I am Free in Christ

I. Freedom

In Galatians, Paul writes about our freedom.  He talks about Christ’s death making us free from fear and providing us with a lasting forgiveness and restoration through the knowledge that we are not just free on the day of our salvation, but our freedom is eternal.  When Jesus died and rose again, the payment he made was not temporary like the sacrifices offered to God in the Old Testament.  It was a one-time, total, and complete payment.   

John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

If Jesus sacrifice provided for our total freedom why then are so many Christians walking around in chains?  Why are many believers walking around in prison garb? 

II. Exodus

For more than 400 years the Israelites had lived in slavery in Egypt.  400 years, think about that. If a generation is 40 years, they were in bondage for 10 generations.  Approximately every 40 years new parents gave birth in slavery, thus their children were born as slaves.  The first generation after the death of Joseph were the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents of those who finally left Egypt.  Some believe in that time period a generation was 100 years that is still 4 generations of children born into slavery.  That is more than enough!!!

Sadly, I know children who were born into slavery in my life-time.  Children born to the unsaved are born into slavery every day, but sadly, children born to Christians living in bondage are also born into slavery. 

I am one of those children. My parents were both slaves to sin and under bondage to the enemy when I was born.  Sadly, my father was born into slavery and to this day still walks in some measure of it.  It breaks my heart to watch the cycles in his life.  He has never known the freedom that comes from Christ. 

III. Free Slaves

I know this subheading sounds odd, but bear with me and it will make sense in a moment.  Let’s look at Exodus for a few minutes. 

A. Exodus 2 (Life of Moses-first 80 years)

B. Exodus 3-4 (God calls Moses)

C. Exodus 5-12 (God deals with Pharaoh and Egypt)

D. Exodus 12-14 (Israelites leave Egypt)

E. Exodus 14 (Egyptians pursue the Israelites and are destroyed)

F. Exodus 15 (Israelites complain and turn against Moses and Marah)

G. Exodus 16 (Quail and Manna)

Exodus 16:1-3 ¹Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt. ²There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.

³“If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

Only one month has passed since Exodus 12, when the Israelites left Egypt.  They had been slaves for 430 years and now after only a month of freedom they begin looking back and longing for their slavery again.  It makes my heart sad to think that empty bellies was all it took for them to lose sight of the freedom that God had provided and to forget the promises He had made to Abraham about the Promise Land.  In only 30 days they went from being totally free to being free slaves. 

IV. Free Slaves Described

Isaiah 1:18 (NLT) “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”

Isaiah 6:7 (NLT) He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”

2 Peter 1:3 (NLT) By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

Based on the Scriptures above, when we come to God through Christ and accept His free gift of salvation we not only receive forgiveness and pardon, but we are also given everything we need to live lives of freedom; godly, holy lives.

I ask again, why then are so many Christians living in bondage?  Look at Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (NIV)

Put simply, freedom is our choice.  The Galatian church had received the gift of salvation and had also been given all they needed to live godly lives; however, they had allowed heretics to enter their fellowship and to preach bondage through strict adherence to the Law, as well as teaching that one needed to be circumcised in order to receive salvation.  Paul admonishes the Galatians to stand firm in their freedom and not become burdened again with the yoke of bondage/slavery. 

Looking back at Exodus we see that the Israelites had been given their freedom as well, however, their continual looking back and longing for Egypt kept them in slavery.  They were unable to enjoy the blessings of freedom because of the pull Egypt had on their hearts. 

When all we’ve known in our lives is slavery it is often difficult to break free.  We might feel unsure about how life will look, feel, or be when we are free.  We might struggle to see that any other life could be possible; however, God has provided our freedom.  We must choose to grasp hold of it and walk in the freedom provided. 

Freedom is not just repenting and turning away from our sin one time, it is a daily choice to be so full of the Spirit that there is no room for sin and bondage again.  I’ve known many people who have kicked a drug or alcohol addiction only to return to it once they were out of rehab.  Why?  Because freedom is not only about getting out from under the bondage to sin, but about staying out from under that bondage. 

The problem is that too often we will get free and then fail to rely on the Holy Spirit to stay free.  We begin enthusiastically walking with Christ, but when trials come or things get hard, we turn back to our slavery as if it was our source of salvation to begin with. 

Staying free requires that we lay down our will and desires and allow God to fill us with His Spirit of power and strength.  We must daily (sometimes hourly or momently) cast down our flesh with its sinful desires and purposes.  We must yield to the Spirit’s lead and obey His voice rather than the voice of our flesh or the enemy. 

We were made free in Christ, now the decision is ours. Will we stay free? Or will we give in to sin and stay in bondage to our past?  Will be fight the battle until we see the face of Christ in heaven or will we grow weary in well doing? 

Galatians 6:9 promises us that we will reap a harvest of blessing (freedom) if we don’t give up.  “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

What will you choose?