Our liberty in Christ. You know
whom? This is John 8, 36. If the Son,
therefore, shall set you free, then you shall be free indeed.
If the Son sets you free. I talked about how that He set
us free from sin, from the guilt and condemnation of the law.
Set us free from the dominion of sin. And that we still have so many
things in this world that we're not free from. We're not free
from His will. We're not free from His word.
We're not free from this flesh, the old man. One of these days
we will. But I want to talk tonight about
six blessed truths of our liberty, of our freedom in Christ that
He gives us. Six blessed truths. And how about
liberty and Christ? And you remember Paul said in
one place, in Galatians 5, verse 1, Stand fast, stand fast. Therefore in the liberty we're
with Christ that made us free. That word stand fast there means
is guard it. Be immovable. Don't be persuaded
in any other thing. Don't be moved about. Stand fast
in something means that you're convinced of it. You're encircled
by it, you're going to guard it, and you're not going to be
moved. Because he says if you don't
stand fast in that liberty we're within Christ that made you free.
If you go back to the law, if you go to circumcision, he said
Christ is of none effect to you. Christ shall profit you nothing.
He says that the death of Christ will have no effect on you. The
righteousness of Christ will be of no profit to you. The death
of Christ will be of no profit to you. You see, it's got to
be completely and entirely His works, with no mischief. Because
the minute you add anything to it, then He is of none effect
to you. His blood does not cleanse you. His righteousness has no power. His death cannot give you life
if you go back to anything other than Christ. And that's why Paul
said, whatever else happens in this world, stand fast in that
liberty where with Christ, has saved you free, made you free. And our Lord Jesus said, if the
Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And let me give you six glorious,
blessed truths of our liberty, the freedom that our Lord gives
us. First of all, it's a wonderful liberty. It's a wonderful liberty. And we cannot but admire it.
Look at what it sets us free from. It's a wonderful, glorious,
blessed liberty. First, we're freed from sin.
Sin no longer holds us in bondage. You remember there, he says in
John 8, those folks said, Burley, Burley said, we're Abraham's
seed. We were never in bondage to any man. How say we shall
be made free? And yet, he told them, said,
you're the service of sin. And we were service of sin, slaves
to sin, held captive by sin. Carnal soul under sin. Christ
has freed us from sin. He set us free from this body.
He set us free from this power. And when your man sets up and
he set us free from sin, he set us free from this guilt. If you
don't have sin, you don't have any guilt. Is that not right? If you're guilty, you've got
to have something to hold you guilty for. And if our sins has
been put away, if Christ has set us free from sin, and if
Christ has put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself, then
if there's no sin, there can't be any guilt. There can't be any guilt in Beloved.
And I tell you, bless His Holy Name. Rueben and I were talking
about it this morning. It's been many, many a day. I
can't remember. And I know you'll say this sounds
self-righteous. Maybe it is. But I do know this. It's been
many, many a day since I felt guilt over sin. And why don't
I feel guilt over sin? Because I believe what Christ
said. There is therefore now no condemnation. And if I don't have any sin against
me, if Christ put my sin away, and He set me free from sin,
then there cannot be any guilt for any sin that I commit because
I don't have any sin. I really believe that Christ
took care of my sin. So what would I have to be guilty
of? That don't mean to say that I
don't have sin. That don't mean to say I commit
sins. But I believe, you know, that
if Christ took care of my sins before I died, But when he died,
2,000 years later, here I am, and Ruby's in her 80s, she said,
he took care of all my sins, and she let us be 100, all them
son of bitches took care of it. Now, do we believe it or we don't?
That don't mean we're going to go out here and deliberately
sin. We're going to go out here and say, because I don't have
no guilt, I'm free from it, so I can sin with a free hand. God
forbid, how can we that are dead to sin continue or live any longer
therein? That's been a long time since
I felt any guilt. I said, when I do things and
say things to them, I say, Lord, please forgive me. I'm sorry.
And I'll tell you something else I've learned about sin. I promise,
I never ever promise that I won't do it again. Do you know what I just said? I ain't going to say, Lord, I promise
I won't do that again. I know me too well. But I'll
tell you what, I know Him. That's why our Lord Jesus, He
told Simon Peter, said, Simon, say that because I've deceived
you as weak. But what did He say? I prayed
for you. He prayed for his sin before He ever committed it. And oh, beloved, not only has
He set us free from sin, He set us free from His guilt, He set
us free from His dominion. Sin reigned over us, had power
over us. Look in Romans chapter 5, just
a moment. Look in Romans 5. In verse... Look what it says in verse 21.
Talking about sin having dominion, reigning. He said here, that
as sin hath reigned unto death, Sin reigned in our father Adam
unto death. And Adam, when he disobeyed God,
sin reigned unto him, and he died. He died spiritually, and
then he died physically. The wages of sin is death, as
sin hath reigned unto death. Now that's where we have sin
had dominion over us. But look what it says here. Grace
reigns through righteousness now. Grace reigns through the
death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace reigns through righteousness
by a righteous deed, a righteous motion, a righteous act of our
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so where sin did reign, now
grace reigns. So he set us free from the dominion.
He set us free from that strongman arm that held us captive. We were in his houses. We were
his goods. And that stronger man arm came
in and spoiled him of his armor and all the armor that he had.
Paul says, you know, he says that he takes men captive by
his will. And he says, per adventure, God
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
He helds us captive by our own natures, by tradition, by lies,
by deceit. Oh, he had plenty to hold us. And that's what he said here
in John 8. Let me show you a few things about how this strongman
arm, the thing that he holds on his head here. In John chapter
8, look what our Lord Jesus said. He said in verse 39, you know,
these folks bragged about being Abraham's children. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, he said, they answered. And said unto him, Abraham is
our father. Jesus said unto him, if you were
Abraham's children, you'd do the works of Abraham. But now
you seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth which
I have heard of God. This Abraham didn't do this.
You do the deeds of your father. Then said they unto him, we be
not born of mortification, we have one father, and even God. Now listen to what our Lord said,
this is how they held captive. The very fact that they said
we're not born of fortification, we have Abraham to our father.
See the lies and deceit and the self-righteousness that they
have? And the boasting? And our Lord said unto them,
if God were your father, you'd love me. I've come forth from
God. I didn't come of myself. He sent
me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Because you can't hear my words. You don't understand
it. You can't grasp it. Now watch what he said here now.
And this is what we're talking about. We were set free from
this. We were in the same identical boat that these folks were in.
You are your father, the devil. And the lust of your father we
will do. And when he talks about the lust,
going against authority, going against power, going against
truth, and then what he says, He was a murderer from the beginning
and didn't abide the truth, because there's no truth in him. When
he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he's a liar, and
the father of it. Now he told these folks here,
your father is the devil. And that's why Christ came to
set us free. And oh, how about our hearts?
Our understandings were darkened. He come and enlightened our understandings. Our hearts were hard. He came
and the power of His will took out that stony heart and put
in a heart of flesh. Our affections were on self and
on the world. He took our affections and changed
our affections and caused us to love Him, to desire Him, to
need Him, to want Him, and to bow to Him and to worship Him. Oh, that's what he said. And
that's what our Lord Jesus Christ said. If the Son sets you free,
you're free indeed. And how wonderful it is, how
marvelous it is in our eyes that we've been set free. It's a wonderful
liberty. Secondly, this liberty that Christ
gave us, the freedom of the believers is a peculiar freedom. And what
I mean by that, you know how many people don't have it? Do
you know how many people do not have this freedom that we have
in Christ? How many people in your family
are in the church or in religion and they absolutely know nothing
about freedom in Christ? Only thing they know about is
works, going places they can go and not going places. They
don't know anything about freedom. They don't know anything about
not being under the law. They don't know anything about
not working. They don't know anything about not earning the
blessing. They don't know anything about having to pray so much
and giving tithes. They don't know anything but
that. They don't know nothing about freedom. They're still
under the power of the God of this world. But Paul said they're
surrendered according to the election of grace. God said over
in Isaiah, He said, if God had not left us surrendered, We have
been like Solomon, and we have been like Gomorrah, but God has
left a remnant according to grace. There's a remnant according to
the election of grace. And there's distinguishing mercy.
Distinguishing mercy. Look at 2 Corinthians 4 with
me just a moment. 1 Corinthians. Let me see. Yeah, 2 Corinthians. No, 1 Corinthians
4, 7. I'm sorry. I'll get it right
in a minute. 1 Corinthians 4, 7. You know, that's what our Lord
Jesus Christ said, for you see your calling, brethren. Not many
wise men after the flesh. Not many wise men after the flesh. You start trying to tell men
about Christ, oh, I know, I go to church. I'm not a heathen,
I'm not a fool. I believe. Got a statue out in
my garden. There's a church going, I go
to Murfreesboro, I go through, you go through Von Eyre out there,
and there's a Methodist church out there, a Methodist now. And they got over on this little
corner here, they got a statue, they got a little stone bench
there, they got a statue of Mary with Jesus, and they got a place
all set up there. You know, got the little idol
place over here where folks can see that, see how religious they
are. And they think that's great, they think that's glorious. And
every time I go by there and see that thing, I think, how
much bondage those folks are in now. And there was a time
that Methodists were somebody, I mean, they believed something.
Free Methodists, there was a time, they did now, they don't believe
anything. But he says, for you see your calling, brother, how
did not many wise men enter the flesh? My mother was too wise. My dad was too wise. My brothers
are too wise. You talk to them about Christ.
Don't say, I've been through the 12 steps. God's whoever you
make him to be. Bishop, my brother, I tried to
talk to him one day. He said, listen, God's who you want him
to be to you. I said, no, he's not who you
want him to be to you. He is who He says He is. But
folks, they're in their bondage and they're in their darkness
and they love to have that darkness and accept the Spirit of God
move upon them. And God command the light to
shine out of darkness into their hearts. They're going to stay
like that. There can't be two gods in this world. There can't
be three gods in this world. There can only be one God that's
got the power, only one God that's real, only one God that's true,
only one God that can save you, only one God that's got all the
power, only one God that can create. There's lots of gods
in this world, but they're all little Jesus. But there's only
one God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, one Savior. Only
one. And that's why we're talking
about this freedom that's peculiar to believers. We're not under
the God of this world anymore. We're not under the... If our
gospel be hid, it's him to them that are lost, and to whom the
God of this world blinds to them that believe. And he said, he's
not many wise, not many mighty. God chose foolish, weak, Oh,
but look what he said here in 1 Corinthians 4, 7. Oh my, this
is what I'm talking about. Who maketh thee to differ? Who
maketh thee to differ? And what have you got that you
didn't receive? What do you have that you didn't receive? Did
you earn anything from God? Did you deserve anything from
God? And if you received it, why would you glory as if you
had received it? Why do you glory as if you had
received it? That's what Paul said. If you
received everything and it was by the grace of God, and this
freedom is all by the grace of God, then why would you glory
as if you had some part in it? How many lepers? Our Lord Jesus
asked this question. He said, how many lepers were
in Syria in the time of Naaman? Oh my goodness, lots of them.
And the folks said, well, Naaman was a great man, he just happened
to be a leper. No, he was a leper who'd become a great man. And
that's the way everybody, everybody's born a leper. They may have tamed
a great thing, but I tell you, only one place he could get his
leprosy cleansed. That's where God told him to.
And there was all the lepers. And that was in Israel in the
times of Nahum. And I tell you, there was only
one that Elijah was sent to. Just one. That's how distinguishing
it is. That's only one he set free. And how many Tax collectors,
were there out collecting taxes working for the Jews that were
Republican when our Lord passed by and said to Matthew, follow
me. And he walked off his taxes and
followed the Lord Jesus Christ. Chose one. How many Pharisees
were in Israel in the days of our Lord Jesus Christ and he
only saved one? Saul of Tarsus. He only set one free. Oh my goodness, bless his holy
name. I mean, beloved, listen, God is so discriminating. He
don't set every man free. He does not set every man free.
I mean, I've often thought myself, what if He had never set me free?
When we first met, I was a legalist to the highest degree, and I became a fundamentalist
Oh, you all remember how hard I would preach and how mean I
would be, and I preached against everything that you shouldn't
do. Never did tell you about Christ
and what He did. You all know that. You know that.
What if God had chosen to leave me in that condition? What if God had chosen me to
let my darkness that was in me stay that great darkness? What
made the difference? A remnant according to whom the
Son sets free. He's free indeed. I wasn't set free by my own power,
by my own will, by my own intellect, by my own reasoning. But the
truth began to come to me. And the truth began to set me
free. And the truth came. A degree
and a time. The truth of Christ's death. Somebody said He only died for
His sheep. I looked in the Scriptures and that was true. Somebody said that man is depraved
from the top of his head to the sole of his foot. But Paul said,
well, everything is depraved but his will. I began to search
to see if that was so. And I come to find out that man
is dead in trespasses and sins. That he had no power to save
himself or no ability. Now how in the world am I going
to be set free from this death? I can't do it myself. There's
only one person can give you that life, and that's freedom. That's Christ. He brings you
truth, and that truth begins to set you free, until one day
the Son sets you free completely. And then let me tell you something
else about our liberty in Christ, that He died Himself for all
that blessed truth. Our liberty was dearly purchased.
by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. He paid a high, high
price to set us free. That's why it says if the Son
sets you free, you're free indeed. Look at 1 Peter 1.18 with me
just a moment. I saw three things over here
today when I was looking over these notes again. 1 Peter 1.18. This freedom was dearly, dearly
purchased by our Lord Jesus. by His precious blood. He said here in verse 18, Forasmuch as you know, you know
this much. You know it. You were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold. Under the law, you
remember that they take that silver And every man had to bring
a half a shekel of silver, and they melt that silver down, and
they set the tabernacle on those balls of silver. He said, that
was the redemption money that you paid. He said, you weren't
redeemed with silver. You weren't redeemed with gold
when they made all those things that went into the tabernacle
and into the temple with gold. From your vain, empty manner
of life, by the traditions of your father, but this will watch
you redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. Listen to it now. He was ordained
before the foundation of the world. Christ was that lamb slain,
ordained before the foundation of the world. But He came into
this world in these last times for you, who by Him, Do believe
in God that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God. Now look over also,
we're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Look over in
verse 24 of chapter 2. Look here. Paul goes, Peter goes
on to deal with this thing. Talking about being redeemed,
our liberty purchased by Christ's blessed blood. Who his own, 1
Peter 2.24, who his own self His own self, would He by Himself
purge our sin? Do His own self bear our sins
in His own body on the tree? When He was on that tree, He
was bearing our sins in His own body. on that tree, that we being
dead to sins as He died to sin, we did too. We live under righteousness
and those stripes by which they beat Him, we were healed from
our sin. And then look over in verse 18
of chapter 3. All whom the Son sets free is
free indeed. I've read the Bible for years
and never saw these verses of Scripture. Now they just stand
out like neon signs. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins. Once. Just once suffered for
sins. Well, who did He suffer for?
He was the just for the unjust. And why did He do it? That He
might bring us to God. How else are we going to get
to God? Christ got to bring us to God. And he was put to death
in the flesh, but he was quickened by the Spirit, given life by
the Spirit. And because of that, he brings
up to God, whom the Son sets free, is free indeed. And let
me give you another one. Here's the fourth blessed truth
of our liberty that Christ gave us. The freedom and liberty of
believers is a growing and increasing liberty. That means that we grow,
as he said tonight, we said, you know, when you go through
this, you see this progression from creation to life being given,
to life being given, seed being given, rest being given, being
created. And the more our freedom of liberty
grows and it increases in liberty, the more we learn of Christ,
The less, the less we indulge in sin and self. And in fact,
the more we grow in Christ, the less everything holds any attraction
for us. It holds less of us. We cherish
more and more the preciousness and power of our Lord Jesus Christ
and His blessed divinity. Paul said our salvation is nearer
than when we believe. Huh? I've been a believer now
for quite some time. But my salvation is a whole lot
clearer, nearer now, clearer and nearer than it was when I
first believed. Oh, listen. You know, we talk
about people and the Lord taking them home. I remember when the Lord took
Brother Scott home. I went up there. And I walked
down to his casket, seen that little bitty fellow laying in
there. He was a big man when I first met him. First time I
ever met him in my life. He had on a brown cowboy hat
and brown boots. And I mean, he was a man. He
is much of a man. And oh boy, and a preacher. But
when I saw him dwindle away to nothing, and I walked up there
and saw him laying in that casket, I began to laugh. I began to
rejoice. And his two sons were standing
there. Mitch and Stan. And I said, I'm
not laughing. I said, this is my way of rejoicing.
I said, I'm so happy for him. I'm so happy that he's gone.
I'm so happy that that body, there's nothing left in there
but a shell. That he's gone to be with God. I'm so happy for
him. I'm so happy for him. Because that's, he got his full
liberty. And then we talk about this growing
ever more and less and less with the world. How much world did
the world have on him when he had that colostomy and he had
that catheter down his leg? Weighed less than a hundred pounds
going from being a strong man, cutting enough wood to fill up
this building halfway full for a fall. But you grow, and you grow, and
you grow in this liberty, and grow in this freedom as you learn
more of Christ, and the less of the world, the less of sin,
the less of attraction, the less of self. Oh, my. Salvation's nearer. And
one of these days, we're going to not only be nearer, we're
going to be there. Nearer, nearer, nearer, Lord, to Thee. And that's
why people, I'll tell you why people miss the Gospel. is because
they say the gospel, all it's for is to get people saved. You've
got to get people saved. And then after you get them saved,
then you've got to disciple them and cause them to learn some
things. Learn how to live and learn how to grow and learn how
to be great disciples, learn how to be soul mentors, and learn
how to do things for Jesus. Listen, the gospel saves us,
the gospel keeps us, and the gospel is what causes us to grow.
The more we've learned about Christ, Oh, how free are we? How free are we? Oh, we're free enough to lay
down tonight, not afraid of what's going to happen. Oh, we enjoy the world less and
less and less and less, and Christ more and more and more. Paul says, the life that I'm
living right now in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loves me, loved me, and gave himself. I'm living
by faith in Him. And he says, notice, we die daily. He said over in 1 Corinthians
15, 31, he says, we die daily. We're dying every day, and we're
glad we are. We die to self, we die to the
world, we die to sin, we die to everything that's so distasteful
till we die. And Paul said in another place,
our outward man is perishing. I remember Floyd used to talk
about that all, said, this outward man is perishing. Perishing. This outward man is perishing. Why don't you just fade away?
It's going, it's perishing. This outward man is perishing.
Perishing. And oh, one of these days it
will just be gone. It will be with the Lord. And
then let me tell you this. It's a growing and increasing
liberty. The freedom and liberty of believers is a very, very
comfortable freedom. Very comfortable freedom. Look
with me in 1 Corinthians 7. It's a comfortable freedom. You know, there's Riley. You
don't have to make kids go to bed. They want to stay up. You've got to make them rest.
They're not comfortable being made to do something. But a believer is comfortable
with his liberty. Nobody has to make him rest. Nobody has to make them repose
themselves in Christ. Then it's a very comfortable
freedom. And here at 1 Corinthians 7, look what it says in verse
22. For he that is called in the
Lord, Christ calls him, called to be in Christ, being a servant,
that means in those days it meant being a slave. And though he
might have been a slave, but he is called in the Lord. He's
the Lord's free man. He's been made priest, what it
says in the margin. He may be a slave. Somebody may
own him. But if God called him and called
him in Christ, he was the Lord's free man, made free in Christ.
And look what here, Elsie said. Likewise, he that is called,
being free, never was a slave or anything, Well, then he is free. If he
is free, then he is Christ's servant. The servant is the free
man, and the free man is the servant. And look what he says
in verse 23. You are God with a price. Don't you dare be the servant
of men. You belong to the Lord. If I'm free, then I'm Christ's
servant. If I'm a slave, then I'm the
Lord's free man. Free or slave, I belong to Christ. We belong to Him. Wherever, whoever,
or whatever you are, you're the Lord's free man. If you're in
poverty, you're the Lord's. If you're in sickness, you're
the Lord's free man. Held in contempt by anyone, you're
the Lord's free man. Don't let nothing trouble you,
because our Lord said you're free indeed. And then last of
all, Oh, thank God for these liberties we have in Christ,
wherewith the Son hath made us free. The Son hath made us free. It's a perpetual and final freedom. Once you've ever been set free,
you're going to be free. Always be free. Huh? Ain't that
what our Lord said, John 8, 36? Said, Ye shall be free indeed. Huh? Free indeed. And then Acts
26.18, let me show you this, and I'm through. 26.18. This is where
Paul, God called Paul of Tarsus, called him Saul, and saved him. And this is the perpetual freedom,
and shall be free indeed. Oh my, that's why it says, stand
fast in the liberty. Look what God said to to solve
here on Damascus Road, verse 16, Acts 26. Thyse stand upon
thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to
make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou
hast seen, and of those things into which I will appear unto
thee, what you see now and what you will see. Now watch this,
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles unto whom
now I send you." Now this is what you're going to do. Talking
about a perpetual and final freedom. To open their eyes, turn them
from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God.
Now that's freedom, ain't it? From what he's saying, to open
their eyes. That must have been naked, they
couldn't see. And to turn them from darkness
to light, from the power of Satan unto
God, and here's the reason, that you may receive forgiveness of
sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified, set apart
by faith that is in thee." You're going to go, and folks are going
to be set free when they hear you preach the gospel. When they
hear you go preaching the gospel, when you go telling them about
what Christ who He is. And the Scripture says that He
straightway went and preached Christ, that this is Jesus, indeed
is the Christ. What a freedom, what a liberty
we have in Christ. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Now, people automatically
think, well, you're free to come here and do this and that. We're
free. This is the way I look at my
freedom. I'm free to worship God. I'm free to worship Christ. I'm free to love. I'm free in
grace. I'm not free to go out here and
commit sin and live to my flesh. We're not talking about that.
We're talking about freedom from sin, bondage, self, and all the
things that make us despicable to God. Christ set us free from
all those things and made us His people. Blessed, blessed Savior, O Thou
Son of God, who came and set us free, set us free by the Word
and the power of God. Thank You. God bless us to enjoy
this freedom, to understand this freedom, this great liberty we're
with You set us free. Help us neither to abuse it,
never use it for licentiousness or lasciviousness in any way. Help us never use our freedom
as an excuse to sin or to indulge self in any way, but our freedom
to honor Christ, to honor our Savior, to be a blessing to you
dear children. and pray for one another, and
love one another, and strengthen one another. And thank you for
this day you've given us. Forever prayer that's prayed,
forever scripture that's read, forever song that was sung, forever
heart that was touched, ever mind that was enlightened. Lord,
you did it all. All to you we owe. We bless you
in Christ our Lord's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. No wish to not service. Remember,
everybody would be holding, either gone camping or go somewhere
to watch fireworks or something.