Sunday, November 25, 2007

Free the Captives
Romans 5:1-11

I. Introduction

This is the third and final week of the One More Soul initiative for this year. Next week when Kevin Dunbar is here to share with us we will be taking a special missions offering that we will give to the Dunbars, the Bartletts (in Malawi), and Shane Scheib (in New Zealand).

In the first week I spoke about following Jesus. I asked the question, “If I call myself a Christian, does that mean I have
to follow Jesus?”

Last week I spoke about finding the missing, the basic question being, “How much time, energy and resources do we pour into finding those who are lost?”

This week I would like to share about freeing the captives. The question for today – is freedom even possible?

Now, I do not say this as a means of condemnation, but I do not see many Christians who are experiencing deep levels
of freedom in their lives.

Most Christians I know and meet are still bound by fear, addictions, anger, bitterness, depression or whatever, yet the Scripture is clear – in Christ we are free from not only the penalty of sin, but we are set free from its power!

This does not mean that we will be free in this life from the temptation of sin (only in heaven will we be free from the presence of sin), but it does mean that we do not need to live in constant defeat and condemnation.

Why is this important? Because the number one reason people are resistant to becoming followers of Christ is the
example they see in those who claim to be followers of Christ!

If we are going to “free the captives,” I believe we need to experience greater freedom ourselves.

II. Free the Captives

What will it take to bring freedom to our world and to our hearts? In today’s scripture, the Apostle Paul describes our problem:

A. Our Problem

1. “… we were utterly helpless …” (verse 6)

Romans 7 details our hopeless struggle: “… I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (verses 14-15)

In Ephesians 2:1 Paul reminds us, “… you were dead in your transgressions and sins …”

A dead person has no power! A dead person doesn’t respond to any kind of stimuli.

“WE WERE UTTERLY HELPLESS …” Like an insect hopelessly entangled in a spider web, we are powerless — mastered by unwanted passions, thoughts and actions!

2. “… we were still sinners …” (verse 8)

- We were in moral and ethical rebellion.
- We were in violation of God’s intentions, His plans and His laws.
- We were in rebellion against God.

Sin is knowing what we should do, but not doing it and it is knowing what we should not do, but doing it anyway.

“WE WERE STILL POWERLESS …” “WE WERE STILL SINNERS …”

Then Paul takes our problem to a third level.

3. “… we were God’s enemies …” (verse 10)

We were not just politely refusing to take His suggestions — we were spitting in His face.

We were stubbornly resisting His will. We were God’s enemies!

Paul spoke to the Ephesian Christians and reminded them, “In those days you were living apart from Christ. You
were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God
had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.” (Ephesians 2:12, NLT)

This is our dilemma: we are entrenched in our sins, dug into our position, lobbing our artillery in God’s direction.

B. God’s Plan

But God does not want us to remain in that place – one of Paul’s favorite phrases is “In Him,” or “Through Him.”

verse 1 - “… through our Lord Jesus Christ …”
verse 6 - “… Christ died for the ungodly.”
verse 8 - “… Christ died for us.”
verse 9 - “… justified by His blood …”
verse 9 - “… saved from God’s wrath through Him!”
verse 10 - “… we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more …shall we be saved through
                       His life!”
verse 11 “… through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

C. Our Position — We are considered right with God through Christ!

What does this passage say about our standing before God?

verse 1 - “… we have been justified …”

Justified - Gracious act of God where we are pronounced forgiven from all our sins, released from the penalty of our sins and accepted as righteous before God. No divine accusations are presented. No charges made. Declared righteous!

verse 2 - “… we have gained access …”

verse 9 - “… saved from God’s wrath through Him!”

verse 11 - “… we have now received reconciliation.”

Reconciled - a word Paul uses to further emphasize a change from being an enemy to being a friend. The barriers have come down.

All this is yours when you put your trust fully in Christ.

It is critical to understand your position in Christ, but there is even more! We have new possessions in Christ.

D. Our Possessions — He has given us the power to do the right thing!

What God did for us in Christ is more than “call us righteous.” We are new creations in Christ.

We are free from the strongholds that used to defeat us.

Justification and reconciliation are what God does for us through Christ on the cross; sanctification is what God works
in us by His Holy Spirit.

Justification and reconciliation are a change in our relationship with God; sanctification is a change in our moral nature.

We are declared righteous in justification and made righteous in sanctification. The saved sinner does not go on in a
habitual life of sinning. The cross changes our relationship.

The Holy Spirit changes our character. Justification is instantaneous; sanctification is both crisis (specific encounters)
and process.

What possessions have been given to us?

1. Peace with God (verse 1)

“Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God…”

Our sins have been cancelled. Our debts have been paid. A truce has been signed with the blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus taught about a kind of false peace. Five foolish bridesmaids had peace until their oil ran out. A man who built his house on the sand had peace until the storm broke loose. A rich man was at peace until it was time to die.

Genuine and lasting peace is the result of a right relationship with God!

2. Joy (verses 3 and 4)

“… we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

This is a joy that circumstances cannot take away!

3. Love (verse 5)

“… God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Whom He has given us.”

These are just the three mentioned in these verses, but listen to this:

“His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:3-4, NRSV)

III. Application

What is our response? We must trust Christ, surrender our sin and receive His precious and very great promises by faith.

In closing, let me share with you a graphic illustration of what I am talking about.

Isaiah 9:4 says, “For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.”

[While holding a wooden rod across my shoulders like a prisoner ask the following]

Are you still carrying heavy burdens this morning? Are you feeling weighed down by life? Depression? Sadness?

Do they hold you prisoner today?

The Scripture says that Christ came to shatter [break the rod] the yoke that burdens you!

[Holding another rod] In this passage the Assyrians took many Jews captive in the same manner that we are taken captive by sin.

Are you struggling with habitual sins and addictions?

“For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered (break the rod) the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.”

[While swinging the third rod] The Assyrians would beat their prisoners with rods to cause fear and shame.

Do past sins you committed or memories of what others did to you still haunting you? Do they leave you feeling beaten down by fear and shame?

Christ came to set us free from those things that cause us fear and shame.

“For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered (break the rod) the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.”

Have you been set free? If not, this moment can be the beginning of freedom for you!

Invite people forward for prayer.