True Freedom
SIN AND ERROR
DO YOU KNOW:
That many who think that they are truly
free are actually in bondage?
That besides some in physical slavery,
many are in real figurative bondage to
drugs, illicit sex, alcohol, tobacco, witchcraft, Satanism, false
religions, gambling, gluttony, sports,
business, professions, etc., from which as
figurative balls and chains they are unable to free themselves?
That man and woman were created by God to
live forever on earth (#Ge
1:27, 28; 3:22) in true freedom from fear, hunger, want,
sickness, old age, etc., and were to
multiply and fill the earth with people living together in joy, peace, happiness, brotherhood and good will?
DO YOU KNOW:
That God made Adam and Eve lower than
angels, with dominion over earth and the
lower animals (#Ge
1:28; #Ps 8:4-8), and told them they could eat fruit of the trees of the garden except one, and that
if they ate of it they would surely die
(#Ge 2:16, 17; 3:1-5)?
That when they sinned by eating of this
fruit, they lost their true freedom and
fell into "the bondage of corruption," into sin and death (#Ro 5:12-19; 8:20, 21), and that all their children, the human
family, including you and me, were born
in sin and "shapen in iniquity," under the death sentence (#Ps 51:5), without true
freedom?
That God in His infinite Wisdom and Love
made a great Plan, in which His only
begotten Son, the mighty Logos, became human, "the man Christ
Jesus," and willingly laid down
His life as a Ransom-price for Adam and all mankind, who descended from him (#Mt 18:11; #Ro
5:6-8; #Joh 1:14; 3:14-17; #Php 2:5-11; #1Ti 2:4-6; #Heb
2:9-14; #1Jo 2:2)?
That God in His great love has arranged
that any of us who recognize and are
truly sorry for our sins and imperfections because of heredity through
Adam and our own fault, can anywhere
and anytime tell this to God in prayer and ask for and receive forgiveness and justification (making right) and
freedom from bondage to dead works
through faith in Jesus and His great Ransom-sacrifice for us (#Ac 4:10-12; 16:31; 20:21; #Ro 4:25; 5:1; #Ga 2:16; #Ep 2:8-10)?
That we are to accept our Jesus as Lord
(Ruler or Controller) as well as Savior,
in dedication, or consecration, to do God’s will to the best of our
ability (#Ac 2:36; 10:36; #Heb 10:7)?
DO YOU KNOW:
That after we thus accept Jesus as our
personal Lord and Savior we are "made
free" from the bondage of sin and we become "servants of
righteousness"-that "being
made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For
the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (#Ro 6:18, 22, 23)?
That "there is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (#Ro 8:1)?
That as we begin "walking in newness
of life" with Jesus Christ and progress, we will soon no longer be in bondage to drugs, alcohol, illicit sex,
tobacco, gambling, witchcraft,
Satanism, false religions, etc. (#Ro 6:5; #2Co 5:17)?
That as God’s people were at one time in cruel
bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt and were
freed by Moses, so we were in cruel bondage to Satan, sin, error, selfishness and worldliness, but have
freedom from their domination through our
Lord Jesus, the great antitypical Moses?
That Jesus said, "If ye continue in
my word [as its hearers, leaners, and
obeyers], then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you
free." "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (#Joh 8:32, 36; #2Co 6:17, 18)?
That it is necessary for those of us who
are Jesus’ free "disciples indeed," to "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us
free, and be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage" in which we formerly were (Galatians 5:1), or some other deceptive entanglements?
DO YOU KNOW:
That Satan and his servants will promise
us greater liberty if we follow their
ways, but that "they themselves are the servants of
corruption," who will seek to entangle
and enslave us again in the pollutions of the world, in our old bad habits, etc., like figurative balls and
chains, and to cause us to return like a
washed sow to wallowing in the mire (#2Pe 2:19-22)?
That for those who in this time of evil
and crookedness (#Php 2:15,
16) hold on to their true freedom in Christ, and serve "as
shining lights" in this present
evil world, "holding forth the word of life," God has special
great favors in reservation in His
coming "new heavens and new earth wherein dwells righteousness" (#2Pe 3:13)?
That these great Divine favors are far
above God’s favors for mankind in
general, that will be given to them in Christ’s 1,000-year Kingdom, when
the whole groaning creation will be
delivered ‘from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God," and receive their
Kingdom reward of everlasting life on
earth (#Ro 8:19-23; #Re 21:2-4; 22:3)?
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