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"Who the Son
Sets Free is Free Indeed"
What
Does It Mean to Have Freedom in Christ?
.
Clarence
L. Haynes Jr.
In John 8:36 Jesus makes
a wonderful statement of victory.
He says, “So
if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.”
These are
powerful and encouraging words and right off the bat I want to issue you a big
congratulations because you are free.
However, have
you ever taken the time to consider what you are freed from?
If you look at
the Greek, you will discover this word free can mean to liberate or to exempt
from liability.
That means this
verse could read whom the son liberates or exempts from liability will be
really liberated and exempted from liability.
Because of this
definition, when you consider this verse in its full context, there are two
conclusions I want you to consider.
First, there
are things Christ has freed you from.
Second, there
are things Christ has freed you to.
Today let’s
consider both sides of the coin because they are both critical to living the
full and abundant life that Christ wants you to live.
What Has Christ, the Son, Freed You From?
The Bondage of
Sin – (Your Captivity) - For something or someone to be liberated it
must first have to be bound or imprisoned.
The very
definition of a captive is one who is confined. That’s exactly what we were.
You and I were
prisoners held under the bondage of sin. We were held captive by the impulses
of sin. We were slaves to the instincts of sin.
We had no power
to overcome the influence of sin. Sin was our ruler and it held us captive.
In your days of
living before Christ, whatever sin wanted that’s what sin got.
This doesn’t
mean you were out living a wild lifestyle, though it could, it simply means
that the primary authority in your life was your sinful nature. It was in
control.
In Romans 6, Paul refers to
sin as your master.
However, when
you were born again, something beautiful happened – you got a new master.
God gave you a
new nature and more importantly filled you with his Holy Spirit so now you are
no longer under the control of your sinful nature – you have been set free.
Paul sums it up
well in 2 Corinthians
3:17: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is freedom.”
Because the
Holy Spirit lives in you, you are free.
The Penalty of
Sin – (Your Eternity) - Romans 6:23 says
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
Let’s be very
frank here, outside of Christ we all had an eternal death sentence.
That’s right,
you and I were on death row.
You may not
have understood it and probably didn’t grasp the gravity of it but that’s where
we were.
Unfortunately,
today many people still don’t understand that.
Because of our
sin, you and I were on a path to be eternally separated from the very presence
of God.
This was the
eternal penalty or liability of our sin. Thankfully the story doesn’t end
there.
Paul states
here the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. When Jesus set you free,
he took away your death sentence.
The penalty you
deserved has been removed and you now have eternal life. He literally shifted
your eternal destination.
Today you can
rejoice because if you have Christ then you have eternal life.
You no longer
have to pay the penalty for your sin, and you will never be separated from the
love of God in Christ Jesus.
The Guilt and
Shame of Sin – (Your Vitality) – Have you ever experienced
the feeling of guilt?
Have you ever
felt shame for things you have done in your past?
Have you ever
repented but felt like you need to repent again because you feel so bad that
you want to make sure God “really forgave you?”
We have all
done things that we are ashamed of.
Things that we
wish we could take back and never do again.
We all have the
capacity to relive our bad moments questioning why did we do that?
I know I have
done it countless times. However, when you do this all you are doing is
creating guilt and shame.
This can haunt
you and it can cripple you, taking away your capacity to live and develop,
which is your vitality.
This is one of
the biggest weapons of our enemy Satan: encouraging you to look back at the
shameful moments of your past.
When you do you
can be overwhelmed by guilt, shame, and condemnation. This will ultimately
strip your joy, rob your peace, and destroy your vitality.
Today I have
good news for you – you have been set free.
When you
sincerely repented the first time, God forgave you.
He removed that
sin from you as far as the east is from the west and he doesn’t remember it
anymore.
He will never
bring it up again and neither should you. However, forgiveness is not just
about dealing with sin it also deals with your shame.
Christ does not
just forgive the sins of the past. He also liberates you from the shame and
guilt of your past.
He takes away
the thing that has limited your ability to live and develop which is your guilt
and shame.
If you are
forgiven, you are forgiven completely and totally. Sin, shame, guilt all of it
is dealt with when Jesus sets you free.
You don’t have
to carry that burden of guilt and shame anymore. You are forgiven and truly
free indeed.
When you
understand what Christ has freed you from, it sets the stage for you to live in
what Christ has freed you to.
What Has Christ Freed You To?
The Freedom to
Live – (Your Capacity) – One of the reasons it’s so important to
understand that you are free from the bondage, penalty and guilt of sin is
because it now increases your capacity.
Jesus wants to
increase your capacity to love, to have joy, to experience peace, and to enjoy
life.
He also wants
to increase your capacity to have a relationship with your Heavenly Father.
This can’t happen if you are not free.
You cannot have
a vibrant, living, loving relationship with God or with anyone else for that
matter, if you are holding on to the guilt and shame of your past.
Jesus said
in John 10:10 “…I have come that they may
have life, and have it to the full.”
If you remember
in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God
and their capacity for a relationship with God was hindered.
When Jesus
comes and sets you free you don’t have to hide anymore.
You can now
enjoy a healthy relationship with your Heavenly Father and he actually
encourages it.
James
4:8 says “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
This is the
essence of what Christ has freed you to. God wants close, intimate fellowship
with you and the only way that happens is by Jesus freeing you.
This allows you
to build that relationship without fear or worry.
You can enter
God’s presence with confidence because you know he wants you there and the
hindrances have all been removed. This truly is living free.
The Freedom to
Serve – (Your Activity) – Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are God’s
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do.”
One of the
other reasons Christ has freed you is because he has work for you to do. He has
a plan for your life.
However, it
will be difficult to achieve this plan if you are running around with a guilty
conscience.
When you do
this, you are always trying to prove yourself or win the approval of the person
you are serving.
Let me lighten
the load for you today. You are saved by grace. You live by grace.
God will
accomplish his plan in your life by grace. Christ frees you so that your
activity doesn’t flow out of some sense of trying to win God’s approval.
Your approval
doesn’t come because of what you do, but because of what Christ has already
done.
When you
understand this, you are free to accomplish the plan God has for your life with
no agenda, no ulterior motive but out of a heart motivated by love for him.
Final Thoughts
In the
dictionary, freedom is defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think
without hindrance or restraint.
It further
describes it as liberation from slavery or from the power of another.
That definition
completely wraps up everything Christ has done for us. There is only one thing
left for you to do. Live free.
Here’s what
Paul says in Galatians 5:1:
“It is for
freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let
yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Enjoy your
freedom today and go live the life Christ has freed you to live.
Clarence
L. Haynes Jr.
is a rising speaker, teacher, author and co-founder of The Bible Study Club. He
has spent more than 30 years serving the body of Christ in various capacities
and has just released his first book called The Pursuit of Purpose. If you have
ever struggled trying to find God’s will, this book will help you discover the
different ways God leads you into his perfect will. To learn more about his
ministry please visit clarencehaynes.com.
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