"Free Indeed"

"Free Indeed"

     Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ live in an empowered freedom to trust and obey God.

    "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

    "Ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:17-18)).

    Our spiritual enemies seek to discourage our application of this liberty God gives to us in Christ.  They would have us focus on ourselves, our human weakness, and our past failures, seeking to deceive us into believing that we cannot overcome temptation.  This is a lie.  No sin is inevitable or excusable in God's trusting sons and daughters united to the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.  We are "free indeed" and "servants of righteousness".  We can distrust and disobey our Lord, and we all at times do.  No temptation, however, finds us without the power to overcome, even as the Apostle Paul promised that "God… will with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (II Corinthians 5:20).

   If we sin, we choose to not believe in the truth and presence of our Heavenly Father's freely given grace in Christ.  We fail to avail, as it were.  Again, the world, the devil, and the flesh seek to distract us from the overwhelming superiority of the Holy Spirit's indwelling power for faith and faithfulness.  Paul wrote that "the power that worketh in us" is "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20).  Thus, no temptation, regardless of severity or measure, comes with the inevitability of failure.  We must decisively and passionately believe this Truth, building an altar within our hearts that expects Christ-empowered obedience, and gives no place for tolerating any notion that we cannot overcome to walk in "the obedience of faith" (Romans 16:26).

  To the degree our Savior's hands and feet were fastened to the cross of Calvary, His grace liberates our hands and feet to fulfill the will of God.  His heart pierced by a spear made possible our hearts to be inhabited by the Holy Spirit who reveals in us "Christ, the power of God" (I Corinthians 1:24).  Thus, we live in a no excuses relationship with God - none offered, and none required.  This we must believe, first because it is true, and then because we thereby live in a manner that honors our Lord's sacrifice on our behalf.   "Free indeed" - to trust and obey.

"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.  And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

(I John 5:4)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Little children, keep yourselves from idols.  Amen.

 (I John 5:21)