For Freedom Christ Set Us Free

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subjected against to a yoke of slavery.”  Galatians 5:1

No other knows what being enslaved means more so than the Israelites.  Ever since Joseph’s administration, the Egyptians had become increasingly aware of an almighty God.  This scared the Egyptians.  While God was working on the hearts of those who came in contact with Joseph (including the king and his servant), Satan’s rule was being challenged.

Moses went to Pharaoh several times to ask him to let the Israelites go.  And yet each time, Pharaoh turned him away.  By the tenth plague all of Egypt was in an uproar.  It was only with the death of his son that Pharaoh allowed Israel to go.

However, soon thereafter Pharaoh sent an army after the Israelites.  From Egypt God sent the Israelites south to avoid the Philistines.  They were on the edge of the Red Seat when the Egyptian army caught up with them.  The Israelites were afraid because they were trapped against the sea and the army.  Moses instructed them to be still for the Lord will fight for you.

The Angel of the Lord and a pillar of clouds stood between the army and the Israelites.  The cloud covered them in the day, providing relief from the heat of the day.  Likewise a pillar of fire was present at night, providing heat in the desert night.

Moses raised his staff and held it over the sea as God commanded.  God sent an East wind and parted the Red Sea.  The Israelites crossed the sea on dry land.  By morning the Egyptian army made the decision to follow them.  God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea.  When he did, the waters washed over the Egyptian army, their chariots and their horses.

Pharaoh had ten chances to set God’s people free; to do as God requested, but he refused.  With each denial came disaster.  God turned the Nile to blood.  He brought frogs, gnats, flies.  He killed the Egyptians’ livestock.  He produced boils, hail, locusts and then three days of darkness.  Only when tragedy struck did Pharaoh give in.  God had been patient.  He continued to demonstrate His great power, but Pharaoh refused to listen and chose to rebel against God.

How many aspects of our daily lives enslave us?  Our jobs?  Government?  Society?  Family?  Religion?  Sin?  Jesus said in John 8:34 that “whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin.”  Freedom is often defined as having no responsibility.  And nonbelievers use this as an excuse to live how they want.  After all, they don’t have a God to answer to. The sad truth is that by today’s account most people glory in the very things that they should be ashamed of.  Someone once said, “One reason sin flourishes is that it’s treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake.”  By no means can you reason sin away.

Sin is much like a sand trap.  You can get so engulfed in sin that you cannot pull your head above its turbulent waters.  Ask any addict.  You are controlled by your choices; your thirst and hunger for worldly desires.  You are enslaved by sin.  Face it, a sinner is no different than the laden, broke-back workhorse who is forced to labor in the hot sun for hours upon end; controlled by their sin!  A slave is at the mercy of his or her master.  Sin enslaves us.  And if that be the case, Satan is the slave owner.  The master of sin is a manipulating dictator who loves nothing more than to bully.  He will have you doing whatever cheap, dirty, underhanded, corrupt, deceiving, self-indulging task he can think of.

Sin is a divider.  Isaiah 59:2 states, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Sin separates us from God.  It separates us from an eternity with God.  It keeps us from having a perfect fellowship with Him.  Sin can also divide family and friends.

Sin is a destroyer.  James 1:15 says, “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”  Sin will destroy a live quicker than anything – alcohol, drugs, lust, gambling.  Sin doesn’t fulfill promises.  Instead it brings discomfort, destruction and death.  Its pleasures are only temporary.

Sin debilitates.  In Proverbs 14:34, it states, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.”  Sin will stop a church from growing.  It will keep a country from prospering.  America was once a God-fearing nation, but now impurities and transgressions fill our cities like open sewers.  We are becoming a nation that has forgotten God.

Sin deceives.  “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”  Hebrews 3:13.  Sin deceives.  It’s designed to sell, and sell it does!  It promises greatness but will provide nothing.

The first definition of freedom isn’t exact.  Having no responsibility is false.  No one lives without 100% freedom.  Everyone is subjected to a job, directly or indirectly.  Everyone needs money to live.  We are subject to laws set in place by our government.  We may claim that we don’t care what society thinks, but the truth is that we do in one way or another.  Our family is always there.  And no matter what your belief – Christian, atheist, Muslim, Agnostic – you are subject to religion.  (Yes, even atheism is a religion.  It takes just as much faith the believe than to not!)

Instead freedom is truly defined as, “released from captivity or slavery; release or rescue from being physically bound, or from being confined, enslaved, captured, or imprisoned.”  If you are born again, you no longer are bound by your sin; bound by the chains that once confined you.  You are free to hope and free to live, knowing that none of this matters anymore; knowing that someone loves you that He gave His own life for you.

Hate is a natural product of sin.  It’s like a disease and is often contagious.  Hate is a means of control and affects the way you think and the way you behave.  It controls you.  The same is true with guilt.  For so long we hold on to the guilt because we feel as if we should be punished for one reason or another.  Often times we feel like God cannot use us.  When you make that profession of faith in Christ and salvation through Him, you become a new person.  Mercy is extended.  You no longer have to be that person you were.  Saul was so full of hate for Christians, he persecuted them.  He later becomes an instrumental tool in Christ’s ministry.  Your confidence no longer comes from what you do, but in God alone.  When you move in the direction of God, there will be change in your life.

Paul says in Ephesians, “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.  Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.  You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

God put the Israelites in a helpless situation in order to show the Egyptians just how powerful He was.  Do you ever wonder why we turn to God when we are also placed in a helpless situation?  God, and only God, has the power to save.  Paul says that God’s power is demonstrated through our weakness.  He also says that our freedom is found in love.

If you hate me, I do not have to hate you back.  That’s freedom.  If you talk about me, I don’t have to, in turn, talk about you.  That is freedom.  If you discriminate against me, I do not have to discriminate against you.  That is freedom.

They spit on Jesus.  But He did not spit on them.  They slapped Him.  But He did not raise His hand to them.  They cursed Him.  They mocked Him.  But He did not speak against them.  They used their authority against Him.  But He did not use His authority against them.  They killed him.  But He forgave them.  That is freedom.  They were slaves to evil, but He was free in God’s love.

Too many people are enslaved by this world and the grief that they feel.  They spend their days trying to find worth in themselves, life’s meaning and desires.  They try to reason God away, hoping to find some other source of fulfillment.  They ridicule the righteous because they choose not to partake in such activities.  And Christians, unfortunately, muddle themselves with the world, which, more often than not, can see no difference between their lifestyle and the Christian’s.  This, in turn, causes the nonbeliever to remain in bondage.  If we aren’t living free, how can others see that freedom truly exists once you make that profession of faith?

God has a purpose for each of us.  He has set His mark on our life.  In Judges 20:16, the Hebrew word here for “miss” is the same for “sin.”  When we sin, we miss the mark.  Why would settle for anything less that what He has planned for us?  Why be bound by sin and its destructive nature when we can be free?  It was once said that everybody looks for different things in the Ten Commandments.  Some look for Divine guidance, some look for a code to live by, but most look for loopholes.  If you are living free, you do not need loopholes.  Romans 8:2 states, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Jesus paid the ransom.  Through His shed blood the prison door was opened.  Through His resurrection we, as captives, were set free.  Only through Him and His gift of salvation can we be freed from our oppression.

In 1858, after a strong emancipation movement, slavery was abolished in Jamaica, to take effect on August 1.  On the evening of the last day in July a large company of former slaves gathered on the beach for a solemn, yet joyous, occasion.  A large mahogany coffin had been constructed and placed on the sand next to an accommodating hole in the beach.  All evening the soon-to-be-emancipated slaves placed, with some ceremony, symbols of their enslavement.  There were chains, leg-irons, whips, padlocks and other similar symbols of slavery.  A few minutes before midnight came, the box was lowered into the hole on the beach.  Pushing sand into the hole to cover the coffin, all joined their voices with one accord to sing, “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below, praise Him above ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”  They were free from their slavery.  How much were the slaves of Jamaica like Christians, who, through Christ’s death are free from their slavery to sin.  And how like them are Christians, who in heaven shall be free from the very reminder and presence of sin.

Change occurs because of who we are in Christ.  Jesus made me complete.  When He saved me, He forgot that person I use to be.  He forgot my foolishness, my pride.  He forgot every terrible transgression I committed.  He broke the bonds of chains.  He shook the foundations of the prison, opening the doors.  He freed me from the guilt.  He freed me from my old life.  He set me free.

The very same man who changed lives of the blind, deaf and lame is the very same man Who is reaching out today.  He wants to set you free as well.  Don’t let sin condemn you.  Don’t let hate control you.  Lay it at His feet and be set free.