The Freedom of Christ
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Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test and the lesson afterwards. Oscar Wilde.
Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.
Working on motorcycle.
Youtube is your friend.
You get to benefit from someone else’s experience.
This morning we are going to see a conversation between people that were believers in Jesus, but fell away from the faith.
By looking at where they went wrong, we can better understand our own faith.
30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.
They were believers. There is no contextual buts, howevers or the like.
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
35 “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.
36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
When I read that passage, what sticks in my head is not verse 36, but verse 31.
If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.....
Vs. 30 and the beginning of vs 31 confirmed they were believers.....
I’m going to give you the Paul Harvey.
VS 44: You are of your father the devil.
By the end of the chapter they are picking up stones to kill Him.
What Happened?
If they were called believers, but are not true disciples, what about me? What about folks here, what about my friends and family?
How is one saved?
How is one saved?
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Belief?
All belief isn’t equal.
Jesus spoke about the sower and the seed
Rocky Places and among the thorns.
Withered and chocked out.
There was obviously a superficial belief of some sort, but not a true belief.
Salvation is from the Lord, But you will not be saved against your will.
20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
I believe and and desire salvation!
These folks that Jesus was talking to, believed when it was easy:
They were drawn by the crowd, amazed by the supernatural.....Jesus had performed miracles, healed the sick, gave them food, he promised forgiveness of sins, and that they would have a better life…they wouldn’t thirst or hunger......
It was all the up side!
People still come to Jesus for those same reasons. A sense of community, want a better life, people that are tired of their failures, people that want heaven. People that hit their spiritual rock bottom.......starting to believe in Jesus is easy.
But when the world starts to pull hard against Christ....the half believer....The believer reliant on their own strength.....fails.
20 “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
So how do I know if someone is a believer or not......What about me?
5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?
51 “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”
Careful! Sounding like works salvation
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
The evidence of true belief is repentance and submission!
“I can be a Christian and live the way I want.”
Sorry, that’s not the way this works. You can find Churches that will tell you that.....but Jesus says otherwise.
So what about this freedom?
I have a keypad on my front door. If you are related to me, you have that code. If you aren’t, you don’t.
The people with that code have the freedom to come over, open the door and come in.....
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
Who has committed sin?
So at one time, you were a slave to sin......
25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?
Because you are belier, because you have repented and submitted, you are an adopted son and daughter.
You have been made free!
The death sentence that you and I deserve has been paid in full.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.