Living with Lockdown: Freedom Romans 6:15-23 Are You Free? Paul - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

“Living with Lockdown: Freedom” Romans 6:15-23

“Are You Free?”

Paul and Silas around 58 A.D. John Dietrich Bunyan Bonhoeffer 1628 – 1688 A.D. 1906 – 1945 A.D.

Because their hearts were “chained” to Jesus, they were truly free.

“Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’”

“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.” “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

There seems to be a type and a source of that is found only in Jesus.

What is this Gospel… and how can I embrace it as “ living freedom”?

• Dictionary = independence from others’ control, action without restraint.

• Dictionary = independence from control, action without restraint. • Culture = the ability to do what I want as long as I don’t hurt anyone.

• Dictionary = independence from control, action without restraint. • Culture = I do what I want as long as I don’t hurt anyone. • Our heart = having whatever I need to be happy and in control of my life.

“Freedom is found in submission. It is the ability to become a willing slave of the Creator God.”

Ne New

1) Profound truths about freedom.

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.15 – True freedom is not intuitive. o We naturally seek a false freedom.

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.15 – True freedom is not intuitive. o We naturally seek a false freedom. o We would sin if we could get away with. o We would take control of our own lives if God would let us.

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.16 – Freedom is validated by its object. o We are automatically a slave to whatever we call “lord”. ✓ A false lord, can only lead to the death of everything we value. ✓ The one true Lord can only lead to true freedom.

“Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you're gonna have to serve somebody…”

“For you will certainly carry out God's purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John.”

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.16 – Freedom is validated by its object. o We are automatically a slave to whatever we call “lord”. ✓ A false lord, can only lead to the death of everything we value. ✓ The one true Lord can only lead to true freedom.

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.17,18 – Freedom begins when we transfer loyalty. o It is not enough to be free FROM; we must be free TO.

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.19 – Freedom involves unswerving submission and devotion. o Remember how devoted you were to sin. o Freedom is that commitment redirected toward a Lord Who will die for you.

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.20,21 – True freedom means exposing what false freedom was really like. o Sin automatically “freed” (disconnected) us from righteousness.

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.22 – Slavery to God is ultimate freedom. o Righteousness is slavery to God and automatically “sets you free” from sin.

1) Profound truths about freedom. • v.23 – Freedom is bound to an eternal principle. o Every lord but Jesus leads to death; God’s gift alone is eternal life.

2) Application: How can we embrace freedom during these days of restriction? • Believe that submission to God is a blessing and slavery to God is freedom.

“Pierce my ear, O Lord my God; Lead me to Your door this day; I will serve no other god; Lord, I’m here to stay.”

2) Application: How can we embrace freedom during these days of restriction? • “Go to the door” every day. Exodus 21:1-6

“When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free… But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’

“then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”

2) Application: How can we embrace freedom during these days of restriction? • “Go to the door” every day. Exodus 21:1-6

2) Application: How can we embrace freedom during these days of restriction? • When obedience is difficult, remember the results God promises.

2) Application: How can we embrace freedom during these days of restriction? • Practice the spiritual disciplines of submission, sacrifice and self-denial.

2) Application: How can we embrace freedom during these days of restriction? • Live transparently, honestly, with no secrets.

2) Application: How can we embrace freedom during these days of restriction? • Remember that there is only one Master Who has died for you.

“Pierce my ear, O Lord my God; Lead me to Your door this day; I will serve no other god; Lord, I’m here to stay.” Exodus 21:1-6

During lockdown days and beyond, God is calling the Church to a new kind of...