Liberty
May 2015 |
Galatians 5:1 – “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
THERE ARE MANY LIBERTIES we are called to hold to as believers. None are liberties we have paid for, earned, or even deserve. Each and every one of them was paid for by Jesus Christ as He offered up Himself as a sacrifice for lost humanity at Calvary. It is our responsibility to stand fast in the freedoms afforded us by Christ. Let me highlight a few powerful benefits afforded to all who will dare to believe that these are theirs for the claiming!
FREEDOM FROM SIN
Jesus paid the price to free us from the penalty, the power, and (one day) the presence of sin. Most Christians are aware of the truth that Jesus died to pay the penalty for the sin that they have committed, but what most do not realize is the truth that in the Cross, the power of sin over the individual believer was broken. The sin nature that resides in every human from the moment of birth will continue to corrupt the heart of that human unless somehow stopped. Romans, Chapter 6, teaches us that our union with Christ caused the power of the sin nature to be rendered idle and useless. It still resides within the framework of the human heart, but it need not cause us trouble as long as we continually keep our faith in Christ and Him crucified. One glad day when the trump of God shall sound, we shall be glorified, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and the presence of sin will no longer be a reality for all eternity.
FREEDOM FROM LAW
Jesus gave us His righteousness so that we should no longer be accountable to the law. This does not mean that the believer is free from the moral code. The truth is, God expects far more from us — relative to holy living — when we come out from under the law. The law was never meant to be a saving agent. It convicts the human race of wrongdoing but does not supply the power to live holy. Only grace can supply the power to overcome sin. So, we are freed from the law and the ordinances that were against us because Christ nailed them to His Cross and forever took them out of the way. The Christian will never be judged by the law. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness — not the destruction of the law, but rather the end of trusting law, rules, routines, or anything else as the means to righteousness. Once again, our union with Christ has caused us to become dead to the law, and we are free from its requirements and are declared righteous as a result of our faith.
FREEDOM FROM THE WORLD
The believer has access to grace that frees us from the desire for worldly pursuits! We have all felt the pull that the world and its ungodly system can place upon the heart of the believer. It is very easy in this life to concentrate upon the temporal rather than the eternal. There’s nothing wrong with desiring God’s best for us as it pertains to what we own, what we drive, or where we live. However, when the pursuit of these temporary items chokes the desire in us for the things of God, then we have our priorities out of line, and our faith is in danger of being destroyed. The Bible tells us that we have been crucified to the world and the world to us through our union with Christ. Our faith in the Cross will cause God's grace to remove the worldly desires from us. It will break the pull of those desires, and they will not be dominant over the priority of our walk with God.
FREEDOM FROM THE DEVIL
He has destroyed the devil’s power over us. While the Devil still remains as our adversary, constantly seeking out whom he may devour, Christ Jesus destroyed his power and his dominion by His one sacrifice on Calvary. He defeated all powers of darkness on Golgotha’s hill and destroyed the power of the Devil and all the principalities under him. He made a show of them openly and declared His victory over their power of oppression and destruction. Our simple faith in Jesus’ work sets us free from the adversary, who would destroy our faith, our family, and our world. Jesus was manifested to destroy all the works of the Devil, and this He has done. It is for us to claim our liberty from Satan’s power by ever placing our faith in Christ and Him crucified.
FREEDOM FROM SELF
He has freed us from the dominating desires to please “self.” When man fell, he became self-conscious. Prior to this, man was God-conscious and thoughts of self, if they existed at all, were secondary. After the fall in the garden of Eden, man became dominated by both sin and his selfishness. Our whole lives are about us. We put ourselves first and everyone else last. However, our union with Christ has the power to defeat selfishness and overcome selfish desires. It even has the power to place a care for others in front of our natural care for self. Now, as a servant of the Lord, I am equipped to serve others and not just myself.
All of these benefits are for those who access them daily by faith in the finished work of Christ. I have been united with Christ, crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and raised with him to live in Him through a brand-new power source. I am determined, by the grace of God, to stand fast in the liberty that Christ died to provide!
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