Now, if you'll take your Bibles
and turn with me to Acts chapter 22. Acts chapter 22. This morning we'll be looking
at verses 22 through verse 28. Acts chapter 22 and verse 22
through 28. The title of the message this
morning is, Born Free. Born Free. Acts chapter 22 and verse 22. says, And they gave him audience
unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, Away
with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should
live. And as they cried out, they cast off their clothes and
threw the dust in the air. And the chief priest commanded
him that he be brought into the castle and bade him that he should
be examined by scourging. that he might know wherefore
they cried so against him." Now last week we saw the testimony
of Paul in regards to his salvation. And that how all salvation is
not by religion, but by grace. That a man is not saved because
of his family, his religious knowledge, his zeal, but salvation
is completely and absolutely of God. That God must meet a
sinner, that He must bring him to hear the gospel and save him
by His Holy Spirit. Now, the Jews at this point had
tolerated the message of God's grace. They tolerated the message
of the Lord Jesus Christ. when Paul told them of his sovereignty
in saving him. But when it came to this matter
of turning to the Gentiles, this was the matter that infuriated
them the most. He said that Jesus Christ had
told him that the Jews would not receive this testimony and
that he should go unto the nation of the Gentiles. And when they
heard this, that's when they started making all this racket
and fuss. They started rioting. And they
set away with such a man. You see, men may tolerate much
about the sovereignty of God. They may tolerate and listen
and agree with you on a lot of things. But I'll tell you this,
if you tell a lost free will religionist that he is lost,
you have a fight on your hands. You tell someone who believes
in salvation by works or free will that they are lost, and
they'll agree with you on every aspect of sovereignty, but when
you come and make it personal, when it personally hits them
between the eyes that they do not know Christ, They will not
hear of it. I remember speaking to a man
who was of the denomination Assembly of God. And if you don't know,
assembling God is another form of Pentecostalism. It's another
form. They believe in the Trinity as
opposed to Pentecostals do not. But it's the same doctrine, same
idea of the gospel, which is a false gospel. And this man
called me and he was really rejoicing that he had learned the doctrines
of grace. Someone had taught him of the
sovereignty of God. And so I was excited with him.
I thought, this was great. You know, we were talking, we
were having a good conversation. I asked him a question. I said,
when did the Lord save you? He said, what do you mean? I
said, when did the Lord save you so that you would come to
understand these things? He said, no, no, I was already
saved before. And I just come to learn these
things. Oh no, oh no. No, you can't be saved under
that kind of doctrine. That's not the true gospel. You
didn't worship the true Christ. You see, this man just got an
academic learning of sovereignty. And when I told him that all
of those in his church needed to be saved by the gospel of
Jesus Christ, he was offended. He was offended. So long as sovereignty
does not mess with their religion, they're okay. As long as it personally
doesn't affect them, they'll tolerate it. And so after they
heard of the sovereignty, they refused to tolerate it. And so
the magistrate now took Paul, and he commanded him to be chained
and whipped. He heard the message that Paul
preached to these Jews. He heard of salvation. He didn't understand why these Jews hated him so much. He didn't understand it. He said,
so there's got to be something else. He said, this can't be
it. This can't be the reason why they want to kill you, Paul.
So you must be telling a lie somewhere. So I'm going to chain
you and beat you until you tell me the truth. And so this soldier,
in verse 25, he bound him with thongs and said unto the centurion
that stood by, and Paul said to the centurion, is it lawful
that you scourge a man that is a Roman, uncondemned? And friends,
when he said that, that was serious business. You could not, under
the law of the Romans, beat a Roman citizen unless he is accused
or found guilty of a crime. Paul was not guilty of any crime,
and yet they were about to beat him. And Paul asked the Roman,
he said to the soldier, he said, is it lawful for you to do this?
And when he heard that, he went to the magistrate, and the magistrate
said, hey, you need to be careful, because this man said he's a
Roman, and if you beat him, we're all in trouble. We're all in
trouble if he's a Roman citizen. And so the captain, he went to
him and he said, Art thou a Roman? In verse 27. And Paul said, Yes,
I'm a Roman. And the chief captain answered
and said, With great sum I obtained this freedom. Magistrate was a Grecian. He
was a man of another country. And in order to be a Roman citizen,
he had to spend a great deal of money. And you've got to imagine,
the Apostle Paul, there he was, a Jew. There he was in rags,
probably. He didn't have any money. He
was a raggedy person. And so the Apostle Paul, he's
looking at the Apostle Paul and said, how did you afford to become
a Roman citizen. That's not possible. And Paul
answers in this verse 28, he says, Paul said, but I was born
free. Free born. I was born a free
citizen of Rome. Now, the Apostle Paul was born
in the city of Tarsus. And you've got to understand
that Mark Antony, many years before that, made the city of
Tarsus a naturalization city. In other words, everyone that
is born in that city by free parents is born free. The Apostle
Paul's parents were there, they were free parents, and he was
born free, born a Roman citizen. He had all the rights and privileges
of Roman citizenship, and it cost him absolutely nothing. Cost him absolutely nothing.
Well, this morning, I want to take this statement where Paul
says, I was born free, and not speak of the physical birth and
privileges of Roman citizenship, but I want to speak to us this
morning of Paul's spiritual birth and spiritual freedom that is
enjoyed in Jesus Christ. If you go to Colossians chapter
1, we'll read this. Colossians chapter 1 and verse
13. Let's go to verse 12. Paul says, "...giving thanks
unto the Father which hath made us meet or qualified to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son." in whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Every believer in Christ,
every person to whom the Holy Spirit has come in power, I declare
by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you are born free citizens of
the Kingdom of God. You have an inheritance in the
Kingdom of God and you have been set at liberty from darkness
and the chains of sin. We who believe in Christ are
born free. All believers in Christ are free
citizens of the heavenly kingdom. Our Lord has conquered the enemies
of all of His elect. He by His life and death has
established and by His blood conquered sin, death, Hell, the
grave, and Satan for all his people, even before they were
naturally born. Even before they were physically
born, the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished their freedom. And so all who believe on Christ
are free-born citizens of heaven, delivered from the power of darkness. and translate it into the kingdom
of God. Galatians 5.1 says, Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Free. And be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Believer, you are at liberty. Do you sometimes feel in bondage? Do you sometimes feel the strain
of sin? I do. But that doesn't make any
difference. God says, I am at liberty in
Christ. I am born free. So there are
four things that we can clearly see from this that every believer
can see about their spiritual freedom in Christ. First of all,
In order to understand what it is to be born free, we have to
understand what it is to be in bondage. If a man's never been
in bondage, how can he be set free? Remember those Jews? They were arguing about that.
Jesus said, I'll make you free. They said, we're not in bondage.
We're not in bondage. They had no idea of the bondage
they were in. They were oblivious to it. So
in order to understand freedom, we have to understand that everyone,
first of all, is born in bondage. Friends, all men by nature love
to boast of freedom, don't they? They love to boast of their liberties. You see a man running out in
sin. You see a man engaged in the
things of this world. And what does he say? I'm free.
I'm free. Free to do what I want to. I
remember when I got out of high school and joined the military,
I felt like I was free. I was free from mom and dad.
I was free from all the restraints of church and religion. And I
could go anywhere I wanted to. Do anything I wanted to. I thought
I was free. I thought I was free." Men think they're free to sin.
And they think by nature that to be in Christ is slavery. That's why they don't want any
part of this. They think that to come to Christ, they know
this, they'd have to give up their sins. And they would have
to be enslaved to Christ. They don't want any part of that.
The natural man doesn't. Why? Because he loves sin and
hates righteousness. Men think that sin is freedom,
but in truth, friends, sin is bondage. I know people that are
really having very difficult times. These are lost people
that I know. And they're angry all the time. They're frustrated
all the time. They keep running at sin, thinking
that they're going to get a different result from it. It's like banging
your head against the wall, expecting not to get a headache. That's foolishness. And yet they
continue to run at sin, and then when they get into trouble, they
start crying out. They start feeling the pain of
it. And what do they do? Do they run from it? No, they
run back into it. Why? That's foolish, isn't it? It's because they're chained
to it. They can't do anything else but
sin. They're enslaved to it. Paul
says this, for when ye were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. You had a freedom, alright, but
it was a freedom in the wrong direction. You were free from
righteousness. Free from righteousness. Because men by nature love darkness
rather than light. And because they do, because
we sin, because we're enslaved to it by nature and run to it
and love it, we have broken God's law. Broken God's law. And so because we've broken God's
law, God says, death is the sentence for all sin. Sin is not something
to trifle with. It's not something to toy with.
I'll tell you what, if you have a person that's professing faith
in Christ, but toying with small sins, as you read in your bulletin
this morning, toying with small sins, that's a sign that they're
about to fall away, that they have no faith in Christ at all,
no real faith. Sin is not to be trifled with.
Because sin enslaves us to the Law. It binds us to the curse
of the Law. The Scripture says, "...cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written
in the book of the Law to do them." God, by His Law, has cursed all
mankind. Why? Because all men have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Those who are without Christ
are enslaved to sin, wrapped in the chains of God's law. The
sentence has been passed down, and they are kicking and screaming
all the way against it. Man is unable and unwilling to
seek for mercy, but instead continues to try to earn his freedom. They want to be like that Grecian,
to buy their way out. to buy their own citizenship
to heaven. That's what every one of us by
nature tried to do. We all tried to do it. Maybe
in varying degrees because our God was different. We all had
different gods when we were lost. We all assumed what God would
expect of us and we tried to give it as best we could. But in reality, we were chained to
the law of God, chained to our sins. Trying to earn our freedom
but never can. Man by nature is a religious
creature, isn't he? You can't find any place in the
world, in any civilization that there is not a religion. Man
is a religious creature. And because they feel they're
right, how many people worship in a way that they worship either
because they feel it's right or because their family did it? Well, I worship like this because
my mama did it, my daddy did it. You know, this is the way
I feel it should be. How many people say that to you?
I know I get that a lot. Why do you go here? Well, you
know, this is where my family goes. I'm comfortable here. This
makes me feel good. Many people I witness to have
no idea why they believe what they believe. It's a sad thing to be chained
to religion, not understanding why you believe what you believe,
but resting your eternal soul on some sentimental feeling.
That's a sad chain, isn't it? That's a sad chain of bondage. But this is why Christ came into
the world. This is why Jesus came into the
world, because we were chained to our sin, chained to our religion,
chained to the law of God, and under its curse and bondage.
Jesus came into the world to set captives free. Isn't that
what He says in Isaiah 61? The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings. to
the meek. He has sent me to bind the brokenhearted..."
Here it is, "...to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to the bound." That's a good message to someone
who's bound. To someone who's chained, that's
a good message. That's a glorious message. It
was a glorious message to me when it came to me. It's a glorious
message still. All men are enslaved by their
nature. But the second point is wonderful
news. Only Jesus can set the captives
free. All men are captive, but who
can set them free? Only the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. No child of Adam will ever come
to liberty of his soul. No one can ever be free from
the law of sin and death, from corruptions of his nature, or
from the justice of God, unless the Son of God set them free. You see, He is the only One who
can do this. You know I have two children,
and I know this, they are in bondage to their sin. They're
under the curse of God's law. And there's nobody in this building
that wants them to be set free more than me. Nobody. But I cannot set them free. I have no power to set them free. The only one that has power to
set them free is the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only
one that has the power to set men free. And He does this by
His blood and righteousness. It is only by His death and His
life that He can do this. And friend, the enemy has come
in and offered a false liberty. Wherever there is true liberty,
there is always false liberty right next to it. There'll always
be a presentation of false liberty. Decisional regeneration is a
false liberty. Telling men that if they would
just make their decision, Christ then will set them free. That
is a false liberty. They're not free. If they just do their best, Satan
has come and tempted men and appealed to their nature, and
he says, if you just try, surely God would not allow you to go
to hell if you can do your best. If you're just sincere... I was
listening to the radio this morning, and this woman talking on that
radio, I tell you what, this woman was sincere. She had a heart. You could feel
the emotion coming out of her voice. But I'll tell you what, I know
the pastor that she sits under and I know that he is a lost
false prophet. I know he is. I've heard his
messages. And it doesn't matter how sincere.
That's a false freedom. That's a false feeling of security. It's not real freedom. Some dream
that religion, ceremony, rites, and rituals will make them free.
If they just follow the creeds of the church, if they just hang
on to what the church says, then they'll be set free. That's a
false liberty. And there are some that even
go so far as to say they're saved by grace and then use grace for
an opportunity to sin. They say, well, I'm saved by
grace, so I guess I can just go on and live in sin. That's
a false liberty. That's a false liberty. Only the Son of God can set sinners
free. Jesus said, if the Son therefore
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Free from what? Free from the curse of the law.
Galatians 3.13, for it says, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How? By being made a curse for
us. For it is written, Curse is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. You see, Jesus Christ was made
a curse by the imputed sins of His people. God imputed the sins
of His people to Him. And He became guilty for them,
and God meted out His justice and His wrath on His Son. Why? So He could set us free. God
can't just set us free without justice being satisfied. He can't
have mercy without justice being finished. And it was finished
in Christ on the cross. He suffered under the wrath of
God. for the sins of His people and the Holy Spirit comes in
time and He will deliver each and every one of them. There
will be none of them lost. None of them. Do you know anyone chained in
sin? Is there anyone in need of liberty
to be set free from sin? then I tell you Jesus Christ
is the only hope for them. Jesus Christ is the only hope
for me. Jesus Christ is the only hope for you. If there's any
hope to be free, we must be freed by the Son of God alone. Number three, all who are born
again are born into freedom. If the Spirit of God comes and
declares to your heart the gospel of Jesus Christ, know this, you
are born free. You are absolutely, completely
born with all of the rights and privileges of citizenship in
the kingdom of God. Go to Galatians 4. Galatians 4, verse 1, it says,
Now I say that the heir, so long as he a child, differeth nothing
from a servant, though he is Lord of all, but is under tutors
and governors until the appointed time of the father. Even so we,
when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of
the world. And when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons,
God has sent forth His Spirit of His Son, crying in our hearts,
Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Believer, while we walked into
this world, there was no difference between us and anybody else.
Though we were Lord of all. Though God has in eternity set
us up to be heirs and join heirs with Christ from before the foundation
of the world, when we were born into this world, there was no
difference. No difference between us and anyone else. But we were made sons in eternity,
and when the appointed time of love come, God revealed to us
our sonship. That we weren't just children
of fallen parents, but now we realize that we are adopted children
of God Himself. Is there any higher kingdom?
Is there any higher rule of law? Is there anyone higher than the
Lord Jesus Christ? No, there's not. And yet we are
heirs with Him. Whatever He is heir of, we are
heir of. Whatever He is going to get,
we are going to get. Isn't that wonderful? My mind
can't reach that far. I can't wrap my mind around it.
I can't figure it out. The deeper I go, the deeper it
gets. I'm an heir and joint heir with
Christ. And at the appointed time, He
set me free. He made me see this. And now
I am free from the curse of the law. I'm free from its punishment,
its penalty, which was death. I'm free to love righteousness.
I'm free to love God. I'm free to worship God. And
you know what? My love, my worship, and my righteousness
are accepted with God. They are. They're accepted. I'm
free to it. I'm free to it. And I'm also
free to all the privileges of sonship. Just as Paul here declared
in our text that he was free to all Roman citizenship. Friend,
we are free to all heavenly citizenship. Whatever that entails is ours. And it doesn't matter if you're
a babe in Christ, or a young man in Christ, or a father in
Christ. It doesn't matter what stage
we are in, maturity-wise. Whatever I have in Christ, every
one of you have in Christ. And we have that from the moment
we believe on His name. We have that right. Is that not
wonderful? We have the right to be called
the sons of God. And our Master Jesus Christ has
given us that right by His blood. Who then can lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified, it's
Christ that died, yea rather has risen again and ever liveth
to make intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of God that's in Christ Jesus? Nothing! Why? We were
born free. We were born free. And friends,
just as much as Paul had to do with his being born in that city,
that's about how much we have to do with our birth. and our
gathering of these things, all of these things, it's ours. You
know, I had nothing to do with that. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was given to me by the grace
of God and it was given to you by the grace of God. We were
born free. We were born free. And lastly, this liberty is yet
to be revealed. You know what? I know a lot about
the liberty that's in Christ, but I have just begun to scratch
the surface of it. I have not in my life experienced
the fullness of this liberty. Why? We have that old man, that
old man dragging us down, the old man that's wrapped around
our necks. So that when we would love God
with all of our heart, we know we can't. When we would worship
God with all of our heart, we know. We can't. But one day we
will. One day God has appointed for
us to be fully, fully revealed the liberty that we have in Christ.
Paul says in Romans 8, it says, Not only they, the creation grown,
but we ourselves, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit.
Even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption.
I like to look at it like this, the adoption, just imagine if
you would a little child in an orphanage. And he's the worst of the bunch. He's the dirtiest, he's the smelliest
little child, and he is the most unlovable child in all the orphanage. You know, everybody comes and
gets him, he gets kicked. He kicks the people. And one
day this man comes in and he sees this child. And the child
comes up and kicks him, spits on him, hates him. Man goes away. And then there's a word comes
to that little child. He says, you've been adopted.
You've been adopted. He said, the man has come and
he's paid your adoption price. And all you have to do is pack
your bags and wait. Wait for Him at the front door. Don't you imagine the joy of
that child? Don't you imagine Him running
around telling the people how He was adopted by this man? The joy and love that He feels
for this man now, and now that He's waiting. And all the children
are making fun of Him. Children are laughing at Him.
You're not going to be adopted. You're the worst among us. I
said, oh yes, I'm adopted. I've got the papers right here.
It says that the man's adopted me. He's paid the price for me.
And now he's coming again and he's going to take me home. That's us. God in eternity adopted
us. God the Son in time paid the
redemption price and all we are doing now is waiting to be picked
up. waiting to go home. And then
the adoption will be complete. Friends, Christ has made us free. Let us give Him glory and honor
and praise for it. Praise has been a blessing to
you.