The Way of Freedom (Chantilly)

The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is. He confuses it with feeling. – Thomas Sowell

John 8:31-36 CSB – Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

Galatians 5:1, 13 CSB – For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Understanding Freedom: The Complexities of Freedom

John 8:31-32 CSB – Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Galatians 5:13-14 CSB – For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.” – Rousseau

Freedom follows your choices
There is no freedom. There are freedoms.

John 8:34 CSB – Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

Matthew 6:24 CSB – “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

2 Peter 2:19 CSB – They [wide-road leaders] promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

The Robin and the Canary

Galatians 1:1 CSB – It is for freedom that Christ has set you free…
v.14, For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

John 8:31-32,36 CSB – “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

The Anatomy of Freedom: Jesus Defines as “Love”

Freedom is not the absence of limitations and constraints but it is finding the right ones, those that fit our nature and liberate us – Tim Keller

Galatians 5:13 CSB – For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are” – Jim Morrison

“Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Dictionary Cambridge , Freedom is “the condition or right of being able or allowed to do whatever you want to do without being controlled or limited”.

2 Corinthians 3:17 CSB – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

John 8:32,36 CSB – You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

Matthew 22:36-37 CSB – “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”
37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Galatians 5:13-14 CSB – For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

2 Corinthians 3:17 CSB – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

2 Peter 2:17 CSB – Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people…. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

John 8:31ff – Then Jesus said…“If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

The Path to Freedom: Complete Surrender to Jesus as Lord

Do you really want to be free?

2 Corinthians 3:17 CSB – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

How do you need to surrender to Jesus, so He can set you free?

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 CSB – Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, 10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. 11 And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Galatians 5:1, 13-14 CSB –  For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 CSB – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The Path to Freedom is to be Jesus’ Disciple—Daily Discipline

Galatians 5:1 CSB – For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.