Liberty

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (II Corinthians 3:17)

The word, “LIBERTY”, is found twenty-seven times in the Word of God. Nine times in the Old Testament and eighteen times in the New Testament in 25 different verses, using ten different Hebrew and Greek words.

Some of the verses talk about personal or physical freedom and the rest talk about spiritual or freedom in Christ. We will talk about the LIBERTY we have in Christ. We have been set free from the LAW to serve God as He directs us to through His Word and by the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is so easy to become legalistic, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Our service should be like a child who is submissive to the instructions of loving parents. The greater the submission, the greater the liberty. I understand the disciplining required to get to that point with a child and so it is with our service to God. He will discipline us for our own good. The greater the submission on our part the greater the blessings. There will be trials and there will be adversity, but these only bring out our commitment to God. Let’s examine the word, LIBERTY, as pertains to us in the Scriptures.

I. FIRST, WE NEED LIBERATING FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN.

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:31-36)

  1. All of us are sinners

    For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)

  2. As sinners we are the captives of the devil.

    And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. (II Timothy 2:26)

  3. We cannot save ourselves.

    For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

II. LIBERTY COMES THROUGH CHRIST.

  1. Predicted in the Old Testament.

    The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; (Isaiah 61:1)

    Derpwr – der-ore’; from an unused root (meaning to move rapidly); freedom; hence spontaneity of outflow, and so clear; – liberty, pure.

  2. Fulfilled in Christ.

    The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (Luke 4:18, 21)

    Aphesis – af’-es-is; freedom; (figuratively) pardon:– deliverance, forgiveness, liberty, remission.

III. WE HAVE LIBERTY TO SERVE CHRIST.

And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
(Psalms 119:45)

Rachab – raw-khawb’; roomy, in any (or every) direction, literally or figuratively:– broad, large, at liberty, proud, wide.

  1. When the Holy Spirit is in control there is unity and liberty to serve the Lord.

    Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (II Corinthians 3:17)

    Elutheria – el-yoo-ther-ee’-ah; freedom (legitimate or licentious, chiefly (morally or ceremonially):– liberty. (This will be the meaning unless otherwise given.)

  2. Living in the liberty of Christ brings God’s blessing.

    But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. (James 1:25)

  3. This liberty is a privilege not to be misused.

    But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.
    (I Corinthians 8:9)

    For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
    (I Corinthians 9:19-23)

    Exousia – ex-oo-see’-ah; (in the sense of ability); privilege, i.e. (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence:– authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

  4. There is no room for compromise, but there is room to allow others to be different in liberty – there is also room to think and act outside the box.

IV. THE MISUSE OF LIBERTY.

  1. When it defiles others.

    But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: (I Corinthians 10:28-32)

  2. When we use it to satisfy the flesh.

    For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13)

  3. When we use it for maliciousness.

    As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
    (I Peter 2:16)

  4. When we marry against God’s will.

    The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
    (I Corinthians 7:39)

    Eleutheros – el-yoo’-ther-os; unrestrained (to go at pleasure), i.e. (as a citizen) not a slave (whether freeborn or manumitted-released), or (generally) exempt (from obligation or liability):– free (man, woman), at liberty.

V. THERE WILL BE THOSE WHO WILL TRY TO TAKE AWAY YOUR LIBERTY.

  1. They will make you think you have to live by the Law.

    And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: (Galatians 2:4)

    While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
    (II Peter 2:19)

  2. We are to stand fast in liberty.

    Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (Galatians 5:1)

VI. WE WILL BE JUDGED BY THE LAW OF LIBERTY, THE BIBLE.

So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. (James 2:12)

  1. Liberty without law is anarchy.

    In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
    (Judges 17:6)

VII. GREATER LIBERTY IN THE FUTURE.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
(Romans 8:18-23)


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