Jun 29, 2017

He Shouted "Freedom" As He Destroyed A Stone Monument , But Is Still A Prisoner

What Is Freedom Anyway?

My comments follow the article below...
My Commentary


"...be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse..." Num. 5:19. Living under a curse, with no guidance from God, no laws, rules, or holy commands is not freedom, it is bondage, the opposite of freedom. Embracing Jesus, God's Word and all of His commandments sets us free from the power of sin, the ravages of sin, the bondage of sin, and the penalty of sin. 

Freedom is not freedom from truth and good or from right, but freedom from the curse of sin's bondage and slavery. True freedom is "freedom from sinful defilement and from spiritual uncleanness", according to Num. 5:8. Slavery to sin, any sin, is born in the lie that you can't give it up, can't live without it. But the truth is, that you can't continue to live with it because it slowly spreads like cancer and kills you. "The wages of sin is death." 
It is the devil's lie that you need it and that it will satisfy a deep need in your flesh. No, No, No! if not sacrificed to God and rejected, it grows stronger and stronger and finally destroys your flesh, your freedom and your fellowship with God. The lie embodied in all sin is that it satisfies, answers your fleshly need, frees you from the lustful hunger... and even the pain of your need. The truth is that feeding that beast of lust within you only allows it to spread and reproduce itself in all manner of deviation and grow still stronger.

Satan will tell you it can't be controlled, but that is a lie. God's presence in you can control it. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn.8:32. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truthand the life...." Jn.14:6.  "If the Son therefore shall make you free, shall be free indeed." Jn.8:36. (Jesus' words).

When we change Masters from a Slave Owner to God, our Creator, and true owner, by faith in His Son Jesus, we are not taking up another yoke of bondage but laying one aside. We are stepping out of our chains of sin and freely giving ourselves to our true owner and Heavenly Father with the liberty to breathe free, see in His light, live clean and at peace with God and ourselves. God's word, His teachings, and His commands ... His "Truth makes us free".  

God's commandments "let us go free" from bondage. Here is one of his O.T. commands concerning a "debt" indentured person.

"And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free .... And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty." Deut. 15:12-13.

David, who was "the apple of God's eye", and a believer, fell into sin and out of fellowship with God, but freely went to God in prayer, repented and was restored to the freedom found only in obeying and serving God. So he prayed in Psm.51:6-13...."Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me ... and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.... Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

One final note... Being a victim of someone else's sinful deed to us does not free us from God's sure judgment of our own sinful actions. Some people take a false relief in the vain shelter of "being a victim" only, rather than the sinner we all are. But their own hidden sins, which they also have committed, within their own flesh, may well exceed the sin done unto them by another.

Seeking relief from the personal guilt, of a long series of sin, by assuming the sheltering cloak of "victim" only, does not make us innocent of all our own willful, unrelated sins, in the eyes of God. 
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom.3:23.









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