True Freedom

Introduction

Good morning,

I pray that you have had a great week and enjoyed the 4th of July Celebrations, we were able to go and see some more fireworks and Eli loved them!

I hope that you have taken our invitation challenge seriously and passed out your invite card this week. Remember one invite can save a life! Be sure to grab another one on your way out if you don’t already have one.

As we’ve celebrated our national freedom this week, I want us to consider a deeper freedom—the kind that only Christ can give. That’s why we’re launching our new series, A Firm Foundation and if there is one thing I have learned about this church it is that yall are hard workers. Everyone knows that for any structure to stand it must first have a “Firm Foundation.” We are no different. Last week we looked at Unity, and being a true Community and body of believers, all equal but different parts. Just like love is the lifeblood of the body of Christ, we must have a firm foundation of our beliefs in order for us to accomplish all the Lord has for us and for our lives to be in tune with His Will every day.

Sermon Series Setup

Our series passage is found in Mark 12 and it gives us a firm understanding of what the Lord expects from us

Mark 12:28–31 NIV

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Here is one of the many examples of the religious leaders trying to “trap Jesus.” The Jewish leaders had taken the 10 commandments and from those 10, turned them into 613, 248 positive and 365 negative. Within those groupings they also had them broken down into which laws were light and which laws were heavy. The issue though, they couldn’t agree on which one was which. So they lay a trap for Jesus, for him to incriminate himself by announcing an unorthodox belief.  Now, Jesus is smarter than that, and he starts out in Verse 29, “Hear, O Israel...” this is known as the Shema, Pious Jews would recite this every morning and every night.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 NIV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

As he recites this, using God’s own words from the Pentatuch (1st 5 books of the Bible), he side steps their attempt to show Him as unothodox, instead He shows them the orhtodox nature of His theology.

He then takes it one step further, identifying the second greatest commandment, because it is critical to truly understanding the complete duty of love. This also comes from Moses

Leviticus 19:18 NIV

“ ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

A genuine love for God, is followed by a genuine love for people.

Romans 13:8–10 NIV

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Now that brings us to our focus for today, understanding our overall foundation is based on those two commandments we are able to dive deeper into understanding, as a body of believers, what the Lord has for us, and if you have not accepted Christ, this is what waits for you.

Foundation 1: True Freedom

Acts 13:38–39 NIV

“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

BIG IDEA: For us to begin building our lives on the Firm Foundation found in Christ, we must first understand where our True Freedom comes from.

Background/Context

Paul is preaching here, this is the first of Paul’s sermons recorded in Acts. Paul has been traveling around with a team they have made their way from Perga to Antioch in Pisidian. Both of these locations are found in modern day Turkey. Perga would be down on the coast, Antioch in Pisidian would be north of that. Paul is with Barnabas at this time. It was on a Sabbath and the ancient synagogue traditions were different than our traditions today, the leaders, he was not always the speaker, there was no set speaker each week. On this Sabbath the leader asked for an exhortation from someone and Paul was ready to jump at the chance.

True Freedom is found...

1. In our FAITH

Our Faith in Jesus Christ

It was proclaimed to us, and Paul reminds us that through Him we are set free, not from some sin, but from EVERY Sin

Acts 13:39 NIV

Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin

There is no limit to this freedom, but it is found in our Faith

Just as we said a few weeks ago, it is not the size of our faith but the object of that faith

"The Prisoner Who Walked Free"

Imagine a man who had spent 30 years in prison. Every day he walked the same yard, ate the same food, followed the same routine. One day, the warden came to him and said, “You’ve been pardoned. You’re free to go.” The gates opened, and the man stepped out into the sunlight, blinking against the brightness of a world he had almost forgotten.

But instead of walking away, he sat down just outside the gate.

When asked why he didn’t go home, he said, “I don't know how to live out there. In here, I had rules. I knew what was expected. I may have been confined, but at least I understood the system.”

Friends, many of us are like that man. We’ve been set free, declared righteous through faith in Jesus, but we’re still sitting just outside the gate of our old lives, clinging to the law, to guilt, to performance. We’ve been released from the prison of sin and self-justification, but we're afraid to live in the wide, open freedom that Christ provides.

Paul says in Acts 13:39 that through Him (Jesus), everyone who believes is set free from every sin. That is true freedom, not the freedom to do whatever we want, but the freedom to be who God created us to be, without the chains of shame, fear, or religious performance.

Application: True freedom doesn’t come from following the rules perfectly. It comes from placing our full trust in Jesus, the only One who can truly set us free. Invite them to step beyond the gate and live boldly in the grace that has already been given.

TRANSITION: "So through faith in Jesus, we find freedom, not just a little bit, but from every sin. But listen, that kind of freedom didn’t come cheap. Just like the freedoms we celebrate as Americans were bought with a price, so was our spiritual freedom. And that brings us to the second part of our foundation today...His forgiveness."

2. In His FORGIVENESS

We do not deserve this, freedom did not come free

Same as here in our great country

Galatians 5:1 NIV

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.

"Freedom Isn’t Free"

True freedom is costly, and the greatest freedom of all was bought not with bullets, but with blood. Scripture: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free...” — Galatians 5:1 Acts 13:39: “Through Him everyone who believes is set free from every sin.”

On the 4th of July, we celebrate the birth of a nation, the United States of America. We wave flags, enjoy fireworks, and gather with family. But underneath all the celebration lies a sobering truth: freedom isn’t free. It came at the cost of brave men and women who laid down their lives on battlefields, many of whom never lived to see the freedom they fought for.

Now imagine a soldier standing at a memorial wall, reading the names of his fallen brothers. Tears in his eyes, he whispers, “They gave everything so I could come home.”

That’s a powerful picture, but it’s also just a shadow of what Jesus has done for us.

We celebrate our country’s freedom in July, but as believers, we must remember that the greatest freedom, freedom from sin, guilt, and eternal separation from God, was bought at an even greater price. Not with guns or political revolutions, but with a cross, a crown of thorns, and the blood of the spotless Lamb.

Forgiveness wasn’t free either. We often talk about being "forgiven" as if it’s easy. But just like freedom, forgiveness costs something. For us, it’s free. But for Jesus, it cost everything.

Application:

This 4th of July, while we honor the men and women who died for our country’s freedom, let’s also remember the One who died for our eternal freedom. Let’s live not just as citizens of a free nation, but as citizens of heaven, walking in the freedom and forgiveness that only Christ can offer.

True freedom isn’t doing whatever you want. True freedom is being forgiven, set free from sin, and empowered to live the life God intended. And just like national freedom, that kind of freedom? It’s never free.

•     Forgiveness comes through his sacrifice, it cost Jesus his life, it bought our lives

TRANSITION: "Jesus paid the ultimate price so we could be forgiven, and that alone should stop us in our tracks. But here’s the amazing part: He didn’t just forgiveus… He justified us. That means God doesn’t just say, 'You’re forgiven,' He says, 'You’re righteous.' That’s the final piece of the foundation I want us to see today, our justification."

3. In our JUSTIFICATION

•     Salvation is threefold, Justification, Sanctification, Glorification

•     Justification is through Faith, our Faith in Christ brings about the start of our salvation, this is being made right with God.

•     Lifelong process, freedom is gained daily

•     Sanctification is the growth process we all should be going through and Glorification comes at the time of death.

•     The law, our deeds cannot free us, the only thing it can do is condemn us

Romans 3:19–20 NIV

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Galatians 2:16 NIV

know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

•     Forgiveness is not only imparted upon us, but the righteousness that comes from being a follower of Christ.

•     That is then placed on our account and we are forever secure in Him

“The Judge’s Declaration”

Imagine a courtroom.

A man stands on trial. The evidence against him is overwhelming, video footage, eyewitnesses, even a confession. There's no way around it: he's guilty. The sentence is severe and just, years behind bars, maybe even life.

But then something completely unexpected happens.

The judge looks up from the bench and says, “This man is guilty. But I’m going to pay the price for him. I will take his place. Let him walk out of this courtroom free, not because he's innocent, but because I’ve declared him justified. His record is wiped clean.”

The courtroom gasps.

That man walks out the door not just free legally, but free in a way that changes everything. He’s not just released from punishment, he’s been justified. It's as if he had never sinned.

That’s what Acts 13:38–39 is declaring to us.

Justification means more than forgiveness. It means being declared righteous by God Himself. Not because we earned it, and not because we kept all the laws, but because of what Jesus has done.

The law, Paul says, couldn’t do that. The best it could do was show us how far we fall short. But Jesus? He stepped into the courtroom, took the punishment, and gave us His righteousness.

That’s true freedom, not just a second chance, but a new identity.

Conclusion

Today, if you’re weighed down by guilt, trying to earn your way into God's favor, remember: freedom is not found in what you do, it’s found in what Jesus has done.

You are justified, not just forgiven. You are free, not just excused.

The Judge has declared you righteous. Walk out of the courtroom, not in shame, but in freedom.

“Where are you today? Are you still standing just outside the gate? Stuck in the courtroom of life? Come fully into the freedom Christ has purchased for you. Receive it. Walk in it. Live free.”

But here’s the question I want to leave you with:

Are you actually walking in that freedom? Or are you still chained to the guilt of your past, or the lie that you have to earn what’s already been given?

You’ve been set free, but are you living like it?

The greatest tragedy isn’t just living in sin. It’s being set free from it, and still choosing to sit outside the prison gates.

Some of us are still trying to prove something to God. Some of us are still dragging around shame that Jesus already died to remove. Some of us have accepted forgiveness, but never stepped fully into the freedom of a new identity.

Today, Jesus is not just offering you a pardon, He’s offering you a new life. Not a better version of your old self, but a brand new creation.

So don’t leave here the same way you came in. Don’t settle for halfway freedom. Don’t cling to what Christ already crucified.

Step into true freedom. Live forgiven. Walk justified. Be transformed.

And if you’ve never accepted that freedom… today is the day. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Right here. Right now.

The Judge has declared you righteous, will you walk out of the courtroom changed?

Let’s pray.