sin

  • You are fully free—completely free, free indeed—when... | hear Freedom's declaration

    You Will Know the Truth and the Truth Will Set You Free from Desiring God on Vimeo.

    http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/you-will-know-the-truth-and-the-truth-will-set-you-free

     

     

    (Excerpt taken from the printed sermon text found at the link above...)

    My aim in this message is that you would experience Jesus, the sovereign, risen, living Lord of the universe, as the source and content of real freedom in your life.

    For this to happen, we need two things: We need God's liberating truth and we need God's liberating grace. Which means I need to preach God's word, and pray for God's power.

    So let's read the Bible passage that I will speak from, and then I will pray. John 8:30–36:

    As he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

    Lord, open our eyes to your liberating truth—to yourself—and powerfully grant us to be set free from our bondage to sin. In Jesus' name, Amen.

    . . .

    We All Want to Be Free

    I take it for a certainty that everyone in this room wants to be free in the deepest, fullest sense. If the opposite is bondage and slavery, no one here wants that. You may be enslaved to some habits that are very pleasurable, and in that sense love your slavery. But when you step back from the pleasures and consider happiness without that slavery, you would like to be done with bondage. You would like to be happy in freedom, not a slave to pleasant addictions. We all want to be free.

    And in verse 36 of John 8, Jesus says, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." That is what we are after. "Free indeed." Really free. Freedom in its deepest and fullest meaning. Jesus offers us that this morning. This is Easter. The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. He is alive. He is not mere memory. A mere historical figure like Caesar or Shakespeare or John Kennedy. He is back from the dead with a new glorious body. He is alive and reigning as the king of the universe, and he is making this offer of real freedom to all of us today.

    . . .

    What Full Freedom Is

    There are at least four kinds of freedom. And each one adds a crucial dimension of freedom to the last until we get to the full freedom—"free indeed." Let me try to sum up these four kinds of freedom in one definition of full and complete freedom: You are fully free—completely free, free indeed—when you have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make you happy in a thousand years. Or we could say, You are fully free when you have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will leave you no regrets forever.

    • If you don't have the desire to do a thing, you are not fully free to do it. Oh, you may muster the will power to do what you don't want to do, but nobody calls that full freedom. It's not the way we want to live. There is a constraint and pressure on us that we don't want.
    • And if you have the desire to do something, but no ability to do it, you are not free to do it.
    • And if you have the desire and the ability to do something, but no opportunity to do it, you are not free to do it.
    • And if you have the desire to do something, and the ability to do it, and the opportunity to do it, but it destroys you in the end, you are not fully free—not free indeed.

    To be fully free, we must have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make us happy forever. No regrets. And only Jesus, the Son of God who died and rose for us, can make that possible. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. To be happy forever, our sins must be forgiven and God's wrath removed and Christ must become our supreme Treasure. Only Jesus can do that. In fact, he has already done it. He died for our sins. He absorbed God's wrath. And he rose from the dead and is today therefore supremely precious. And he offers us that now as a free gift.

    By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

    * * *

    O, leprous soul, hear Freedom's declaration

    originally published July 1, 2011 at
    http://naphtali-deer.xanga.com/751580185/o-leprous-soul-hear-freedoms-declaration/

    O, leprous soul, bereft of touch
    If your eyes were opened, anointed from above
    If you had but a glimpse of God's extravagant love

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, by the devil deceived
    If you knew the truth, the truth would set you free
    If you would abide in Christ, if you to Christ would cleave

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, enslaved by your depravity
    If you knew Jesus Christ came to give life and life abundantly
    If you heard the Lord's pardoning call, "Be unbound, be released!"

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, in your time of need
    If you could kneel before Him, if you could plead
    If you knew His pity which doesn't break the bruised reed

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, deaf to the call of liberty
    If you knew the Lamb slain for sin and impurity
    If you came to be washed whiter than snow at Calvary

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, hungry and athirst
    If you knew the Christ who bore sin's curse
    If you were reconciled to God, in His baptism immersed

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, unable to see and savor
    If you knew the year of the Lord's favor
    If you would come to eat and drink of the only Mediator

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, sitting in the ash heap
    If you could cry out, "If You will, make me clean!"
    If you could see His beauty, your heart would leap

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, look on me
    Chief of sinners, but I obtained mercy
    Truly God's grace abounds to sinners undeserving

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, look on me
    A beggar, a worm, poor and needy
    Now satisfied in Christ, Who is rich in mercy

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul of Galilee
    From earthly founts come no true remedy
    Look to God's Son, Immanuel, born of the virgin Mary

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, paralyzed in your infirmity
    O, how many years, how long has it been?
    How long will you loiter – do you really want healing?

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, do not fear or doubt
    If you come to Christ, He will not cast you out
    Believe on Him, your sins He will no longer count

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, look to the Lord
    Come, bow down, tremble and implore
    The humble and contrite soul He does not ignore

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, to Christ now flee
    From sin, guilt and shame be unshackled and set free
    Look and live through Jesus Christ who died for the ungodly

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, do not delay
    Repent and turn from your evil way
    Make haste, today is salvation's day

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, hear Freedom's declaration
    Believe in your heart, be grafted into God's holy nation
    Wild olive tree, let your mourning be turned to jubilation

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    O, leprous soul, hear Freedom's declaration
    Come to the Father's house, be embraced, hear His elation
    Let the angels and the saints begin the triumphal celebration

    O, leprous soul, may the Spirit give you ears to hear Freedom's declaration:
    Come to Jesus Christ, the precious cornerstone, the sure foundation!

    Mark 1:40  And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

     

     Photo credit: Print 4878 in Volume 36 of the Bowyer Bible in Bolton Museum, England. Etching by Jan Luyken; photo by Harry Kossuth; file created by Phillip Medhurst. Date=15.01 | Found at http://commons.wikimedia.or/wiki/File:Bowyer_Bible_etching_by_Jan_Luyken_12_of_12_Jesus_cures_a_leper.gif / Copyleft: This is a free work, you can copy, distribute, and modify it under the terms of the Free Art License http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/

  • from the wrath of the Lamb ~ Good Friday

    Nothing can save sinners from the wrath of the Lamb...

    Revelation 6:12  When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13  and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14  The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15  Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16  calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17  for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

    but the precious blood of the spotless Lamb...

    “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

    John 3:36  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

    Romans 3:21  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25  whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

    Right now God is commanding you to repent and believe, so you might be saved from His just wrath by grace through faith in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. One day the Lord Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, and if you have not believed in Him, you will not be hidden from His wrath –– His wrath will remain on you –– and you will not be able to stand before Him, and you will be cast off into eternal punishment and everlasting fire.


    Acts 17:29  Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30  The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31  because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

    32  Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33  So Paul went out from their midst. 34  But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

     
    Will you repent, will you cry out to Jesus, will you join the apostle Paul, Dionysius, Damaris, and myself –– and believe and be saved from the wrath of the Lamb?

    Psalm 130
    1  Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
    2  O Lord, hear my voice!
    Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
    3  If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
    4  But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

    Hebrews 9:22 ... without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins...

    26 ... he [Christ] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.


    Joel 3
    12  Let the nations stir themselves up
    and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
    for there I will sit to judge
    all the surrounding nations.
    13  Put in the sickle,
    for the harvest is ripe.
    Go in, tread,
    for the winepress is full.
    The vats overflow,
    for their evil is great.

    14  Multitudes, multitudes,
    in the valley of decision!
    For the day of the LORD is near
    in the valley of decision.
    15  The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
    16  The LORD roars from Zion,
    and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
    and the heavens and the earth quake.
    But the LORD is a refuge to his people,
    a stronghold to the people of Israel.

    * * *

    Acts 10:42  And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43  To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
    Related:

    Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

    Photo credit:  Delacroix's Christ on the Cross / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}.

  • Palm Sunday ~ To Jerusalem ... For All Nations

    Matthew 16:21
    From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
    and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes,
    and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

    Luke 13:33
    I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following,
    for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.

    Zechariah 9
    9  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
    behold, your king is coming to you;
    righteous and having salvation is he,
    humble and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
    10  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
    and the war horse from Jerusalem;
    and the battle bow shall be cut off,
    and he shall speak peace to the nations;
    his rule shall be from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.
    11  As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
    I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
    12  Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
    today I declare that I will restore to you double.

    Isaiah 49
    3  And he said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
    4  But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
    yet surely my right is with the LORD,
    and my recompense with my God.”
    5  And now the LORD says,
    he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
    to bring Jacob back to him;
    and that Israel might be gathered to him—
    for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
    and my God has become my strength—
    6  he says:
    “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
    I will make you as a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

    Matthew 28:20
    ... the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

    Romans 3
    21  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25  whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

    27  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30  since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith AND the uncircumcised through faith.

    Palm Sunday
    (To Jerusalem ... For All Nations)

    To Jerusalem, Lion of Judah must go
    To acquit His flock, render them white as snow

    Last Adam lifted up on Calvary's tree
    In our place, to suffer, die, and bleed

    To become a curse, burnt offering for sin,
    Spotless Lamb, all our iniquities laid on Him

    Set His face like a flint, endured the cross,
    Not one the Father gave Him will be lost

    Zealously labored to bring His Father fame,
    Endured the cross, despising the shame

    The gladness of His seed He kept in full sight,
    His Father's will was His desire and delight

    To bruise Him was the Father's pleasure
    To redeem His elect, His peculiar treasure

    Covenant mercies flowed through His precious blood
    O! Just and Justifier! How great a salvation!

    Rejoice greatly, O! daughter, shout aloud!
    Salvation revealed, make a joyful sound!

    Fear not, hear Him, God's only begotten Son,
    Christ, our Passover: "It is finished! It is done!"

    Behold! Your King has come, lowly and meek,
    To ransom His bride, set His prisoners free

    Jesus Christ, a servant of the circumcision,
    Yea, from the Jews, redemption sprung

    Hidden mystery for ages, since before creation,
    Yet now to all nations, glad tidings are sung

    The evangel to be published by beautiful feet,
    God's dominion and glory advancing from sea to sea

    Grace given to preach to ev'ry tribe and tongue,
    Peace through His cross –– O! reconciling blood!

    This morning, as you raised your voice and palm in exaltation,
    Did you recall God's plan to gather a people from all nations?

    In Sunday worship, with your uplifted hands,
    Did you plead for the unreached in many lands?

    Today, according to the Joshua Project (http://www.joshuaproject.net/):

    Total People Groups: 16,594
    Unreached People Groups: 7,162
    % People Groups Unreached: 43.2 %

    World Population: 7.03 Billion
    Population in Unreached Groups: 2.87 Billion
    % Population in Unreached: 40.9 %

    John 10:7  So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8  All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13  He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14  I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

    John 11:45  Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46  but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47  So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49  But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50  Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51  He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52  and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53  So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

    * * *

    The Way is open, prisoners far and prisoners near!
    Humble yourselves, through Jesus Christ, to God draw near!

    Put no confidence in your failing, mortal flesh,
    Receive by faith Christ's perfect righteousness

    Trust no longer in your works, but to the stronghold flee
    Justified by faith in Christ alone, be grafted to the olive tree

    Cry, "Hosanna! Save now!" and He will appear,
    The prayer of the destitute He always hears!

    John 6:37  All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38  For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40  For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.


    Related:

    Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Emphasis mine.

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_entering_jerusalem_on_a_donkey.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Public Domain

naphtali_deer

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

My other websites

tent of meeting: Prayer for reformation & revival

(See also Zechariah821. Zechariah821 is a mirror site of tent of meeting, found on WordPress)

deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

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