Gospel Freedom

As Jerry mentioned, going into this week of July the fourth, it is obviously a big one, right? I mean, we're celebrating 250 years of the freedoms that we enjoy as citizens of the United States of America, and I am so grateful for those freedoms and the blessings that we have, and I know that you're grateful for the freedoms that you get to experience and the blessings that we have of living in this great country, and so today and throughout this next week we're going to be thinking about that and reflecting upon how we get to live in the greatest country in the world, and all of the blessings that we have, and thanking God for those in the freedoms that we have, but here is the thing that I want us to sit with and think about over the next few minutes, guys, the freedom that we experience as Americans, as as good as it is, as good as the freedom is that we have of living in the greatest country in the world, guys, it does not even come close, remotely close to the freedom that we can experience in Christ, because while the freedoms that we have as Americans free us from a lot of things, the reality, the truth is, is that it cannot free your heart. The freedoms that we experience as Americans cannot free our hearts. It can remove a tyrant from a throne, but it cannot remove the sin that sits on the throne of your heart, can give you the right to pursue happiness, the American dream, but it cannot actually give you the abundant life that your heart was created for. So, here's the big truth that I want you to sit with today, guys. You and I can live in the freest nation on earth and still be a slave. I want you to let that sink in for a moment. You can live in the freest nation in the entire world and still be a slave, a slave to sin, a slave to shame, a slave to the endless treadmill of trying to find love or earn our worth or prove ourselves or measure up to the people around us. See, there are chains that have been wrapped around your heart since the very day that you were born in Adam. The apostle Paul in Romans chapter five verse 12 says sin entered the world through one man, Adam. Sin entered the world through one man, and death entered the world through sin, and in this way Paul says death came to all people, because all people sinned. Let me see if I can illustrate what it is that Paul is talking about, and what we see. Let's, let's say that this hand right here represents Adam, and let's say that this hand represents God, and we're saying that Adam was born into this world, and there was no sin in Adam. There was no sin in the world. It was perfect, and in having no sin and being created by his creator, he lived in the presence of God. He was actually in a spiritual union with his creator, the one who is life itself, and in God was his guide, and he was his source for everything it is that he needed. He was his very life in that moment, and being in this situation, Adam was free. He was free to experience all that God had created him for, to experience all the blessings that he created him for, but the reality is, as Paul tells us in Romans 512 is that sin broke that relationship. Let's just say that this phone represents sin, and so Adam sinned, and God is holy, of course, God is a perfect God, and so he can't be in the presence of sin. Not only that, but God is a just God. He can't just say, "You know what, Adam, that was no big deal, and just kind of let it go and turn a blind eye to it, because he's a just God. He wouldn't be just anymore if he did that. He must punish sin, he must make things right, and so there was this separation between Adam and God. It caused a spiritual death between Adam and God, because there was this separation between the one who is life itself and that he was in a perfect union with before.

This is what the Apostle Paul is saying is true of each one of us. We're born in Adam, we come from Adam, and we're born in sin, and we have a sin nature, and we're separated from God, who's a holy God and a perfect God and a just God. And so there's this spiritual death that occurs, and there's no amount when we're born into this world of self effort or religious things that we can do that can ever close the gap enough to remove the sin barrier. The sin barrier will always still be there between us and God. This is the reality of the situation that every single person, every single one of us finds ourselves in. Now, let's apply this to what we're talking about and celebrating this morning, right? If we're born into this world, even still living here in the United States of America, the greatest country in the world, the freest country in the world, the right to pursue the American dream, and all that we have access to here does not change the situation of us still being a slave to sin and a slave to death. As a matter of fact, you and I living in this country can pursue the American dream, we can achieve, and go, we can be one of those rags to riches stories. I mean, one of those people that people talk about, but they go, they came from nothing, and they've achieved so much in this world, and they're, they're accomplished so much, and they're so respected in this world. But no matter how much we pursue, no matter how many freedoms we continue to experience and enjoy the United States of America. It will do absolutely nothing for our problem of sin that sits on the throne of our hearts and keeps us separated from God. All it does is continue to make us a slave to sitting on the treadmill of performance and to earn the worth or keep the worth and the status in some way that we're justifying ourselves in our own mind, but other people are not our standard, God's the standard, right? And so this is the situation that we all find ourselves in, and there's nothing that we can do about it. This is the bad news. In order to know how good the good news of Jesus Christ really is, you have to know the bad news and how bad your situation really is. If you're born in Adam, and the good news is that God, out of his love for you and out of his love for me, left the glory and the riches of heaven. God, the Son, Jesus was born into this world. He took on an additional nature, and he was born into the world fully God and fully man, and being born into this world fully God, look, he has no sin in his life, because he's born perfect into this world, but as a man, he's one of us, and he can represent one of us. Scripture tells us that in First Peter 2224 that because he did not have any sin to pay for, that he took all the sins of the world, your sins and my sins, and he placed them upon himself, and he paid the penalty for them on the cross. God is a just God, he must punish sin. There is a penalty that had to be paid. It could not be overlooked. And so Jesus took your sin and my sins, and all the past, present, and future sins that anyone would ever commit, and placed them upon himself, and he received the punishment for those sins. He received the wrath of a just God was poured out on sin and evil, and Jesus died on that cross, having paid the penalty, and he was buried. But the good news is that God raised him from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death forever. And then, after 40 days, he ascended back to heaven, and you will see that the situation has now changed because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

There is no more sin barrier, but the reality is, is even though Jesus has accomplished all of these things, and He offers us that forgiveness, and wants to be in a union with us, and everything that needed to be done has been done, He offers it to us as a gift, and just like any gift, you have to receive it before it actually is in your possession becomes part of you, and so the way that we receive this is through faith. Ephesians 289 says by grace that you are saved through faith, and it's not by works. And the moment that we put our faith and trust in Jesus, you and I are completely forgiven, and we enter back into that spiritual union that Adam got to experience in the garden, and he becomes our guide and our source and our abundant life, and we get to live in relationship with him, and even when we die, we get to be with him for ever in a place called heaven with new bodies. And it's going to be absolutely amazing, and so this is the good news of scripture, and the reality is, is that there are many of you who are in this room who are experiencing this right now, you've put your faith and trust in Jesus for salvation, and through that, your sins have been forgiven, you've entered back into that union with Him, you have abundant life, and you know the assurance of an eternal life being spent with Him now and forevermore. But there are some of you, there are some of you who may be here this morning, and you're realizing for the first time, like I did when I was 11 years old at Vacation Bible School, uh, oh, I've got a problem. I've got a problem. I'm not in union with the God of the universe. I haven't received His free gift of salvation. I'm still stuck in my sins, and the reality is, is the good news is that even if that's the situation that you're finding yourselves in, like I did when I was around 11 years old, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter where you've been, it doesn't matter what it is that you've done. Jesus has died for you, He's taken your sins to the cross, and if you put your faith and trust in Him, then you will be forgiven, and you'll enter into that union. If you don't receive His free gift, you'll be stuck in your sins, living on the treadmill of performance, trying to overcome your shame the rest of your life, and you will die eternally separated from your Creator forever. And so, if you're realizing that this morning, and, and you've never received His free gift of salvation again, no matter who you are, no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, God loves you. He's done what's necessary to secure your salvation, and if you'll just receive it, even now, in this moment, your life can be transformed and changed now and forevermore. And if that's you, I want to give you a chance to respond and make that decision, even right now. So, if you'll close your eyes and you bow your heads.