How Can I Be Set Free?

We are now two weeks into the Freedom series. If you’ve missed either message, you can watch them here. Freedom is something that every person searches for in life. All of us experience bondage through sin, addiction, hurt from the past, lies from the enemy, etc. Here is a quick recap of the series so far:

Week 1 – The Choice

• Ultimately our lack of freedom comes down to a personal choice.
• Deuteronomy 30:19-20 – “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you lifeand death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days….”
• Some examples of the choices we choose between are:

• Just like God sought out Adam and Eve after they sinned, He seeks us out as well. God loved them and He loves you and me the same way.
• An erroneous view of God and His character is what leads to sin. When you and I have a biblical view of God and His character, we can’t help but love and obey Him.
• Freedom is not the ability to do anything we want (that is bondage and death). Freedom is the wisdom to choose God’s ways and experience the Life that flows from it.
• Freedom in our lives DOES begin with a choice, but it will never be experienced apart from the Spirit.

Week 2 – The Person of Freedom

• Freedom is only possible through the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
• Romans 8:13 – “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
• What do you do to have freedom? Put to death the flesh (kill the deeds of the body). How do you do it? By the Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit is not a force or a ghost. He is a person. He is God.
• 2 Corinthians 3:17 – “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
• Galatians 5:1 – “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
  • Freedom versus slavery is defined in verses 16-25 (deeds of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit)
• It is possible to be saved (justified) but the process of your sanctification be hindered. It is possible for you to have all of the Spirit but the Spirit not have all of you.
• God gives us the will to do what’s right and the ability to carry it out (Phil. 2:13).
• We grieve and quench the Holy Spirit when we continue in sin or hold out areas of our flesh.
• Three Practical Prayers (if we truly want to be free)

1. Holy Spirit, show me.
   1. Psalm 139:23-24 – “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
2. Holy Spirit, fill me.
   1. Ephesians 5:18 – “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”
   2. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there IS freedom. That means ANY area where freedom doesn’t exist, His Spirit has not been welcomed/invited to dwell.
   3. Repentance is the door that welcomes the work of the Spirit in our lives.
3. Holy Spirit, change me.
   1. Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

• Often we want God as long as we can maintain “me” (my plans, my goals, my sins, my future, my vision). All of us must be changed. The old has passed away behold ALL things become new (2 Cor. 5:17).
• Do you really want to be changed? Do you really want to be set free? He must be invited to dwell in every part of you.

This coming Sunday I’m excited to preach on “The Enemy of Freedom.” We’ll close out this series talking about spiritual warfare and how we can overcome the attacks of the enemy. Praying God will use this message, just like He has the past two, to help us walk in freedom! See you Sunday!

Works Cited:

• Freedom Curriculum, Church of the Highlands
• The Choice and The Person of Freedom Sunday Sermons, Daniel Ethridge