The Price of Freedom

 A number of years ago, I had an interaction with a man at the Carpenter’s Coffee Bar, where I was an English teacher.  China had been rattling the saber about taking Taiwan, again.  This man was angry at the United States Government, because of the sale of fighter planes to Taiwan.  His argument was that Japan got United States’ fighters for free, but those planes are on an American base in Okinawa.  Those planes will protect Japan, but they’re actually there defending US interests in Asia.  Those same planes would protect Taiwan as well.  At supersonic speeds, Taiwan is only about twenty minutes from Okinawa.

I thought that it was interesting that he wanted freedom, but wasn’t willing for his nation invest in it financially.  When you stop to think about it the cost of freedom isn’t just financial, the cost of freedom is always blood.  Young men must fight and die to guarantee freedom.  Ten million allied troops died during World War Two.

Freedom comes at a price.  Today, I want to post on freedom from sin, the price that was paid, and our responsibility to that freedom.

Galatians 5:1 (NKJV)
^5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Sin is a Trap

Our text tells us to stand fast, which means to be immovable in the liberty by which Christ made us free. Be immovable in our freedom from sin.  Do not become entangled again with a yoke of bondage.  In other words, do not be ensnared again with a yoke – slavery.  Ensnared means trapped; sin is a trap.  Sin is slavery.

John 8:34 (NKJV)
^8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

Sin is a Trap – we have a mindset about sin that’s wrong.  We often think that sin is freedom or liberty.  We look at obedience to the commands of God as limiting, as if God has taken away our liberty through commandment.  Living out the commandments, though, is liberating.

Think about this for a moment. Think about common sins.  Drinking creates alcoholics; a dependence on Alcohol.  Drug use creates addicts; a dependence on drugs.  How many sins are there that trap you into dependence.  An addict is someone who’s dependent on getting a particular drug.  Their whole life becomes consumed with that drug.  They’ll lie, steal, and prostitute themselves to satisfy their addiction.  It’s a trap.  We think it’ll free us, instead it traps us.

David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (a 1970s musical group), experimented with drugs and alcohol as a young man.  After a number of years, he suffered with liver disease and needed a liver transplant.  He received a new liver, but never stopped the behavior.  Eventually, he found himself in that same position; his new liver destroyed by drugs and alcohol.  He was a slave to sin!

So, the Bible tells us to stand fast in our liberty.  Our freedom from sin that was purchased by Jesus.  The reason we must be encouraged to stand fast is because sin comes very, very easy to us.  It’s a part of our nature.  It’s a part of whom we are.

Buddhists will say that “”men are basically good,” but the Bible tells us that our hearts are desperately wicked and deceitful.

Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV

"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Genesis 6:5

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

According to the Bible this is the state of man’s heart. Do you know the story of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde?  Doctor Jekyll was a rich, upper class doctor who seemed to be thoughtful and kind, but when he became Mister Hyde he could not control himself and was a brutal murderer.  Doctor Jekyll was a man with an evil nature that he couldn’t control.  It is a picture of the human condition.

Think about yourself for a moment, do you think of yourself as a good person; a nice person?  We all do, but let me ask you a question do you sometimes do bad things?  Do you sometimes act hatefully?  Do you sometimes lie or gossip or slander.  The answer to that is yes, you do!  There's a Mister Hyde in all of us.

Adam was created in the Image of God.  He was given a place that met every human need.  God walked with him.  God sheltered him under his wing.  The Bible talks about the hand of God, God’s blessing and care, and His working in our lives.  Even though he was blessed and cared for, Adam sinned.  The Bible tells us that Eve was deceived, tricked into sin, but Adam chose sin.  He violated God’s command.  He wasn’t deceived; he wasn’t tricked, he made a choice.  Sin is a choice and Adam suffered because of that.  We also suffer for our choice to not obey God.

It's our nature; it’s part of our makeup to sin.  You can see it in babies, think about this, we don’t have to teach babies to be selfish, they just are.  We don’t have to teach children to lie, they just do.  What do we have to do?  We have to teach them not to be selfish.  We have to teach them not to lie, or cheat, or steal...

Proverbs 22:15 (NKJV)
^22:15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.

The rod of correction drives the foolishness far from them.  Children have to be taught not to sin.  Sin is a part of human nature; it takes effort to avoid it.  It doesn’t just happen.  We have to work at it.  If we want to keep from being trapped by sin we have to take steps to avoid it.  We have to train our minds to dwell on what’s right.  To stand fast implies that there are forces trying to move you away from that liberty.  That force in the Bible is called your flesh; your sinful nature.  You have to push back against those forces.

Our Freedom Was Bought at a Price

In Biblical times when you owed a debt, you and your family would be sold into slavery to pay that debt.  In order to be released from slavery, you had to be redeemed.  Redeemed means to be bought back.  You had to pay the price of the owner for your freedom.  Adam sold himself and his descendants into slavery.  They were taken from the home that God gave them and forced into separation from God, slaves to their sin.  

We were doomed to that slavery until that time when we could be bought back or redeemed; that time when the price could be paid. 

Our text tells us that Jesus paid that price.  We remained in separation and slavery until that day that Jesus died and paid the price of our bondage.  We were purchased at a price.  The price was the blood that Jesus spilled on the cross. 

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NKJV)
^6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

This scripture says that you were bought at a price, but it also says this, “You are not your own.”  You were bought back from slavery.  He paid the price for you to return to the relationship that we had with God before Adam’s sin.

If you’re a Christian have you experienced what it’s like to have a relationship with God?  Have you experienced God’s hand on your life?  Have you experienced the liberty of being set free from sin?

In my own life I vividly remember the hopelessness of slavery.  I was an addict, I was a slave to alcohol.  I thought I couldn’t change.  I hated myself.  I hated my life.  I know I did things that ruined relationships.  I know that I did things that hurt people.  I was a part of that slavery; I needed escape and relief.  I’m thankful for the price that was paid and I willingly submit myself to Him.  I am not my own!  Christians often say, “I gave my life to Jesus,” but that’s not really true, He bought us with a price.  What we really do is submit to Him.  “Here’s my life Jesus – It’s Yours.”

That’s where liberty is found, in submission to Him.  I’m free because I submitted.  At first, it was difficult, I was still drawn to alcohol, but I stood fast in that liberty.  The desire eventually disappeared – It really does get easier, that bondage was over.  (It’s been thirty-three years since I had a drink of alcohol.)  Does that mean that I’ve lost my sinful nature?  No, I’m still human, but I can resist because I am submitted.

James 4:7 (NKJV)
^4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

In my opening illustration, I talked about the cost of freedom.  The cost is spilled blood and death, but I have to tell you something.  There is also a responsibility for those who have been given freedom at the cost of other’s lives.  We have a responsibility to remain free. 

I believe that the freedoms we have given up in twenty-first century America is a betrayal of those who died for it.  We make their sacrifice worthless.  They died for nothing, if we give up the freedoms that they paid for!

Jesus paid a huge price to free you from sin.  You have a responsibility to remain free of it.  You have a responsibility to stand fast in that liberty, or you make his death worthless; of little value.  His death counts for nothing if you remain in sin.

Freedom isn’t the absence of laws – that’s anarchy.  You can’t remain in sin and say that because of grace you’re free to continue to sin.  I’m sorry but change is required.  We think that repentance means we’re sorry.  “Sorry Jesus – oops!” It’s much more than that.  Being sorry is a part of it; regret that you violated God’s laws is part of it, but real repentance is change.  “I’m not going to live that way any longer,”  and standing fast, being different. 

This liberty, this life that you have as a Christian was paid for on the cross.  Why take the old sin and addictions into a new life.  If you remain in sin the bondage is the same.  You are still a slave to sin!

Where the Spirit of the Lord is There is Freedom

2 Corinthians 3:17 (NKJV)
^3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. –

When Moses returned from the mountain where he met with God his face held the Glory of God.  It shone from his face.  The people were frightened to look at him, so he wore a veil, so that they wouldn’t be able to see it. 

When were In sin that veil was on our hearts, we were spiritually blinded.  When we turned to Jesus that veil was taken away.

2 Corinthians 3:13-16 (NKJV)
^3:13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴ But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. ¹⁵ But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶ Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

We were not able to see the lawlessness and sin in our lives.  As sinners we don’t see the sin.  What did Jesus say on the cross, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing!” 

As sinners we don’t understand that what we’re doing is sin.  We don’t realize that we put Him on the cross.  We don’t even realize that we’re slaves to it. It isn’t until we receive the Spirit of God in our hearts that we see it.  The veil is taken away.  That’s when we see the freedom in submission to Christ.  It’s the Spirit of God who lifts the veil and we can see and know freedom.  Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Freedom!

Slavery to Dominion

In 1865, The US Civil War ended, and the slaves were freed. Many of those that were freed were stuck in a “slavery mindset.”  They didn’t know what to do after their emancipation.  They missed the opportunity that their newfound freedom afforded them. 

There was one man, though, that was determined t do something with his freedom.  He made a decision to move forward.  He was going to break away from that mindset of slavery, he decided to, “buy property and a gun.” He did just that!  He was able to buy and keep enough property to set up his children and grandchildren in their own homes before he passed away.  He made the best of what he’d been given – His Freedom!

Many of those set free did not possess their freedom and remained as employees on the land where they’d been enslaved.[i]

Today, I want to post about making the most of our deliverance and salvation.

Joshua 3:14-17 (NKJV)
^3:14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵ and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), ¹⁶ that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

The Slave Mindset

In our text we see Israel crossing into the Promised Land.  This is a very happy time in Israel’s history.  They’re about to receive all that God has promised them, but remember this has taken place forty years after Israel’s first arrival there.  It has taken place after the loss of an entire generation in the wilderness. 

Israel had been slaves in Egypt.  They were suddenly emancipated; suddenly set free.  God had delivered them through the Red Sea, and destroyed the pursuing Egyptians.  Israel was free! 

That deliverance was an event…it happened and it was over.  Once they passed through the Red Sea, they were free, but they hadn’t received their destiny.  There was still a walk in their newfound freedom and a fight possess the Promised Land.  Their destiny was still at a distance. 

Their old slave mentality had to be transformed.  Their institutionalized thinking had to be overcome.  They were much like those slaves of 1865; they didn’t yet know how to process that freedom into destiny.  It has often been said, “It was easier to get the Children of Israel out of Egypt, than to get Egypt out of Them.”[ii]

Even though they were free, they lived with the cultural norms and slave mindsets of the past.  Every obstacle they faced was met with murmuring and complaining against Moses and God.  How many times did they ask, “Why did you bring us out here to die” (Exodus 14:11)?  They demanded water and provision.  “What shall we drink (Exodus 15:23)?  We had it made in Egypt and you brought us out here to kill us with hunger (Exodus 16:3)!  They wanted everything provided for them just like they had in Egypt in slaves.

It carried over into their arrival at the Promised Land when the spies looked over the land and saw obstacles.  God had promised them the land.  God had done powerful miracles to release them from bondage, but they couldn’t see the possibility of doing anything to gain their destiny.  They had been delivered, but they didn’t have dominion.

There’s a transition that’s necessary to go from slavery to destiny.  You cannot continue in the same patterns of thought and behaviors of the past and expect a different outcome.

There is the story of Mickey Mantle – He played for New York Yankees.  He was a great player!  But he had one problem – he was a very heavy drinker!  He developed cirrhosis of the liver.  His liver was destroyed, he was going to die!  Then he received a liver transplant!  He had a new lease on life; a second chance.  He’d been delivered, but he continued to drink, eventually he died of liver cancer.  In the 1990s he stopped drinking finally, but it was too late.  He was a slave to alcohol and when he was delivered (through the liver transplant) he didn’t transition from the old patterns of life until it was too late.  He stayed on the same plantation where he was enslaved.  That deliverance was wasted. 

God had a destiny for Israel.  He had done His part.  He had brought them out of slavery and bondage, but those that had been delivered couldn’t change their old patterns of thought and that entire generation died in the desert, never seeing their destiny come to pass.  It was those that were born in the wilderness; those that had no slavery experience that made it!  Only Joshua and Caleb, two out of hundreds of thousands could change their mindsets and see the Promise. 

Numbers 14:30 (NKJV)
^14:30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.

Only those two saw the possibility of a future destiny.  Only those two transformed their thinking into possibility.

We Were Slaves

Think about this carefully, we have all been delivered.  There is a transformation that has taken place in us.  We’ve been delivered from our own sinful lifestyle:

John 8:34 (NKJV)
^8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

We were slaves to sin, but I have to ask, “What is your thinking like, now?”  Hundreds of thousands of people were delivered by a move of God, but they died in the wilderness.  They were set free but hey died in the wilderness because they still thought like slaves. 

Have you ever known backsliders?  They always go back to the sin they were involved in before they got saved, because that’s what they know.  The slaves in 1865 stayed at their old plantations because that’s what they knew.  That’s where their comfort zone was.  If you want a different destiny, you need a different pattern.

I was talking to someone recently about destiny!   There are multiple destinies for each of us.  Think about this.  If you had remained in sin, you would be on a path to one destiny, but salvation opened a different path – It took you in a different direction.  There is a different destiny awaiting you! (See Directional Decisions[iii])

It’s a different path.  There are different obstacles.  There are different pitfalls and dangers.  You have to think and react differently on this path than on the other.  If there’s no adjustment to your thinking and behaviors, then it’s very likely that you will never get where you’re going.  You’ll turn back to the “safer” path; the more “comfortable” path.

God delivers us and lays before us a potential destiny.  There’s a promised land that is for us, and there’s a path that we have to walk in order to get there.  There are battles we will have to fight and obstacles to overcome as we walk that path. They are there to help you to change your thinking from “slave” thinking to dominion thinking.  Deliverance is the event that frees you, but it is dominion that brings you to the promise. 

Think again about Israel.  They saw what God did to deliver them.  They saw the miracles and they thought God must be with us, but they broke down at every obstacle.

At every obstacle they tested to see if God was still there.  They constantly put Him to the test.  That’s why they said, “What are we going to drink?”  “Where will we get food?”  The complaining and murmuring were tests to see if God was going to deliver them again.

When they hit the Promised Land, they couldn’t see any possibility to defeat the inhabitants. They wanted to know if God would deliver them again.  “Are you still with us God?  They were still caught up in the deliverance mindset, but what they needed was a dominion mindset.  Where does that come from?  It comes from faith.  Dominion flows from faith.

Dominion Thinking

We can find “dominion thinking” in our Bibles in Hebrews Chapter 11.

Hebrews 11:4 (NKJV)
^11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

Abel was called righteous by his faith.  Cain who had none became a fugitive and vagabond.  A vagabond is a wanderer.  He never found the promise, while Abel entered into his promise.

Hebrews 11:5-6 (NKJV)
^11:5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. ⁶ But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Enoch was taken and did not taste death.  His testimony was that he pleased God.  “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.”  Enoch entered into His promise.

Hebrews 11:11 (NKJV)
^11:11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Sarah received strength to conceive at ninety years of age, after years of barrenness.  By faith she became the mother of the nation of Israel.  She entered into her promise.

Hebrews 11:24-29 (NKJV)
^11:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, ²⁶ esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. ²⁷ By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. ²⁹ By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.

All of these are examples of “dominion thinking.”  All of these entered into the destiny that God had placed before them.  What do they all have in common?  Faith.  Dominion flows from faith.

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[i] Star Parker, Uncle Sam’s Plantation (Paraphrased)

[ii] John Gooding, Joseph Campbell, Deliverance to Dominion, 2019

[iii] Chris Banducci, Standing Stones Sermon Blog, March 3, 2014