Freedom in Jesus Christ
- Emily Imhoff
- Jul 29, 2022
- 14 min read
Freedom is not synonymous to Independence--although this is the 'gospel' of America, as a nation--this is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We all want to be free from anxiety, depression, anger, bitterness, guilt, jealousy, lust-- but often, in exercising our independence we create a 'self-help' initiative to purge the sin from our life. We become further enslaved because our lack of success leads to shame and condemnation. We never truly find freedom or deliverance because our efforts are rooted in our own striving. We are waging war with the only human weapons we know of--logic, discipline, and self-will. This is a self-preservation mechanism whereby we grab any life-jacket in an attempt to just keep our heads above water.
But the Gospel of Jesus Christ looks different--He tells us to:
Go ahead--lose your life! In fact--crucify yourself! Because when you finally come to the end of yourself--you will find TRUE LIFE.
Matthew 10:38-39 *Jesus speaking*-- Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
John 14:6 *Jesus speaking*--I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.
Justification
This is true faith--letting go of control and independence. We find true FREEDOM when we become fully dependent on Jesus Christ! When Jesus died on the cross and sacrificed His blood and His body--He bore ALL (past, present, and future) sins so that we could be cleansed and declared righteous in the sight of God. So that, through Jesus, the ULTIMATE & FINAL sacrifice, we could have right standing with God Almighty! This isn't just for "Heaven's"sake to save us from our deserved punishment of hell--but this is also for our life on this earth. As a Christ-follower; your eternity starts here on earth, the moment you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior!
When you declare Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord and believe that only His finished work on the cross can save you from your sin--He immediately declares you Righteous/Justified/Saved (*synonymous)! In a single moment--He speaks a NEW IDENTITY over your life--and that's how He chooses to see you from that point on--forever! Where sin induced guilt--and declared the identity of shame and condemnation....Jesus says...
I bought your freedom from that identity of shame and condemnation with my very own blood and body! I declare you righteous the moment you die to yourself and choose to live for me! I sacrificed my life, so that you could LIVE FREE!
This is the free gift of salvation--Jesus offers us complete and undeserved grace --there is nothing we could ever DO to earn this (Romans 11:6; Romans 6:23)!
Sanctification
After we are saved and Jesus declares us justified. We are launched into what is called "sanctification" where, basically, Jesus says--
OK, I just declared this new identity over your whole life and whole being--now you get to choose, by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit within you--to actually live out this eternal reality.
Jesus says--YES, you may stumble and fall--BUT:
When you are unfaithful, I am faithful (2 Timothy 2:13)
I will finish the good work I started in you (Phillipians 1:6)
I am with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9)--In fact, I go before you to make a way! (Deuteronomy 31:8)
I will never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6)
Absolutely nothing can separate you from my love (Romans 8:38-39)
I will never give you more than you can handle, through my power and strength (1 Corinthians 10:13)
I am at the right hand of the Father interceding on your behalf (Romans 8:34)
I've cast your sins so far that I will only see you as a New Creation (Psalm 103:12)
Your identity is in ME, because I am in YOU (John 14:23; 1 Corinthians 6:17; Colossians 1:27; 2 Corinthians 5:17)
I have given you my very mind!(2 Corinthians 2:16)
My grace is sufficient for all of your weaknesses. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
My Holy Spirit will be in you to comfort you, teach you, guide you in truth, and give you the words to say and to pray. (Ps 23:4, John 14:15-17; John 14:26; Ezekiel 36:27; Psalm 143:10; John 15:26; Isaiah 11:2; Romans 8:26; Luke 24:45-59
In sanctification, the Holy Spirit gives us a will to follow and love God and enables us to work God’s purposes out in our life. This is not self-reliant activism neither is it God-reliant passivity--but it is a beautiful partnership of our own efforts aligned with His will and full dependency on God's power working in and through us.
The Unpopular Truth: Jesus never leaves us where He found us!
This should be the most beautfiul promise we've ever heard. Yet, somehow this truth is like a giant pill we are trying to swallow without a drink of water. Our soul resists it. We want the promise of salvation for eternity without dying to our self. We want to continue to chase our dreams while satisfying our flesh with counterfeit pleasures, meanwhile--painting a "but what about GRACE?" message across our forehead. So what does the Bible say about this:
1. Jesus said to count the cost before you decide to follow me:
Luke 14:25-33 says that you must love Jesus so much that the love you have for your very own family looks like hate in comparison; you must even hate your OWN SELF in comparison to the love you have for Jesus--tell me that's not counter-cultural! All you hear these days is that you need to 'love yourself' MORE! He then goes on to say--you need to carry your own cross. Meaning, you have to die to yourself in order to truly follow me.
Jesus then describes someone who starts a building project but didn't consider how much it was going to cost, so they only were able to lay the foundation--this is where a lot of proclaiming 'Christians' are at--they've had an emotional encounter at church, the knowledge of the Gospel stirred them to want to be saved, but after 'committing' they decided they would rather have 'lesser lovers'--they want to be in the world AND OF IT. The cost of leaving everything in their old life behind and taking up their cross to wholeheartedly follow Jesus and His will for their life was too much of a sacrifice. But Jesus says--"you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything" (Luke 14:33).
Luke 9:23-26 “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.”
2. God says that, through Jesus--sins penalty (damnation) and power (its ability to control us) was broken! Read all of Romans 6
Just to give you a glimpse on where God stands...Paul starts out by saying:
"Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives." Romans 6:1-4
3. We are called to examine our faith and to test it's sincerity--have our hearts truly changed because of the knowledge of what Christ did?
In 2 Corinthians 12:20, Paul says that he is afraid to visit the CHURCH at Corinth (*this was not unbelievers) because he knows he will find "quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behavior"...And he will be grieved "because many of [them] have not given up [their] old sins. [They] have not repented of [their] impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure." He discusses how he has already warned them of their unrepented sin and yet they are still walking in it-- He says later in 2 Corinthians 13:5 that they need to "examine [themselves] to see if [their] faith is genuine. Test yourselves."
The key here is that these were people in the church--claiming to be 'christians' but living an unrepented lifestyle. This is not to say they were not 'sorry' for their sin or that they didn't feel 'guilty' of their sin--they very well could have! But that is entirely different than being repentant of your sin. Living in a fallen world, it is understood that even as Christians, we are going to mess up and fall short--but it is our response to our sin which determines the sincerity of our faith and true salvation. Repentance is an ACTION VERB: confession of your sin to God + TURNING to Him. Our hearts should be so quick and eager to repent because we know that, in Christ, there is NO CONDEMNATION (Romans 8:1)! PRAISE GOD! It should be our joy to walk in holiness and obedience to God becasue of what Christ did for us!
Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change. It is the act of leaving what God has prohibited and returing to what he has commanded.
4. The knowledge of God does not mean there has been a surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. Even the demons believe in God!
James 2:14,17-20 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ... 17 So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. 18 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
James goes on to write in the next paragraph that Abraham was proof that faith without deeds was useless--he says that Abraham was justified by his surrender to God.
Genesis 22: Abraham RECAP
God had promised Abraham back in Genesis 17: 4 “You will be the father of many nations... 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
It wasn’t until 25 years later that Sarah bore his first son Isaac. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 91. So here he is with his one and only son--who God said many nations will come from him and in chapter 22 he asks him to go kill him as a sacrifice Isaac to the Lord. They climb the mountain, build the altar, put him on it, and he gets as far as raising the knife above Isaac before God stops him and provides a ram instead.
Gen 22: 5 Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. 16“This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”
So in James 2:22-24 he says: "You see that his [Abraham's] faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did"...“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone."
So NO, I do not believe that this removes the faith alone, grace alone message of the Gospel--but I do believe this aligns with all other themes throughout scripture that discuss how true faith--a true salvation conversion-- is proved by our actions and how we live. Faith in Jesus is not just something we can just believe in our mind and be saved. We have to have a circumcision of the heart that moves us to walk in obedience & full surrender to God (Romans 2:29).
1 John 2:3-6 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
5. The Bible says to work hard to show the results of your salvation
Phil. 2:12, 13 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
6. The Bible says salvation is evident by the fruit of someones life--are they doing the will of God?
Matthew 7:18-23 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me,‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
7. The Bible says you cannot serve two masters.
It is outlined clearly how there are only 2 choices in this world (Kingdom of God vs. kingdom of darkness)--there is no middle ground/no neutrality--they are at constant opposition to one another. By not choosing one, you are actively choosing the other.
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Kingdom of God | kingdom of darkness | scripture reference | |
|---|---|---|---|
Ruler | Jesus Christ | Satan | Colossians 1:13, Colossians 3:1-17 |
Realm | Heaven & Earth | Earth | John 14:30, John 18:36-37 |
Citizens | Believers | Faithless | John 3:16-21 |
Law | Gospel Truth | Lies | John 14:23-24, 1 John 2:3-5 |
Customs | Right | Evil | John 1:4-5, Galatians 5:19-23 |
Power | Victory | illusion & deception | Ephesians 1:19-21, Ephesians 2:1-7 |
Destiny | Heaven with Jesus | Hell | Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46 |
*Chart adapted from: https://www.simplybible.com/f531-light-two-spiritual-kingdoms.htm
God has drawn the line in the sand.
I believe the Lord is issuing a warning and an invitation in this hour to "choose you this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15). America has the incredible privilege of knowing the Gospel--whereas, there is an estimated 24-27% of the world population that still have not ever heard the Good New of Jesus Christ. Having heard the name of Jesus and the Gospel presented to us--we have a weighty responsibility to steward this knowledge of Truth. When we stand before God, we are without excuse if we choose to willingly not surrender our lives to Him here on this earth.
2 Peter 2:20-21 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
James 4:17 “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin”
Luke 12:42-48 Jesus is so clear about willful disobedience in this parable
verses 47-48 “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. 48 But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
This stirs such humility and a cry in me to say--Lord, do not let this be said about me! I want to be joyfully obedient--would you teach me how, lead me in your truth!
If you have made it this far and are still reading, I am honestly shocked--but SO proud! I know that the last few paragraphs have been weighty and convicting (NOT condemning). Although it feels uncomfortable in your spirit--that feeling should reasure you that God is drawing you to himself! I say this because God is so clear that:
HE DISCIPLINES THOSE HE LOVES (Hebrews 12:6)
HIS KINDNESS LEADS US TO REPENTANCE (Romans 2:4)
When you KNOW THE TRUTH--THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE (John 8:32)
1 John 1:7-10 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”
Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
So how do we walk out our freedom in Christ?
After we've made a conscious decision to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we begin to walk out our freedom in Christ by renewing our mind. Ephesians 4:20-24 says “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Our freedom in Christ begins with right thinking. It is not so much of doing something for the Lord, as it is about activating what He’s already done for us through the blood of Jesus.
In renewing our mind, through the power of the Holy Spirit--God will change our thoughts, which changes our attitude and emotions, which changes our actions and our willingness and ability to serve God in holiness and obedience.
Our feelings and perceptions will never invalidate the Word of God—we need God's Word and the Holy Spirit to guide us in Truth. Salvation through the blood of Jesus perfected our spirit man in instant (we are justified/righteous and in complete right standing with God through faith), but sanctification is the process of bringing our body, soul, and mind into alignment with the new creation we are in the Spirit.
Reading the Bible is the practical application for renewing the mind. The Bible says faith can only come 2 ways: seeing and hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). This past March I started using the Dwell bible app all throughout the day and it has been a game changer! If you really struggle with your thought life--even if is just for a season...try swapping out the TV, podcasts, music...and just turn on the audible word of God and see what happens (the YouVersion bible app will read it out loud as well)! Reading along with the audio is even better if you are in a place you can do that.
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 8:5-8 Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh;but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.
Philippians 4 :8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
My Final Thought For You: HE IS WORTH IT. NOTHING ELSE WILL FULLY SATISFY THE LONGING IN YOUR SOUL.
Phillipians 3:8–14 “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”
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