Freedom! (Part 1) | Ep. 175

True freedom isn’t about getting more options for oneself, but becoming free from the bondage of sin to walk in righteousness. We trace a bold, honest line from Eden’s wide-open garden to Paul’s gritty vision of liberty that chooses service for the sake of others. Along the way, we examine how one boundary tested trust, how the fall revealed our tendency to use freedom poorly, and how the Spirit leads us out of bondage into a life where righteousness is not a burden but a joy.

We talk through Genesis and the original scope of human freedom: real work, real dominion, and only one restriction. That context changes how we read our choices today. Rather than chasing loopholes or cloaking compromise in spiritual language, we ask how to live in freedom publicly—submitting to rightful authority, practicing integrity, and letting our conduct silence ignorance. Paul’s words come alive: “Though I am free, I made myself a servant to all.” Freedom becomes a mission. It is the power to become “all things to all people” to win some, not to perform for approval, but to love people toward hope of Jesus Christ.

We also address quieter battles: envy masked as disappointment, the habit of hiding our gifts, and the fatigue in the test of waiting while others seem to flourish. Galatians reframes our identity—the free children of promise, led by the Spirit, called to stand fast and resist the yoke of bondage. Romans reminds us that freedom has a direction: away from sin, toward holiness. If your heart needs a reset on what liberty looks like in practice—clear allegiance, steady character, and generous service—this conversation will meet you where you are and point you forward.

If this resonates, share it with a friend, follow for more, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Your voice helps this message of true freedom reach someone who needs it today.

Chapters

• 0:00 Blood Cells And A Vision Of Purpose
• 1:43 Freedom Framed By Braveheart
• 3:16 Genesis: Dominion And Responsibility
• 9:20 One Forbidden Tree And True Testing
• 14:36 Irresponsible Freedom And The Fall
• 18:24 Called Free Yet Servants In Christ
• 23:32 Becoming All Things To Save Some
• 27:55 Freedom From Sin To Righteousness
• 33:12 Allegory Of Bondwoman And Free Woman
• 38:12 Sons, Not Servants: Free Indeed

Transcript

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. Wow, did y'all hear that? Bishop Harris with us in spirit. How about that? How about that? Whoo, yes. That that was an interesting surprise. The message, yes, it is on freedom. Amen. Amen. Wow, that was surprising. Freedom. How many of you ever seen the movie Braveheart? Do you remember when William Wallace was on the altar and he was tied down and strapped up, and they were cutting his innards out. Yeah. But in the midst of that and the faces he was making, he was able to get a breath. And he screamed out freedom. Because for the Scottish, at least for William Wallace, that's what he would fought and die for. And I don't know if you remember a few weeks ago, we had some scriptures up there about freedom. We had some songs. We started and ended with songs on freedom. And I guess the theme had not left me. And I'm watching a lot of things that are going on in the nation today, and how freedom seemed to be dwindling in our nation that we once were founded in. And trying to understand it all. And just becoming unhappy with the things that I see going on in the nation. I guess the Lord was just ministering me over the week when I found out that I needed to share something. The word that was in my thoughts, the word that was in my spirit was about freedom. And I realized as I began to study that we are beings that are created to live in freedom. We were not created and put on this earth in bondage. We were created and put on this earth with a great, an immense amount of freedom. And enslavement was not a part of the original plan. That was not the original intention. And Jesus wanted us to walk with him in the cool of the garden, in utter freedom. Freedom where we would not even know that we were naked before him. It wasn't His original intention. And so I want to look into why would God want us or create us with so great a freedom, knowing what happened. So if you will, turn with me to Genesis 1. And yes, we'll begin in the beginning. When God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God brooded upon the waters. We know that beginning, and we're going to skip to verse 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea. It's okay if she doesn't get it. And over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him, male and female, created he them. And God blessed him, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, have dominion over the fish and the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Everything that God created, He placed man dominion over. The fowl, the fish, every living thing, every living thing that moves upon the earth, every living thing was all for Adam. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of the yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. I've given you every tree and every seed and every fruit that comes from every tree, that's going to be your meat, that will be your food. And it's yours, all yours. Every single one of them. And to every beast of the earth, to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth where there is life, I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so. And he also gave the creatures dominion over every fruit of every tree. And he gave this tremendous, immense amount of freedom. It says in ver in chapter 2, verse 15, it sort of focuses on when God created man out of the dust of the ground. He said He took man, and after He created him, He put him in the midst of the garden to dress it and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. And you know there was only one forbidden tree. Just one. Just one. But I wanted to contrast those two sections, not because I like copying and pasting, because I want you to understand that in the midst of all of that freedom that God gave man, he also gave him with that freedom responsibility. He was to dress it, he was to keep it. We don't think about that when we think about our freedom. We think about our rights. We think about, well, we have the right to do this and to say this and to publish this and to do that. But when God gave us that freedom, he gave us also with it responsibility. And it says in verse 19, and out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. Responsibility. He didn't just let them there to indulge in all of the freedom and all of the fruit, but he gave him responsibility. And he brought every animal, and Adam named every single Adam, excuse me, animal that was created. And Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof. Notice it was on the earth. Didn't he create the sun, the moon, the stars, the galaxies, the Milky Way, the different other galaxies? All of that was also created, but he only gave man dominion over the earth. And some might read that, and some might ask, well, why only the earth? Why didn't he give him dominion over everything he created? Is God being selfish? Is God saying, no, no, no, no, I you can only have this little bit because the earth is quite little compared to all creation. But think about that. Why did he only give it to him on the earth? And my question to that question will be how do you know he wasn't going to? See, I see it as Adam was a child of God. And don't parents, I'm talking to parents now, don't you parents give your children a limited amount of freedom? Ask yourself why. Why is it that your three-year-old has this certain amount of freedom, but your 12-year-old has a greater level and degree of freedom? Go ahead and answer. Why why is that? He's more responsible. He's probably, hopefully, shown himself more trustworthy. And what would happen if you gave the freedom you gave your 12-year-old to your three-year-old? What have you allowed your three-year-old to cook on the stove? Probably not. What have you allowed your three-year-old to go make a bonfire in the backyard? Or bonfire in the basement. You would be an unwise parent, wouldn't you? Because you know what your son or daughter is capable of handling. God knew what Adam was capable of handling. And he tested him. He gave them the tremendous, immense responsibility of all the earth, except just one thing. It's like giving you all the freedom you want to do with this room, and I place a sticker dot on the floor and I said, look, do whatever you want. Just don't touch the dot. Would you think that you were in bondage? Would you think that you were a slave? No. You have all this freedom. What are you talking about? Okay, I won't touch that. Now imagine if there was something in here in this room that you'd want, like computers or or or or skiing on the outside in the backyard. You'd just enjoy all of that freedom. And you wouldn't touch that dot. But God knew what Adam was capable of handling, and he gave him the responsibility to handle it. And some of you might be questioning, but look what happened. Well, yeah, look what happened. I'm a parent, I give responsibility to my children. Do I still not take a risk that he's gonna fail or she's gonna falter? Yeah, of course you do. And God did the same thing. He doesn't give you a test that's already fixed. Why is he gonna give you a multiple choice test of only one answer to every question and then answer's right? What kind of test is that? There's no test. You're gonna pass. But he had to test Adam. Adam had to show himself trustworthy and responsible with the very little that he was given. And with that freedom, we know what happened. But it didn't need to be so. He fell, and all the generations thereafter cannot speak a word because they all fell in the very same manner. They had freedom and they chose contrary. Adam, Eve tried to usurp authority. Instead of taking responsibility over all that they had in their power, all that they had in their possession, they tried to do the one thing that they simply were not allowed to do. Our ancestors handled their freedom irresponsibly. And we now live in a fallen day, in a fallen age where we suffer sickness and disease and infirmities and sweat off the brow and famine and sword and pestilence and plagues and finally death. Because our ancestors and ourselves have handled our freedom irresponsibly. We can't blame God, we can't blame others, we can't blame our circumstances. We can only look into the man in the mirror. It says in 1 Corinthians 7 22, Paul was speaking to the Corinthians, and he made a very simple statement. He said, For he that is called in the Lord, if he's a servant, because in Paul's day and age in Koran there were many servants, then there were many masters, and that's just the way it was. He says, If you were a servant, but you were called into the Lord, meaning you were born again and you came into the kingdom, even if you're a servant, you're still the Lord's free man. And likewise also he that is called, who was free, who is actually the master, well, he's actually Christ's servant. And so he's called us into freedom, no matter what position we find ourselves in, whether we have the master or whether we are the servant. Because in the kingdom we are Christ's servants. We have the freedom to be Christ's servants. And if we turn to 1 Corinthians 9 19, we'll read more there. Paul continues and he says, There's a purpose why we are called into this freedom. And the purpose kind of was not what was originally intended, but because of the fall, we know that God already had a plan to deal with our fall, yet the declaration of him calling us to freedom remains. But there's a purpose in the freedom in which we are called in in this fallen day and age. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 19, For though I be free from all men, yet I have made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. Paul is saying, I have voluntarily been free, but I have voluntarily chosen to be a servant so that I can gain the more. That doesn't sound like a man that treats his freedom irresponsibly, but he puts himself under in order to gain something even more. He's self-sacrificing. He's thinking about others. And he says, unto the Jews, I'll become a Jew. He says, unto those that are under the law, I'll come under the law. Unto those that might gain them under the law, the purpose for being whatever it is that I need to be is in order to gain their salvation. That's my purpose as a Christ's servant on earth. I'm here for them. I'm not here to flaunt my freedom. And unto the to them that are without the law, in other words, unto the Gentiles, those outside of the covenant of the law, I'll be to them as one without the law. That I might gain them that are without the law. And to the weak, to the poor, to the ones looked down on, to the persecuted, I'll become just as they are too. That I might gain the weak. I am made, he says, all things to all men, that I might by all means save some of them. That's his more, that he gains some of them. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be a partaker thereof with you. Paul understands that the business of the kingdom is the business of saving souls. Because we live in a day and age where we are in a fallen day. A fallen age. This business of saving souls is an element of the restitution of all things. Yes, God is going to return, and God is going to restore everything to its original purpose and intention. But along the way, there will be a process, and that process is a very slow, arduous, long time process of saving souls one by one. Paul partook in this kingdom work of the Lord, and he became an instrument of this restitution work of God. Why else are we called into this freedom? Romans 6, 16. Paul speaks again, but this time to the Romans. He says, Know ye not to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey. His servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. But he says, being then made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness. The calling of freedom of his children is not freedom to do what you want, but freedom to walk in righteousness. Because that is treating your freedom responsibly. And be servants of God and his righteousness. Because when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. You couldn't do righteousness before you were born again. You could try, but God says that all of your works are as what? Filthy rags. Because it was not sanctified by the Holy Spirit. You can be as good as you want, and there are some quote unquote good people out there, but because their works are not sanctified by the Holy Spirit, where he sanctifies their good works, it is nothing but filthy rags. It is nothing but works done in their own power, not dependent upon God. And so in the end, they could boast because I did this day, I did that, I did the. But it wasn't, I did it under submission to you. There's a difference. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? The things that you did before, aren't you ashamed of them now? Even so, for the end of those things, the things that you did before is death. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and in the end everlasting life. And he's still calling us to freedom. But because we live in an age of the fall and are in bondage, freedom is progressively proportional. Y'all heard of progressive repetitious revelation, so I think you understand the idea of progressive. What does this proportional mean? It means that the less that you walk in unrighteousness, the more you're gonna walk in righteousness. But if you continue to walk in unrighteousness, the less you're gonna walk in righteousness. So your freedom is proportional to are you walking away from these things because God has called you away, but he's called you unto these things. He's calling us to freedom from sin, but at the same time, freedom to walk in his righteousness. Righteous living. And this is what was originally intended from the beginning. A righteous walk that isn't self-centered, but self-sacrificing. And God gave us an allegory. Y'all ever heard of Pilgrim's Progress? Ever read Pilgrim's Progress? Anybody? I know you have. A couple of you back there. Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory. And it's using uh maybe what maybe archetypes or or particular types of Christians and their names and using it to relay a greater understanding of using those names. Like one of the names is, well, one of the names is Christian. Give me another name.

unknown: 22:40

Evangelist.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz: 22:41

Huh? Evangelist. That's his name. Now it's his function in the story, and so you sort of get an understanding of what an evangelist does and how he puts you on the right track. But in the Bible, the Bible itself says, I've given you an allegory. And the allegory is this there was once a man who had two sons. One son was born of the bondwoman. The other son was born of the free woman. He actually called the bondwoman the bond maid. That's what she was. She was a maid. She was a servant. She wasn't the free woman. The free woman was his wife. And it says that this story was given to you as an allegory because the bondwoman was born after the flesh. The free woman was born of promise. You remember the child of promise was Isaac. But the child of the bondwoman was Ishmael. And he represents those that are born of the flesh, not of the word of God, not of the promise. And so to be a child of the promise, you have to be born of the free woman. And the bondwoman was representative because she came from Arabia. She represents Mount Sinai in Arabia. But where do what happened on Mount Sinai? The law was given. But the free woman represents Jerusalem. And it says that Jerusalem is the mother of all. What happened in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost? The Holy Spirit was given. Tremendous difference there between born of the flesh and born of the Spirit. And to be born of the Spirit, you become a child of promise. You become a child of freedom. And if you read Galatians 4, I'm just going to read Galatians 5: 1 because this is the ending of it. Before that, it says in Galatians 4 30, cast out the bondwoman and her son. Do away with the things of the flesh. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir, but the son of the free woman will be. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. And here it here's where he concludes. He says in Galatians 5:1, stand fast therefore in liberty. And that's the Bible word for freedom. Yes, it uses the word free in some places, but the Bible word was liberty. It meant freedom. Stand fast in your freedom where Christ made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Those that are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. There are only two types of people in this age of the fall. Those that are of the flesh, those that are of the spirit. Only two. And a fact of the matter is that the children of flesh always persecute the children of the spirit. And there's a battle raging in this world, a battle raging between the children of bondage who want control, and the children of freedom. Children of promise. Because maybe your parents, I speak for my family. My mom wanted to get me out of the influence of my cousins and my uncles and my aunts. She wanted something better for me. And she took me out of there. She might have let me spend weekends with them, but she didn't want me near them. And she left New York to get to Tampa to get away from them. And then my family followed her to Tampa. She left Tampa to go to Miami to get away from them. And then my family went to Miami. But she was always trying to get away from them, always trying to get me free of their influence. Because she didn't want me to get entangled in the bonds that she knew that she walked in. Did she see it that way? No, I'm I'm I'm talking spiritual here. My mom didn't see it that way. And unfortunately, my mom died because she could not get out of their entanglement. But she got me out. Praise God, she got me out. Jesus said, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. He said, If you commit sin, you're a servant of sin. And he says, What we just read in Galatians that the servant abideth not in the house forever. He is not the heir. God will not allow a servant to be the heir. It is only to go to the son. The son is who will abide forever. The son is who will inherit the promises of his father's kingdom. And Jesus said, if the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. So coming back upon this, I remember Adam and Eve were created and birthed in liberty. I don't know how long it was, but they walked with God in the cool of the evening, the cool of the morning, and they had some time to enjoy this freedom until you know how they felt. And because of their fall, sin has infected all of creation. Paul said in Romans 8, 19, and he uses the word creature as a metaphor to represent all of creation. He says that the creature is earnestly expecting something. It earnestly desires something to happen because when it happens, the creature, creation, will be delivered from its bondage that it didn't do anything to get into. It says their earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly. The earth, the trees, all the things that are living that are dying now that are not human, they didn't do anything to deserve that. It was what man did, and what man did affected all of creation. But the creature, by reason of him who he had subjected the same in hope, he was put a... God, put all of creation into subjection because of what man did, but the creature in hope knows that it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the same glorious liberty of the children of God. Because when the manifestation of the children of God come, that will establish and start the restitution of all things that God has created. And I talked to you about so great a freedom that we should have. And what's wrong? Can y'all say, oh yeah, I live in that every day. I know what you're talking about, Brother J. Uh-huh. No. Some of you are like, where are you going with this? For some of us, I'm talking to a lot of Christians. I'm talking to those that are seeking. Some of our problem is that we have the same problem Adam and Eve have. For some reason, we don't handle freedom too well. And we certainly are not handling it responsibly. Saints, there's nothing new under the sun. The struggles that we have today are dressed and colored differently, but they are the same struggles that our brethren had in the old covenant. The same type of choices that need to be made in order to walk in freedom are the same choices we need to make today. Peter said in 1 Peter 2, he said, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and as pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul. Have your conversation be honest among the Gentiles. That whereas they speak against you as evildoers, that they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of their visitation. I'm not sure. If the shoe fits, wear it. If the shoe doesn't fit, move on and don't worry about it. But if the shoe fits, wear it, I'm not sure if we as Christians are leaving a reputation amongst the unbelievers around us that causes them to look beyond themselves and consider the God that we serve. And Peter's addressing this, and he's saying, Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king the supreme or unto governors, as unto them that are sent for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. See, I knew a Christian, I still know him, but I knew a Christian in Miami that did not have a license from the FCC to broadcast on the radio. But he did it anyway. And he did it anyway in the name of Jesus, in the name of God. And you think, well, he's trying to put some Christian radio on. But according to Peter, you are supposed to submit to those laws and those orders. And so we as Christians, we kind of finagle our way and we try to take shortcuts to try to obtain God's favor and blessings in our lives, yet we are breaking the very laws that we are advocating to uphold. And then we clothe it in Christian garb. Peter says, For so this is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as servants of God. He doesn't play the fence. When he says he's for God, he's totally for God. And they won't even bother asking you about some question because they already know your answer. But there's some of us where our friends would go ahead and have the audacity to ask us because they don't really see our commitment to the Lord. And that's not their fault. That's our fault. Because they should know without a shadow of a doubt in which God do we serve. And they should know his name because we are not ashamed of his name. I say that we are using our freedom irresponsibly. It has become a cloak of maliciousness, a cloak that tries to get away with the little things here and the little things there, and we try to get by and we try to get ahead and we try to finigle our way to obtain whatever blessings and whatever favor, but it seems to be out of step with God's timing. And to some of us, I think we've become a very sorry lot indeed to have that type of reputation. Again, if the shoe fits, wear it. If the shoe fits, don't worry about it. Find another shoe in this message that'll fit you. But you have to understand that if you are born again into this covenant that we all espouse here, and you've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, you've been given power, you've been given anointing, you've been given gifts to know things that no one else would know because you are receiving it from heaven on high. And then you don't appreciate that blessing. You treat it cheaply. You don't even believe that I can actually receive that from the Lord. I can actually give that word to that person, constantly doubting, constantly wondering, and yet that's exactly what he's given you the gift for. And we hide it. We'll sing to the top of our lungs in the basement of our house, but come church Sunday, I hardly clap my hands. I hardly give a step. Why? What are you afraid of? I think for some of us, we don't have any appreciation of what God has given us. We seem to always recognize what God is doing in other people's life, but at the same time that we notice it, we also notice what God hasn't done for us yet. And we're not fully 100% happy for the other person because deep within our hearts, and I don't know who that is for, but deep within our hearts, we're like, how come I haven't gotten my answer yet? We murmur and complain in the midst of our heart, and we don't tell nobody. And only those that really discern by the Spirit of God can detect something wrong. There's something going on in that person's heart. I don't know what it is, but I I could tell there's something going on in that person's heart. And it's because deep within that heart they're murmuring, complaining that they don't have what other people are getting around them. We become discontent with our state of affairs to the point where we almost get depressed, and some of us actually do. And you wonder, how can a Christian be depressed with so much to be thankful and grateful for? They're Christians walking in depression. And we become malcontent within ourselves. To the point where if it's there long enough, we're not even happy when other people are blessed. If you were blessed and appreciate listening to this podcast and you would like to support us in our efforts, consider lifting us up in prayer first. Then remember these four social media buzzwords. Share, like, subscribe, or follow. 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