Freedom in Christ

It wasn’t long after Karen asked me to do the meditation for this service, that an outline began to form in my head. The day before Mom passed away, I had been listening to the old negro spiritual:

“Steal away, steal away, steal away home to Jesus.

“Steal away, steal away, steal way home. I ain’t got long to be here.

I thought about how Mom went home peacefully, like sneaking out of the nursing home without triggering the alarm. But I also remembered how this was a song sung by slaves who were telling their family and friends that they were planning to escape that night. Today we are going to talk about how faith in the resurrection of Jesus sets us free, both in this life and in the life to come.

What is the Gospel?

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.  By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

The essence of what we call “the Gospel” is that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, he was buried, and rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures.

Romans 10:9 says:

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

This verse tells us that to be “saved” we must acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead. But what does it mean to be “saved”?  For the purpose of this message today, I just want to emphasize that to be saved, means to be delivered, or to be “set free”. Set free from the Penalty, the Power, and the Presence of sin.

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation that set the slaves free. But it wasn’t until June 19, 1865, that the message reached slaves as far away as Texas. This date has now become a national holiday called Juneteenth. Over 2000 years ago Jesus rose from the dead and proclaimed freedom for captives, and victory over sin and its consequences. But there are still many who have not heard.

Is today your Juneteenth? Is today the day when you hear and believe that Jesus has set you free?

Freedom From the Penalty of Sin.

I think these days it is not hard to refute the fact that human beings are all sinners. We may not commit the sins other people commit. But it is hard to find a truly righteous man or woman. Some people are more righteous than others, but we all fail all the time. Almost daily.

I will admit that I am a sinner through and through. I do not love my neighbor as I love myself. I get angry and judgmental. I lie more often than I want to admit. I get obsessed and can’t let things go. I often think I’m right and everyone else is wrong and I’ll argue till I can prove it. If you don’t believe me, ask my wife and kids.

I’m not asking anyone to engage in self-hatred. But I am asking everyone to acknowledge their own weaknesses and imperfections. Mankind as a whole is pretty messed up, and each of us bears a part of the blame.

But the good news is that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”. Jesus did what we could not do. He lived a perfect, sinless life, then offered himself as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin and rose again from the dead to give us the power to live a new life of victory over sin, both in this life and ultimately in the life to come.

2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God took all our sins and unrighteousness and placed them on Jesus. Then Jesus was punished for our sins on the cross. Then when he rose from the dead, he conquered sin and death and gives eternal life to anyone who believes.

John 3:16

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.

Listen to what Isaiah 59:14-16 says:

So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance;

truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;

so, his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

It is hard to read those verses and not see that they are completely relevant to our world today. But are they relevant to you personally? Do you want the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers?

Freedom From the Power of Sin

Jesus said anyone who sins is a slave to sin. I volunteer by doing devotionals at the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation unit of the Erie City Mission. I have seen what slavery to sin looks like. But I also have seen how the power of the gospel can set people free. But even if you have never had an addiction, we are all slaves to sin to greater or lesser amounts. Jesus not only gives us freedom from the penalty of sin. He also sets us free from the power of sin.

Romans 6:5-7, 11-14

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

 When we believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead, these verses tell us that in a spiritual way, we are united with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection. Other parts of scripture call this being “born again”, being given a “new heart”, or becoming a “new creation”.

 These verses tell us that something has happened to us that we did not do. We “have been” united with him. Our old self “was crucified”. We “have been” set free from sin. But for it to be true in a practical sense, we need to believe the message and act on it.

 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.  For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

 These verses tell us that we need to “count” ourselves dead to sin; we need to “not let” sin reign in our bodies; we need to “not offer” parts of our body to sinful acts. Rather we need to “offer ourselves to God”. These are choices that we can make. They are commandments to be obeyed.

 But I will not deceive you and tell you it is easy. Even Paul wrote of the struggle he faced when he tried to live a righteous life. He summarized it in Romans 7:21-25

So, I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Freedom From the Presence of Sin

Using the analogy of slavery in the US to illustrate the slavery we all have to sin; we can think of the Emancipation Proclamation as the resurrection where mankind was declared free from the penalty of sin. We can think of Juneteenth as when that message of freedom is declared to the uttermost parts of the world through the preaching of the Gospel. My parents were involved in that proclamation in the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Lesotho, as well as here in America. Missionaries continue to spread the word, and individuals from ethnic groups all over the world come to their own Juneteenth every day.

But just as the struggle for freedom continues in the descendants of slaves in our country, so also is the struggle for true freedom from the power of sin in our lives as long as we live in this mortal body. The apostle John says there are three enemies of our souls: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. These things draw us away from our love of God and our neighbor and cause us to slip back into sin.

Not only do we commit acts of sin, but we also are enslaved to the weaknesses of our mortal bodies. In the later days of my mother’s life, she suffered from painful injuries, loss of memory that came and went, and times of anxiety and depression. But on August 20, she fell asleep in her mortal body and woke up in her immortal body in heaven.

Now she is “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty, she is free at last”.
She is now free from sin, free from sadness, free from pain, free from death forever and ever.

I’d like to close with the reading of various verses from Revelation 21 and 22

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty, I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.  But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Mom’s greatest wish is that her family and friends would know the joys of fellowship with God in this life and for all eternity. Will you come and take the free gift of the water of life?

Memorial Message for Barbara Dunkerton

By Tom Dunkerton                                                                                         

September 10, 2022