THE LAW OF LIBERTY!

1. We are not free to do whatever we want unless our desires reflect His commandments.

Psalm 119:45 says, “And I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts (mandates, commandments).” 

• We are not free to disobey, but to obey. We are not free to sin, but to be holy. This is more than doing the right thing, but rather righteousness has become part of us because the Spirit of Christ rests within us! 
• Many confuse freedoms we have as an American with that of a Christian. There are some you can do as an American that you cannot do as a Christian! Americanism can be selfish. It is about us fulfilling every dream we have, even if it means damaging others who come in our path. It is about doing what we want, regardless of how someone feels or things. Christian freedom is a freedom to love and obey God’s Word!
• 1 John 3:4 says that sin is lawlessness. Freedom is not being lawless, living our own lives without rules, commitments or boundaries! When we become lawless, our life shows we are more connected to a spirit of Antichrist rather than the spirit of Christ!

2) It requires an anointing from the Spirit of the LORD to proclaim liberty and freedom!

Isaiah 61:1 says, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.” 

• Only free people free people. The enemy would love nothing more than for us to not recognize who we are, become distracted and just speak death, bondage and defeat when we have what is necessary to set people free. However, speaking the truth can sound like death to some if it is issued with a warning or encourages you to die to your flesh, but it is the truth that makes people free (John 8:32)! Our actions demonstrate that we are free, but our words bring life and are key to setting others free!

3) Freedom is not an excuse to offend or cause someone else to stumble in their faith. 

1 Corinthians 8:9 says, “But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”

1 Corinthians 10:33 says, “Even as I please (be agreeable with) all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.” 

Galatians 1:10 says, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”

• Even though we may think that something is o.k. and it doesn’t condemn our conscience, if it puts a blemish on the church and refrains someone else from coming to Christ, then we have to consider not engaging in an action that causes them to lose faith. This does not mean that we are “people pleasers”. Paul almost paints a picture of being a people-pleaser, but his focus was he wanted to give God glory in everything that he did. He did not pervert or change the message of the gospel to make people comfortable in their sin, but if an action of his was considered a sin in someone’s culture, he refused to do it because the end game was to win as many people to Christ as possible. If the message was perverted, then he was leading people to a false Christ! That is why if he just tried to please people all of the time, he would not be a servant of Christ! Freedom causes us to serve other people, not to stumble!

4) Freedom is to love our neighbor as ourselves!

James 2:8-13 (NASB) says, “8If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” 

• At the judgment seat of Christ, we are not judged by people’s opinions of us, and so we need to set a different and higher standard. The standard is Jesus! We will be judged by the law of liberty, how we used our freedom to our advantage in advancing the kingdom of God! 
• If we show mercy, we will be judged by mercy. Therefore, we must be considerate of people who are struggling in their faith, seeing things from their perspective and helping them to be restored spiritually. It is not a time to publicly expose and humiliate people, but be there for them in their greatest time of need! 
• Conviction leads to freedom, but condemnation leads to shame. People who are dealing with shame are beating themselves up in their own conscience, and it is a refusal to confess their sins, mistakes, issues and struggles when in reality confession paves the way for healing (James 5:16). 

5) Freedom is only where God’s presence is!

2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

• If you take away the presence of God, the nature and character of the Holy Spirit, then you have removed freedom and have paved the way for manmade ideas, religion, division and disorder! It takes the Holy Spirit to bring about unity and for us to be led by Him!

6) Freedom will motivate jealousy and attacks, and we should recognize when freedom is in jeopardy!

Galatians 2:3-5 says, “3But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.” 

• The purpose of recognizing “spies” who would seek to only tear apart the church is for the purpose of not sacrificing and giving up our freedom to worship and obey God to a culture that only wants to manipulate and control someone into bondage. 
• We have a Biblical right to stand for our freedom in Christ! Don’t surrender your right to worship God and boldly declare His Word in faith to any idea or agenda that conflicts with who He is!

7) Freedom is searching for our imperfections before anyone else so that we can become a purer reflection of Christ! 

James 1:23-25 (NASB) says, “23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” 

• When you are getting ready to go somewhere, you will look at yourself in the mirror “hopefully” to brush your hair, put makeup on, shave or whatever. It requires time, but you want to make sure to eliminate any imperfection so that you can look the best you can. Those reflect people who hear the Word and do the word. Others may be in a hurry and are just trying to get out the door, but when you are rushing things and not spending time in the presence of God, then you can miss what God is trying to cover! You hear the Word, but you ignore it being for you, and, as a result, do not apply it! You may think of it being for someone else when you should take every Word every preached, or any word spoken to you in prayer as something sent down from heaven to minister to wherever you are. Only humility allows you to see your imperfections and make changes in your life to reflect God’s image. Low self-esteem causes you to beat yourself up and look down on yourself over any imperfection without any hope of transformation instead of seeing where repentance, correction and discipline can lead you to! If we refuse to change or deal with the issue, what we eventually do is simply put on a mask! What God wants is our transparency, and then we can walk and live in freedom!