True Freedom - Pastor Tom Loghry
True freedom is found in Christ as we have been liberated from the power of sin, being born again by the Spirit.
Transcript:
To the Jews who had, to the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold my teachings and you are really disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth, and the truth will set you free. 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?" Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to the sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, then you will be free indeed."
Let us pray as we come before God's word.
Dear Father, as we come before the scriptures this morning, as we hear again the message of the gospel, that good news which is ours in Jesus Christ, we pray, Father, that you would remind us as we've put faith in Him of the liberty that we've received from sin. And that, Father, if we have not yet put our trust in Christ, that you'd open our eyes to see and our ears to hear the sweet freedom that you offer to all those who would turn to Him.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. You may be seated.
In celebrating the birth of this nation, we also celebrate those truths which inspired its conception. We celebrate those truths that are articulated in our declaration of principles, where it says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
For the sake of justice, for the sake of our common good, it is right that we uphold these rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This means that we should strive to protect every human life, every innocent human life, even including those who have done wrong things, but who do not deserve to be punished with death by any human authority. That means that we should strive to protect the liberty of every human being in accordance with the liberty that God has given to each one of us, as long as exercising that liberty does not trample the rights of others or injure the common good of society. It means that our government should do nothing which would unreasonably hamper a person from building a life in which they can thrive and flourish. We do not close these doors in America. Our doors are open to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
But while America is a land of opportunity, it is not a land that promises to deliver a complete fulfillment of these goods. Life as we know it is protected. But in the end, we all die. Our political liberty is secure. We are not prevented from choosing to do anything that is within the bounds of justice and liberty, but we are not ensured that we can do everything that we might desire to do. I might aspire to have a career in the NFL, but just because I might desire to be a football player doesn't mean that I will be playing anytime soon in the league. But more importantly, just because I might desire to become a better person, a truly virtuous person who walks in God's ways, and while I'm left at liberty to pursue such a life, I'm not ensured that I will in fact become that sort of person. Rather, again and again, life shows how we are captive to sin. I can pursue happiness in America, but can I actually obtain true and lasting happiness? Something more than a half loaf, can I actually get for myself full and everlasting joy? America is a land of opportunity, but in itself, it cannot give us that kind of happiness.
True life, true liberty, true happiness is only found in Christ. And I could spend quite a bit of time this morning fleshing out each one of those goods. But I want to center in on liberty because I do think that true life and true happiness hinge very much on us obtaining true liberty. We're gonna anchor ourselves this morning in John 8:31-36. And in this passage, Jesus is engaging with those people who have believed that He's the Messiah, and yet we see them grappling with embracing the full teaching of Christ. They are eager for a Messiah who can free them from Roman rule. They do not yet perceive how their captivity goes beyond that empire. They have not yet the, grasped the depth of their slavery to sin. So Jesus, in speaking to them, says, once again in verse 31, "To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' They answered Him, 'We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say we shall be set free?' Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.'"
Jesus' audience is pretty sharp here, because they pick up on the fact that what Jesus is basically implying in saying that they can be set free is that they are slaves. And the freedom that he is offering to them he says comes when they truly believe in him, when they embrace his teachings. Now, his teachings actually include believing in Jesus. If we were to survey through the Gospel of John, both before and after, we hear Jesus fill out his teaching in various ways, and it all centers on the, his own person. It centers on himself. John 5:24 says, "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life."
In John 6:29, he says, "The work of God is this to believe in the one he has sent." In verse 35 of that chapter, he says, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." Then later on in John 14:6, he says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." So what Jesus is offering to them is not so much a philosophy, even while Jesus has many good teachings. What Jesus is really offering them is himself, that he is the one who can save them, that he is, in fact, the savior of the world. And what they're really reckoning here with is, what does that mean?
Because at this time, the Jewish people were subjugated by the Roman Empire. And when the Jewish people were looking towards the hope of a Messiah, they were really very often looking towards the hope of one who would bring political liberation. And while certainly Jesus is going to bring political liberation, and Christ is going to return and rule as king on earth, he's a savior in a much deeper sense than politics. Now, this comes to a head because they take exception to this implication that Jesus has made that they are, they are slaves. They say, "We're Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" Now truth be told, they are kind of slaves because, once again, they're subjugated to the Roman Empire, and they might wanna be freed from them, but they wouldn't be willing to accept the status of a slave because they wouldn't want to think of themselves in that way.
And we can understand that. This is a, a sort of pride that every human being has possessed. You think it, it's funny, there was a song written in England in 1740 called Rule Britannia, maybe some of you are familiar with it, and one of the lines goes, "Rule Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves; Britons never shall be slaves." So they wrote that song in 1740. Well, if you're singing that song, not gonna be surprised if your British colonists across the sea are gonna say, "Oh, I, I'm not really content with the situation of paying these taxes without representation, and we're not going to be slaves," and so they rebel. So it's just in the human spirit.
We don't like to think of ourselves as being a slave. We want to think we're free, that we're independent, that we make our own choices for ourselves. And while we can secure a measure of political liberty, when we examine our lives more closely, we see that in fact we're enslaved in, in many ways. We see this most vividly often in the cases of those that have struggled with drug addiction, substance addiction. You know that you don't want to be dependent on those substances, and yet you're drawn to go back to them again and again. We see this in all kinds of ways, not just drugs, though. We see it in our, how we're given over to lust, how we're given over to greed, how we're given over to our anger, our pride. And even while we maybe are able to deal with one thing, so maybe you deal with your lust and you set that aside, what you'll find is the further along that you go in following Jesus, he uncovers other sins in your life. He shows you that you're really kind of a prideful person, even though you don't like to think of yourself in that way. Or that you're thirsting after riches to bring you security in life, rather than thirsting after the security which comes from trusting in God. And so we find ourselves in chains everywhere because of sin.
And Paul, speaking of, of this in Romans 7:14-15 kind of reflects the situation that our own experience that we find ourselves in this condition in the flesh that has been corrupted by sin. He says, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." And then he just keeps going on. It, these verses are suffice to get the point across.
But all around us, we have people suggesting that true freedom means that we give ourselves over to our desires. The Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 2:18-19 speaks about such false teachers. He says, "For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity-- for people are slaves to whatever has mastered them." Sadly, we see this going on in the church today in America. Preachers who tell people what they want to hear, that, "Oh, your life of sin, that's, that's totally fine. You're truly free when you get to do absolutely whatever you want to do. Do whatever you want to desire." The truth is, is that's a very impoverished vision of freedom.
I've used this analogy before. I'm, I'm gonna actually illustrate it. If, if you think about it, my wife plays the piano beautifully. I am not able to play the piano, but I can press whatever key I want. I can go like, I can do that, but I cannot play a tune on this piano. I am not free to do so. I can press any key, but I can't build anything beautiful because I do not have those skills. I'm not trained in the art of playing piano. And sometimes we think about our human lives as, as just, maybe if we just knew more, if I gained more skills, that then I would truly become the sort of person that I'm supposed to be.
And people sell all kinds of, like, five-step books or however many steps books to get you there. As if the way that we can become the people that we're supposed to be is like playing the piano. But that's not what Jesus says, 'cause it's not just a five-step sort of thing. Rather, what Jesus would tell us is that we need to be born again.
That's how radical it is, is like we, we have to be born again. He, in speaking to the Pharisee Nicodemus in, in John 3, verses 3 through 7, he says, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely, they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born." Jesus answered, "Very, very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'" And this new birth, Jesus goes on to say, say, comes about when we believe in him.
A, a verse that's familiar to, to many people, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are born again, not of the flesh, but of the, of the, of the Spirit, of the Holy Spirit. And this is why Jesus actually has come to us. This is why the Son took on flesh. Yes, Jesus has, was born in order that our debt might be paid because of our sin. He took on the, on the penalty of our sin. But Jesus did more than that on the cross. He also defeated the power of sin because apart from Jesus, all of us have sinned. All of us have failed. But Jesus was obedient even to the point of dying on a cross. Until Jesus dies, there's al- always a question of, well, maybe he'll fail now. After all, you remember Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, and the devil tempted him. And all across his ministry, there could've been some point where Jesus failed, but he, but he doesn't, of course, because he is the Son of God.
He's perfectly obedient. And the cross is the punctuation mark of a perfect life of obedience offered unto God. And Jesus does this, yes, to settle our debt, but also so that we too might be liberated from the power of sin as we've been joined to him by faith and been born again on the Holy Spirit. By inviting us to believe in Himself, Jesus is inviting us to share in His victory.
And, and Paul in Romans 6 speaks about this victory that we have in Christ, this liberation that we gain in Him. In Romans 6:6-13, and then we'll jump down to 20 through 23, he says, "For we know that our old self was crucified with Christ so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness." And then jumping down to verse 20, "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What Paul is saying in so many words there is, is, okay, you've lived a life of sin. How has that worked out for you? How has that worked out for you? How has that worked out for humanity? It has only led us into a situation of brokenness. At scale, in, in society across this world, the world is not how we want it to be. But then in ourselves particular, particularly, as we look in the mirror, we're not the people that we want to be, and what's more, our lives terminate in death. So on the whole, we don't have the life that we desire, that we would desire to have in perpetuity, in that we die, but also the quality of life. We do not have the quality of life that we would desire to have. And this is why Christ came, in order that our lives might be redeemed, that they might be restored, so that we would become the people that God has created us and now redeemed us to be in Jesus Christ. And so this is why when we talk about salvation, being saved in Jesus Christ, yes, we are forgiven, but the whole point of it all is so that now we might live that life that we were always supposed to live.
And so this is why we leave sin behind, and now we can. We can now because we have been united with Christ, and we have been born again. In, in Colossians 3:9-10, Paul also says, "You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge, in the image of its creator."
This is the freedom that Jesus is talking about, this freedom which comes when we are actually able to live unto our created end, which is to live in the image of our creator. And so if the Son sets us free, we will be free indeed. And so moving on, thinking about Paul, what Paul had said in Romans 7 about this experience in the flesh of, of knowing what we should want and do, but not doing that thing, he moves on into Romans 8 to talk about how the Spirit brings about this new life which is ours in Jesus Christ, a new life which is communicated to us by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8, verses 1 through 5. It says, "Therefore, there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." And the chapter goes on forward from there with more of the good promise that we have as we live by the Spirit. Once again, what Paul is saying here is that the law, the knowledge of the things that we are supposed to do and trying to live up to those things, we could not do in our own selves, but Christ could and did.
And He did this so that we would no longer strive to live under the covenant of the law, under which we perpetually failed, but that we would live under this new covenant in which we walk in the freedom of the Spirit. A freedom which comes about because we actually just begin to do these things because what we love is now participating in what God loves.
I've, I've shared this quote before, it's a paraphrase, where Saint Augustine says, "Love God and do whatever you please." Love God and do whatever you please. That's true liberty. Now, the reason why you can't reverse this, do whatever, do what, just do whatever you please is because we don't love God in the way that we ought to. But when our hearts are truly transformed, when we're, we are reborn again so that we truly love God, then the desires of our hearts will be truly and completely aligned with God's own desires, and we will experience true freedom.
So as we celebrate this country, as we celebrate America, as we celebrate the rights that are cherished here, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, let us nonetheless not content ourselves with a meager enjoyment of those rights. Let us not content ourselves with mere life, mere liberty, or any pursuit which would fall short of enjoying the full measure of happiness. In our celebration, let us press further still to find everlasting life, to enjoy true liberty, to obtain eternal happiness. True liberty is not merely the freedom to do what pleases us. In our corrupted condition, our hearts yearn to sin, to walk against God's way. We are not free in living in that condition. Jesus tells us everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Christ has come in order to liberate us, to deliver us from our slavery to sin so that we might truly become the sons and daughters of God. Jesus went to the cross in order that sin might be put to death, that we might be reconciled to God and that we might be brought before Him clothed in the righteousness of Christ and ultimately sanctified in Him to be the holy people God has called us to be. In our restored condition, a condition that will be fully realized when Christ returns, we are most free. In that condition, I would not choose to sin any more than I would choose to, I don't know, take a pencil and stab it in my eye. You could do that, but you wouldn't wanna do that. You wouldn't do that. And in that restored condition, I can do that which I was never able to do before. I'm able to live a life that truly reflects my Maker. A life that is truly good and righteous. A life that is holy and content and at peace with God, with myself, and with all people. That is true freedom. And while we don't see it yet in full today, it is a freedom which begins today. And as you follow Christ, you'll see that where the every chain is being broken by him, 'cause sin no longer has its grasp on us. It cannot hold us back from the end for which we've been redeemed, which is to reflect Jesus Christ. And that perfection will be revealed at his return. So with that true freedom in mind, let such freedom ring in our churches. Let such freedom ring across the landscape of this nation, from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam. Let such freedom ring to the very ends of the earth, the freedom that Christ alone brings.
Let us pray
Dear Father
You have made us in your image and you have given us privileges in this world, Father, privileges that we have taken for granted and have abused. Because rather than walking in obedience to you, we rebelled against you You let us do that though, Father
But as we have done so, Father, rather than being more free and departing from you, we have lost our freedom. We've become enslaved to our desires. We've been, become enslaved to sin. Father, we thank you that you have sent your Son, Jesus Christ, so that we might be liberated, so that we might be restored to a place of true freedom In which we would no longer be captive to sin but rather, Father, our hearts would be captured by your love.
And Father, we know that this has been secured because of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sakes on the cross. And we know that it comes to life, Father, in us, this great victory which he has secured by the presence of the Holy Spirit who indwells all those who believe, those who have been born again.
And so Father, for all of us who have believed, Father, we pray that we would walk in the Spirit, that we would walk in the freedom that is ours as we walk forward to that day of perfect liberty, which will be revealed at Christ's return. And Father, I pray that for all those who have yet to put their faith in Christ, that they would do so, so that they may know the freedom which you offer, the true life, true liberty, the true happiness which you offer in your Son, an offer that which we receive as a gift by faith.
Produce such faith, I pray, Father. We give you thanks for all this. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)