A Heart Set free6
A HEART SET FREE #6
4/6/2002 AND 4/7/2002
How to be Really Free.
Psalm 119
32 I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.
Review
We looked at the eternal purpose, the mystery of the ages, putting off the old self by putting on the new self, solving a mid-life crisis and what’s stopping you from being the real you. Last week we looked at the cross and how laying down your old life allows you to pick up your new life.
We are seeing that we find ourselves in relation to Jesus and most of all by seeing the truth about God. You can never believe the truth about yourself if you believe a lie about God.
-Today we are going to look at real freedom.
-Psalm 119 says that when I run in the path of His commands; he sets my heart free.
Romans 8
1 ¶ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
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.
-In this case, the Galatians were getting into the bondage of legalism and going back to all of the external restraints. They were losing the freedom in Christ to the bondage of legalism.
1 Corinthians 10
28 But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake--
29 the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience?
-Freedom in original-Freedom from slavery, independence, absence of external restraint, a negation of control or domination.
Webster’s- the absence of coercion or constraint in choice and action; liberation from slavery or from the power of another; independence; exempt from slavery.
-Freedom from what?
Adam and Eve where free in the garden before sin. When sin came, they lost their right to choose.
Before I was a Christian I was in bondage. I couldn’t quit doing what I was doing.
As a Christian we have sometimes been enslaved by religious bondage and rules of men like the Galatians.
We have sometimes let others opinion of us mark us. We may have let our past rule and control and enslave us.
-Freedom is freedom on the inside. It is believing and following the truth.
John 8
31 ¶ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33 They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
-Freedom is the ability to follow and obey God willingly from your heart without anything stopping you or putting you in bondage.
KEYS TO FREEDOM
1. TAKE A REAL HONEST LOOK AT WHERE YOU ARE.
-Be honest with yourself.
EXAMPLE: In the mall you may be looking for a store or at the Zoo looking for the tigers but first you have to find that red arrow that says “YOU ARE HERE”.
-You have to diagnose the problem before you can prescribe the right medicine.
-Denial never gets you to the answer.
-It is Biblical to give yourself an examination occasionally.
Ps 26:2 Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;
La 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
1Co 11:28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you-- unless, of course, you fail the test?
-This is very painful sometimes. We must be transparent before God, ourselves and others.
2. DISPLACE OR FORCE OUT THE LIES BY PLACING THE TRUTH IN
-You have to look into the mirror of the Word and look at Jesus to see who you are.
Ps 36:9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
-Do a study of the New Testament, especially the epistles and underline or write down every time you hear the terms, IN CHRIST, IN HIM, and IN WHOM.
-That tells you about the new you.
-Its like you have a picture of yourself the way you used to be or think you are.
-It is interesting to look back at those pictures when I was 20. It doesn’t seem like me.
-We keep trying to rip up those pictures but don’t have a new picture of who we are.
-We have to use the same canvas and paint over the top of the old one.
-We write on the tablet of our heart and mind who we are.
-As the new picture is painted it covers the old guy.
READ EXAMPLE FROM CHART
-When I first became a Christian I wrote Scriptures in a notebook and memorized them.
-You aren’t going to get this type of a change by just showing up at church.
-You have to get real, memorize and meditate on Scripture. Do Master life or something.
Romans 12
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
-I heard a minister telling his church how he got a certain ministers tapes, 400 of them and listened to all of them.
-He went to Bible school for four years and then people would say how lucky he was because things were working for him.
-You will have to be diligent and disciplined to change your mind.
3. GUARD WHAT YOU PUT IN YOUR HEART
-Even though you have heard the Word, you leak.
-There is a constant effort to tell you a lie.
Proverbs 4
17 They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
18 The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
20 ¶ My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
24 Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
27 Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
-You have to guard your heart.
-Sometimes after I’ve watched something or read something or talked to a certain person, I feel like a withdrawal has been made on me.
-Other times I sense a deposit has been placed in me.
-I can’t completely stop all things from coming to me but I can overwhelm them by putting more Word in than the world puts world in.
-We are supposed to provoke each other to good works. Some people just provoke you.
-Guard your heart.
-This is like our country. Freedom brings a responsibility. It takes diligence to protect and preserve our freedoms.
-Freedom doesn’t come easy and it doesn’t stay automatically.
Genesis 15
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7 ¶ He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I shall gain possession of it?”
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
-Drive away the birds of prey.
STATEMENTS
YOU ARE FREE TO OBEY GOD
YOU ARE FREE TO SAY NO TO SIN AND DEATH
YOU ARE FREE TO BE YOURSELF
YOU ARE FREE TO BE LIKE JESUS
YOU ARE FREE FROM OTHER EXPECTATIONS/CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS/THE DESIRE TO PROVE TO THE WORLD THAT YOU ARE IMPORTANT
YOU ARE FREE TO LOVE GOD AND PEOPLE-YOU AREN’T IN BONDAGE TO ANGER AND THE GET EVEN MENTALITY
YOU ARE FREE
John 11
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39 "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days."
40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
-This may be the condition of your life. You may have been born-again and raised to newness of life.
-But you may still be wearing grave clothes, things that were needed for you when you were dead.
-Now that you are alive in Christ, take off the grave clothes like you are poor, you aren’t very smart, you are average, you are a victim or whatever.
PRAYER TO BE RELEASED