Jesus came to grant us liberty, but when and in what form?
·
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given
to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news
to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,” (Luke
4:17-18)
Jesus also declared that the Truth “SHALL set us free” (John
8:31-32). This is an ongoing process, but set free from what?
·
“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome
but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his
opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a
knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the
snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy
2:24-26)
When our heart/mind is renewed (regenerated), we begin to
see the power and ugliness of sin and desire forgiveness and cleansing (1 John
1:9). Consequently, we come to “our senses,” by God’s grace, so that we can
recognize and resist sin and Satan’s deceptions. If we cannot see our sin, we
cannot resist it and its deceptive power.
Consequently, sin and its blinding deceptions (Romans 7:11)
can exercise dominion over our lives and enslave us. (Romans 6:7).
Our liberty comes through God changing our hearts and
opening our minds to enable us to understand. However, once we sin and refuse
to confess and repent, we again begin to fall under the enslavement of sin and
Satan:
·
Do you not know that if you present yourselves
to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either
of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
(Romans 6:16)
We will sin, but it is far more important is to turn to our
Lord and to humbly and sincerely confess our sins:
·
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)
Confession must be accompanied by a sincere commitment to
turn away from our sins (repentance). Without this, “confession” is no than
more than a game.
It should be no wonder to us that we are being transformed
as understand the Word by the Spirit. Consequently, Jesus described the
fruitful person as those who understand the Word:
·
As for what was sown on good soil, this is the
one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in
one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew
13:23)
Why does our Lord seem to care more about our commitment to
Him through His Word than our performance - successfully turning from sin? For
one thing, performance without faith produces pride, arrogance, and
self-righteousness. Therefore, the heart/mind first needs to be reborn
(regenerated) (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
Our Lord also knows that we are weak and helpless, but He
intends to first humble us to then rescue us :
·
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and
saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those
who fear him, and delivers them. (Psalm 34:6–7)
Who are those who “fear Him?” Those who make a commitment to
seek Him before all else:
·
But seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
While this might seem like bondage to some, it is actually
freedom, similar to the freedom of fish who navigate within the confines of their
watery homes. We too maximize our freedom when we remain within the relational confines
where we have been designed to thrive.
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