Sunday Morning Podcast January 5, 2020. Bro. Dave Goble.
TEXT EXODUS.5:1-5
1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.
5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
Are you free this morning? You are if you are found IN Christ! This is the beginning of Moses and Aaron’s encounters with Pharaoh, regarding God’s commandment to let His people go. Moses and Aaron were qualified and commanded by God to petition Pharaoh to release Israel from their bondage to them. Israel was in bondage to Egypt, which is a “type” of bondage and the slavery of sin. Today, the bondage is what sin creates. God’s Word provides and commands us to be free from sin. We want to focus on what we hope to accomplish this new year. One of the things of how we strengthen ourselves, is how we go deeper in God and faith, to also increase our strength in the community inside the congregation and outside it. How do we identify ourselves as free people? What is really the basis of our freedom? Many think of this as being a Christian, or Non Christian. But how ideally do we identify ourselves as free people, or in our freedom in Christ? Back in Exodus, Moses and Aaron were commissioned by God Two kinds of freedom will be talked about here. 1 Freedom IN Christ, and 2 Freedom FROM Christ. Let’s go deeper in the Word of Christ! Many times we construct opinions, such as “a word of God,” mixed with opinions. If you’re going to be free, you have to first know whether you are in bondage! Many times, it isn’t until we are no longer a child, when our brain finally “gets turned on.” Usually Mom and Dad think for you. They put a roof over you, and keep danger from you. Children want only to be free….to be happy. Later adolescence and on, your brain (each of us) find out where they are “located,” spiritually. Many think they are free, but unless free from sin, you are still in bondage, whether or not you are aware of it. You might think the world has freedom, but unless your heart is given in praise to the Savior, you’re not truly free in Christ, but in bondage! You might associate all kinds of things as free within this world, but without Christ, that too is bondage. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21. Our freedom is defined by our motives. Many kinds of “freedom” are actually bondage. But if you choose Christ, you are truly free. Egypt was a “type” of bondage, because God’s word was not honored. So we need to establish and understand whether or not we are free in Christ.
Are you free this morning? I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. Isaiah 42:6,7 This scripture is talking about spiritual prisons, and not literal. Am I free? There is a bondage, which is sin. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18 We need to find ourselves as captives of sin, to see our need to be freed. There is no freedom unless you see your spiritual condition without Christ. We need to know if we are a captive to sin, or we cannot become free. Are you truly free? Freedom from bitterness, hopelessness, self destructive ways? Free IN Christ? Or are you captive to selfishness, hatred, bigotry, unkindness, not being merciful? Have you withheld mercy from anyone? Don’t think you are better, at work, home, etc., to not being kind to people. Are you free indeed? You are if you are IN Christ. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 It’s not about freedom in the flesh, or merely ‘feeling’ good, instead of being free IN Christ. Freedom IN Christ is to be able to be free from the entanglements of the world, and its selfishness of sin. When religion says otherwise, it is because it is sourced in confusion. To be free IN Christ, we must die to self. We must not allow ourselves to go back to the fleshly ways of the world, which is freedom FROM Christ.. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1 We need to see our identity in the finding of freedom from self, and instead, IN Christ. This morning you have the liberty to be free from sin, and instead IN Christ.
Free or Not Free, That Is The Question…..