed with the white robe of the righteousness of Christ. We usually think freedom is being free to do what we want, but true freedom is to be free to do what is right and that is one of the greatest pleasures of being a Christian. Believers cannot perfect yet, it is true, but they are, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the process of being freed from the power of sin. For all those in whose hearts has been planted the eternal seed of the word of God, there is an ongoing process of change. While in this body and on this earth, we cannot be free from all sin, but we can be free from the bondage of it. Christians no longer need to be slaves to their pride or anger or lust or fear.
The means of this change is the Word of God. “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You” (Psa 119:11). “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psa 19:7-8). Let us resolve, with Jonathan Edwards: “Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.”
Third, true freedom is to be free from the presence of sin. In Christ, believers will be freed from the presence of sin when they see Him face to face. In heaven believers are made completely righteous with the holiness of Christ. The repeated picture we see in Revelation is to be clothed in a white robe. How wonderful it will be when we stand face to face with our Savior and to have our sins removed from us once and for all, never again to know pride or anger or coldness toward our Creator. This will be everlasting freedom from the presence of sin.
In America we revel in our freedoms and it is a grand privilege to live in this country. But, beloved, there are freedoms of the soul that are greater than freedom to elect governors or freedom to worship without being threatened, as wonderful as those freedoms are. There is a freedom of heart that only comes through Jesus Christ. In Christ we are freed from the penalty of sin, which we deserve. We are being made free from the power of sin, as God’s Spirit cleanses us through His word. And one of these days, we will be set free from the very presence of sin forever and ever, when we are clothed with the white robe of the righteousness of Christ. It is no wonder that Christ declared, “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (Jn 8:36).
Reveling in Christ’s true freedom,
Pastor Cosand
