Title Liberation
Contents
Liberation (Freedom) (Romans 7:23-8:2)
American revolutionary Patrick Henry (1775) cried out for political freedom, and in his speech he said, 'Give me liberty, or give me freedom or death.' This is political freedom. The desire for liberation from the various kinds of unfreedom experienced in cultural life can cause stress and even cause illness.
The Bible tells us that all the problems of unfreedom in life are the result of disobedience to God due to original sin and self-crime. Therefore, to meet God is to restore true freedom, which is very important in life. Focusing on the word liberation that Paul used, we want to get the concept of true freedom and its method.
1. Find Liberation in Jesus Christ
The book of Romans is representative of the detailed situation of our human existence. In chapters 1-7, along with the fact that humans are sinners and there is no way to be righteous before God, even if we become Christians, we will always be It proves to be a difficult existence.
It is not through the Law, but only through Jesus Christ, whom God has given, atonement and restoration of status as a child of God are possible.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
1“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Being in Jesus Christ must be explained in various ways. to be in Jesus
1) Based on God's promise to Jesus
2) The life and death of Jesus must lead us to believe in my sin and resurrection.
3) It is faith that means that Jesus is the Lord of my life.
When God gave Jesus to this world, he gave Jesus as a free gift to us.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
It is a wonderful message of salvation, in which we receive the Atonement and receive eternal life if we simply believe for free. So we call it the Gospel. When a human being who is a sinner comes into Christ, he becomes a man of the past and becomes a child of God in the name of a sinner as a proclamation of God's justification. John 1:12 “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
More specifically, the Lord said that He is the substance of the truth, that knowing the truth and knowing the Lord are one, and He promised that if we properly know and experience the truth, we will gain true freedom.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 14:6 "Jesus said to them, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me."
John 8:32 “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”
2. Liberation by the Law of the Holy Spirit
2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
Belief in Jesus is the content of knowledge, intelligence, and religion, but it is a mystery that under the influence of the Holy Spirit God's promises are applied to our spirits. Without the action of the Holy Spirit, we are merely members of the church and are incomplete as spiritual saints.
Therefore, I would like to make sure that we now understand that in order to enjoy the spiritual satisfaction of freedom or liberation, we must be under the influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The word liberation is ejleuqerovw, which includes the word liberating and liberating.
23-25 “I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my heart, bringing me captive to the law of sin that is in my members, 24 O wretched man I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I will give thanks to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, and with the flesh the law of sin.”
This means that in order to maintain the freedom given by the self in the practical life of the conflicting saints and to live a spiritually victorious life, there must be a continuous work of the filling of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that my past existence as a sinner may have been resolved, but in reality, I must continue to strive to live a life that overcomes the forces of death, that is, the work of Satan.
1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober and awake, for your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
There is a lot of evidence in the Bible for our moral conscience and practically our shortcomings, and it is personally quite understandable. As sinners, we are now freed from beings that will be destroyed, and we are declared innocent, but living a life of sanctification in our lives requires our efforts. It is done under the constant influence of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is required in prayer, repentance, and obedience.
3. It is possible only if there is a genuine concern for sin
We can see at the end of Romans 7 that Paul must first have a genuine concern for the sinful self before he can know the hopeful law of the Holy Spirit in Romans 8.
In some teachings, there are those who try to understand that repentance is simply a difference in the way of thinking. Repentance does not mean that there is a sin and then disappears depending on one's mind, but there are people who misunderstand it that way.
Sin is never a sin due to a wrong way of thinking, but original sin is inexperienced, but a human being who has that sinful nature is supposed to repent of being a sinner when he realizes his true self in the Word and inspiration of God.
Proverbs 16:32 “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his heart than he who takes a city.”
If we interpret the Bible as a whole, we can misunderstand these words of the book of Proverbs as if we were to read the book of Proverbs as a way of thinking, as if we were to get rid of our sins in an instant, and thus to gain freedom in no time. Mystics are often so indulged in their own fantasies.
James 4:9 “Mourn and mourn and weep; turn your laughter into mourning, and your joy into sorrow; 10 humble yourself before the Lord, and the Lord will exalt you.”
I personally find this verse very important. This verse is known as the secret to being blessed as a Christian. Christianity is about losing everything in nature and gaining the revelatory blessing of God who gives it back again.
Many people fall into the strange teachings of seeking God's blessings for themselves by changing their abilities or mindset. The Bible never teaches that. No matter how much the world changes, when the truth meets the world, tribulation will occur, and no matter how positive the mindset is, suffering will follow.
God is not looking for a positive mindset, but it is the right attitude to humbly kneel to the Lord, agonize with thorough self-reflection, and expect the Lord's guidance. Even in prayer, we must remember that, like the Pharisees, he heard the publican's prayer, who wept and beat his chest rather than many words and long prayers.
The big problem with the Korean church, which has this powerful church today, is that a lot of sincerity is lost and instead they believe in God with an outward revival and a strangely different understanding of the gospel. Immediately after liberation, many self-proclaimed saviors appeared, but now, with the general assembly of several denominations, there are strange sounds of the gospel out of control.
The most dangerous among them is that the so-called loneliness and suffering of the truth has arisen, which is convenient, popular, and considered a good thing if the church life is culturally happy.
What a strange truth. Obviously, the truth is that we have to live with difficulties in any age, but it is really strange to see the church members who do not have much difficulty.
We found true spiritual rest after meeting God. I believe that the freedom that the Lord has given me is not something that can be obtained from the fulfillment of culture or from politics and economy.
Christians are not called to survive and better survive in the global village, but rather to present a reason to live and be more faithful to the reason that exists to convey the true hope of life. The Bible tells us not to let go of that true freedom.
Galatians 5:1 “Christ has set us free, so stand firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
What is the yoke of a servant?
Isn't that just secularism?
Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
I pray that you and I will be able to bear the yoke our Lord has given us and live with true spiritual freedom.