This message will cover: What is freedom? Why are people not free? God wants to make you free and how do you obtain God’s freedom?
What is freedom?
Freedom can be defined in various ways:
a The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without the circumstances of necessity, coercion/force/constraint, hindrance or restraint i.e. freedom of choice.
b Liberation/Independence from slavery or restraint or from the power of another.
c The quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something burdensome or heavy or freedom from care or worry.
d Ease or ability to do various things:
Speak a language with freedom because they know it.
Speak with the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken.
e Giving answers with freedom from fear of others or live without the fear of other’s opinions.
f Freedom from improper familiarity.
g Freedom meaning unrestricted use e.g. gave him the freedom of their home.
h The political right or freedom i.e. the right to do something in a country.
However do people live in freedom these days? Sadly no.
- Decisions are usually made taking the circumstances of necessity, coercion/force/constraint, hindrance or restraint. There is no complete freedom of choice.
- Unhappily slavery still exists. Just as an aside, there are people who wrongfully condemn the Bible saying that it does not condemn slavery. While the Bible does not have words like, “Slavery is wrong,” it does say in Colossians chapter 4 verse(v) 1 “Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” Therefore the Bible condemns the bad conditions of work and associated life wherever they exist, not just in slavery.
- How many people are burdened with guilt? (about which we speak in this article)
- How many people are burdened with care?
- Political correctness is being taken to silly extremes.
- How many people are burdened with guilt (about which we speak about in this article)?
- People are being treated improperly.
- People do not have unrestricted freedom and fear is a part of life.
Why are people not free?
Why because that was not be case at the beginning of time. When God created Adam and Eve Genesis 2v8-9 says, “The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” … Genesis 2v16-17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
They had been bountifully provided for by God, Who is holy and happy, and they also had fellowship with Him.
However the devil, through the serpent:
- Cast Doubt on God’s Word. Genesis 3v1 “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?””
- He continued with Disagreement and Rejection of God’s Word Genesis 3v4 “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die’.”
- He further added that God is denying you something good. Genesis 3v5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
What the devil did not tell them was that while they would know these things they would not have the power to do the good nor the power to resist the evil.
Instead of Adam and Eve deciding that they would wait for God to visit them again to ask Him what He thought of this serpent that was contradicting Him, they decided to do as he had tempted them to do and they disobeyed God by taking of the fruit. Therefore they sinned and that was against God’s command and so against God.
Two of the consequences were the loss of fellowship with God and the beginning of fear. Genesis 3v9-10 continues with “Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid … and I hid myself.” A further consequence of their disobedience to God is seen in: Romans 5v12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
And what effect does sin have in people’s lives? John 3v19 says “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” People are in spiritual darkness and love it. What are the consequences of that? People do not generally seek God but they do like sin. Sin and the lack of the fear, or respect, of God has made people inconsistent and unreliable. People cannot be trusted these days like they used to be trusted as the inward motives being corrupted. God says in, Matthew 15v19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”
What is the consequence of this – fear. Fear, at times, of how you will get on with other people and cope with situations, and more than that, the fear of God because of the consequences of your sin. Romans 3v19 says “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” So there are no exceptions to this fear although some might put on an outward show that this does not affect them. Not only are people afraid of meeting God they are also afraid of death. Hebrews 2v15 says to believers in Christ “and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” People are afraid of death because 1Corinthians 15v56 says, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” When it comes to dying what about my sin before God? Also God’s law does not point out how good I am but what a sinner I am.
God wants to make you free.
The Lord Jesus Christ said in John 8v36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Today you can be free from a guilty conscience and lose the fear of death. 1John 4v9, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten (i.e. unique) Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” 1John 4v14, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world.” So when Christ became a Man and walked on this earth He had the greatest authority behind Him.
How could Christ become the Saviour of the world so that you can be saved?
1Corinthians 15v3-4, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
1Peter 3v18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just (Christ) for the unjust (us), that He might bring us to God.” Christ took the punishment for our sins when, about 2,000 years ago, He was crucified and hung on the cross at Calvary, which is just outside Jerusalem. This is so that all our sins can be forgiven and the sin chasm between us and God can be removed and we can be brought to God (see 1Peter 3v18).
Acts 26v18 says, “To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins.” There are no exceptions to this statement, that is no sins are named which cannot be forgiven, and this great promise is repeated elsewhere e.g. Ephesians 1v7 “In Him … through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (undeserved favour).” And 1John 1v7 “… the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Would you not love that to be true of you? Wouldn’t you love that God could write over your life, “Totally forgiven.”
If not then the following will apply: Romans 2v2 “But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.” Romans 2v5 “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” So God’s judgment will be according to the number and quality of each person’s sins and their consequential guilt before Him. Sinners who continue in sins and will not repent (change their mind) about them are building for themselves a huge pile, not of gold, but of judgment. This bad fortune that they are treasuring up will be finally revealed at God’s judgement of the Great White Throne (see Revelation 20v11-15). In that day God’s judgement will be seen to be completely right and without any prejudice of any kind (see Acts 17v31).
But you do not need to suffer the judgment of God forever in hell (see Matthew 25v41 and Hebrews 6v2).
How do you obtain freedom from God?
In Acts chapter 16 there was an earthquake in Philippi and the Roman prison gaoler awoke to his sinful condition and asked a couple of believers in Christ in 16v30-31 “… ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.’” John 1v12 “But as many as received Him (Christ v11), to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
If you will change your mind about sin and believe, as your only hope, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross taking the punishment for your sins, then God will:
- Totally forgive all your sins with its freedom from His future everlasting judgment.
- Give you everlasting life with its desire to please Him (see Romans 6v23).
- Save you from your sin’s judgment in hell, and its consequential fear of death, and save you for heaven.