Freedom in Christ

Freedom in Christ

Saturday, June 30, 2018

9:32 AM

2 Corinthians 3:17 King James Version (KJV)

17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

The hymnwriter wrote several years ago:

Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters, Chained like a slave, I struggled in vain; But I received a glorious freedom, When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.

In our passage this morning we find a picture of bondage (those who had to view with a veiled face) and a picture of liberty (those who can look with open faces) . Liberty and freedom are sometimes said to be synonymous.

A Church sign I seen recently said something to the effect: "Liberty is the power to have choices. Freedom is the result from making right choices."

Paul is stating the fact that true freedom comes not from fighting for it, or from demanding it, or campaigning for it, but rather true liberty comes from having the Lord and His Spirit present.

A couple of things I want us to note as marks of spiritual liberty -

The heart and mind are opened - Verse 12-14

When we are freed - our thinking changesWe can receive and understand the truth - The Holy Spirit was sent to guide into all truth - Jesus didn't expect his disciples to find it on their own, they couldn't and we can't either.

Oswald Chambers wrote several years ago:

The Spirit of God is always the spirit of liberty; the spirit that is not of God is the spirit of bondage, the spirit of oppression and depression. The Spirit of God convicts vividly and tensely, but He is always the Spirit of liberty. God who made the birds never made birdcages; it is men who make birdcages, and after a while we become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on one leg. When we get out into God's great free life, we discover that that is the way God meant us to live "the glorious liberty of the children of God."

—Oswald Chambers in The Moral Foundations of Life. Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no. 13.

When we are freed - our actions & attitudes change So long, I searched for life's meaning Enslaved by the world and my greed Then the door of my prison was opened by love For the ransom was paid I was free

I'm free from the fear of tomorrow I'm free from the guilt of my past ooh! I've traded my shackles for a glorious song I'm free Praise the Lord, free at last! The Life Reflects and ResemblesThere is a transformation that takes place as we look with an open face upon just the glory of the Lord. We are changed into the same image from glory to gloryNot by our self-discipline, or by working (although we need those things)But it's by the SPIRIT OF THE LORD!!!

Maybe the best way to describe this type of liberty is to draw from Charles Wesley - that tremendous hymnwriter - who wrote of this freedom when he wrote:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

fast-bound in sin and nature’s night.

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.

I woke the dungeon flamed with light.

My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

This morning are you free? Has the Lord's Presence brought liberty to your life?

His pow’r can make you what you ought to be; His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free;

The way to freedom - the way to liberty - is to let Jesus have his way in you!!!