FREEDOM IS GOD’S OBJECTIVE FOR YOU.

Picture yourself at a 5 Star restaurant, all dressed up and at a very formal affair. Before getting eating the good meal, you will be served enjoy an appetizer that will take the edge off your hunger, allowing you to slow down and really enjoy the main course. This main course will get deep into your inner man and will take some chewing to get there. Start out with this sweet buttery appetizer of eternal value. If you take your time with this meal the Holy Spirit will change your life and equip you for many things in life.

Sit down and pick up the fork furthest to your left and the knife furthers to the right.

God’s intent for man, ever since the fall in the Garden, has been FREEDOM. No I am not referring to political or socio-economic freedom, but the freedom that is unaffected by circumstance, freedom that one can enjoy anywhere, anytime, under any circumstance. It is the freedom from sin and the eternal adverse effects of it. The following terms can take on incredible meaning in the light of the acceptance of who Jesus is and what He has done for you personally.

•          Forgiven
•          Salvation,
•          Redemption,
•          God’s infinite love,
•          The joy of the Lord,
•          A clean conscience,
•          Not holding any grudges
•          Able to love and stay patient
•          No more skeletons in your closet
•          Being comfortable in your own skin
•          The peace that passes all understanding,

Now take a little water, a deep breath and pick the next fork and knife.

As Christians grow in the graces of this list they can become increasingly able to deal with confrontation in a way that Jesus would. OH, did I use a bad word?... Confrontation is an important part of life and we need to be able to deal with it correctly. If you live in a world with other people, imperfect people such as yourself, then conflicts will arise, differences of opinions, hurt feelings, offences, intense disagreements and perhaps horrific acts of violence. Imperfect people may, intentionally or not, hurt you or those you love. From the smallest incident, to the most horrendous, the list of attributes above is available to the Christian. It all boils down to two words that have immense implications, REPENTANCE and FORGIVENESS.

There are Biblical concepts that deal with repentance, strong words that our flesh may cringe to hear. The message of repentance has been preached since the beginning of time but still needs to resonate in the hearts of people. If you recognize that this message is spoken to mankind, through God’s servants, motivated by the love demonstrated at Calvary’s Cross, then it will do you good. I share the following in the hope that you will be provoked to ask the Lord to search your heart and show you where to apply it to yourself today.

Sarah was angry and said to Abraham, “… Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the

son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac” (Gen 21:10). You see, this amazing couple knew the promise the Lord made to Abraham of being the father of many nations. Now Sarah is past the age of getting pregnant and in desperation she gives her husband her servant girl to go make the baby with. This was not something the Lord indicated they should do, no, it was a futile attempt to accomplish God’s plan using the finite strength of the flesh. Some years later Sarah saw the fruit of this in Hagar’s bad attitude toward her miracle baby Isaac, and got really ticked off. Perhaps she was angry with herself for coming up with this bone headed course of action, and she was jealous of Hagar who bore Ishmael, her husband’s 1st baby.

The story has dramatic implications to humanity today. Abraham’s adulterous relationship with Hagar was a work of the flesh, something that could never accomplish God’s intent. The descendants of Isaac (the Jews) are still the enemies of the descendants of Ishmael, Hagar’s baby. Sarah’s dumb idea opened the door for Abraham and Hagar to give place to their physical attraction and lust for each other.

Gal. 5:19   When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,

20   idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,

21   envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

As Sarah told her husband to “cast out the bondwoman and her son,” the Lord is telling His church to cast out the works of the flesh listed in the verses above. Tap into His grace to get the junk out of your life. Never again try to accomplish God’s intent in your own way either. The ramifications of yielding to those things may have very severe ramifications and stretch for generations. You can avoid a lot of junk by using God’s checklists in Gal. 5. The bad stuff in listed above, the good stuff follows:

Philippians 4:8   Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Thankfully the Bible makes it simpler still. When John the Baptist, and later Jesus, frequently used the phrase, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand,” they didn’t follow it with a long list of what not to do. In John 16:7 and 8 we see that the Holy Spirit’s job is to bring the conviction of sin to an individual’s life. This Holy Spirit inspired conviction stirs a heart to Godly sorrow which brings repentance. The consequence of such real repentance is forgiveness. True FREEDOM comes to the believer in this process. It is all due to the work of forgiveness that Jesus did by allowing Himself to suffer the consequences of our sins. John 3:16 becomes a personal reality. On the other hand; the consequences of not casting the bondwoman and her son out of our lives is that the door opens to the enemy of your soul. The devil then demonstrates his evil intent in the destroyed lives we see in people around us, in the families so dysfunctional that friction between spouses ruins the lives of the children, in every other horrible manifestation of man’s inhumanity to man.

Digging a little deeper, the Word says,

1 John 2:15   Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16   For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

17   And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

The three things listed in verse 16 are a great guide to learning right from wrong. Every bit of bad stuff in all the realms of human behavior all falls into one of these three categories:

·         the lust of the flesh,

·         the lust of the eyes, and

·         the pride of life

How do we avoid those three broad categories of attitude and behavior?

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

If your enjoying this part of life, there’s less and less room in your heart for the two lusts in the list.

1 Pet.5:6   So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.

2 Pet 3:   The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

When walking in these promises there’s no need for self exaltation, just trust God to get you where you need to be. This not only applies to career but any other thing selfish pride can mess up. Humility is your weapon against pride. We can be FREE from worrying and striving in our own futile, limited humanness to get there.

These two passages also bring us back to what I wrote earlier about confrontation. These are invaluable tools to dealing with the adversity caused by people, no matter what their intentions are. Before initiating or participating in the inevitable confrontation, “cast out the bondwoman and her son” from your life, let God root out the vestiges of the fleshly things in your life that distract you from walking in the Spirit. Only God can fulfill His promises to you personally so stop trying to make them happen. We can deal with the issues of life graciously because we can tap into the grace of God to do so. With the junk out of your way you are FREE TO LOVE and those on the other side of the table.

OK, it’s time for desert. You may use any silverware left at your place setting:

Think about the following verses in the context of repentance, forgiveness and seeing God accomplish His objectives in your life by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Psalm 24:3   Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?

4   Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies.

5   They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior.

Eph. 2:8   For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9   Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Gal. 5:1   Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU MESS UP?

Everybody messes up, makes mistakes, does something he or she is not proud of. So what are we supposed to do about it?

Job 5:7   Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

My Jr. High School wood shop teacher frequently used the expression, “I may not be right but I am never been wrong.” Well that was one teacher who lied every time he said that. Everybody messes up, makes mistakes, does something he or she is not proud of.

Just think for  a minute, it won’t take you long to remember the last mistake you made, the last careless error, the last bone headed stupid thing that come out of your mouth. What is disturbing is that culturally, we have found ways of slighting the consequences of our mistakes. The expression, “OK, my bad” is good in that one takes the blame but most often that’s as far as it goes. Hopefully it was something easily fixed and the one who made the mistake took of it quickly, like fixing a typo or putting something back where it belongs. More often than not, however, people do all they can to PASS THE BUCK, to deny culpability. Pride makes sure to convince all that it was someone else’s fault.

 

Prov.16:18   Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. (NLT)

The laws of physics show us that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Concerning the words and action of people, there are consequences for everything. Sometimes those consequences are good, sometimes not so good, sometimes pretty bad and sometimes horrible. It’s easy to MAN UP when the consequences are good, men crave that pat on the back. But so often I hear people trying to rationalize their fault when something doesn’t turn out right, when they made a mistake.

Human nature is all too predictable. The pattern of behavior thus far described started just after God put Adam and Eve in the beautiful, and easy to maintain, Garden of Eden. I have no doubt you have heard some great, and perhaps some not so great, sermons about what happened. When they messed up Adam tried to pass the buck to Eve who in turn tried to pass the buck to the serpent. The problem with this is that they were all guilty and the Lord let them all know it. Mankind, and all the rest of creation, is still dealing with the consequences of what those three did, and it is not very pretty. So much for a “no sweat” everything’s right there way of life.

So what should we do when we mess up? I am convinced that God laid out all the “how to’s” for how His creation is supposed to be. It is our responsibility to, by His grace and power, follow that plan. It will lead to life and great long term resolutions of the consequences of our words and actions. If you are just “looking out for number one” (yourself) your pride will rule and deal with it as mentioned before and Proverbs 16:8 makes clear the eventual consequences to good old number one. As hard as it may seem, we really need to:

1.   Man Up and confess your fault.

2.    Accept responsibility for the consequences

3.   Experience Godly sorrow for with it you receive the ability to do what the last sentence of this verse says,

2 Cor. 7:11   Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm,… such zeal, and   . You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.

4.   Seek God for the power to change, for the power to become what God created you to be.

2 Cor.5:17   Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.(KJV)

Mark 1:17   Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become...(NLT)

Phil.2:12   … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Acts 1:8   But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses,

If you have tried to change , to consistently do what is right, to become more like Jesus, by using your own will power than I am certain you have experienced frustration, I sure have.

Mark 10:27…   Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”

I have a confession to make, I am tired of making the same mistakes over and over again. I am also tired of hearing people say, “OK, my bad” and then going on as if nothing happened and nothing needs to change going forward. It is time we learn to apprehend the grace of God and accept His power to change, His grace to do everything necessary to make things right. He will provide every dollar, every ounce of strength, every bit of intestinal fortitude we ever need to accomplish anything He leads us to do. 

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