Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many farmers have put up fences around their property in order to keep their cattle inside, but occasionally a wild animal will try to pass through the barrier and get caught in the process. Perhaps their leg will get wrapped up in the barbed wire, and no matter how much they struggle, they simply cannot free themselves. Many times a farmer or even somebody driving by on the roadway will notice that the creature is caught in the fence line, and walk over to assist it. They might be able to free it by hand, but sometimes they will have to cut a wire or two, until the creature is released from its bondage, and set free once again.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
All of us or held in captivity by our own sinful condition, trapped in the fence line and in bondage to our sins. But the Lord Jesus wants to free us, and reaches out to this world with a free gift of His grace. He wants to cut away the barbed wire of our sinful nature, and forgive us for our sins. This is so we can turn away from the sinful desires of the flesh, in order to walk in liberty and serve Him from the heart.
John 8:31-36 (KJB) Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
First of all, when we become a Christian and are completely submerged beneath the deep waters of baptism, we enter into a water grave, where the old person that we used to be is put to death. When we make that leap of faith, all of our past sins are forgiven unto us, and we rise up to a brand new life as a new child of God.
Colossians 2:12-13 (KJB) Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
But baptism is only the first step towards obtaining eternal life, because true discipleship is about continuing in the Word of God. There will be some people who have been baptized into the Christian faith who are not going to enter into eternal life, simply because they never chose to repent of their sins nor do the will of God from their heart. Repentance from dead works is crucial, and is the very same message that has been preached by the Old Testament prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Apostles and disciples of the Christian faith. By His grace, Jesus frees us from our past sins, but He expects us to change our ways. As a newborn child of God we must mortify the sinful deeds of the flesh, and not allow ourselves to get entangled with the barbed wire of sin all over again.
Romans 6:6 (KJB) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
As a sinful unbeliever, each of us have lived our lives in our own manner, serving the appetites of the carnal nature. But whenever you get involved with sin, you become its servant, just like a slave is in bondage to their owner. You really aren’t free from sin at that point, because like a chain shackled to your ankle, it still has got a hold of you. Baptism is only the first step of our walk with Christ, but every step that we take from that point on, we must continue to reject all of the lusts of this world, in order to become the true children of God. Whereas we yielded ourselves in the past to our sinful nature, we must now submit ourselves completely to the will of our precious Savior.
Romans 6:12-23 (KJB) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Freedom from sin requires obedience towards God, because without submission to His purpose, people will come up short of the finish line. We must depart the old person that we once were, for the new person that God wants us to become.
2 Timothy 2:19 (KJB) Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Can you imagine being freed from the barbed wire of sin, only to go and do it all over again?
2 Peter 2:20-22 (KJB) For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
Some people are destined to be repeat offenders, simply because they refuse to accept the fact that they need to change their lives around. Oh they may certainly believe that they will be in heaven, but some of them are going to be in for a rude awakening. Rather than repenting from dead works and serving the Lord Jesus, they will serve the carnal nature instead. This is because they are ensnared in iniquity, in bondage to the flesh, and like a creature caught in the fence line, they are,……
………All Tangled Up
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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