The lesson this morning, I took the title of it from verse
28, where Paul said, but I was free born. And that free is added,
but he says this, but I was born. I was born. I was born of God. And we'll look at that, but we're
going to pick back up in verse 24. You remember Paul in this
chapter had been giving his testimony of the Lord's dealing with him
and his conversion. How that the Lord met him on
the road to Damascus and the Lord saved him. And he told them
that the Lord had sent him to the Gentiles, and that made them
mad. That just turned that whole crowd on him. And so here in
verse 24 we pick up, Paul is being beaten. He's being beaten
for the gospel that he preached, which was sovereign grace. God
saves whom He will. Mercy to sinners like me and
you. The crowd listened to him preach,
if you'll read that chapter again, they listened to him, they were
quiet, until that he said that God had rejected the Jews and
sent salvation to the Gentiles, demonstrating His sovereign mercy,
and it made him mad. The message of grace stirred
up the people. And they wanted to kill the messenger
because of the message. Since they couldn't get at God,
they were going to do the next best thing, and that's get his
messenger. And they turned on Paul. If you really want to see human
depravity, if you want to see it, If you wanna see the human
nature and the enmity that's in the heart, just preach, just
tell the truth that God saves whom He will. Without regard
to merit or heritage, God saves whom He will. That's when you
will see the enmity that's in the human heart. It's when God's
sovereignty is brought out. Just preach that Jesus Christ
redeemed a multitude of sinners given to Him by the Father. That
salvation from sin is all of Christ. It's all according to
His sovereign will, and you'll see that enmity come out. The
group here in this chapter was ready to listen to Paul and tell
Paul, until Paul presented God's sovereign grace. And the people
here in this chapter were thought to be the best people in town.
They were the moral majority. They were the Pharisees. But
they were the most hateful people of the gospel than anyone on
this earth. Listen, religious people, religious lost people
hate the Gospel more than anyone on this earth. No one hates it
more than religious lost people. They are the ones who despised
our Lord. They are the ones who turned
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They are. They are the ones who
did it. And verse 24, the chief captain sent for Paul, As you
see here, it says, the chief captain commanded him to be brought
into the castle and bade that he should be examined by scourging.
They were going to beat a confession out of him. That's what they
were going to do. That's what they were doing. Going to beat
a confession out of him. But Paul wisely asked this centurion
that was going to do this. He said, is it lawful for you
to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned? Uncondemned. And that scared that centurion,
that scared that chief captain so much so that the chief captain
came. He came himself to try and smooth
things over with Paul. When he found this out, he tried
to smooth things over. And the chief captain here in
verse 28, here's what I want to really deal with. And the
chief captain answered, with a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, but I was born. I was free-born, it said, but
Paul said, I was born free. I was born free. That captain says, with a great
sum, with a great sum obtained out of this freedom, it cost
me a lot of money, a lot of money. The chief captain knew, he knew
that he could lose his citizenship by one act of disobedience to
the Roman law. He knew he could lose it. Here's a good point. If you can
buy it, you can lose it. If you and I can purchase it,
it can be lost. It can be lost. And this chief
captain here, he also wondered, standing there looking at the
apostle Paul, and at this point Paul was a poor man, Paul did
not look like a well-to-do man, and he wasn't. He said he suffered
the loss of all things. He lost everything. All that
Paul had obtained, all the riches that he had, and I believe Paul
was a wealthy young man at one time. But he lost it all for
Christ's sake. He became poor, just as our Lord
became poor. Paul became poor. And this chief
captain, He looks at Paul and he's wondering, how can a man like this obtain such
freedom? Because it cost me a lot of money.
It cost me a lot of money. And Paul's answer was this, I
was born free. I was born free. I didn't buy
my freedom. I was born free. Let us look
at this. in a spiritual sense. Let me
put this in a spiritual light to us this morning. Every believer is free-born. I didn't do anything to obtain
my freedom. Our citizenship is in that new Jerusalem that's
above. The scripture speaks of that new Jerusalem that's above.
That's where our citizenship is. It's in that new Jerusalem
that is above. Our citizenship is in heaven. And we didn't purchase that citizenship.
We didn't purchase it at all. We were born free. We were born
into it. We were born into the Kingdom
of God, not educated into it. We didn't purchase it. We were
born into the Kingdom of God. Our citizenship is free to us. But now, it wasn't free to Christ.
It did cost Him a great sum. It cost Him His blood, His life,
His suffering. It cost Him. Natural men cannot say this. They can't say this. Only those
who are born of God can say that they are free-born, that they
didn't purchase their citizenship by any money or any merit or
any heritage. They are free-born. Natural men
are not free in a spiritual sense. Every man born into this world
is born in bondage. Everybody. Everybody that's in
this world, that comes into this world, comes into this world
in bondage. In bondage. Man is in bondage
to indwelling sin. We have never been our own. Never
been our own. We're in bondage. The second
we are born into this world, you're in bondage to your parents,
aren't you? You're in bondage to your parents.
You're in bondage to the laws of the land. Listen, you're in bondage to
this flesh. Every believer in here would
get rid of this flesh. And when I say flesh, I'm not
talking about this body, this skin. I'm talking about that
nature of flesh. You'd get rid of it. It's a bondage
to you. That old nature that you carry
around, you would get rid of it if you could. If it was possible,
you'd get rid of it. You'd get rid of the presence
of sin if you could get rid of it, wouldn't you? I do, I long
to see the day when I will sin no more. I long for the day when
I will be tempted no more. Sin will not even be an issue,
not even the presence of sin. It will be gone. Man is born
in bondage to the lust of this flesh. He does what the flesh
dictates. He does what the flesh dictates.
That's what it says over in Ephesians 2, fulfilling the lust of the
mind and of the flesh. He's in bondage to that, in bondage
to it. He's in bondage to the elements
of this world. You can't get away from it. Man's
in bondage to religion. By nature, man is religious.
He's religious, he's superstitious. Remember Paul, when they had
that altar to the unknown God? He said, I see in all things,
I perceive in all things, you're too superstitious. I had an aunt, let a black cat
run across the road in front of her. She freaked out. I watched
her one time, I thought, what are you doing? Like you spit
in your hand and throw salt over your back or you rub your hair.
Stupid, just stupid. And I'm like, I've never seen
that before, because I didn't see that in my parents, but people
are superstitious. Aren't you free? Aren't you glad
you're free from that? I'm glad that I'm free from superstition. That's just, that's a bondage.
That's a bondage. Men and women are not free. We're
not free from the law. Men and women by nature are not
free from the law, not free from this flesh, not free from this
world. You're not free. You're not free. The will of man's not free. The
will of man's not free. It's in bondage to his nature.
You know, the alcoholic, The alcoholic, you can take most
alcoholics, and if they could, they would not be alcoholics
anymore, but they can't do it, can they? Their nature and their
craving for that is stronger than their will. They know better.
They know better, but they can't do better. It's got them. The drug addict, you just name
one thing after another. You say, I don't want to do that. It would be my will not to be
like that. But your nature is stronger than your will. You
know better. You can even will better. But
you can't do better. It's too strong for you. It's
too strong. Like the dog that returns to
his vomit, so does a sinner to his ways. But the man that's born of God,
listen, the man that's born of God is free. It says they're
free born, but Paul said, I was born. I'm born free, free born. To every one of us whom the Lord
has saved, we are free. We are free in the
true sense of that word. We are free from condemnation. Over in Romans chapter 1, turn
over there in Romans. No, not Romans 1. Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. Turn over there. In Romans chapter 8, it says,
there is therefore now. Now, this is good news to a guilty
sinner. This is good news to someone
who knows what guilt is, the guilt of sin. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. But right now, right
now, there is no condemnation. As I get older, I seek to live
in the reality of that truth. I don't walk around woe is me
and worried and wringing my hands. I turn to the Word of God. I
turn to the Word of God and I take God at His Word. This is to me. This is to you. There's no condemnation. It's over with. Isn't that good
news? I tell you what, you get close to the grave, the closer
you get to the grave, the better the news is. There's no condemnation. to those who are in Christ Jesus.
There is condemnation to those who are not in Christ, to those
who believe not, who love not our Lord Jesus Christ. There
is condemnation. But to those who are in Christ,
to us who believe, there's no condemnation. We're free. We're
free from condemnation. We're free from it. And then
to the believer, the believer is free from the curse of the
law. Cursed is everyone that continues not in those things
which are written in the book of the law, says over in Galatians
3. We are free from that curse. That's a very real curse, and
we are free from it. Because that curse fell on Christ. It fell on me in Christ. And
I'm free from it. There's no curse now. That curse
is gone. It's been lifted. The law can't
curse me now. Paul said, it's not right. This
is beautiful. Paul said, it's not right. It's
not right to beat me, scourge me. I'm a Roman, uncondemned. I'm not condemned. Now, why are
you gonna beat me? Isn't that beautiful? The law
can't beat me. The law cannot condemn me. It can't beat me because I have
been set free in Christ. I am a citizen. of heaven. I'm a citizen of heaven. Uncondemned.
Now listen. Uncondemned. And the law can't
beat me. It cannot curse me. And then
we are free from the dominion of sin. That's what it says over
in Romans 6, that we are free. Reckon yourselves to be free
from the dominion of sin. Sin does not reign in my heart
as a king. Sin does not have dominion over
me. It means it does not have authority
over me. It does not have power over me. Yes, I sin, I do. But I tell
you what, when I sin, The blood of Christ answers for it. Sin
does not reign over us anymore. It's not a king over us. It's
not our master. You know, for those who have
not been saved by the grace of God, those who are lost, sin
reigns over them as a master. It's a nature. That sin nature
rules as a master. That's why people do what they
do. because of what they are. And they can't stop. They can't
stop. It rules over them as a Master,
but it's not our Master. Jesus Christ is enthroned in
the heart. He rules in the heart. He's our
Master. The Lord is our Master. And we
are free from the dominion of sin. And we are free from the
clutches of Satan. He's not our master no more.
He doesn't dictate to me anything anymore. Free from him. The strong man of the house has
been taken over by the stronger man of heaven. The stronger man
of heaven has come into this world and he has bound Satan. And he has cast him out. He's
cast him out of the heart of everyone, every one of his children. I'm trying to think of that scripture
that was read in the study the other Thursday. The scripture that was read is
about that young, that man that brought his son. Remember the,
he brought his son to the Lord and he's foaming at the mouth.
He'd cast himself in the fire and in the water and the Lord
cast him out. He cast that demon out, that
deaf and dumb demon. He cast him out. Remember what
the Lord said to that demon? Don't enter into him anymore. Don't enter into him anymore.
And when the Lord saves, when He saves a sinner, He commands
Satan, do not enter into him or her anymore. You're not the
master, I am. I'm the master. Carl read that
back in the study Thursday. And then we're free from all
religious ceremonies and holy days and superstitions. Aren't you glad we're not having
ceremonies here and we're burning candles? You watch these people
in Catholicism. They'll walk up and they get
on their knee and he'll give them a piece of bread and they
go through all this rigamarole and all this waving this stupid
thing that he waves and smoke rolling out of it and it's all
spooky. Aren't you glad we're not doing
that this morning? We are free to come here this morning and
worship the Lord, listen, in spirit and in truth. Not in ceremonies,
not in religious duties, but in our hearts, we're able to
come here and worship Jesus Christ, our Lord. We've been set free
to do that. Boy, for years and years, people
were put under bondage, religious bondage. And all these ceremonies
and all this stuff that went on that meant nothing. I'm not
talking about the ceremonies of the law, which had a meaning
to it, which pointed to Christ. But those were over with. But
since then, you've had all these other places crop up, just called themselves
Christians or under Christianity, and then go through all these
ceremonies. We don't have that. We don't have that. Paul writes
to the Colossians. It tells them, don't be brought
under these holy days and all these traditions. Don't let yourself
be brought under that. Again, that's what he writes
to the Colossians. Don't be caught up into that. Don't do that.
And we're free from the second death. The second death. Everybody's got to die once.
Some have twice. It's called the second death.
And that's when they're cast into the lake of fire. I can't
even imagine that. I can't imagine that. You and
I are free from that because the scripture says, whom the
Son sets free is free indeed. We are free in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn over to Isaiah 61. He says here in Isaiah 61 verse
one, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath anointed
me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. He set
us free, we're out of prison. We were in bondage to everything
I've mentioned. We were in bondage and he set us free from it. And
here we are this morning, free to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. And this freedom didn't cost
me and you a dime, did it? It didn't cost us anything. Free
born. Also, I was born free. That captain
said, with a great sum obtained out of this freedom. And he knew
he could lose it. If he did something wrong against
the Roman law, he could lose his citizenship. I cannot lose
and you cannot lose your citizenship in heaven. You can't lose it. Number one, you didn't obtain
it. The Lord Jesus Christ obtained it for you by His blood, by His
blood, by His righteousness, by His obedience. He obtained
it for you and it cannot be lost. And you and I are free born.
We're free born. That's good news. Declared citizens
of heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven.
Live in reality of that. Live in reality that you belong
to another kingdom, the kingdom of God. You belong to that. It's the kingdom of God. It's
a very real kingdom. It's as real as the kingdom of
men that we live in here on this earth. And it's not lawful for the law
to beat us now. We are free from that law, free
from it. We are free to come to the throne
of grace. and make our petitions known
to Him. We're free to come. We don't have to pay anybody. We're free to come. We are free
to read. We are free to pray. We are free
to worship God at any time. And don't let any man rob you
of this freedom, as Paul writes in Colossians 2 and 3. Don't let anybody rob you of
this. Don't do it. I'm going to close with this.
Turn over to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Paul writes to the Galatians
in verse 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free. And be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. Stand fast in that liberty. Don't
let anybody ever bring you under bondage. And I know this, I know
we have sat under the gospel for many years. You have, I have.
And we think that we wouldn't do that, don't we? We like to
think that anyway. But if the Lord pulls His hand
back, we would. Remember, Paul Paul went into
that temple to offer a sacrifice. Who would have thought Paul would
have done that? When I see Paul doing something like that, I
think, Lord, help me to stand fast. You know, when you read
something like this, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made you free, the first thing for me and you to do, the
first thing is, Lord, help me to do that. Call on him to help
you to do what he says to do. Call on him, because you can't
do it, and you can't do it, you'll fall just as sure as the world
if he doesn't help you do it. And someday, someday we will
be free from the presence of sin, the temptations of Satan,
and this flesh. You know, when our loved ones
who have passed away here, they've gone on to be with the Lord,
it's sorrow to us. There's a sorrow in it. We miss
them. But you know, that's when they really, really were set
free. The day you and I die is the day we really are finally,
finally set free from all of it. presence of sin, I can't
imagine not, I've known nothing but sin. I can't imagine knowing
what it'll be like to never have a sinful thought, to worship
the Lord without something coming into my mind to break up that
thought. I can't imagine it. But it's
so, it's so. We're gonna be free from sin,
from temptation, and free to worship just as they are right
now, right now. Our loved ones who've gone on
to be with the Lord right now, they are in a perfect worship
service. And you and I are struggling,
aren't we? I tell you, if it wasn't for the Lord interceding
for us, our worship wouldn't be accepted because we can't
do it without sin. But they are. They're doing it
without sin right now. You and I are freeborn. We're
freeborn. Let's live in the reality of
that.