True Freedom

By Tony V. Hammack

These notes are best when used in conjunction with the audio or video. To listen to the audio (podcast), click here. To watch the video, click here. 

Freedom is not only the ability to do what you want it’s the ability to do what’s right.

John 8:31-36
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  33They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" 34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Introduction:

1. In order to be a disciple of Jesus Christ you must hold to his teaching.
1. Hold if you don’t understand what God’s doing
2. Hold during persecution
3. Hold in times of prosperity
2. Holding to the teaching will cause it to reveal it’s truth freeing power. A “try” won’t cause this knowing to come into being for the believer.

Persistence is a key to overcoming the enemy. Really bearing down into Christ for a prolonged period of time will reveal the liberating power for the believer. You can’t just stick your toe in the water.

      3.  You Must Know It

• The truth does not set you free. Knowing the truth is what sets a person free.  Have you ever put a book on your head as a joke hoping for diffusion to kick in and the information from the book trickle into your brain?

Sometimes people are waiting for God to do something he’s already given you the deputized authority to take care of. You must know this truth in order to take action.

     4.  How can the Jews listening to Jesus have the audacity to make the statement, "We have never been slaves of anyone?"

• The Jews were conquered by the Assyrians from 740 BC to 722 BC the Babylonians from 597 – 538 BC and were in captivity in both places. Not to mention the bondage in Egypt. At the time of this conversation the nation of Israel was occupied by the Romans.

However Jesus isn’t talking about national bondage he’s talking about the bondage of the heart and mind that is created by sin. He defines slavery to sin as committing the act of sin. When the act is committed it illustrates slavery to it.

How to get free from Sin Slavery

1. Obey the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

Romans 6:17
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

     2.  We Need God’s Love
          A.  This takes us back to Love from God being a key for love for God which is a key for obedience.  1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

          B.  John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

     3. Become a Slave to Righteousness

Romans 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

     4.  Live by the Spirit

Galatians 5:16,17
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.

Conclusion:

The difference between the Christian and the Non-Christian when it comes to sin.
A non-Christian has no overcoming power available from Christ to walk in freedom.

A Christian has a new nature and everything they need for life and godliness. All of heaven is at the disposal of the Christian to have their life transformed into a life of victory.

2 Corinthians 5:17
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

However many Christian people starve to death with a million dollars in the bank.

We can’t withdraw Heaven’s resources because we lack in our relational knowledge of the Lord.

Jesus Came to Bring Freedom
Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Romans 7:5,6
5For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

If you'd like to understand more about becoming a Christian please click here.

Visit with us at Jubilee Family Church this Sunday at 10:00 AM Central Standard Time U.S.A. or Wednesday evening at 6:30 PM Central Standard Time U.S.A. or via internet video on Jubilee T.V.

If you live in Batesville please tune into KCCJ - 106.9 FM to listen to contemporary worship music.

Jubilee Family Church
45 Thunderbird Dr.
Batesville, AR 72501

(870) 793-9124


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