Liberty of Our Freedom | Bill Moseley | 4.19.26

John 8 | Romans 6 | Galatians 5

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Pray for us again as we go forward that the Lord will give us direction in the things that I might try to bring before you that it would be of a benefit to you and glorifying to the Lord. We say that kind of in a in a habitual way, but that is that is not a foregone conclusion because we have to we have to think about that because I get in the way a lot of times of myself, and there are times you're you're going to get in your way. And that has to be done put aside. That has to be dealt with by our spirit, that we might mortify the deeds of the body, mortify our minds to the flesh, and think upon things by faith, believing that the word of God is true and that it is his glory. I want to look at John chapter 8, I'm going to look at Romans chapter 6 and Galatians chapter 5. Those three places I want to take a look at with a focus, and I'll just I'll just say that what my what's on my mind is the liberty of our freedom. The liberty of our freedom. Now, you might think, well, that's kind of redundant. Liberty and freedom. That sounds a lot like the same thing. We'll see that, I believe, over when we get to Galatians, of the liberty of our freedom. I want to focus first on the the concept of freedom. And I know that we we're about to embark this year on the 250th anniversary of the United States freedom from the King of England, from the monarch that held us under his dominion, and now we have our freedom, and we're at liberty in that freedom. Freedom is subjective to what it's the context that it's held within. In the sixth chapter of the book of John, won't go through all of it because and it's not that all of it's not interconnected. It starts out with the woman that was caught in adultery and judged of those people, of those men that would have her stoned because she was caught in the very act. And the Lord brought it to the point where he said the heathen without sin cast the first stone. And none of them were at liberty to do that. Because when he looked up, they were all gone. And he I at least in their natural thinking, they they brought her to that event because they wanted to capture the Lord in his speech. They wanted to get him in a judgment that they could use against him. They didn't care about the fact they caught the woman in adultery, they cared about trying to capture the Lord off guard. It was a got they were looking for a gotcha moment, and they didn't find it. Because when he had looked up from riding on the ground, there was no man there to cast that first stone. And then he told her, I condemn thee not. Go and sin no more. That's at the beginning. Now I guess that is kind of connected with this very idea of liberty and freedom, because their actions was not consistent with what the Lord said. He that without sin, let him cast the first stone. He there's a lot of thought about what he wrote on the ground. I don't know what he wrote on the ground, but I I do get the feeling that those men that saw what he wrote on the ground knew what he wrote on the ground. It might have been their sin or a moment that he knew about of them that would openly condemn them if they went forward with it. That's the only thing sometimes that'll turn the natural man's conscience is the fear of being caught, the fear of being exposed for their iniquity. Well, they went off and they didn't do anything. They then went through this exercise of of talking about witnessing of yourselves, and they said that the Lord's witness of himself was not true, and he he alerted them that I'm not alone. My father, my father witnesses of me. He had plenty of witnesses of who he was. He was at liberty. He was at liberty in himself to witness of himself. As we go over here, I want to get to uh Let me let me find where this begins. In the twentieth verse, let's start there. Let's go to the ninth. Then said they unto him, Where is thy father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my father. If ye had known me, you should have known my father also. These words Jesus spake in the treasury, as he taught in the temple, and no man laid hands on him, for his hour was not yet. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Whither I go you cannot come. I want you to remember that that phrase right there that comes up later on in the book of John. He tells them whither I go you cannot come. As we go through this, and I I think I've talked about this here before, but let's go through it one more time here because this is a tricky or a it can be complex if we don't get in the moment and see the conversation and the audience. There are two sets of people that Jesus talks to in this chapter. Two different sets of audiences. He's going to speak to some that are at the least unregenerate. They're not born again. They do not have spiritual faculties. I'm going to say they are non-elect. There are people that are non-elect and have no spirit of God within them. They don't care about God. They are haters of God. They are void of spiritual discernment. They were not chosen before the world began. They'll never be regenerated. They'll never have a desire for God. They'll have no concern. Well, I'll give you what Paul, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Their despisers, their mouth is an open sepulchre. That whole verse over there in Romans is all about the natural man void of the spirit. There are people in this world, in that case. One of the lost, and I'm talking about not loved of God. I'm going to give it very plain. They are not loved of God, never will be loved of God, and they don't love God. Because God never loved them. You say, well, I thought God loved everybody. No, he did not love everybody. We have the prototype over there that tells us about the two boys, Jacob and Esau, and it was said unto her, Jacob have a loved one. And this is God speaking. Jacob had a loved. When did he love him? Before the world began. Jacob have a loved but Esau. And the word but is very important because but is a it's a connecting word that means turn 180 degrees the other way. Jacob have a loved, but Esau have a hated. My friends, that is, and it was not according to works, it wasn't according to their acts. It said, the children having done neither good nor evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Does it need to be any plainer? God has those that he loved, and God did not love the others. He had a right to love, and he had a right to leave the others exactly where they're at. As John Gill says, he did them no harm. The harm came through themselves. He just left them where they're at. So I just want you to understand, not everybody's equal in this text. I'll tell you, you'll see it really quickly in a moment where it changes, but there is a multitude of people. You remember we talked about the wheat and the tares? That the wheat and the tares are in the same field? Here, my friends, is one place where there are wheat and tares. I don't know the heart of a man. I don't know who all God's children are, but I'm going to tell you, the Lord knoweth them that are his. That by the very definition of that phrase would mean that he knows those that are not his. So he's not guessing, and he's not just being prejudiced in some way. He is identifying those that are not his. He just said it right here. I go my way, and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Whither I go, you cannot come. You cannot come. Now remember, he tells over in John 14, he tells the disciples, especially Peter, he says, as I have said unto before, you shall not come. He tells Peter, you cannot come now. You cannot come now. What he did not say, but is implied, you can come later. You will come later. You will follow me later. You will be with me again. I go to prepare a place, and when I come, I will come and receive you unto myself. So just remember that when you read 14, this is it's it's pointing back to this right here. Then said the Jews, will he kill himself? Because he saith, Whither I go ye cannot come. And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath. I am from above, ye are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins, for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. I'm gonna tell you, my friends, for every child of God, every child of God, without exception, when they are born again of the Spirit, that inward man, always believes. Without exception. They could be in the furthest reach of the undeveloped world. And if God borns them again, that inward man believes who it's saying Abba Father to. It's all the same. Every born-again child of God, they have that believing faculty in that inward man. How do I know that? Because that inward man cannot have unbelief. Impossible. Whatsoever is born of God cannot have unbelief. It believes. It cannot sin, and unbelief is a sin. So every child of God, every born-again, new inward man believes. But I'm going to tell you, every human that is not born again cannot believe. I'll just be very blunt. It cannot believe because it doesn't have spiritual faculty. It doesn't have a spiritual entity within it. So anyway, he said you'll die in your sin. I have many things to say and to judge of you, but you but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood not. Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted me up, when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father hath taught me, I speak these things, and he that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things which please him. Now here it alert, alert. We're about to see the other, we're about to see the wheat. Been talking to the tares. He's talking, he's gonna talk to the wheat. And as he spake these words, many believed on him. Many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. You see where it changed, you see the subset of the multitude? These are the believers. He said many of them believed on him. So this is not the minority. This this this is a this is a sizable amount. It said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples. What is a disciple? One that continues in his word. Why? Because they believe. Because it touches something within them. That picks up the frequency. And I'm kind of using metaphoric language here. If you have, if I I dare say there's probably not a one of us in here that has a radio turned on right now. But there are radio waves all over. And if the proof of it, if you come in here and turn on a radio receiver, you would hear what those waves represent, what they say. You'd have a reception of what's going on. Without that radio, you can't hear it. But these people, these people picked up what he said. They understood what he's talking about is very worthwhile to listen to. If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And let me go back and say, these that are his disciples is a proof, evidence that they are born again. If they're not born again, they won't be in this subset. They won't be hearers. They won't be those that pick up the frequency. But if they're picking up the frequency, that's evidence that they are a child of God. I can tell you, friend, these that he's talking to here are the wheat. They are the children of God. They are born of the Spirit. They have an ear to hear. And if they have an ear to hear and they continue in the Word, then are they His disciples? They are the ones that are following to learn, following to glean His teaching, following to feel the pricking in the heart. These others, all it did to them is just cut them to the heart. It just bluntly cuts to the heart like a sword going to a stone. But these people, they're picking up something in the heart. They're picking up that pricking of, hey, I'm listening. I'm hearing something that touches me. I hear something that is beginning to resonate within my soul. I'm identifying with what I'm hearing. There is a sensitivity of the hearing of the gospel, and that leads us to believing, and then to continuing, and to feel what he's about to talk about. Now we're getting down to the meat of it. Then are you my disciples indeed? And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. There's our freedom that we're talking about. This is a very particular type of freedom. This is a freedom in the soul. This is a freedom with feeling. This is a freedom that touches a passion within our souls, that we feel not just the words off of a page, but the very power of those words that touch my soul. Like the, like the, you know, it's really spectacular to think of a radio receiver picking up. I don't see what it's picking up, but that radio feels it, it's sensitive to it, and it immediately receives it and gives it. My friend, there's something very miraculous spiritually. I know people can explain a radio receiver in sound waves, but my friends, I cannot explain how a child of God hears the word of God and is touched by the power of the preached word that comes from the great word, Logos, which gave the very power. The freedom comes from him. It's a very particular freedom, a freedom of a soul that was in sin and is now no longer held under the bondage of sin. The bondage of sin. My friends, that's that is a very difficult thing for us to deal with. That bondage that holds us in our conscience of sin, to know I have sinned against God. And until I feel, until I see and hear and feel that sensitivity of the word, I'm going to feel like I'm in bondage to sin. But the word, what the Lord is speaking about here is a freedom from the bondage of sin. Bondage of sin. The closed in, the capturedness, the imprisonment, the accusation of the constant barrage of the accuser that says, You must sin. But yet, here, my friends, he's talking about if you know the truth, the truth shall make you free. It shall make you free. And they answered him, We now this this is kind of an interesting thing. This is back to the tares. This is their answer to what he just said. Listen closely to what they said. And I I I talked to we were talking with James last night, and I brought this up with him, that I had seen this. It is amazing to me what the natural man will justify himself of. What he will say, I didn't do that. I'm not in that situation, I'm not in that case. That's not true about me. With a straight face and absolutely knowing different. They are guilty of it. I mean, you don't have to look very far to find that kind of examples going on, where somebody not just pleading guilty, but absolutely defying all the evidence. There's evidence everywhere, and they're just saying, no, I am not guilty of that. I'm not under the bondage of that condemnation. Listen to what these people, these men say. They answer themselves, we be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, you shall make, you shall be made free. We were never in bondage. Well, you know, either they are the worst students of history, or they're just purely in denial, or they are just purely lying. I I have a feeling it's probably a combination of all. Because these are men of the Jewish people. What about Egypt? What about Egypt? 400 years in bondage as slaves. We were never in bondage to any man. How about Pharaoh? How about Pharaoh? Yes, you were in bondage. There was much blood that went into the bricks that were made without straw. You were in bondage, yes, you were. Jesus, you know what's amazing to me is the restraint of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Steve, you think maybe he could have put up a pretty good defense of debate against what they just said? We were never in bondage to any man. Just going to hit some of the high points. What about Babylon? What about Babylon? That's a biggie. That's a big 70 years in an idolatrous place where your people said, How can we sing the songs of Zion in a strange land? Held bondage, many people of the Jews killed by Pharaoh. A guy that would have them in such bondage, he'd say, Bow down before this golden altar, or I'll cast you into a fire. And you're going to tell me you were never in bondage? Well, I wasn't in that. I wasn't in Babylon. Let's go to the biggest of them. What about Rome? What about Rome? We were never under bondage to any man. How about Caesar? Were you in bondage to Caesar? Well, in some cases, they may not been in bondage because they were in league in some ways to Caesar. So they could probably spin it around. And that's what happens when men say, Well, that wasn't my case. I'm not guilty. I'm not guilty of sin. I'm not a sinner. There's a lot of difference in being not a sinner and being free from sin. Boy, I just spent the whole time here. Truth shall make you free. Their idea of freedom was something they thought they could spin away. But Jesus answered to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Are you in bondage to sin? Do you sin? If you sin, then yeah, you've got to kind of admit that bondage of sin. And the servants abide not in the house forever, but the son abideth forever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. You shall be free indeed. That's a freedom plus. That's a freedom with liberty. A freedom with liberty. And the liberty is the use of the freedom that we've been given. We had our sins paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. Every child of God had the remission of sin paid for. The sin was paid for by the sin bearer, and he took away our sin. But we still commit sin. Let's move over now. Let's just remember there is a natural thought of freedom, and there is a spiritual freedom. In the sixth verse, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth you shall not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now we're talking about not past sins, not even future sins, because those are paid for by the Lord. But there is now a thought of the sin that is in the present, the one that I have to be concerned with right here and right now, as far as the doing of sin. Do I have to sin? That's where we're getting done. Do you have, are you under dominion of sin that the flesh says you must sin? And you, you know, after all, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. So do we have to sin? Can we not sin? Can we help and not sin? My friend, you are free from the dominion or the reigning of sin in your mortal flesh. There is a way that we have liberty to not sin. Does that mean I'm going to be successful? No. That means I'm going to give in sometime to the sin. But I can't blame everything on just, well, that's my sinful flesh. No, it's my not using my liberty of my freedom. Not using my liberty. Now, he just this says, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead diet no more. Death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ. Let not sin therefore reign. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. That tells me, friends, I don't have to sin. I don't have to sin. If I do sin, I gave I gave way to sin to reign. I yielded to it. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourself unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness of God. Let me just say it's kind of like sin is a box with an open door. And I don't have to stay in it. I'm free to walk out of that box of sin. It's okay to resist and not yield to sin. Matter of fact, it's righteousness to not yield to sin, to not give way to it. But you're freed from it. You're not under the dominion of sin. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. You know, there are those that would use grace in a frustrating way. They frustrate grace. Well, I'm saved by grace. It really doesn't matter if I sin or not. Yes, it does matter. Just like we tell our children, you're my child, but you better not do that. Because if you do that, you will suffer a consequence for doing that. We may sin, but we will face our consequences of our sin. Has nothing to do whether or not you're a child or not. Matter of fact, my friends, God does not chasten the wicked, but he will chasten a son because he loves his sons, his children. Now, I want to move right on real quick and get down here. Know ye not that whom you yield yourself servant to obey, his servant ye are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. But God betank that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. What did he say? The truth shall make you free. The truth shall make you free. And if the Son make you free, you're free indeed. Here it is, right here, is that obeying from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you, being then made free from sin. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. What a much better place to be. Servant of righteousness. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5 real quick, because I want us to see that liberty. Galatians chapter 5, and this being in the book of Galatians, where Paul is having to talk to a group of churches that he first planted with the truth that made them free, for them believing they are not under bondage to sin, but now they've got Judaizers that have come in trying to take them back under the law of their own works, to trust in their own works, that they could work and get in and get their salvation of their own works. Like being circumcised, that was a work of the law, and that wasn't the only work of the law that they were trying to put them back under. They were trying to put them under dietary laws. They were trying to do everything to assimilate back to that service of the Mosaical law and the law of Jerusalem and all those things. You'll find him talking about in the fourth chapter about that bondswoman and the free woman. That bondswoman being Hagar, which is uh answer to Sinai, which is the law, which is works, which is grace plus. Those things that people say, you've got to, I know it's all but it's by grace, but you got to do this and you got to do that, you got to do all of these things. You have to check off everything that we tell you that you have to do. These Judaizers were trying to bring them back into that. They were trying to take away the liberty of their freedom. They were at liberty of the freedom of the works of the truth of the gospel, the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our full righteousness is in him, and to follow him is to follow in righteousness. To resist sin is to follow in righteousness. That's following the works of our sin bearer that took us out from under the bondage of sin. And set our feet upon a rock and gave us the liberty, gave us liberty of the truth to understand that it's by grace you're saved, not the works lest any man should boast. If I can work my way into God's favor, then I can look at God and say, look what I've done. Look what I deserve in this salvation. I had a hand in getting to your favor. My friends, it's by grace and grace alone. But that grace and grace alone is not a, it's not a liberty to sin. It's a liberty and a freedom from sin. And it is a liberty to follow after. Now let's go to the fifth chapter real quick. Five minutes in this fifth chapter of the book of Galatians. Stand fast. He's talking to people he loves, Brother Justin. He has seen these people three times in his journey. All three journeys went through Galatia. He loved these people. He was one time stoned on his first journey, stoned for preaching the truth, left for dead, and got back up and went right back up into the city and preached the same truth that set them free. And now here we find the undermining of all of that labor, all of that planting growth, and now here they're trying to take them back under the law. Trying to undo everything that they were set free from. He said, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty. It's a liberty to resist sin. It's a liberty to be able to say, no, I will not follow in that way. No, I will not lie. I will not steal. I'm willing to not go after that revenge. I'm willing to not do those things that are sinful in nature, that mentalness, that hard-heartedness, that backboting, all the things that we sometimes find ourselves facing, and it's time to say no to those things. I know that's the truth because I'm in that kind of deal. Where I have to say no to sin. I'm at liberty to say no to sin. And I fail. And thanks being to God, he's merciful. Thanks be unto God. But I should not be presumptuous. You know what presumptuous would be in that case? Well, he'll forgive me anyway. You know, he's a loving God. He's a he's a he's a truthful God, but he's a loving God. He's merciful. I'll do it and I'll take my chances at it. My friends, that's presumptuous. That's saying, well, he'll he'll look the other way. My friends, I'm gonna tell you what the Lord will do. He'll write with his finger on the ground of your heart. He'll speak something right there within where you live, saying, now what do you think about this? And he'll touch my conscience. And my conscience then has to say, God is true, God is right. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty. What liberty? The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. The Son shall make you free, and you'll be free indeed. Stand fast in that liberty of that freedom of your soul from sin. Yes, he paid for our sin. But remember, he paid for your sins. Your sins put him on the cross. Your sins was what was nailed to that cross. That was not just a lump sum of sin that said, well, we won't we won't really attribute any of those sins to any particular. No, it's on every single child of God. Your sins is what he paid for. Your sins is why he paid for. And your sins is the magnitude of his suffering. That's hard to think of. That's hard to think on. Is that when I was so presumptuous to think that little tirade that I went on? Well that wasn't much. He hung on the cross and paid for that. How's that make me feel? That makes me feel very condemned in my conscience. Thanks be unto God of his mercy. I might find myself at moments like David when he said, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Restore unto me the joy. Why? Because I have lost that joy. Did that mean I've lost that salvation? No. It means I've lost the joy of it. It means I lost the liberty and the freedom to find comfort and find consolation in the death of the Lord. Doesn't mean it went away and doesn't mean anything. It just means it doesn't mean anything to me right then. I'm like David, restoring to me the joy of thy salvation. Stand fast, therefore, the liberty where Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Be not entangled again with that yoke of bondage. So what yoke, if it's not that yoke, what yoke will replace? Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. And learn of me. Why learn of him? Because that's where we find our freedom. That's where we see our freedom. That's where we feel the liberty. Now I'm gonna go get one more place. In the 13th verse, let's go look at here. For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Ye have been called unto liberty. And you know what? Many of our first responders, many of our soldiers, they have been called to a liberty to serve their country, to serve their families, serve their communities, and they answered that call to a liberty to stand up in the moment. I thank God for them. I thank God for those that do that work and do that service because they've answered a call to a liberty. That's important. When you're called, it's for you to answer. For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. But by love serve one another for all the laws fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That is the liberty wherewith you have been called. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty where Christ has made you free. Ye have been called unto liberty. And that is the liberty of the freedom you have from sin. And that you have the liberty to live to that liberty. You have the right. That I belong to the Lord. I'm not in bondage to sin. What I am in bondage to is the Lord Himself. I owe him everything. He's the one that has given me all. I owe him everything. And in him we live, move, and have our being. That's the liberty wherewith you've been called. Stand fast in that liberty. I thank you this morning for your attention. I hope something will uh touch your heart in that. And that you can look to it often and see uh the calling of the gospel call. That is a gospel call. To follow after that truth that makes you read that truth that he is