Welcome to OO: Coffee Break

Re: Jesus our Liberty [message #6088 is a reply to message #6086]

Mon, 14 September 2009 14:30

james
Messages: 2137
Registered: April 2008
Location: Birmingham, AL

Senior Member

Some more thoughts on liberty and what is a balanced approach to Christian life. We see that Jesus has set us free, but there are many warnings about becoming entangled again into bondage. So how do we stay free? What are ways we can open doors to become caught up in sin once we've been set free?

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?

And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith The Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith The Lord Almighty." ~ II Corth.6:14-18

So we see that being involved in the ways of this world, fellowshiping with darkness, we are NOT walking in the liberty Jesus purchased for us with His own Blood. We also know that we have to live IN this world; but we don't have to be LIKE THE WORLD. How do we distinguish between righteousness and unrighteousness, between light and darkness, between spiritual and the flesh? By measuring everything against what God's Word says and, this is SO important, walking in The Spirit. If we walk in The Spirit, stay filled with The Spirit, always listening to The Holy Spirit, He will lead and guide us into ALL TRUTH. There is no 'grey' area with God, it's either right or wrong, good or bad, black or white.

Do I have all the answers? NO, but The Holy Spirit dwelling within me does, and I/we, have been given these precious promises and He has promised to complete the work within us that He has started.

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." II Corth. 7:1

That's part of being set free, that is the liberty that was bought for us, that frees us to walk in The Spirit and in LOVE, serve one another.

If anyone is struggling with bondage or legalism, or bitterness about the past; still blaming Bro. Freeman for these problems, I encourage you to seek The Lord to open your eyes to what The Holy Spirit was and IS trying to work in our lives. We can't try to hold on the the world and it's ways and be sold out to Jesus; we can't be like everyone else, liked by everyone, be friends with everyone, and walk in The Spirit as God has commanded us. The message of the crucified life/deeper life is just as valid today as it was 2,000 years ago when Jesus taught it, and 35 years ago when we first heard it through HEF. That is LIBERTY, freedom to chose the cross, freedom to turn from sin and serve God from our HEARTS. Not because somebody TOLD us to, or because of peer pressure, but because Jesus has set us free and we WANT to follow Him.

AMEN LORD, Help us to be doers and not just hears only...

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”

Report message to a moderator