LIVE IN FREEDOM

John 8:30-32 ³⁰ As He was saying these things, many believed in Him.

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you CONTINUE in My word, you really are My disciples. ³² You will KNOW the truth, and THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.”

INTRODUCTION:

• Dr. Martin Luther King speech “I Have a Dream.” He concluded with these words: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

This morning we are going to talk about what it means to be free and how you can experience real freedom in Jesus Christ.

• Is there anyone who wants to be free today?
  • What do you need set free from?
  • What issues or concerns keep you from being free?
  • Write that down. Just fill in the blank: I need to be free from ______.

Maybe you are Seeking…

• Freedom from guilt
• Freedom from anger
• Freedom from depression
• Freedom from grief
• Freedom from debt
• Freedom from habitual sin
• Freedom from fear or worry
• Freedom from pornography
• Freedom from lying
• Freedom from whatever

 

• You may identify with one or more of these; it may be other issues.
• Together we can discover the freedom the God has made available to all of us.

FACT IS: FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

As citizens of America we know two things that show Freedom isn’t Free:

• Freedom Must Be Purchased – the blood of our soldiers on battlefields
• Freedom Must Be Defended – Cling to…Hold to…Continue in (v. 31)
  • Spiritually, Freedom is NOT Salvation. It is more.
  • Believing is enough for Salvation.
  • “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”
  • Growing in Salvation Requires that we “Stick with it.”
  • Many had believed (30)…but many had believed before we hit John 6.66

John 6:66 – From that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him.

You “Believe in Jesus Christ”…but you also need to “Continue in Jesus Christ.”

Here’s a Variety of Reading on this Passage:

• The Message: “If you stick with this.”
• New Living Translation “If you keep obeying my teaching.”
• God’s Word “If you live by what I say.”
• New King James Version “If you abide in my word.”
• King James Version “If ye continue in my word.”

To be Free and experience the fullness of Spiritual Freedom

• It is not enough to simply believe
• We must live out our belief in our day to day lives.

The Men who gave their lives on the battlefields of our nation’s history and heritage did not die so that we could take that sacrifice and liberty for granted – but in the hope set before them that they were providing a better future for the nation and their families.

• I wonder what those patriots would say about how we have treated our freedom and liberty

Jesus did not endure the cross so that we could believe and find freedom For us to then in that belief live like we are free to live however we choose.

Jesus’ Freedom IS NOT Independence

It’s like a guitar string. A string on a guitar can be set free. It can be released from the guitar, the tension is gone and it is free. But a guitar string cannot fulfill its purpose when it is independent and free from the guitar. That only happens when it’s strung down the long neck of a guitar and tightened until it is taut. Freedom comes, not in being separated from everything (or everyone). Real freedom comes by being joined together in Christ. That’s when we are set apart like a guitar string to fulfill God’s purposes in our lives

What is our Freedom for?

SET FREE TO BE AN AUTHENTIC DISCIPLE
John 8. 31b: “If you continue in My word, you REALLY ARE MY DISCIPLES.

Definition of Disciple: (Easton’s Bible Dictionary)

• “one who…
  • (1) believes Christ’s doctrine,
  • (2) rests upon his sacrifice,
  • (3) imbibes his spirit, and
  • (4) imitates his example.”

Therefore a Disciple:

• believes the things Jesus taught,
• has faith in the death of Jesus to forgive their sin,
• drinks from the living water that only Jesus can give
• lives a transformed life following Christ’s example

Living Christ’s Example Means We…

• Work to Know Jesus- Read, Study, and Worship Him
• Guided by the Spirit – Pray, Listen, Surrender
• Watch Faithful Followers – Example of other Believers WHO LIVE FOR CHRIST

SET FREE TO BE ACQUAINTED INTIMATELY

John 8:32 – You will KNOW the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

• This word “know” means “to know by experience.”
• It is more than simple “head-knowledge” of information
• It is a Knowledge that grows and develops as a relationship
• As we know the truth of Christ more something awesome happens:

His Passion Becomes our Passion!

As husbands and wives experience life together their knowledge of each other grows. Through their awareness of each other they begin to think like each other; they feel what each other feels. Many times I can look at Andie and I know when there are things bothering her long before she says anything about it. We are connected emotionally and can feel what the other feels.

Really think about How Incredible this is…

• We are set free to be acquainted with Christ, the truth
• To know Him intimately and personally.
• The more we know Jesus the more we become like Jesus – NATURALLY

SET FREE TO BE FREE
John 8:32b – and the truth will set you free.”

• Freedom from SALVERY to SIN
• Freedom from PENALTY of DEATH

There is a difference between DECLARED FREEDOM and truly REALIZED FREEDOM.  There are many who, like these folks on the escalator, are capable of experiencing freedom and moving ahead in their spiritual journey.  Unfortunately we can find ourselves stuck in the middle unaware that we can move ahead, and we surrender to slavery. 

On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This presidential order gave slaves throughout the south their freedom. But on that day no slaves went free; throughout the south blacks continued to serve their plantation masters. Freedom did not come to the slaves until after a bloody Civil War had been fought and they were finally free to live as free men.

God declared that He would set those held captive to sin and death free, but freedom did not ultimately come until Jesus died on the cross of Calvary. Only after His blood was spilt on our behalf could we really be set free.

• Christ has secured our freedom
• We MUST CHOOSE to receive it.
  • We can choose to continue to live as slaves…or
  • We can believe by faith that Jesus died in our place
  • our sins are forgiven
  • we are finally free to be free!

Rom. 6:14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

Invitation

• Believe in Jesus Christ – Become a Child of God
• Abide with Jesus Christ – Be a REAL Disciple
• Know Real Freedom in Jesus Christ – Live in Liberty