True Freedom | Ps. Julian Gamba

We live in a culture that defines freedom as doing whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want. But Jesus presents a completely different definition.

In John 8:31–36, we learned that true freedom is not the ability to do whatever we desire, it is being set free from the power of sin so we can live the life God created us to live. We may live in a free nation and still be bound by fear, guilt, addiction, bitterness, or sin.

In this message we learned:

✨ Freedom without God always leads to slavery.
 ✨ Jesus doesn't just forgive sin, He breaks its power.
 ✨ True freedom always has boundaries.
 ✨ The Gospel is beautifully represented through three colors.
 ✨ Only Jesus can set us truly free.

👉 True freedom is not the right to do whatever I want. True freedom is being free to become everything God created me to be.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Mission Orlando's podcast. We hope that through this word you will get closer to Jesus. Be sure to subscribe so we can get you new messages every week. Have a blessed day.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Okay, so we're gonna talk about today about true freedom. Today we're celebrating the 250th anniversary of America. And whether you were born here or you're you came as an immigrant, you can recognize that this culture is uh known for that word, freedom. Freedom is it's it's big. Uh you come here for the American dream because uh you know maybe it was difficult. In my my country, I could say I could speak for America, for Colombia. Um the the opportunities are limited. But then you you hear about a nation where you can prosper, where you can have opportunities, and you come and you you do find opportunities, you do find the opportunity to work, and you realize that it's easier said than done, and you have to work really hard for those opportunities, but it is a land of freedom, a land of freedom. Um and one of the the big questions that we have is what is freedom? How far can we go? Is it is freedom or does it mean that I can do anything I want? And and many people want that type of freedom, but Jesus presents us with the real definition of freedom when we go into the Bible. Let's go to John chapter 8, verse 36. It says, so if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed. If the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed. So freedom is not the ability to do whatever we desire, it is the power to live the life God created us to live. That is true freedom. Freedom is not, oh, I'll do whatever I want. I know many of you have heard like the maybe that that sales pitch telling you, oh, if you become a business owner, you will have freedom. And then they tell you, like, you can just do whatever you want, and then you start your business and you realize that it is actually a lot of work and it's not freedom at all, right? It requires a lot of work because freedom, according to God's word, is not doing whatever I want, but doing whatever God designed me to do and He empowered me to do. So you can live in a free nation and still be bound by fear, by guilt, by addictions, by shame, bitterness, anxiety, or more popular, sin. Sin is available to every one of us. So we see that freedom without God always leads to slavery. Freedom without God always leads to slavery. So John 8, verse 34, it says, Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. So many people believe that freedom is no one tells me what to do, I make my own rules, I live life my way, but Jesus says, if you control, if it if sin controls your life, you're not free, you're a slave. So many people live in this great nation where we can have freedom, but at the same time they live as slaves to sin, to bitterness, sin to a slave to the past, to that mentality, though those thoughts that keep you down. But Jesus is offering us to freedom today. So sin always over promises but under delivers. If we go back to the start, the the snake presented to Eve, and she said, Well, if you eat from the forbidden fruit, nothing's gonna happen. The only things that are gonna that's gonna happen is that you're you will be equal. So it set up a big expectation, but as soon as Adam and Eve ate from the fruit, they they felt shame, they felt guilt, they ran away from God, they they tried to hid themselves from from God, and everything that the devil promised, it became the opposite. Let's see another story. The the prodigal son. He thought, well, if I go away from my parents, if I go away, if I take all my money, my my inheritance, I do whatever I want, I'll be free, I'll I'll be happy. He took the inheritance, he spent it all. His friends were there well, he had money. It it is pretty much the same today, right? When you have money, all your friends are there. Those are not real friends, by the way. But when you don't have money, that's when you see your real friends. But, anyways, he didn't have any friends, and he ended up feeding the pigs, and he was slave to that job, and he couldn't even taste the food that the pigs were eating, and that's what the devil presents to us, that's what the enemy is trying to present you, is is presenting you a picture that when you enter into it, when you fall slave to sin, then it's the opposite, and you want to get out of that of those sins, and you can't. Many people go into addictions because one day one friend told them, Hey, why not? Just try it. If you're a man, try this, and then you fall for it, and the outcome is totally totally the opposite, and you become a slave to sin. So many people are have tried to quit like an addiction or maybe alcohol or bitterness or pride and forgiveness, which is you know sometimes hard. I I've noticed that that is pretty hard. I I live with three um three girls and one, it's only two boys in the house, me and my son, and then three girls. And whenever I tell like my my kids, like, ask for forgiveness, say forgive me to your sister, it's like the hardest thing. It's like it's so hard. And I ask my son, say, say I'm sorry. He goes right away, I'm sorry. I'm like, you see, learn from him, it's it's easy. So today is it's hard to you know to release forgiveness, to forgive people. How many of you think it's sometimes difficult to forgive people? Right? It's hard, but we need to be free because as long as you hold on to that offense, hold on to bitterness, you're gonna be a slave to it. You know, when you when you fall into certain sin, sometimes it's hard to get out, and you want to get out. Sometimes we say, Well, this is the last day. I remember my dad, he used to drink a lot before getting to Christ, and he he will tell us that while he was drinking out every Friday and Saturday, he would say, This is the last time. No, I promise this is the last time. And he forced it, he forced himself, he really tried, but he found himself next Thursday, Friday, or Saturday into the same thing, and it was uh became a pattern because the enemy he presents to you uh a freedom that is not real, it's really a slavery. So think about what is it that you need to release, what is it that you need to be free from today? So Jesus doesn't just forgive sin, he breaks its power, and that is freedom. When sin loses its power, when when when the the curse is no longer in your life, in your family, I've I've seen people that say, Well, I'm like this because my dad was like this, and my grandfather was like this. Oh, I've come with you know from a divorce family because my dad came from a divorce family, and my dad divorced my mother, and now that's the the fate that is coming for me. But let me tell you, Jesus doesn't just forgive the sin, he breaks its power, he breaks the curse so you can experience freedom today. Amen. Romans 6 23 it says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God's eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So the enemy gives you death through sin, but what Jesus came to give us is eternal life. That is freedom, is eternal life. So sin pays wages while Jesus offers a gift. So it's not that you earn salvation. If you do this, then you earn God's love or you earn salvation. It's it's received by grace. You receive salvation by grace and by the sacrifice that Jesus did on the cross. So many people think, oh, you know, freedom is having no rules. That's real freedom. I remember when I was younger, I said, Oh, I can't wait to get married, to leave my house, because you know, I have a curfew here, I have to come back. My dad is always so strict, he's telling me to be in the house by 10, maximum 11, if I was lucky someday. But usually it was by 10 p.m. I had to be home. And I said, one day I'll just live on my own and I'll get back home as late as I can. Now that dream is my nightmare. You know, when they invite me to a meeting and they say it's like 7:30 or 8, I'm like, no way. Fede and Jekka invited me to to watch the game, the Colombia game on Friday. And uh they said, Come, it's uh at 9:30 the game. I'm like, ah by that time I'll be wearing my pajamas. I might watch the game because we as Colombians we love soccer, so I watch the game, but my bed, yeah. As soon as the game finished, I was sleeping. So you see, everything uh changes because you think that living in freedom is having no boundaries, no rules, but it's the total opposite. Boundaries give you freedom. So yeah, I come on. I I read the story of this dog that will always look through the the fence and see see outside, and he will think, Oh my goodness, I can't wait to go out of the fence. I'll I'll be so happy, I'll run all over. I I could go and explore and see the world. So one day he was able to escape. And when he escaped, he you know lost his way and he became astray. And for several days he was looking for food, he couldn't find food, he didn't have a shelter to sleep, so he was just like finding places, a little shade, a place to to sleep, to stay. And when the the owner finally found him, he was all covered in mud. When he saw the owner, he came running and jumped into the arms of the owner, and the dog thought, I'm never leaving my house. And that's that's the way Jesus uh pretended us and thought of us to live. He wanted you to live in freedom, but freedom means that you're living inside of his boundaries, so that means you're living a life of holiness and free of sin. How many of you can say amen? So Luke 19:10 says, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. So maybe today you're lost, maybe you're a slave, fear, depression, a slave of sin, slave of a feeling. Let me tell you, he came to give you freedom. So today, as you came in, you uh received uh USA flag, right? How many of you receive it? Everyone? Okay, good. You're watching online, just imagine that you received one. And uh the the the USA flag has three colors, and those three colors we could we could represent salvation through these three colors. These three colors could help us understand what Jesus did on the cross. So we start with the color red, easy. It represents the blood of Jesus. So as soon as you you leave this place today, I want you to remember this. Red. That means that Jesus paid the price for your sins. Ephesians 1:7, it is a very key verse in the Bible. It says, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. So the blood of Jesus speaks of redemption, speaks of forgiveness, reconciliation. And let me tell you something important. There is no sin too great for the blood of Jesus. How many of you believe that? Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21 says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And that is the second color, and the color white represents that we are completely cleansed from sin. Your heart through the blood of Jesus becomes totally pure. And it doesn't matter what you did on the past, it doesn't matter what your maybe wrong thoughts were before, we all had ideas that we thought were correct. But now, through the blood of Jesus, Jesus washes your sin away, and not only that, but he washes your mind as well. So everything that you thought, maybe some things that you thought that were correct, Jesus starts shaping you and saying, No, this is the way I intended you to live. So we're cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Isaiah 1:18 says, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. So Jesus doesn't simply forgive us, he gives us his righteousness. Our identity is completely changed. So the Bible says that God is holy, and through the blood of Jesus now, you receive that identity, you receive that blessing of being holy. So our holiness is a response to the sacrifice of Jesus in the cross. So many people that I've had the opportunity to talk to, and they say, It is so hard. But once they understand that through the blood of Jesus they received clean cleansing of their sins, of their hearts, of their minds, they understand that it is not in our own strength. So many people try to be holy in their own strength. They say, Oh, if I try really hard, oh maybe if I really put an effort to it, then I'll become holy. Let me tell you, it is not by your effort, it's when you understand that God created you to live in holiness, and God gave you the capacity through the blood of Jesus. So then it's not gonna be in your own will, but it's gonna be God, it's gonna be Jesus living through you. I I told you uh before that my dad used to drink every weekend, he was always drinking, but once he met the Lord, God made a miracle, and he never drank not even not even wine, not even the communion wine, like nothing, because something happened inside of him, he understood that Jesus paid the price on the cross, and he said, I know I could, but I don't even want to drink not even one glass of wine because God paid paid the price, Jesus paid the price for me on the cross, and he was free from that sin. Amen. And lastly, the color blue. So say with me red, white, and blue. Red, white, and blue. The the Americans say that a lot. So red, white, and blue, and blue means that water baptisms. The water baptism represents a decision, a public commitment from you to God, saying, My life is now completely committed to you. It's a public declaration, which was probably more important back then back then in the times of Jesus, because becoming a Christian was questioned. Today we have freedom. And if you say you're a Christian in your job, you might be you know judged a little bit. If you say you're Christian, and then one day you say something that it was a little bit out of place, they'll say, Didn't you say you were a Christian? You're like, Oh, yeah. So you can't even get mad or anything, you gotta walk really straight if you're a Christian. That's probably the worst, but back then it was a huge deal to become a Christian. People who went down into the water they were really brave, but now we have the opportunity, we have the freedom to declare Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of my life, and you can go down into the water and express to the world and testify to the world that you are a new person in Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Acts 22, 16, it says, And now, what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name. So the baptism doesn't save you, but the baptism, what it does, it's it's a public declaration, it's a step of faith that you take. So I want to take advantage of this opportunity, and I wanna invite you personally to join our baptism at the beach. It's happening this month, July 25th, is gonna be on a Saturday morning, and I really hope you can make it and do that declaration. Renew your commitment to Christ that day. Romans 6:4, it says, We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too may live a new life. I want to declare that for you today. You're gonna experience, you're gonna live a new life because Jesus is in you, Jesus is your Savior, and with the blood of Jesus cleanses you, there is nothing, the enemy has no power over you, sin has no power over you. Amen. Praise Jesus if you if you believe that. So what happens if the sun sets you free? We we just read that if the sun sets you free, John 8 36, you will be free indeed. So, what is holding you back? What is that one thing that you feel that the enemy has utilized to keep you in the same place, to keep you in chains, to keep you bounded to your past. Think about that one or two things. Let me tell you, if the Son of God, Jesus, has set you free, you will be free indeed. Today is the day you will be totally free. Amen. Amen. Amen. I want to invite you to stand. And as today we're celebrating the declaration of independence of America, also it could be a day where you can celebrate the greatest declaration of independence in history. Jesus at the cross paid for our sin. And he declared you free on that day. What do we have to do now? We just have to accept his freedom. We just have to receive his freedom into our life so we can live a life of freedom. Have you received the gift of salvation? Jesus still says, if the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed. Maybe there is something that is still holding you back. Today is the day. And if you're already a believer, if you already know Jesus, maybe God is telling you this is the time for you to go and get that baptized. Maybe you've done it again, maybe this is the time where you renew that commitment and you say, This time I'll accept his freedom, his total freedom, and I'll live in freedom in the name of Jesus by the power of his blood. I want to invite you to place your hand over your heart and say, Lord, today I receive your sacrifice. I declare that I am free by the power of your blood. I receive your freedom, and I declare that I will live in holiness according to your word, not by my power, not by my strength, but by your power, by the power of the blood in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Now praise the Lord, amen. I want to also invite you to really exercise this message this week. How do we put it into practice? This is very important. There is power in the name of Jesus. When you declare the name of Jesus, there is power in that name. There is power in the word of God. So when you declare, when you combine those two things and you declare God's word, there is something powerful that happens. Maybe you've been a slave of fear for a long time. Then go in your Bible, look for a verse, write it down as many times as you can until you memorize that verse, put it in a place where you can see it, and as soon as you see it, just read it and remind yourself and remind the devil that he has no power over your life. Amen. That comes from the the my mom, he she was she was amazing. So most of the verses that I know today, I learned them when I was a kid. I always say this. She will take little pieces of paper and she will write Bible verses. And she will write the same verse. So as soon as I woke up, I went to wash my my teeth. The first thing I saw in that mirror was the verse with my mom's handwriting. Then I'll go to the kitchen and in the fridge. Guess what? The same verse. I'll go sit down in the table, and right there next to the napkins, because in Colombia we always put napkins in the table, the little napkin holder. It's not that common here, but it was a big thing there. So in the napkin holder, guess what? The same verse. I was leaving my house, and in the door, as I was leaving my house, the same, same, same verse, and that taught me a lesson. God's word has power. So many believers, so many Christians don't live the life God created them to live because they don't know the power of the word of God. But if you understand that there is power in God's word, when you declare God's word, when it's in your Bible, that's good. But let me tell you something, it has limited power. But when you take that word and you declare it, there is a limited power released through your words because we have the power of life and death in our mouth, and when we declare God's word, amen. Amen. So when we declare God's word, that's a declaration. That's why when they founded the United States, they wrote a declaration of independence. Now we have a declaration of independence, God's word, and you can declare, you can remind yourself, and you can remind the devil you have no power. I am totally free by the power of Jesus, by the power of the blood. Amen. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Thanks so much for tuning in. We hope this message blessed you greatly. We encourage you to subscribe and share it with your friends. For more content from our church, visit Mission Orlando Church.com.