I Am Free, I Am New, I Have Eternal Life
First B Jackson
2012-09-19

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Price. Amen. Okay. So I'm so excited to unpack this with you today because, when I was going through the lesson plan for the son's sacrifice, I mean, you can go so many different places with the son sacrifice, and it was just amazingly clear how the Lord began to lead me in a very direct path, and it's kinda different. I I think you'll you'll find this an interesting lesson.

So all of us should understand the depth of the son's sacrifice because of the impact it has in our life, and I just felt the Lord wanted me to focus on three areas. Of course, there are many, but the three areas this morning that we're going to talk about are his impact of setting us free. I am free, and that that is on your handout. I am free. I am a new person, and I have eternal life.

Okay. So in the message, it says Romans twelve three at the very end, the only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. Of course, the greatest thing he did for us was die for us. Right? And I was thinking about this because I was talking to another believer, and I said, so why do you think blood had to be shed?

They were like, I have no idea. And I was like, okay. That's kind of that's something that we should understand. Right? Why did blood have to be shed?

And when you think about it, the father is the father. He can do anything he wants. If I confess my sin to him, he could say forgiven. Why did Jesus have to die? Why did blood have to be shed?

Well, we go to scripture for our answer, and Paul wrote in Romans three twenty three that we all sin and we fall short of God's standard. As good as we can get, the standard's right here, but God's standard is still up here. And then later in Romans six, Paul says, and that sin, the consequence of that sin is death, separation from God. So how can I get close to my perfect holy God? Well, the solution he gives us is the sacrifice of blood.

Before Jesus, we know in the Old Testament that many animals were sacrificed, and Leviticus seventeen eleven tells us why. It says, life is in the blood, and it is the blood given in exchange for life that makes atonement for our soul possible. So, life is in the blood and that life, that blood given in exchange for life makes atonement possible. So God is saying, a sacrifice of life is required to give you new life. And when you really think about that, it's pretty amazing.

I mean, I have the new life of Jesus running through my veins when I accept him. Wow. Do we live with that understanding that we have this new life running through our veins? Well, the first impact it has on us is that we are free. We are free.

Now I'm gonna talk about slavery to show us that we are free, and I know that's one of those Christian concepts that doesn't sound right, does it? But Paul tells us in Romans that every single person spiritually speaking, did you you know this, is a slave, either a slave to sin and themselves and the world and the enemy or a slave to God and righteousness. He says, don't you realize, this is Romans six sixteen through 18, that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey. You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to life. Thank God once you were slaves of sin, but now you obey him, and you are slaves to righteous living.

Now I think today in the year of our lord 2012, when we hear the word slavery, it evokes a lot of negative images. And rightly so, because America has the stain of the African slave trade, a horrible, atrocious human rights violation. And even today, according to freedomcenter.org, slavery still exists in massive amounts. Did you know and it's the site said it's very hard to estimate, but at least 12,000,000, as high as 27,000,000 people today are in slavery, either bonded labor, forced labor, or sex trafficking. Sadly, nearly three out of three three out of four are women, and half of modern day slaves are children.

Wow. I when the last time I was with my son, was looking at the pictures on his phone and he had some pictures of these very young girls standing in front of this interesting looking place. And I said, Who are these? And my husband is part of this missions conference, and he and my son have been to Myanmar several times to work with an orphanage there. And my son said, Well, goes, Mom, when we go through Bangkok, it's really sad because there is just this whole section of the city with these girls that stand outside and sell themselves.

And he said that the sick part is you see all these American men going into the shops. And my son said, keep that picture as a reminder that I am free, and someday I'm gonna help them. There I shared this with you because I think if we understand how we have been freed by the grace of God from the slavery of sin, I think we, more than anyone, should have a voice for those who are still in slavery today. It is heartbreaking to see those images. But going back to the Bible, you know, if anyone would ask you why did blood have to be shed, now we know because life is in the blood, and we're spiritually dead.

So that life gives me new life. If anyone were to say to you, because you will hear people say this, why is the Bible why does the Bible condone slavery? Back in the spring, my friends in California sent me this YouTube and said, as a Christian, how do we respond to this man? And the YouTube was you can still look it up. It was of this high school in Seattle, and the high school had about 3,000 students sitting in the high school.

And this gay activist and journalist, Dan Savage, was speaking on behalf of anti bullying. This is what Dan said to public school high school students. He said, we can learn to ignore the bull blank in the Bible about gay people, the same way we've learned to ignore the bull in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about farming, and he went on and on. And then he said, the Bible is a radically pro slavery document. By the way, when he said that, about a 100 Christian students stood up and walked out.

And as he was there to to promote tolerance, he called them a name I can't even tell you. So my friend said, okay, you know, that's all craziness. But when he he said that the Bible is a radically pro slavery document, a lot of the kids clapped because they don't understand where the Bible is coming from in slavery. So how would you answer answer that? That?

Well, first, I think it's important to understand that in biblical times, slavery was very different from the slavery we see today or even the African slave trade. That slavery was based on skin color, ethnicity, and the Bible speaks against that. We are all made in the image of God. That's why our founding fathers said we are all equal before God. Slavery in biblical biblical times times was was more of a social status type of slavery.

Doctors, lawyers, even politicians would find themselves in debt and sell themselves to slavery for a certain period of time to get out of debt, because in ancient Roman times, the master would take good care of his slaves. And we know from ancient documents that many slaves were actually adopted into the family and received an inheritance like the children did. Slavery was very, very different then. And that's why when Paul wrote, we have to become slaves of Christ to be free. The people then would have understood that at a different level than we understand it.

We push back from that. Far from being an oppressive slavery, the slave of Christ, Paul wrote, is is the only truly free person. If Christ sets you free, you are free indeed. Galatians five one says, it is for freedom that Christ set you free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Paul is saying here in Galatians that you're either a slave to yourself, to sin, or a slave to God. And when you are doing what you wanna do, you're under a very oppressive master. That is oppressive slavery. And what did Jesus say? Say?

Jesus said in Matthew, take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest with me as your master. So why aren't we free? I think because we just push back and say we are not going to submit 100% to a great master. Even though as a master, he promises to take care of our every need and usually most of our wants.

So I looked up humbleness in the dictionary in the Bible dictionary. In the NIV, it's mentioned 73 times. Because the opposite of being prideful and saying, I'm not gonna submit to you, Lord, is being what? Humble. I just picked out a couple of things that really struck me.

The promises of being under our master, humbling ourselves before him. James says, God opposes the proud. This is James four six, but he shows favor to the humble. I don't know about you, but I wanna be first in line for God's favor. I mean, could you use a little favor in your life?

Absolutely. That is a promise from God that he will show favor to the humble. He wrote to David in second Samuel twenty two forty, I will humble your enemies before you. Wow. Another great promise.

A promise he gave to Daniel. He said, don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day, you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before me. I heard your words, and I come to you in response to your cries for help. And finally, in first Peter, he says, humble yourselves under my mighty hand.

Let me be your master, and I will lift you up in due time. You can cast all your cares and worries on me because I care about you. Those are some awesome promises of freedom and humbling ourselves. I think that a prayer that I always pray for my country, because I think we are really at a crossroads of losing so many freedoms. Why?

Scripture has all the answers. Second Chronicles seven fourteen says, if my people, if us were his people, if we will just call him by his name, humble ourselves, pray and seek his face, and turn from our sinful ways. He will hear from heaven. He will forgive us, and he will heal our land. Will you join me in praying that prayer for our country?

Second Chronicles seven fourteen. So we have been set free from the bondage of sin. Free to what? Free to have wisdom. God says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

I'm free to think differently. I'm free not to be a bitter woman. I'm free to forgive because in this world, people are just people. And they're gonna sin against you, and they're gonna hurt you. What are you gonna do?

Are you gonna be bitter and angry? No. Through Christ, I'm free to forgive. I am free to love unconditionally. I am free to receive all of God's promises.

I'm free twenty four seven to go before the throne of amazing grace. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. I'm free to receive that. I am free to move forward, to forget my past mistakes.

As a Christian, I am free to move forward and forward until I cross the line right into his arms in all of eternity. I want that freedom. That's the freedom that that the impact of the sacrifice has on me. What's the other impact? Well, I'm a new person in Christ.

Second Corinthians five seventeen says, if anyone Christ, she's a new creation. The old has gone, and the new has come. How does the new come to us? I think Ezekiel gives us the insight in Ezekiel eleven nineteen. The Lord says, I will give you singleness of heart.

I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away that stony stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. But that's the key word. I am free to respond to God's word. I am free to respond in prayer.

I'm free to respond in fellowship. But so often, I don't. Why? Why don't we live as new people in Christ? Why don't we look so much different from our nonbelieving neighbor?

Why? I think one reason is we don't submit to the master. I think another reason is the enemy leads us to believe that we don't need to give up all the sin because he makes it seem like it's still good in some ways. It's not good spiritually at all. I wanna share Laura mentioned last week that I've been writing some devotionals, and the Lord gave me such an amazing visual.

My daughter said, oh, mom, that devotional was hellfire and brimstone. Wow. But it it was a great devotional visual of how God sees it when we turn back to sin instead of turning forward in him. Peter writes in second Peter two twenty, if you have escaped the corruption of this world by knowing our lord and savior Jesus Christ, and you again turn back and become entangled in the sin that you were involved in. It is like the proverb, a dog returns to its vomit, and a sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.

Did you know that pigs actually have a really bad reputation? That they really don't like to be that dirty. That pigs wallow in the mud to satisfy their flesh. Think of that spiritual visual. I don't think any of us want to be dirty in sin.

So why do we do it? Because temporarily, it can satisfy us, can't it? But how sad to return to that wallowing and filth once we have tasted the sweet, pure, refreshing living water. Our Lord is exhorting us to be careful with our life. Be so careful.

He has freed us from corruption of the world and its pollution. Why would we entertain the old ways of licking up our vomit? We're not dogs, and we're not pigs. We're made in his image. We're so much better than that.

We have to learn to deny our fleshly desires and not be overcome be overcome in doing good because at the right time, we will reap a harvest if we hang in there. Don't be lured back to an old lifestyle of deception. We know the truth, and the truth has set us free. Amen? You know, when this was years ago, maybe twelve years ago.

After I had recommitted my life to the Lord, and I was walking with the Lord, and I believed all this, but there was a very hard unforgiving place in my heart toward my mom. And the Lord began to show this to me more and more. And I knew that I am more than a conqueror through him he who loves me in Romans eight thirty seven. I believed Philippians 14 that I could do anything through him who gives me strength, and yet I still have this unforgiveness. And I think part of the problem was, as a mom myself, my kids were in elementary school, I would look at my kids and think, how could my mom have treated me the way she treated me?

Because now, as a mother, I just cannot imagine that. And my mom suffered a lot from depression when I was growing up, and there were so many days where my mom didn't talk to me. And I would come home from school, and I would say, how was your day, mom? And nothing. And she would just totally ignore my brothers and me.

And so, of course, as a child, I thought I was doing something wrong. So I would try all the harder to make mom happy, and then she would just ignore me all the more. And I think that I just kind of somehow glossed through it. I was very close to my dad. I was kind of a daddy's girl.

And he was very troubled by mom's behavior, so he would try to make up for it. But then when my kids were starting to grow up, a lot of this junk in me started coming up, and I was ticked off at my mom. And I remember thinking, I want to forgive her, but I just can't. And remember last week when we talked about one of the first steps to really receiving the father's love is that word intimacy into me see, Lord, and may I into you see? And so I said, okay, Lord.

You need to show me what why I can't forgive her. I wanna move forward. Help me. Open me up. It was amazing.

God is so faithful to that prayer. He started to show me through listening to the radio, through every lesson, Bible study lesson I went to, he started to mention fasting, fasting, fasting. And I was like, okay. I had no idea how to even fast. I was like, okay.

What do I do with fasting? So I bought this little book by Bill Bright on fasting. And because I think I was so stubborn about this, this was not like a dinner fast he was calling me to. I felt like he was telling me, you need to fast for five days. And so I prepared my family.

I was determined to be set free. My husband wasn't a believer then, so he's like, okay. Deborah's going off the deep end, but I'll kinda support this. And I fasted for five days, and on the fifth day, nothing was changing, and I was getting frustrated. And I kept referring to these scriptures because when you fast, you have to do scriptures all day.

And the fifth morning, I got up, took my kids to school, I came home, and I started crying. And I cried, and I cried, and I cried, and I couldn't stop crying. And I was like, oh my gosh. Am I having a nervous breakdown? Like, why can't I stop crying?

And I felt like the Lord was telling me, Deborah, we're purging. I'm getting this out of you. Just keep crying. I look at the clock and another hour goes by and another hour goes by and I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to get in the shower to go pick up my kids. I get in the shower, cried through that, and I go downstairs.

I'm like, Lord, I can't fast another day. So can we get to the end of this? And I remember right then my husband calls, and he's like, hey. Can you pick up a couple things for me? And I'm like, no.

I can't do anything. He's like, oh my gosh. He's like, Deborah, what is wrong with you? I said, Greg, I've been crying all morning. And he's like, what?

He's like, are you having a nervous breakdown? I said, I don't think so. I mean, I still feel pretty aware of myself. He's like, okay. I'm gonna call you back in a couple hours and check on you.

But as I sat there with the Lord, he started to bring back good memories of my mom that I have forgotten. And I felt like he said to me, Deborah, your mom was the oldest of 10 kids. She had no childhood. She had to raise the other kids. She didn't even really want kids, but my dad did.

Your mom did the best she could do with the resources she had. You need to forgive her. And it was almost like I really had his eyes to see my mom. And I completely my whole heart completely shifted for my mom. And I felt like instead of being angry with her, I was her biggest protector now.

Like, I felt like mom had been through so much that I didn't even get as a kid. That my mom really did try to do the best that she could do, and that I had been given so much more. And it was just this amazing shift, complete, like, seismic shift in my heart. And I can tell you that, you know, twelve, thirteen years after the fact, my mom and I are so close. And my mom is the one to really share things from her past, and she's begun to open up and share more and more with me.

And we pray together now, something we never used to do. I I used to call home and talk to my dad. Now I call home, and I can't wait to talk to my mom. God is so amazing. He if he says he wants us to be free and he wants us to be a new person, he's gonna give us the support and all the resources we need to be that new person.

But it takes some work on our part. Those were five hard days in my life. I'm so happy they're behind me, and I'm sure that, you know what, a day's coming again when he may ask me to fast over something for five days again. But it's worth it. It's worth it.

And not that fasting is always the answer. There are other answers, and he will tell you exactly what your answer is for your situation in your life. He is that kind of amazing God. And I would just like to say from second Corinthians Corinthians thirteen five, the message says this so amazingly. Says, don't drift along taking everything for granted.

Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not just hearsay that Jesus is in you. You need firsthand evidence that he's working in you. And if you fail the test, then do something about it. If you fail the test, say, Lord, what's going on?

Lord, what do we need to do together? Do I need to spend more time in your word? Do I need to be in prayer more? First Corinthians says, test yourself regularly. And remember last week when Paul said we've been saved unto good works.

God has worked for us. I would just say to you that if you have no desire to serve the Lord, if you have no desire to know him, then something's really wrong. You need to sit with him and say, what is it, Lord? Let's work it out, you and me. Finally, we the impact that the sacrifice of Jesus has on us is eternal salvation.

Now I know many of you are like, yeah. Yeah. I know that. But I heard on Moody Radio, and I can never remember numbers, but a shockingly high percentage of Christians don't fully have the assurance, the guarantee, the security that they are saved for all of eternity. They still struggle with that.

And I remember I did too. Every time the pastor wanted to call someone for it, I was like, I better go just to make extra sure this time. I struggle with that too. I don't struggle with that anymore because I claim God's word. This is what his word says.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans six twenty three. It's eternal. If he took it away, he would have said temporary or depending on how you're doing, but it's not about you. It's about Jesus, and it's eternal. I love these verses, and there's a great visual in Acts of Paul and Silas.

They get thrown into prison. They're sitting in prison. They're singing praise songs, and prisons I can you imagine back then what prisons were like with rats and filth and waste on the floor? Not a place you'd wanna be, but they're singing praise songs, and there's a great earthquake, and all the prison doors open. And what's the jailer do?

The jailer does have a nervous breakdown. He is like, it's gonna be off with my head because these doors are open, and these guys are gonna walk out. And he's completely stressing out. And Paul's like, hey, buddy. We're still here.

And the jailer runs in, says he got a torch. He ran inside. He was so shaken up. He just collapsed in front of Paul and Silas. And he led them out of the jail, and he said, okay.

What do I have to do to be saved to really live? Because he's looking at those guys going, you are in prison, and you're still really living. Whatever you have, I want a piece of that. What do I need to do? And Paul and Silas say, it's what they say.

You have to put your entire trust in the master Jesus. That's it. You have to go to a certain church? No. You have to raise your hands when you're singing praise songs?

No. You have to put your entire trust in the master Jesus, and the jailer says, I'm in. I want that. And he was saved. Romans ten nine says, if you declare with your mouth Jesus is lord, he is the Lord of your life, and you believe he was raised in the third day, you are maybe saved.

No. You're saved. John seventeen three says, this is eternal life that you that you may know the one true God, Jesus Christ. I wanna just back up here and say, I think part of the problem today is the term Christian has kind of been redefined in the year of our lord 2012. I mean, in America, it's like, yeah, I'm an American.

I'm a Christian. Yeah. I was raised in the church. I'm a Christian. Yeah.

My parents baptized me when I was a baby. I'm a Christian. Oh my gosh. If the early Christians Christians heard heard that, that, the their hair would go out to there. They would be in absolute and utter shock because back in the day, to say you were a Christian came with a great cost.

I mean, they had just experienced Jesus and what happened to him. I mean, in human terms, it didn't go so well. In our spiritual eternal terms, it went really well. But then to say you're a Christian meant that you were really a Christ follower, that you were different, that you were a new person, that you didn't live in sin any longer, that you sacrificed for other people. To say you're a Christian meant you lived for your master Jesus.

Does it mean that today? I hear politicians. Yeah. I'm a Christian. I'm like, oh, really?

You are. Maybe they are. I don't judge someone's salvation, but their lifestyle doesn't back up their words. Does your lifestyle back up your words? To be a Christian today just means nothing.

Back then, it meant everything. So I think that's where we get confused with eternal life sometimes. But there is a great little acronym doctor Carl Payne says. It's called COP, c o p, and COP he uses for first John five eleven through 13 just to give us that extra assurance. He says, first of all, COP is for context, that's verse 11, that says, and this is testimony or the evidence, that's what testimony means, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son.

So he goes, okay, the situation is God presents you with this choice, this gift of his son. COP, c o, the option is what are you gonna do with him? Verse 12 says, whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son does not have life. COP, and the promise if you receive the son is verse 13.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you may know you have eternal life. And the amplified says, I write to you these things so that you may trust in and rely on God so that you know it is settled. The Greek word means it's settled. It's absolute truth. It's not truth that changes.

Absolute truth. It's settled. That you have eternal life. Yes. Eternal life.

I love Titus one two. We rest in the hope of eternal life, which God who does not lie God is immutable. He does not lie. That's part of his character. Promised from the beginning of time.

I talk to Christians all the time, and it's like this. I have eternal life. I don't have eternal life. He loves me. He loves me not.

Depends on how I'm doing today. I'm good. He loves me. I have eternal life. Bad.

He doesn't love me. I don't I have eternal life. No. Jesus says you have eternal life. It's eternal.

He can't take it from you. But there is some confusion in this, and I just wanna point this out to you in first Corinth Corinthians three ten through 10 through 15. I'm not going to take time to read the whole passage. Well, I'll read a little bit. It says, by the grace God has given us, lay a foundation as a wise builder.

Be wise with your life. Each one should build with care, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one that's already laid in Jesus Christ. If you lay a foundation based on works, based on yourself, based on anything other than Jesus Christ, Paul writes, it's going to be burned up because the work of every one of us will become known for the day of Christ will disclose it, and it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test it. The fire is going to attest the character of you as a Christian. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.

But if it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but still be saved. That's a key verse. You're still going to be saved. You're still eternity, but I love Paul's visual. You're going to enter as though you are one escaping the flames.

Ladies, may none of us cross the line into eternity with our hair smelling like smoke. We don't wanna just barely escape the flames. We wanna we wanna build our foundation on Jesus. Rewards can be lost. Absolutely rewards can be lost.

We have eternal rewards. We don't wanna lose them. Salvation cannot be lost. No way. You can have assurance that you are a daughter of the king.

Do you think he's not gonna claim his own child? No. That is not the Abba that we worship. He says in Romans, nothing can can separate you from the love of God, neither life nor death, nor angels, demons, nor the past, the present, nothing in all of creation. God is saying nothing.

No natural disaster, no war, no country being taken over, person, not even demons. And are you part of God's creation? You can't even separate yourself from his love. Nothing. I love this verse in John 10.

Jesus says, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. Why? Because my father has given them to me. My father is greater than all.

No one can snatch them out of my hand. If Jesus says, you cannot be snatched out of your father's hand, you cannot be taken from his hand. You are a gift. You are a gift. We can do nothing to earn our way into his hand.

We can do nothing to earn our way out of it once we're his child. What assurance. What blessed assurance we have. Jesus said, I love this verse. He is thanking the Lord for you.

In John seventeen twenty four, he says, father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am. Where is Jesus? He's in heaven with God. He says, I want them to be with me here to see my glory forever. Wow.

We are free. We are new people. We have new blood running through our veins, and we have eternal life. I wanna close by just praying Jude twenty four and twenty five. It's a great promise for the Lord from all of us.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy to the only God, our savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our lord before all ages, now and forevermore. Lord, thank you that we, as your daughters, have incredible promises to claim. We have such joy in knowing that we belong to you today, tomorrow, and forever and ever and ever and ever. We take such joy in knowing that you desire us to be new people, your daughters, to reflect you because in that, we find our freedom. Thank you, Jesus, for your blessings.

Thank you for being our savior. In Jesus' name, amen.

Hallelujah, would you stand with us for this last song before we sing this song or just just have a moment, just a reflection. Father, I pray that your words spoken today will fall upon soft ground, oh, God. May our hearts respond to what is that you're speaking in this hour. To you and to you alone, oh, father, we desire to be yours. Just moving in a posture of praise and worship, and I just wanted to remind you that there are some prayer cards on the table.

And if there's a a need that you have or if you'd like for the team to pray for your family, please fill that out and just leave that back there with Dancy.