“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 NKJV
Jesus is giving His Bio to seekers to ponder and respond? How does one respond to this truth finding fact? Is Jesus just blowing His own horn or does He have bragging rights?
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
thedailylily.com 
Jesus is the Way, the TRUTH and the Life. And since He IS TRUTH, then He can only say, not only what is true at all times but HE’S the root of Truth behind what is true. Gary taught yesterday that the word ‘LIE’ was not mentioned per se in the list of deadly sins in Gal. 5:19-21 because of the truism that THE LIE belies or is at the base or root of all other sins, first committed by the father of LIES, Satan and listed by Paul in Galatians.
Conversely, Jesus Christ IS TRUTH and all that He says and does and proclaims from eternity and infinity is the ROOT of TRUTH. Jesus is TRUTH personified. So, if Jesus says HE sets us free and free, indeed, than we can take it to the bank, the heavenly bank where our true treasure is stored (or reasonable facsimile thereof). What Jesus says is ‘truth’ and we can trust all His promises. As Sara wrote us yesterday, “Wait for it…it will happen, it will come,” Just as Jesus promises in His WORD of TRUTH.
Sara, you have asked, “How does one respond to this truth finding fact?” I believe the answer is, have faith. The Word of God has much to say about faith, but I’d like to share some scripture I have read this morning. Read with me, Luke 7: 36 – 50, ” One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!’ then Jesus answered his THOUGHTS. ‘Simon,’ he said to the Pharisee, ‘I have something to say to you.’ ‘Go ahead, Teacher,’ Simon replied. Then Jesus told him this story. ‘A man loaned money to two people–500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt’. ‘That’s right,’ Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins– and they are many–have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.’ Then Jesus said to the woman. ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The men at the table said among themselves. ‘Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?’ And Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.'” Footnotes, “The Pharisees believed that only God could forgive sins, so they wondered why this man, Jesus, was saying that the woman’s sins were forgiven. They did not grasp the fact that Jesus was indeed God.”
I believe this woman responded to the facts about Jesus, with faith.
Faith, forgive and accept those whom the Son has set free is mind-boggling to me.
We can talk faith but walk faith and accept others that have been set free especially when we know or have heard about their indiscretions seems impossible to do. I am seeing that is why it is called Faith! We seem to accept our freedom a little easier than anothers, don’t you think?
I see also from reading Needles comments and scriptures that the woman not only responded with faith but with actions. In one hand she had faith, in the other hand she had acts of service, love, generous giving and appreciation. Both hands, operating together, showed she had accepted the gift of forgiveness and freedom that Jesus offered her.
Adding to Mg’s comment, I recall from Gary’s teaching yesterday that he said something to this effect ‘when we proclaim Jesus is our freedom by what we say and do the fruit of the Spirit grows.’
The woman boldly ‘proclaimed’ her freedom in front of a gathering of Pharisees. Her response caused the fruit of goodness, kindness and love to grow and show.
“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17
Faith! We arrive back at the “waiting on the Lord” blog. To wait expectantly for the the Lord is to have faith that He will do what He says, because He is TRUTH and tells the TRUTH. So we wait with hope and expectation. Paul calls it patient endurance in Corinthians. John in REVELATION 1:9, 13:10 and Revelation 14:12 calls it PATIENT ENDURANCE…on the part of the saints who OBEY GOD and remain FATHFUL, (that is have faith in) , to Jesus. Paul and John put Patient endurance, faith, faithfulness and Waiting in a similar category.
As a postscript, “Paying Attention To” is a part of that, also.
I recently heard a teaching that was expounding on an incident in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus was telling His disciples about forgiving one another even if it were 7 times a day (and in another place 7 times 70 ). When the disciples heard this they said, “Increase our Faith” which was taken to mean that the disciples knew that it would take an increase of Faith to do an act of forgiveness especially if the offense occurs 7 times a day and the offender asks for forgiveness over and over, daily. An act of forgiveness is an action of Faith just as receiving the forgiveness is an action of faith.
We believe, BY FAITH, that we have been forgiven of all our sins by the crucifixion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We receive it by faith that it is the Truth and we are indeed forgiven. And if we mess up and sin and ask forgiveness, “He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from the transgressions that we commit daily.” This has to be taken by Faith. God said it and we believe it. This gives us strength to go on, to endure, to labor in the Kingdom, to continue to pursue the Presence of God…because we are forgiven. We know this by Faith. It is a gift from God…the forgiveness is a gift and the faith to believe it, is a gift.
Thank You God for these great gifts.
In one of Gary’s lessons on “The Holy Spirit” he says the fruit of the Spirit is growing inside of us, that God is causing the fruit to grow inside of us.” It would seem to me based on this theory, that as we go we grow. As we do we spiritually energize. The bounty of God is goodness in all things when you open your eyes of faith to receive and see and enjoy. Goodness stimulates the joy and joy the peace and peace the patience and patience the kindness and kindness love. And, then hope becomes a given!
The fruit of the spirit is like a well balanced meal to me. They network together to bring the bounty. “You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness…” (Psalm 65:11, AMP)
Thanks for these enlightening words, Sara. And what a powerful comment , …’as we go we grow’. This brings ‘freedom in Christ’ into a practical, usable format for us to understand and practice.
So we don’t wait to go until we grow. It’s in the doing that comes the empowering and the renewing. The ‘go’ is the match that sparks the fire.
It made me think of several scriptures where we are told to put the go before the grow or do in order to reap the results of the doing.
“Rise, take up your bed and walk.” John 5:8 (and he was healed)
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure…” Phillipians 2:14,15
“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Phillipians 4:9
“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Reading and rereading this scripture made a thought occur to me…..it would seem that the “if” would or could mean that “if we CHOOSE to allow the Son to make us free”??
Debi,
The scripture in Phillipians 2: 14, 15, sure set me straight. I have to confess, I don’t do EVERYTHING without complaining or arguing… Father, please forgive me.
Hum, I guess I MUST CHOOSE to not complain/argue too???
In my a.m. study with Beth Moore she focused on Nebuchadnezzar being contented and prosperous as two traits we need to be careful of. Of course there are many others. Sara what you have said about the Holy Spirit fruit in our lives is truly a platter God wants to serve up for us to live in the light. The other platter is a platter of death – pursuit of contented (Aramaic meaning both contented and security) and prosperous (luxury – stuff) and other wordly focuses. The other platter holds out death as confirmed by John 10: 10 which says, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Nebuchadneszzar’s placing idolistic value – happiness and security in his wealth instead of placing his focus on God’s fruits brought bounty and goodness for a moment but then death. May we be wise as to which platter we choose. Beth Moore’s prayer for us is, “O Lord, make us courageous enough to pray that no earthly luxury would ever cheat us of true prosperity.” – the true bounty as spoken above. I would add that the platter that we as humans in this life take that the Lord would shake to make sure there is nothing on the platter that is not of light, truth, and life.
Rena, yours and Beth’s analogy of the “platter” makes me think of the “cup” of salvation wherein is: salvation, liberty, deliverance, prosperity, freedom, life which is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control all inherent in the CUP OF SALVATION or the PLATTER OF LIFE….and as Tammy says, IF WE SO CHOOSE that CUP.
As I was thinking on Sara’s comment on the fruit network and the progression of fruit…goodness to joy, joy to peace, etc..I think that is how it is in nature also. Each fruit has a season and not all fruit ripens at the same time….so the bounty lasts and lasts. From late spring fruits such as strawberries to fall fruits such as apples…there is a progression. And as we walk willingly each day, choosing to be free, as Needles wrote, we experience the bounty of the fruit of each season.
Hallejuah to the verse, we are free indeed if Jesus says it. If we choose Jesus as in Matthew 22:16 we read, They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. In John 5:19
we read, Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. On the opposite side we have Satan: John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Therefore if we are walking with Jesus we should be free that is his plan for us. I think of stepping along life highway with the Holy Spirit, our helper, He will point out those things we need to change in our lives to walk in the freedom he aspires for us to have. As Pastor Gary says it will not come without pain.
In our study of the Holy Spirit this last Sunday we learned through Pastor Gary there are words of life and words of death. The death words are found in – Galatians 19-20 which MG mentioned. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealously, fits of rage, selfish ambitiion, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkeness, orgies, and the like. We need to name these death words in us and change. PAIN yes! Freedom yes!
In Galatians 5: 13 it says we are called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love. The entire law in summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
When I spoke of highway I was reminded of a song in the 60’s “Freedoms Highway” by Marvis Staples
March for freedom’s highway
March each and every day
Made up my mind and I won’t turn around
Made up my mind and I won’t turn around
There is just one thing I can’t understand my friend.
Why some folk think freedom
Was not designed for all men.
…
Yes I think I voted for the right man (That’s Jesus!)
Said we would overcome.
– Freedom Highway
Debi, that is an excellent analogy concerning fruit and the progression of how it “comes of age” in its own season. That can be compared to how we mature through the seasons we go through in our Christian walk. Each season should bring a harvest of fruit, good fruit we pray. But the fruit we bear should not fade away but be provided for others to partake. And we are not diminished by our output of “fruit” for there is another harvest right behind each one. …pressed down, shaken together and running over, the fruit of the Spirit that we present to others, of the Spirit of the Living God.
The freedom to bear fruit is a free gift but Needles said above “if we CHOOSE to allow the Son to make us free”. So we have a choice to accept the gift or not.
“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears, say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17)
We don’t have to remain a hostage. Usually hostages live in fear of their captors, are deprived of rights, maybe food or other things, and may even be tortured. That’s the way the devil would like us to have to live. But thankfully, Jesus paid the ransom.
“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance– now that He has died as a ransom to set them free. . . “(Hebrews 9:15)
The freedom that the Son of God has purchased for us is a continuing action. Once we accept the freedom that Jesus Christ came to give us by His death and resurrection, it continues, is everlasting and is new every morning with each circumstance and situation that “pops” up in our daily lives. When the enemy comes to torment, Christ’s freedom for us stands up against that torment. If an affliction attackes our physical well-being, Christ’s freedom for us gives us the assurance that we can be free from that through the healing power of Jesus’ stripes that He took on His back on the cross. If our character is assailed, if we are falsely accused, if we have a difficult situation to handle the freedom in Christ Jesus promises us that we can have victory over it. We can know that God is a just God and that will not the God of the universe judge justly? He will avenge us; He will take care of our enemies; He will prove us and defend us if we are in the right and they are in the wrong. Christ has set us free from struggling over injustices, accusations, incriminations, attacks, charatcter assassinations and all the junk that satan tries to throw over against us.
For whom the Son has set free, is free INDEED!! PTL~