Freedom is a gift of Jesus, given to us, and received by faith. We can understand receiving freedom from things such as additions and habits, but the freedom that God fights for is freedom from the bondage of trying to be good. God frees us from “salvation through the law”.
The law can do many things. It can guide us, teach us (Galatians 3:24), and tell us about God’s character. It’s like a mirror showing us a dirty face or a hair out of place. But the law cannot give us the power to wash ourselves or correct ourselves. It cannot help us please God. It is a powerless negative. “Do this”, “don’t do that”, but it has no power to change us. Only faith in Jesus Christ gives us freedom.
Some have hoped that if they do enough good things, it would outweigh the bad and that God would then wink at their sin. The problem is that we couldn’t possibly do enough to outweigh just one sin against a holy God. If we come to God on the basis of our own law-keeping, then our law-keeping must be perfect. As mentioned before, no amount of obedience makes up for one act of disobedience. If you are pulled over for speeding, it won’t do any good to protest that you are a faithful husband, a good taxpayer, and have obeyed the speed limit many times. It’s all irrelevant. You have still broken the law and are guilty.
Jesus, on the other hand, is the perfect, sinless Son of God. He is the perfect High Priest. And the good news is that God sent him to free us from the burden of keeping the law by paying the debt we owe him. Talk about love! He did what no man can do for himself and thus has set us free. “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!” (John 8:36)
Jesus is the one who justifies us (that is, treats us as if we never sinned). He is the one who purifies us. He is the one who frees us to relate to God as our Father with confidence and without fear. Unfettered by guilt and empowered by his Spirit, we come to Him, not out of duty, but motivated by our love for Him.
We don’t make ourselves free by doing good works. We could never do anything to earn salvation. Isaiah, in shame, wrote, “all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 63:6)
The writer of Hebrews compared the legal requirements for the cleansing of sin. “How much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14)
To accept works as a way of salvation is to minimize who God is. God is greater than our tiny attempts at cleaning up the mess we made. The One who created a billion times a billion worlds and who holds all things together dealt with the sin issue. The writer of Hebrews said, “when He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”. (Hebrews 1:3)
Sitting down indicates that all is completed! We can’t add anything to what God has already been done through Jesus Christ. He is The Freedom Fighter! We appreciate your Comments