BOOK BY STEVE BROWN

Before we begin I must make a very important announcement.   If you are not a Christian then this message is not for you.  I’m sorry but it is just not.  Once you are a Christian it most defiantly applies.

We are free in Christ.  What does the word freedom really mean?  What does that freedom mean to me in my Christian walk?  How do we get that real freedom promised by Christ?  Oh my, and the list goes on and on and on.  As I said yesterday I am working on a study that will revolutionize my walk with the Lord.

Here is what I have at the moment that I can actually get into words.  I really want your input on this study so don’t leave without commenting please.

I was researching “radical grace” and ran across this book.  Now, I have no money but Praise God I do have this computer and low and behold, he has a podcast , well actually 28 of them on this subject.  Isn’t that exciting, we can learn together all about true freedom in Christ.

The Truth Shall Make You Free

John 8:31-32 (NKJV) 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Let’s see now, abide in His Word: We have His Word in the form of the Bible and abide means:

transitive verb

1: to wait for :

2 a: to endure without yielding  b: to bear patiently :

3: to accept without objection

intransitive verb

1: to remain stable or fixed in a state

2: to continue in a place :

And we all say, “thank you Merriam-Webster “.

So in other words we are to hold fast to His Word without objecting to it.   Sounds easy enough.  As Christians we already hold the Bible as the indisputable Word of God.  So then we will know the truth; that is we will have all the facts, and that will make us free.

Well why don’t I feel free?  I can’t do this, and I must do that, and if I do this I’m going to hell, and if I don’t do that I will be punished.  That does not sound like freedom to me.  It sounds like a bunch of LAWS.  Hey wait a minute, didn’t Paul say something to the effect that we are free from the law?  Now where is that? Oh yes, here it is.

Romans 7:6 (NCV)  In the past, the law held us like prisoners, but our old selves died, and we were made free from the law. So now we serve God in a new way with the Spirit, and not in the old way with written rules.

If this is true then why are there so many rules?

What does freedom mean?   Let’s check with our friend Merriam-Webster again.

Free is:

Date: before 12th century

1: the quality or state of being free: as

a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action

b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : independence

c: the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something onerous <freedom from care>

d: ease , facility <spoke the language with freedom>

e: the quality of being frank, open, or outspoken <answered with freedom>

f: improper familiarity

g: boldness of conception or execution

h: unrestricted use <gave him the freedom of their home>

2 a: a political right

b: franchise , privilege

synonyms freedom , liberty , license mean the power or condition of acting without compulsion. freedom has a broad range of application from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated <freedom of the press>. liberty suggests release from former restraint or compulsion <the released prisoner had difficulty adjusting to his new liberty>. license implies freedom specially granted or conceded and may connote an abuse of freedom <freedom without responsibility may degenerate into license>.

So I am no longer under slavery or bondage and am free to make my own choices about who I want to serve.   I knew that part.  Where is the new part?  Here it is:

a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action

So what are we saying here?  I can sin if I want to? 

YOU:  “No Cathy, see we are free not to sin.” 

ME:  “That sounds very spiritual and of course we are but there is more.”

YOU:  “More?   Cathy, you can’t give people absolute freedom to do whatever they want, they will take advantage of it.  they will take advantage of God and His grace.”

ME:  “Maybe they will but God did give us the freedom to do just that if we so choose.”

I have probably lost you at this point so let me show you what Paul says.

Romans 14:14  (KJV)  I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Jesus himself told that to Paul.  How you going to argue that?  Once you belong to Christ then if you think it is a sin then it is a sin.  On the side I have a scrolling message from James.  He says:

James 4:17-18 (NKJV) 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Notice that it says: to him it is sin.  It does not say to God it is sin.

So what I will leave you with today is the following: words have meaning and Jesus said what He meant and meant what He said.  We truly do have freedom in Christ, and we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free.

Come back tomorrow and we will continue on our path to true freedom in Christ.  In the meantime please do not take my word for things.  Study to show yourselves a workman pleasing to God.

2 Timothy 2:15
King James Version (KJV)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

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