Christian Liberty
In this message I want to preach on “Christian Liberty”, or “Christian Freedom”. This being our country's birthday, I thought it would be appropriate to preach on Christian liberty, or Christian freedom.
I want to consider seven thoughts on the subject.
Beloved, did you know that we were all born in spiritual bondage… bondage to sin, bondage to Satan, bondage to the world, and bondage to our own inherent sin natures?
Whether we realize it or not, we need to be set free if we would have eternal life and a hope of heaven with God.
Jesus taught us that only the truth can set us free…
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free.
The truth, that is, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the message of Jesus Christ that sets the soul free. Nothing else can set us free. No works, no other gods, and no other gospels can set us free from our sins. Only the true gospel of the grace of God, and faith in the gospel, can set us free from our sins.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed.
The Son of God is the sum and substance of our spiritual freedom. By His work on the cross He sets us free on the merits of His free grace, by dying for helpless needy sinners who are in bondage to our sins.
It is by the power and authority of Jesus Christ that we are brought to God by His death on the cross, where we are made free from our sins, and free from the bondage of the devil, and free from our old sin natures! By faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God and His death on the cross for your sins, He will set you free from all your sins.
Romans 3:24 Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Our Christian liberty is free to us. We are justified freely by His grace. But our liberty wasn't free. It was paid for in full by the blood of Christ that He shed on the cross for our sins!
And, in a sense, it was paid for down through the centuries by the blood of the martyrs, who gave their lives for our Christian liberty, that we might have the gospel preached to us, and that we might come to know that true liberty that is only found in knowing Jesus Christ as our Saviour!
Romans 8:2 For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
In conversion, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts. He becomes the new governing principle in our hearts and lives. Where once the law of sin ruled our hearts, now the Spirit of life rules. And He rules by the gospel and the truth of the Word of God.
And the law of sin and death that we were born with, must surrender to the ruling power of the Holy Spirit, who liberates us from the law of sin and death that was destroying our souls.
Romans 6:18 Being then made
free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Romans 6:22 But now being made
free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and the end everlasting life.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not
have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
We are freed from the power of sin that ruled over our lives, and we are now able by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord acceptably, and to please God with our lives!
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Stand fast, and stand firm on our liberty that we have in Christ. In the context of Galatians, believers are to trust only in the gospel of the grace of God for salvation complete, and we are not to be entangled again with the law of works for salvation. The law of works is likened by Paul to a yoke of bondage. You can't mix grace for salvation with works for salvation! Such a unholy mixture is a yoke of bondage!
Romans 4:2-5 For if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath whereof
to glory; but not before God.
3 For
what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness.
4 Now
to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
5 But
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Romans 11:5-6 Even so then at
this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 And
if by grace, then is it no more of
works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more
grace: otherwise work is no more work.
1 Peter 2:15-16 For so is the
will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of
foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke
of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
Believers are not to use our Christian liberty as a pretext or excuse to do evil, or to rebel against authority, or commit sinful acts of any kind.
But Peter says we are to use our liberty to serve the Lord! As Paul said in Romans 6:18, that being made free from sin, we are to be servants of righteousness and of God!
In conclusion, thank God for our liberty. Thank God for our country's liberty, and our liberty as Americans. Thank God for our religious liberty that we have in America. And thank Jesus most of all for our spiritual liberty that we have through Him, and through faith in the gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection for our sins.
Always remember that our liberty was free to us, but it cost the lives of many others to win it for us. Our spiritual liberty cost Jesus His life to pay for our sins. It cost the millions of martyrs and servants of Jesus their lives to preserve it for us. Don't take it for granted!
And our national freedom, and especially our religious liberty, was also free to us, but it cost the lives of untold numbers of Americans who fought to make our country free, and to keep our country free. Never take our national liberty for granted, some day it just might be taken away if we abuse it and misuse it, which I'm afraid we have already done as a nation.
May God bless America. May our liberty be grounded in law, and in the truth of God's Word.
And may God give you liberty in Jesus Christ if you don't know Him in salvation.