FREE INDEED IN CHRIST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY AUGUST 12, 2024.

SUBJECT: FREE INDEED IN CHRIST!

Memory verse: "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36.)

READ: John 8 vs 31 - 33:

8:31: Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed;

8:32: And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

8:33: They answered Him, “We be Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You shall be made free’?”

INTIMATION:

People often think they will be free if they can get away from God. Just as a fish is not free when it leaves the water and a tree is not free when it leaves the soil, we are not free when we leave the Lord. Jesus Himself is the truth that sets us free. He is the source of truth, the perfect standard of what is right. He frees us from continued slavery to sin, from self-deception, and from deception by Satan. He shows us clearly the way to everlasting life with God. Thus Jesus does not give us freedom to do what we want, but freedom to follow God. As we seek to serve God, Jesus perfect truth frees us to be all that God meant us to be.

Sometimes we have the illusion that freedom is doing anything we want. But God says that true freedom comes from obedience and knowing what not to do. The restrictions He gives us are for our good, helping us avoid evil. Much as we have the freedom to walk in front of a speeding car, but we don’t need to be hit to realize it would be foolish to do so. Don’t listen to Satan’s temptations. You don’t have to do evil to gain more experience and learn more about life.

Sin has a way of enslaving us, controlling us, dominating us, and dictating our actions. Jesus can free you from this slavery that keeps you from becoming the person God created you to be. If sin is restraining, mastering, or enslaving you, Jesus can break its power over your life. God sets His people free and crushes His enemies. Salvation is freedom from sin and death. Those who refuse to turn to God will be crushed by sin and death. They will be trapped by the sin they loved and destroyed by the death they feared. How mush better it will be for those who love God and fear the consequences of sin.

As a sinner, separated from God, you see His law from below, as a ladder to be climbed to get to God. Perhaps you have repeatedly tried climbing it, only to fall to the ground every time you have advanced one or two rungs. Or perhaps the sheer height of the ladder seems so overwhelming that you never even started up. In either case, what relief you should feel to see Jesus offering with open arms to lift you above the ladder of the law, to take you directly to God! Once Jesus lifts you into the presence of God, you are free to obey—out of love, not necessity, and through God’s power, not your own. You know that if you stumble, you will not fall back to the ground. Instead, you will be caught and held in Christ’s loving arms. 

When one comes to God through Jesus, he is free from the necessity of perfect law-keeping in order to be justified. He is truly free, therefore, because he trusts in God for justification, and not his own performance of law and good works. Only when one comes to God through Jesus is he truly free from the curse of law, sin and death. But there is more to this freedom than simply freedom from the necessity of perfect law-keeping. When one comes to Jesus he is free from the religious laws that he would bind on himself in order to be pleasing to God. Whether written laws of God or man-made traditional laws, the freedom is applicable to both. 

If we refuse to follow God, we will follow our own sinful desires and become enslaved by what our bodies want. If we submit our lives to Christ, He will free us from slavery to sin. Christ frees us to serve Him, a freedom that results in our ultimate good. 

Prayer: Abba Father, thank you for the free gift of Your only Son, Jesus Christ, who came to set us free from the slavery of sin and death, and whoever he sets free is free indeed. Endue me with the spirit of raw obedience to You that I may be a partaker of the huge inheritance You have given us in Christ, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!