Looking At Freedom Differently // You Have Been Set Free, Part 2

Christianityworks Official Podcast

All too many people start off believing in the free favour of God through Jesus Christ, but ... you know, as time goes on, we end up falling back into our old ways. We end up right back in that old idea that you have to work your way into God’s favour. And what a terrible mistake that is.

A New Way to Freedom

Have you ever tried to work yourself into God’s favour? You try and you try to do the right thing, but still, you just mess it up. Well, if you’ve been there, you’re not alone.

There’s a fine line between responding to God’s grace, and falling into the trap of trying to work your way into His favour. Here’s how it happens:

At some point, you realise what an amazing thing God did for you, by sending Jesus to die for you on that cross. Amazing! And so you turn your life over to Him – lock, stock and barrel. There’s a joy, a euphoria almost.

But then life gets back to normal. You go back to your day-to-day business and you slip back into your old habits. The sin that’s been robbing you of joy and peace for most of your life creeps back … and guilt sets in.

So, you say to yourself, "Self, you have to do something about this. There are standards here. There are rules. I shouldn’t be doing this … I shouldn’t be doing that." You start to work at it, harder and harder and harder, and before you know it, you’re pedalling so hard that it’s just about killing you. Yet still that old sin just keeps on tripping you up. My hunch is, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Jesus promised you freedom, but this doesn’t feel like freedom. That’s because it’s not. Have a listen to what the Apostle Paul writes about trying to follow a set of rules. Galatians chapter 2, verses 15 and 16:

We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.

I am my father’s son not because I followed a bunch of rules, and worked my way into that position. No, I am my father’s son because he’s my dad and I’m his son. And as I grew up in that relationship, my behaviour matured and improved as a response to his love. Not because I was good at following rules – which by the way, I wasn’t.

The moment that you and I put our faith in Jesus, God becomes our Father. And the more we grow in that relationship, the closer we get to Him, the more we experience His love, and the more our behaviour changes.

It’s not about following a bunch of rules. It’s about trusting Jesus, and as we experience His love first-hand, allowing His love, His grace, His mercy to change us, to set us free in a way that following a bunch of rules never, ever will. It turns out that living in freedom has everything to do with Jesus. A Scripture that’s really familiar to many people is this one:

It’s no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

But as familiar as that may be to many, I wonder whether we truly realise what it means. Freedom is such an elusive concept for us. We want it, we chase it, but very few ever really experience it. And I mean that especially for people who believe in Jesus.

Because deep down inside, most of us have this nagging sense that we’re simply not good enough. In fact, the more you grow in your relationship with Jesus, the more you see your own weaknesses and failings. That’s just how it happens.n The closer you draw in a rich, dynamic relationship with Jesus, the more aware you become, the more sensitive your spirit becomes to the things that break that fellowship. And sin … sin always disrupts the closeness, the intimacy between you and God, right? I believe that God wants to deal with this in your life today. Galatians chapter 2, verses 19 to 21:

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

So, what’s God saying to us today through His Word? Quite simply this: The moment you accepted Jesus into your life, the old you has died. The old you was nailed to a cross – that’s the effect of making Jesus your Saviour and the Lord of your life.

The whole point of Jesus suffering there for you on that Cross was and is to set you free from the old you - and give you a new life. A radically, completely, abundantly new life. So in God’s eyes, it’s no longer the old you who lives but Christ who lives in you.

If you believe in Jesus, you have a complete and perfect right standing with God not because of what you’ve done, but because of what Jesus has done for you, despite what you’ve done. In fact, because of what you’ve done – that’s why Jesus died for you.

That’s the whole point. That’s why they call this the good news. You and I, in and of ourselves, will never, ever be good enough to stand before God. If we were, who’d need Jesus? If we were, then Jesus died for nothing. But as it is, we’re not. And what’s more we never will be. But that’s completely irrelevant. Because it’s no longer you or I who live – that old person is dead and gone – but Christ who lives in us.

So let me challenge you today about some of the old habits that may be robbing you of that freedom that Christ came to give you. The older I get, the more I realise what a creature of habit I am. We all have routines, little rituals that play themselves out day after day.

In the morning when I get up, I always shave before I clean my teeth. It’s never the other way around. I never clean my teeth first and then shave. I couldn’t imagine doing it that way. Why? Its habit, it’s routine.n I’m sure that you have silly little rituals as well. We all do. And one of the habits we want to fall back into, is believing that the only way we can be in God’s favour is to work hard at it.

Now if you’ve believed in Jesus for any length of time, you’ll have heard sermon after sermon after sermon about God’s grace. What’s grace? The free, unmerited favour of God. I’m guessing you've heard that definition on more than one occasion. And grace is such a great concept. The theory of it is so … elegant, so simple. In fact, deep down, we suspect it’s just too good to be true.

I was staying with a man recently, a real man of God, who shared something with me of his past. Something he regretted. Something he was ashamed of and I could tell, in his heart of hearts, he still wasn’t over it. He still hadn’t really forgiven himself for it … and I’m guessing that in his heart of hearts, he believed that it was still an issue for God too.n You get that right? Well, check this out. This is the Apostle Paul’s reaction, his response to that old habit. Galatians chapter 3, verses 1 to 5:

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing — if really it was for nothing? Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by doing the works of the law, or by believing what you’ve heard?

See? They had the same problem as you and me. They were always wanting to fall back to the old ways of working their way into God’s favour through what they did, rather than knowing for sure, deep in their hearts that they were already in God’s favour because of what they believed. Knowing absolutely one hundred percent that God had completely forgiven them absolutely!

Listen to me. If you believe in Jesus, then you are drenched in the grace of God. In the free, unmerited favour of God. Today ... and for all eternity.

The Conflict Between Law and Grace

If I were to ask you, "Are you living under a curse?" what would your answer be? I guess perhaps if you’re going through some tough times you might be tempted to say ‘yes’. But just for a moment, set your circumstances aside, forget what’s going on around you.

In your relationship with God, are you living under a curse? Now that may seem like rather an odd question. But actually, a good many people who say they believe in Jesus, are doing exactly that. They’re living under a curse. A curse that God wants to remove from your life, today. Galatians chapter 3, verses 10 and 13:

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law’ … [but] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’.

That word ... ‘curse’ ... is a very strong word. If someone says to you, "I curse you" that’s pretty offensive. You’d take that pretty seriously. There’s a venom, a sense of evil, a sense of fear and foreboding in that word ‘curse’.

Well, now listen to this very carefully: God is saying to you today, that if you’re living your life under the lie that you can only be in His favour, if you perform, if you deliver the goods, if you follow the rules – if that’s how you’re living your life, God is saying to you today that you are living under a curse. That’s very strong. And the reason I’m being so blunt, so direct with you on this, is that God is making a powerful point to you and me today.

But with the bad news, comes the good news. They call it ‘the good news’ but frankly, I think it’s stunningly good news. It’s fantastic news. It’s sensational news. Jesus took that curse on His shoulders when He died for you. He became a curse for you as He hung on that cross, so that you could be set free.

Listen to me. Stop living under the curse of trying to follow the rules and start enjoying the freedom that you have in Christ. Start enjoying the fact that God has put His Holy Spirit in you. Start enjoying the fact that you’re forgiven, that God has a plan for your life, a good plan. Back in the Old Testament it says that ‘the joy of the Lord is your strength’. Have you heard the Good News today? Then enter into that joy. Experience that joy. Live in that joy. The curse has been removed. You are forgiven. You are free. That’s fantastic news. And yet, we still struggle with this whole grace thing, don’t we?

Grace, God’s grace, is such a difficult concept to wrap your heart around. Even if you can wrap your mind around it, wrapping your heart around it, believing in the grace of God is so hard, because we don’t live in a world of grace. We live in a world that measures you on your performance. A world that says if you’re wealthy, if you have a good job, if you live in a big house, if you drive a nice car – then you’re successful. Then you have value. Then you have worth.

And the flip side of that coin is true too. If you don’t measure up, if you don’t deliver, if you don’t fit into the world’s mould of success, if you’re not good looking and well dressed, then you don’t have much worth at all. In fact, all too often, if you can’t do something for people, they just discard you, pass you by, throw you on the trash heap. So we have a performance mindset. We’ve been taught to equate performance, measured by the world’s scale, with value. That’s the basic lie we live with.

And can I say, even as Christians, we kind of have this belief that what comes first in the Bible is the law of the Old Testament, the rule book if you will. And it was only later that this idea of God’s grace, made active in our lives through faith, came about. Law first … then grace. But actually that’s not true. That’s putting the cart before the horse. Have a listen. The Apostle Paul – Galatians chapter 3, verses 6 to 8:

Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,’ so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’ For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

Now, the point that Paul makes a few verses later in that chapter is that this whole ‘Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’ thing happened a full four hundred and thirty years before the Old Testament law was given to God’s people through Moses.

So let’s get the horse before the cart. Grace through faith in what God says always came first. Always. Grace. The free, unmerited favour of God. It’s just who God is. It’s born out of the incredible love He has for you and me. The world wants you to perform, to deliver, to be measured by its ruler of ‘success’. And frankly, religion is about performing and delivering too. But what God has for you today is His grace. And grace always, always comes first.

So, let me ask you: If God is the God of grace – and when you see what Jesus did for us on the cross, there can be no doubt about that – then why did He introduce the Old Testament law? Why did God even entertain a bunch of rules that, at the end of the day, His people would simply be incapable of keeping? It’s an important question to know the answer to, because it’s all too easy to slip back into that old way of thinking that following Jesus is all about adhering to a set of rules. So, here’s God’s answer, through the Apostle Paul. Galatians chapter 3, verses 19 and 23 to 26:

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring would come to whom the promise had been made … Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

So the Old Testament Law was only ever put there as a temporary measure, until God was ready to reveal His grace through faith, in the coming of Jesus Christ. It was put there to keep people in line, I guess, until God was ready to reveal Jesus. And when you look back at the history of Israel throughout the Old Testament, from beginning to end, the thing that stands out, is that God’s people couldn’t seem to keep the law for very long at all.

In fact, the very name Israel, means ‘to struggle with God’. The whole story of the Old Testament is about Israel struggling to keep the law, struggling in their relationship with God. God sent them prophet after prophet to call them back to Himself. He punished them over and over again, to bring them to their senses. And, for a little while that would work, until they wandered off again. If you asked me, "What’s the central theme, the central point of the Old Testament?" My answer would simply be this, "That try as they might, God’s people couldn’t stick to the rules."

We can’t follow the law. We will never be able to put ourselves into a right relationship with God, simply by following the rules. The whole of the Old Testament screams out at us, "This isn’t working! There has to be another way!" And there is ... that’s why God sent Jesus. That was always the plan. The whole point of that Old Testament struggle, for you and me today, is to teach us beyond any shadow of a doubt, that following the rules simply doesn’t work. What’s more, it never will. And that’s why we need Jesus.

A Word of Encouragement

I just want to finish up today with a word of encouragement. Because the world … well, the world wants to cut you down to size all too often. But as we’ve seen on the program today, God is in the grace business. I remember when I entered the Army as a young man, those first six weeks of basic training were incredibly tough. I mean, they were brutal. Quite a few guys fell by the wayside in those first few weeks.

Looking back on it, you could see what they were trying to do. These young men had come from all different walks of life. Some from wealthy and privileged families, born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Others from much poorer circumstances. Basic training was about cutting everyone down to the same size. Yep, those first six weeks were a great leveller. But where the military wanted to cut us down to size, God wants to do the complete opposite.

When we come into the kingdom of God you and I, when we accept Jesus as our Saviour and make Him the Lord of our lives, what God wants to do is … well, to lift us up to size, if that makes sense. Here’s what I’m talking about – Galatians chapter 3, verses 27 to 29:

As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

There are some sharp distinctions there. The Jews looked down on the Greeks – in fact, they were referred to as dogs. Of course, there was a huge gap between a free person and a slave. And in that patriarchal society, women were pretty much chattels. They couldn’t earn an income or own property. Without a man, they were poor and destitute.

But what God is saying here to you and me, is that our heritage, our circumstances, our past, our socio-economic standing, our ethnicity … none of those matter. They’re completely irrelevant. Because when we put our trust in Christ, we all become one. We all become heirs – in fact elsewhere, he writes that we become co-heirs, joint heirs, with Christ.

Maybe you look at who you are, where you’ve come from, what you have, what society thinks of you, what other people say about you … and you think to yourself, “What can I ever be in the kingdom of God? Who am I to imagine that God would ever think all that much of me?"

Hmm. Well today, let me tell you who you really are. You are one of His beloved children. An heir of God’s promises, a joint–heir with Christ, of the riches of His inheritance. That’s who you really are and He wants you to live in that truth, today … and for the rest of your days on this earth. So be encouraged. Yeah, it’s a tough, brutal world out there. It’s a world of knocks and bruises. It’s a world where people want to pull you down, and cut you down to size. And if perhaps you’re not feeling the love so much at the moment, then … well, let me pray for you right now.

Father God, I pray for anyone who needs to experience your grace today. That’s pretty much all of us, but really Lord for anyone who needs a special touch of your grace and your love today. I pray that through your Word, that we’ve heard from you today, you will touch that person’s heart deep inside with a revelation of the grace, the mercy, the extreme love that you have for them in Jesus Christ. I pray that through your Holy Spirit, you would fill them with a joy unspeakable at the knowledge of the love that you have for them – a love through which you will make them all that you created them to be. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.

Amen, amen. May the Lord truly bless you today.