| Free At Last; Free At Last, Part 9: Responsibilities Toward Our Freedom (The Responsibility to Preserve It) |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Sunday, November 15 2009 00:00 |
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We have examined several areas of evil from which Christ sets us free. When he said “If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36), he implied a multi-faceted and complete freedom. I realize that there are probably many more categories that could be listed and perhaps some our readers could identify, but we need to end our studies with two concluding messages. First, we bear a two-fold responsibility toward freedom. We emphasize in this nation that we obtained our freedom in the late eighteenth century at great cost, and we have fought many wars to preserve it, and thus freedom must never be taken for granted. We must, rather, be always willing to defend our freedom lest we lose it. This is the very point Paul makes to the Galatians after he castigates them for considering going back under bondage to the law. He writes: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). It is said we are all “recovering legalists,” because legalism and bondage seem to be a part of our sinful nature. That means we must defend our spiritual liberty and always be on guard against losing it. Those who would control us are always out there (Gal. 4:17). All of us, especially those who pastor the flock of God, must be on guard against them. In the church that means constant preaching of the doctrines of grace. Over and over again we must hear that Christ died for our sins, that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The death of Christ must be the substance of every sermon! The text may differ, but it must (because it truly does) point to the cross. In our personal lives we must be on guard by thanking God every day for his grace, for his effectual calling, for his guarantee of our final redemption, for his pardon of all of our sins once and for all. We must never allow doubts about our salvation and questions about what we must do to gain the approval of God to overshadow the assurance we have in Christ. We must practice spiritual disciplines of prayer, meditation, study of the Word, attendance at assembly, and fellowship in order to solidify the awareness of our standing with God in our hearts and minds. |
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