Freedom In Christ
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Introduction
Introduction
There are one of two events we can guaranteed will occur sometime in the future:
1. You will experience a physical death.
2. You will be alive and remain until the second coming of Jesus Christ.
If we're honest, none of us are exactly looking forward to either of these events happening anytime soon.
If you're a Christian and believe the Bible you may have a sense of security about this future; but you're probably not making any plans anytime soon!
If you're a spiritual seeker, you may less assurance of what the future holds for you. You may experience anxiety and fear just thinking about it.
We Can't Ignore This!
Either way, the worst thing anyone can do is to dismiss these thoughts from their mind and refuse to consider what lies beyond this life.
We can't ignore this!
Review
5 Truths We Must Believe
In order to lay the foundation that we will build upon in this series, we must begin with 5 truths that we must believe.
God Exists
God Creates
God Determines
God Decides
God is Good!
Why we need to be saved?
We are accountable to God.
We are guilty.
We cannot save ourselves.
Confession and Belief
Confession-Jesus is Lord
Belief-God raised him from the dead.
We will be saved!
Christ Died For Us
We looked at how we were without strength, still sinners, and enemies of God, Christ died for us!
Last Week
We can only be made right with God by faith in Christ.
This is “saving faith”, which involves knowing the facts, comprehending these facts, and trusting in this truth to save us.
Who Can Be Against Us?
Who Can Be Against Us?
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
God is great and glorious. There is no one greater and more glorious.
His judgment and opinion supersedes all others.
God proved his was “for”, by not withholding “His own Son”, delivering him up for us on the cross.
Anything and anyone who may be “against us” will not prevail.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Who Shall Bring a Charge?
Who Shall Bring a Charge?
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
“Charges” or “accusations” are brought against us because of our failures, guilt, and sin.
God has justified us through Christ.
Through the sacrifice of Christ, all of these charges have been dropped.
This doesn’t mean we are without guilt. It means the charges are ineffective to condemn us because they condemned Christ to the cross.
Who Is He Who Condemn?
Who Is He Who Condemn?
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Condemnation is the judgment pronounced when someone has been declared, “guilty”.
It is the sentence. And in our case the sentence declared is “death”!
The wages of sin is death.
Since there are no longer any charges against us, there can be no “death sentence”.
As far as the east is from the west.
Christ was condemned in our place.
He is now risen to intercede for us.
He is our mediator, defending our case.
Who Shall Separate Us?
Who Shall Separate Us?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When a convicted criminal is sentenced, they are separated from loved ones, society in general. and if sentenced to death, separated from life itself!
Separation is a consequence of the Fall.
All of these charges, accusations, condemnations are forgiven.
We will not experience this separation.
Most importantly, we will never be separated form the love of God which appropriated all of this for us!
Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
A wonderful illustration–The Woman caught in adultery.
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Who was against her?
The self–righteous mob.
Who brought the charges and what were they?
The self–righteous mob.
She had commited adultery.
Who condemned her?
The Law
The condemnation was death by stoning.
Yet!
Nothing could separate her from God’s love expressed by Christ! He and only he had the right to condemn her and he didn’t! He demonstrated love, grace, and mercy!
We’ve received this same treatment from God in Christ!