832. Things Seldom Heard in Church: The 10 Commandments Not Written on Our Hearts
When God spoke about His laws being put in our minds and written upon our hearts in this better covenant, the assumption by many church folks is that this is a reference to the Ten Commandments. But why would God want to write something on the hearts of His people which brought condemnation, resulted in sin increasing, and wasn’t based upon faith? In the previous chapter, the writer had just declared that old ministry as one that became nullified or cancelled because it was weak and unprofitable, unable to bring a required spiritual perfection. Our hearts now contain and reflect something new and better than a law of sin and death—it’s “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” It’s based upon the ministry of God’s Spirit in us, the gift of righteousness, faith, love and liberty.
Born Free
Anytime that we discuss freedom as it relates to believers in the kingdom of God, we must realize that freedom means different things to different people!
In Acts 22, an incident in the life of Paul powerfully illustrates the New Testament truth regarding Christian freedom in the kingdom of God!
Paying a High Price!
And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. (As a Roman Citizen or a FREE man, Paul had rights!) And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this FREEDOM. And Paul said, But I was born FREE. —Acts 22:25-28 (KJV)
Freedom meant something totally different to the Roman captain than to Paul.
Many today believe that their Christian May freedom is obtained by ‘paying a high price’—hard work, moral discipline, personal sacrifice! They think that if you sacrifice much in zealous pursuits of Christian discipline, you are ultimately rewarded with victory and freedom.
But I like what Paul said, “Maybe your freedom cost you a high price, but I was born FREE.” Before we can understand and experience true freedom, we have to know that it’s not something we obtain through personal sacrifice, we are born into it!
That doesn’t mean that our freedom was without cost. It came at a very high cost—THE LIFE OF THE SON OF GOD. The degree to which you understand and believe in the freedom you are born into in Christ is the degree of true freedom you will experience in everyday life!
Freedom of the Heart
Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he [man] thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
“Thinketh” means “to calculate; to put a valuation on.” “What” and “who” we value in our hearts determines where we go and what we become! Therefore, the way I believe about God and our relationship, controls the way I see and relate to myself and others.
Before we can understand and experience true freedom, we have to know that it’s not some- thing we obtain through personal sacrifice, we are born into it!
True Freedom Starts at a Heart Level!
All the experiences of our lives, can be directly linked to the condition of our hearts or our belief system! (Prov. 4:20-23)
You can be a God-fearing, Holy Spirit-filled, Bible-quoting, morally-disciplined Christian, living in a reclusive commune! But if your beliefs are still deeply rooted in performance religion, you’ll never be free from the destructive behaviors and bondage that dominate your life.
Unfortunately this is the sad reality of many Christians in the church today.
Knowing the Truth Will Set You Free
The Jews served God based on performance religion that unknowingly kept them in bondage. Jesus said to them:
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? —John 8:31-33 (KJV)
They didn’t even recognize the religion they were in. They thought that everything was just great!
They served God under a system governed by rules, regulations and performance that could never make them acceptable before God. This is what they needed to be set free from, and it’s the same for many today.
Jesus said, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” That truth is relationship with God—free from legalism, self- righteousness and the guilt of the law! Jesus came to give us freedom and abundant life in Him. Celebrate the freedom you were born into every day!
Blessings, Arthur
God’s Advice to the Nations
The second Psalm is often quoted by the writers of the New Testament. It contains, in a very short form, the best advice ever given to the nations of the world. It captures the turmoil of the nations trying to find a way to make life work. There is hostility, tyranny, scheming, and endless debate. It sure sounds a lot like our times. Take time to read it:
Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain?
and the kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
"Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." -Psalms 2:1-3
Nations Can Honor God Without Violating the Liberty of Conscience.
The lie of secularism is that to ensure personal freedom of choice, God and all standards of order that have been recognized by religion must be eliminated. The truth is that order has been evident well before religion recognized it. It is not necessary for everyone to personally ascribe to religious doctrines for social structures to operate by the laws of order. It has been plain since the beginning:
For what can be know about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. -Romans 1:19-20
The idea that everything contained in religion must be jettisoned for there to be objectivity, is silly. It makes God laugh.
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
The Lord holds them in derision. -Psalms 2:4
Godless Leaders Scheme, Based on Speculations From Impaired Thoughts
All sane people recognize that there is some problem with humanity. Different religions have different diagnoses, but all agree that there needs to be a solution for whatever ails mankind. The God of the Bible, the Lord of Israel, the Father of Jesus, the Judge of the whole earth, says that humans are fallen.
Given the choice to trust God explicitly or lean in to the serpent's lie, the first pair fell from their exalted state and became alienated from God. Filled with fear and shame, they hid from God, and the race has been trying to find a way back to the peace and prosperity of Eden ever since.
In the unredeemed state, humans are self-obsessed and often illogical. Having rejected the "logos" (word) of God, which enables us to think logically, they constantly contradict themselves and think illogically to false conclusions. They propose that we can free ourselves by casting off the boundaries of divine design, blind to the fact that it is slavery to sin's deception which drives such thinking. The freedom they fantasize about is nothing short of anarchy and chaos.
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With no restraints, human depravity destroys the dreams of everyone. Ideologues plot ways to categorize people to control them. Identity politics is just the latest iteration of that failed scheme. When the various categories are vying for first place in the victimization race, hostility produces a revolutionary temper.
Persistent Presumption Brings Destruction
When all transcendent restraints are mocked, chaos is the only possible result. Historically, the solution has been tyranny. Some would-be savior steps in to bring order, and subjugates people to his or her whims.
At first there is relief, but it soon turns to disillusionment. Remember that many thought the communism first proposed by Russia would be the way of the future. Then we saw its deception bring death to millions. It is a terrible judgment when the Lord of creation gives fallen man what he demands.
Then he will speak to them in is wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." -Psalms 2:5-6
God Has Acted to Establish a Nation of True Liberty
The human problem was solved by God becoming a human and doing whatever was necessary to reconcile humans to himself. His Son is established as king over all. He paid the price to restore humanity to its original intent. He, the Son of man, is now ruling from the right hand of the Father.
Those who "kiss the Son" are bowing in reverence to him, submitting to his order and finding the liberty the human heart has desired since that fatal fall in Eden. It is foolish to neglect or reject the king whom God set in place to rule the nations. It is freeing to know that we can again be partners with him in ruling the earth.
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
Be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him. -Psalms 2:10-12
Good advice!
614. The Source of Spiritual Bondage and How to Be Free
613. Why There Is No Condemnation in Christ
You Crazy Galatians!
I might have titled this study "The Case for Grace," because Paul gives his proof of the need for grace. "I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain" (Galatians 2:21). And then he writes, "O foolish Galatians!" (Galatians 3:1); a wonderful statement!… Read More
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Our Freedom in Christ Comes Parallels Our Freedom in the USA
In the U.S.A. we just celebrated our Independence from tyranny, over taxation and religious control through monarchical rule. I shudder to think what our founding father’s would think of the current state of the nation with the tax rates and separation of Christianity from public life… but that’s another topic.
I’m writing to you today to tell you a story about my trip to Washington D.C. a couple of summer’s ago. Sara and I took our kids to tour the museums and see the monuments. It was a wonderful experience, I highly recommend it. Given that we’re both artists we were overwhelmed by the art. I have to say, the most memorable part of the trip was not the art, it was seeing Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. It’s a beautiful piece of property on the Potomac River.
As the guide led us through his home, we stopped in front of a room in which George held personal meetings. The guide told us that he would have met with people like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and the list goes on.
Apparently he met often with Thomas Jefferson. I don’t remember if the guide actually said this or I imagined it but I remember thinking that they would have sat in this very room to discuss the founding of our nation and the principles recorded in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
My imagination and my pastoral instincts began to take over. I could imagine conversations about freedom and personal liberty and how they were basic human values and rights. I could see them discussing how to structure the government of this new nation in such a way that the people were in charge and could vote to preserve their freedom. I could hear them discussing how difficult it would be to inspire a nation to not only value freedom but properly steward it and do what was necessary to protect it.
They had seen the effects of people’s dependencies on a governing body and they wanted to instill absolute independence in each and every American so this nation would live out its days as a free and sovereign nation.
I began to relate to these conversations as a pastor. As ministers we are to set people free from religion, the power of sin, the fear of death and carnal thinking. We are to encourage them to choose life and not be distracted by the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things. We are to inspire people to properly steward the freedom from the law of sin and death we have in Christ so we don’t enter back into the slavery of sin.
This is why I believe the USA was founded on Christian principles, no other god values freedom but the Father of Christ. No other god in all the religions of the planet give people free will.
God the father, maker of Heaven and earth, giver of Christ for the redemption of mankind desires that we live totally free. He created this earth and gave dominion to mankind and said subdue and prosper.
The Declaration of Independence reflects these principles:
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
They recognized the freedom and the authority given to mankind by God over creation and wanted to structure a nation in which we could live out those God given freedoms.
Unfortunately this foundation has been corrupted and God is systematically being removed from the fabric of the governing body and even culture. But we as children of God are still free and no one can take that away.
The whole earth is waiting for the sons of God to manifest their sonship and live in the authority we have through our joint-inheritance in Christ. God’s grace is powerful enough in our hearts to strengthen us to live free from sin, fear, doubt, shame and even death.
I pray our nation finds its way back to Christian principles and once again draws on the wisdom of God to govern and protect the blessings of liberty. I pray you rely on God’s grace and live free from the pitfalls of this world and properly steward your freedom in Christ.
I go into much more detail on these ideas in this message.
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Grace and peace to you,
Clint Byars
The post Our Freedom in Christ Comes Parallels Our Freedom in the USA appeared first on Forward Ministries.
A Balanced New Creation
One of the great truths I was guided to share with the campers at the Lake Beauty Bible Camp, Minnesota, in 1978, was the need to have a balanced view of new creation realities. Biblical truths can be either in contrast or in correspondence with each other. Law and grace, for example, are in contrast… Read More
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Living the Life of Freedom
DUDLEY HALL -- “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
Some time ago I was in a church service where the music team lingered on lyrics celebrating our freedom. We continued for several minutes declaring that we are free. I began musing on the degree of liberty we really have in Christ. It was interesting that on that occasion the sermon focused on how we can improve ourselves and feel better about ourselves if we would only practice certain specified disciplines.
It is great to be free from the penalty of sin’s curse. We could spend several eternities praising God for Jesus’s sacrifice, which satisfied eternal justice. Knowing that we do not have to face our sins should free us to embrace life with courage and confidence.
But there is more. When Jesus died for us -- in our place -- we died. That is important because we were inextricably chained to self-absorption. Since the original fall of mankind in the Garden, we have all been focused on ourselves. We spend most of our time trying to perfect and present ourselves in some acceptable fashion. We worry about how we are perceived. We measure our performance and compete with others for our own rights. Even when we try to do something for others we experience the menacing thoughts of wondering how this will look to outsiders. We find that it “feels good” to do charity work, so we do it more for ourselves than for the people that need the service. We massage our resumes and put our best foot forward in order to climb the social and vocational ladder. We become angry when others don’t see our point of view and value us as we deserve.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be free from that bondage? What if we could live beyond ourselves and for the glory of another?
That is the liberty Jesus offers. His death cut the power cord of sin in our present lives. Of course we can still choose to live in the selfish default mode, but we have been given a choice: the Spirit will enable us to live in the love of Christ. The same Christ that gave himself in our place has come to indwell us. We can be controlled by the love of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:14) This includes two vital dynamics. First we will live with joyful gratitude. After all He is the hero. He lived the acceptable life. He died the necessary death. He is God’s Son, man’s Savior, creation’s sustainer, history’s subject and the world’s hope. Why should any figure hold more intrigue for us? The treasure in knowing Him is unsearchable. The joy available in Him is without limit.
Secondly we will live with courageous confidence. He was raised from the dead and the same Spirit that raised him now lives in us and can transform us. When the message is proclaimed it will give hope to all who need change. Nothing in life is beyond the power of transformation. We can invade any sphere of this earth knowing that we represent a kingdom that is based on resurrection of the dead.
Yes, we are free. More free than we can imagine being. It is worth celebrating as well as appropriating. Let’s not live in selfish bondage when liberty is available.