FDR - four basic freedoms

speech

worship

from want

from fear

We tend to think of freedom as being political, or economic.

Even with the freedoms we enjoy in this country, many of us still lack joy, peace, and hope.

How about you and me? How was this past week? Did we know joy? Did we have peace? Did we have hope? Or, were we anxious? Were we frustrated or angry? Were we down because of circumstances? Did we have envy or jealousy? Any hatred? Dependence on alcohol or drugs? Selfishness? How about guilt? Anyone living under the bondage of guilt and shame?

Why is this?

Because even with our laws guaranteeing our freedoms, we are still in bondage.

What bondage? Bondage to our own sinful nature. No matter where we go, no matter who we are with, we carry along with us our sinful nature. This is why when people move on to new areas, or when divorced people get remarried, they are likely to face the same issues they had before. They took their biggest problem with them, their own sinful nature.

Jesus said,

John 8:34 NIV

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

It is our own sinful nature that has us in bondage. This is what keeps us from enjoying life and freedom.

No law can set us free from this.

So, are we doomed to live in bondage the rest of our lives? No!

There is hope! That is what we want to talk about today! There is freedom from the sinful nature to be found in Christ!

Freedom! True Freedom that brings joy, peace and hope!

Prayer

Galatians 5:13 NIV

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Called to be Free!

Our independence was won by Christ when he died on the Cross and rose from the grave.

God has called us to be free! He does not want us to live in bondage to our sinful natures any longer.

God called us to adoption as his sons. In another passage, Paul wrote:

Romans 8:15 NIV

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Or, as John wrote,

John 8:36 NIV

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

We have been set free! God calls us to be free!

Called to be Free!

Free from Guilt - Romans 8:1, because we are forgiven by God!

Free from the penalty of sin, because Christ died on the cross for us, once for all time!

Free from the power of sin, because we have been crucified with Christ!

Free to live in righteousness because the Spirit lives within us!

Colossians 2:13–15 NIV

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

We are free! We are called to be free from our sinful nature! We are forgiven! We are free from the guilt, the penalty and the power of sin!

So why do we still deal with this bondage in our lives?

Because we abuse our freedom, and we look back longingly...

Galatians 5:13 NIV

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Don’t go back!

When we were in bondage to our sinful natures, we often tried to control ourselves with rules and regulations. That doesn’t work, does it? Rules can be good and helpful, but they lack any real power to keep us from indulging our sinful nature.

That is why God saves us by grace! We cannot help ourselves. We cannot do anything to save ourselves from our sinful nature. No amount of rules or laws can stop sin. So, God saves us by grace through faith.

But then, our sinful nature steps in, and says, “Hey, you’re not under law! God gives you grace! Go ahead!”

We have a real tendency to look back, and think how great life was. We look back at our bondage with fondness. Life was comfortable back then!

Over the past months I have been looking at Exodus, and Numbers, the history of Israel after God brought them out of bondage in Egypt.

They had it good! God had delivered them from slavery, harsh slavery in Egypt by His might and power. He didn’t do it because they were so good, or because they were devoted followers of His. When Moses went to them, they asked who God was. Many of them were worshipping the gods of Egypt at the time.

In the same way, God comes to us when we are sinners. He saves us from sin, from our sinful natures which have us bound; not because we are so good, but because He is good, loving and gracious.

Well, you would think that the Israelites would be grateful, and follow the Lord who promised to take them to the promised land. But that is not what happened.

Even though God delivered them miraculously, even though God was leading them through the wilderness where they had never been before with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, even though God was providing water when they needed it, even though God was providing food for them daily, time after time, they kept looking back longingly to Egypt!! They liked the way they used to live… because they forgot the bondage they were in.

So too, we have a tendency in our lives to know that God saves us by grace, not because we deserve it, but because he is good, loving and gracious. We know that God is providing what we need daily. Yet, we still look back longingly to what we had. We look back at the past and wish we had this or that. We wish we could experience this again. We think that if we just had what we desired, or used our old ways of doing things it will turn out differently this time. And when we do, we fall back into bondage, and find that we no longer have peace.

What is the way out of this deadly cycle, this bondage which robs us of the freedom to enjoy the Lord’s blessings, the freedom from guilt, shame, and strife brought on by our own sinful nature?

Recognize that it is your sinful nature that is the issue!

Recognize the Freedom to which God has called you!

Don’t look back! Look at today, this is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!

And, as Paul continues here in Galatians:

Galatians 5:13–14 NIV

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Serve humbly in love

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Ten: The Fifth Freedom (Galatians 5:13–26)

If you love people (because you love Christ), you will not steal from them, lie about them, envy them, or try in any way to hurt them. Love in the heart is God’s substitute for laws and threats.

If you don’t...

Galatians 5:15 NIV

If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Watch out!

The sinful nature is selfish. It is all about our own desires. It will destroy others around us so that we can indulge our own selfish desires, not truly considering what we are doing to others. We are good at justifying that this will be good for them, or that it won’t effect anyone else. But our selfish desires to impact those around us, usually not for the good.

When we look back longingly, and indulge our selfish desires, it will lead to fighting division.

If there are conflicts in your life, if there is any lack of peace, look into what desires you have that are not satisfied. As James says,

James 4:1–3 NIV

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Watch out!

Do we really think the Israelites were thinking about how foolish they would look down through the ages as they constantly forgot the blessings of God, and longed for what they wanted time and again? Do we really think the Israelites were thinking clearly about the bondage from which God rescued them as they longed for what they had before?

Do we really think we look any less foolish to others around us as we indulge our selfish desires? We treat others around us like garbage while we indulge our selfish desires. We put ourselves back into bondage, instead of living in the freedom which God has provided for us. We need to watch out! Our sinful nature has a way of hoodwinking us into thinking that we are right when all the strife hits because we are indulging our sinful nature, instead of living in God’s freedom!

Help! If I am so easily tricked into playing the fool, who can save me?

Galatians 5:16–18 NIV

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Walk by the Spirit

What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? To walk by the power, the enabling of the Spirit.

How does the Spirit work? The Spirit uses the Word of God. Jesus told us that the Spirit would guide us, teach us in truth. Later, in that same instruction, Jesus tells us that God’s Word is truth.

The Spirit will use the Word of God, he will use our time in prayer, worship, and the fellowship of other believers to instruct and encourage us.

As we listen to and yield to the Spirit, we will be empowered by the Spirit to walk in love. Love, considering others as more important than ourselves does not come naturally. It comes supernaturally, through the Spirit.

So, the solution to keep from indulging the flesh is not to use our own will to overcome our sinful desires, but rather to surrender to the will of the Holy Spirit.

The Results

Galatians 5:19–23 NIV

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Freedom

Galatians 5:24–26 NIV

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.