It is Memorial Day in America. We spend a three-day weekend remembering those who gave their lives in defense of freedom. Today we are going to talk about a life that was freely given to give you your freedom.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Watch the video of this teaching at https://www.celllifechurch.tv/the-cost-of-freedom
America is known around the world for its freedoms. It’s freedom of religion, of speech, and the freedom to assemble, just to name a few. We often hear around Memorial Day when we remember all the men and women who have fought to keep our freedom that “freedom isn’t free”.
Memorial Day started as Decoration Day around 150 years ago as people would go out and decorate the graves of fallen soldiers. It eventually became an annual holiday throughout the country. Many countries have a similar holiday celebrating the price paid by their soldiers and sailors in defense of their nation.
In America, the celebration isn’t as much in defense of the nation, as it is celebrating those who gave up their lives in defense of freedom around the world. But another gave his life not defending our freedom, but giving us freedom; freedom from the bondage of sin, death, Hell, and the grave.
God is the author of freedom. He desires for every person to experience true freedom. Whether you live in a free nation or not, you can experience true freedom.
God created man as free human beings. He loves us so much that when he created us he wanted to give us the choice to choose freedom for ourselves. He didn’t want to force us into anything we didn’t want. God wanted us to have the choice to choose for ourselves so when he created Adam and Eve he placed them in a garden and gave them everything they could ever need.
God gave Adam and Eve clear directions that they would have dominion over the entire world but must not eat of 2 particular trees; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Let’s read Genesis 1:26-28.
(26) Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (27) So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (28) God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
You can read in Genesis chapter 3 how Adam and Eve chose to listen to the lies of the serpent and disobeyed God, thus bringing sin, bondage, and death into the world and separating mankind from God.
Sin is what brings slavery and bondage and is disobedience to God. When we disobey God or commit sin, we are giving up the God-ordained freedom that we were initially created with.
The good news is the story doesn’t end there! God had a plan to bring that freedom back to man! However, it was going to cost more than anyone could ever pay. Ultimate sin had to be paid for with a perfect sacrifice.
God’s plan was to send his one and only son into the world to buy back our freedom from the devil. He sent Jesus to give us back the freedom we gave away. Jesus was sent to break the chains of bondage and deliver us from the slavery to sin.
John 3:16 and 17 says:
(16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God’s plan for the redemption of man was going to cost him dearly. It was going to cost him the life of his one and only son. But, he was willing to pay that price if it meant redeeming all of mankind and returning us to our intended place in Creation.
Jesus willingly paid this price on the cross at Calvary on Passover almost 2000 years ago. Jesus bought back our freedom. We were now able to reclaim the freedom and liberty that we were created with. The inherent freedom God created us with was restored and ours to take back from the devil.
It is now up to us. During World War 2, as allied soldiers retook Europe, the people of towns and villages that were liberated had to step in and defend the newfound freedom they had. In our lives the same holds true. Jesus fought death, Hell, and the grave and beat them. Jesus wrestled our freedom from the devil. It is up to us to then defend that freedom and tell others how they can receive their freedom back. Galatians 5:1 says:
(1) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
This verse has two purposes. It tells us first to stand firm in the freedom that we were initially created with and Jesus returned to us. We can stand firm in the freedom and liberty and liberty endowed by God from the beginning of time. The cost of that freedom was paid for by the blood of God’s own Son, Jesus.
The verse goes on to say, it is up to us to defend that freedom. We need to continue to watch and keep ourselves from falling back into the bondage of sin and disobedience to God. This is just like the people that of the newly liberated villages and towns across Europe had to take control of their freedom and defend it after the soldiers secured it for them, we must do the same with our lives.
Jesus paid the cost of our freedom with his life. It is up to us to continue to seek him and follow him so we can keep our freedom. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can continue to be free and share that freedom.
Jesus tells us in Acts 1:8:
(8) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Don’t let yourselves be burdened by the yoke of slavery again. The Holy Spirit has all the power you need to resist the temptations of the devil and stay faithful to the Lord. The Holy Spirit also will equip you and prepare you to share this message of good news with others.
The cost of freedom is high. The cost of our freedom from death, Hell, and the grave was more than any of us could ever pay. Only Jesus could pay that debt and return to us our freedom. Stand firm in the freedom Jesus bought back for you. Share this freedom with others, knowing that the Holy Spirit will guide you and equip you to avoid being placed back in the bondage of sin and to share this good news with others.
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