August 6th, 2024
This week, I’ve been thinking about the power of freedom. Especially in American culture, our idea of freedom is shaped greatly by the historical and political connotations of the word. However, our cultural view of freedom does not capture the truth of Biblical freedom. See, freedom in America is about our rights. We have the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and many more. We have the freedom to live without oppression. I am so thankful for that freedom – freedom men fought and died to protect. However, freedom wasn’t invented in the United States. Galatians 5:1 says,
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
When you become a Christian, you aren’t adopting a lifestyle or joining a club. You are stepping into the freedom God created you to live in! Accepting the precious blood that Jesus shed turns the key on every prison door. It looses every shackle and allows us to walk in true liberty for the first time. John 8:32 says,
“…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the freedom for which every human being and every nation is crying out. So often though, the problem in our own lives is that we don’t know how to live in freedom.
I have heard that in India, elephant handlers train baby elephants to submit by chaining them to a post. I researched this, and it’s true. The young elephant will fight passionately to break free until they realize that the chain is stronger than they are. When the baby elephants become adults, chains are no longer necessary to keep them bound. The elephant will submit to its handler with only a small rope wrapped where the chains used to hold them. Those adult elephants have more than enough power to break free of those tiny ropes, but they don’t even try, because they’ve been trained to live in bondage.
I want to tell you right now if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, that any bondage you’re facing is as easy to break as those thin ropes. Those elephants believe they are bound, but they are not.
So often, we live as though the lies that keep us in bondage are true, but if they are contrary to the word of God, they are not.
Jesus said that the truth will set you free. I’ve heard my pastor say many times that it’s the “sum total of truth” that sets you free. It’s the full truth, the entirety of the gospel, that allows us to walk in freedom.
You could walk in freedom in many areas but live in bondage in another. Every lie must be broken to walk in the full freedom Jesus died to provide.
If the truth sets us free, it’s just a lie that binds us.
I say just a lie not to demean the struggle of bondage, but to encourage you. It’s so easy for God to set you free. He already paid the price. When that truth shines in your heart, the darkness flees. You’re just one truth away from a breakthrough and His Word is full of them! There’s a story in the Bible about a man who came face to face with freedom. John 5:2-6 says,
“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
Can you imagine? This man has been laying there for thirty-eight long years, and he was finally face to face with His Savior. He was speaking to the One who was at creation with the Father. He was looking into the eyes of the Word made flesh. How do you think you would respond? John 5:7 says,
The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”
What? This response always amazes me. The man didn’t even answer Jesus’ question. Jesus asked if he wanted to be healed and the man started explaining to Jesus why he couldn’t be healed.
I always wonder what was going on in Jesus’ heart during this conversation. He doesn’t even rebuke him, but enough was enough. John 5:8-9 says
Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
I really believe this story was about God’s glory more than anything else. This man didn’t appear to have any faith to be healed, but Jesus made the power of God so clear. This was a place where so many broken people gathered, bound by religion, waiting for an angel to come stir waters so they could be healed. He chose a man who had been there for thirty-eight years and didn’t even have hope to be healed. He set him free, with no stirred waters or religious activity. The Healer was there, and it took only the power of His command.
My friend, if Jesus were to ask you if you want to be free, if you want to be healed, if you want to live without anxiety, if you want to be financially blessed, would you respond with excuses?
This convicted me, so I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, but God doesn’t need to know the obstacles that keep you from freedom. He just wants to know if you want it and if you believe He can do it.
Just like an elephant bound by a rope that holds no power, or the crippled man who was face to face with healing Himself, you are a breath away from the freedom you’ve longed for! 2 Corinthians 3:17,
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Why? John 14:15-17 says,
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
There is liberty in the Spirit of God, because He’s the Spirit of Truth. John 16:13 says,
“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.”
As blood-bought children of God, we have the Spirit of truth to guide us into all truth. God gave us His Spirit so we can walk in complete and total freedom. Do you want to be free? He’s made every provision. He withheld nothing so you could walk in everything He has. I encourage you to run in freedom, after the One who paid the highest price!
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
When you become a Christian, you aren’t adopting a lifestyle or joining a club. You are stepping into the freedom God created you to live in! Accepting the precious blood that Jesus shed turns the key on every prison door. It looses every shackle and allows us to walk in true liberty for the first time. John 8:32 says,
“…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the freedom for which every human being and every nation is crying out. So often though, the problem in our own lives is that we don’t know how to live in freedom.
I have heard that in India, elephant handlers train baby elephants to submit by chaining them to a post. I researched this, and it’s true. The young elephant will fight passionately to break free until they realize that the chain is stronger than they are. When the baby elephants become adults, chains are no longer necessary to keep them bound. The elephant will submit to its handler with only a small rope wrapped where the chains used to hold them. Those adult elephants have more than enough power to break free of those tiny ropes, but they don’t even try, because they’ve been trained to live in bondage.
I want to tell you right now if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, that any bondage you’re facing is as easy to break as those thin ropes. Those elephants believe they are bound, but they are not.
So often, we live as though the lies that keep us in bondage are true, but if they are contrary to the word of God, they are not.
Jesus said that the truth will set you free. I’ve heard my pastor say many times that it’s the “sum total of truth” that sets you free. It’s the full truth, the entirety of the gospel, that allows us to walk in freedom.
You could walk in freedom in many areas but live in bondage in another. Every lie must be broken to walk in the full freedom Jesus died to provide.
If the truth sets us free, it’s just a lie that binds us.
I say just a lie not to demean the struggle of bondage, but to encourage you. It’s so easy for God to set you free. He already paid the price. When that truth shines in your heart, the darkness flees. You’re just one truth away from a breakthrough and His Word is full of them! There’s a story in the Bible about a man who came face to face with freedom. John 5:2-6 says,
“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
Can you imagine? This man has been laying there for thirty-eight long years, and he was finally face to face with His Savior. He was speaking to the One who was at creation with the Father. He was looking into the eyes of the Word made flesh. How do you think you would respond? John 5:7 says,
The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”
What? This response always amazes me. The man didn’t even answer Jesus’ question. Jesus asked if he wanted to be healed and the man started explaining to Jesus why he couldn’t be healed.
I always wonder what was going on in Jesus’ heart during this conversation. He doesn’t even rebuke him, but enough was enough. John 5:8-9 says
Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
I really believe this story was about God’s glory more than anything else. This man didn’t appear to have any faith to be healed, but Jesus made the power of God so clear. This was a place where so many broken people gathered, bound by religion, waiting for an angel to come stir waters so they could be healed. He chose a man who had been there for thirty-eight years and didn’t even have hope to be healed. He set him free, with no stirred waters or religious activity. The Healer was there, and it took only the power of His command.
My friend, if Jesus were to ask you if you want to be free, if you want to be healed, if you want to live without anxiety, if you want to be financially blessed, would you respond with excuses?
This convicted me, so I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, but God doesn’t need to know the obstacles that keep you from freedom. He just wants to know if you want it and if you believe He can do it.
Just like an elephant bound by a rope that holds no power, or the crippled man who was face to face with healing Himself, you are a breath away from the freedom you’ve longed for! 2 Corinthians 3:17,
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Why? John 14:15-17 says,
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
There is liberty in the Spirit of God, because He’s the Spirit of Truth. John 16:13 says,
“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.”
As blood-bought children of God, we have the Spirit of truth to guide us into all truth. God gave us His Spirit so we can walk in complete and total freedom. Do you want to be free? He’s made every provision. He withheld nothing so you could walk in everything He has. I encourage you to run in freedom, after the One who paid the highest price!
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