Free

EX 21:2-6 Deut 15:12-17
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him to the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or to the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever. And also to your maidservant you shall do likewise.
Jer 34:14
At the end of seven years every man shall let his brother, a Hebrew, who has been sold to you go; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free: but your fathers did not listen to me.

In the Sabbath year, the year of rest, there was freedom for a Hebrew slave. Jesus died and rose again to give us rest, to free us from slavery to sin but not to the freedom of our own devices. In choosing to accept salvation from Him we choose to be His servant forever. Heb 3:7-4:13 “There remains therefore a rest to the people of God”

Jhn 8:32,36
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

The freedom that Jesus is referring to is that freedom from sin. The freedom to please God. The freedom to really live life. Our freedom is not to do as we want; if our life does not show holiness chances are that God does not know us and we are none of His, we never did believe Him!

Rom 6:6,7,12
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. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Rom 6:14,18,20,22,23
Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you 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 our Lord. You are not under the law, but under Grace.

The objective of the plan of salvation in Christ is Holiness, without it, it is impossible to please God,or to be reconciled with Him, but there are two stages to the plan. In stage one the legal details are taken care of and we assume a new identity in a new family tree, new birth. Stage two“this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality”, a new body. The difference between A and E before the fall and us under the NT is that we WILL end up eternally confirmed in holiness. Without that we could not live eternal life. Do not fret for A and E. God would have found a way to confirm their holiness AND it would NOT have required that they sin! Our salvation does NOT depend on their sin! Neither our Justification or our Sanctification depend on our obedience. (the CS solution in ‘Perelandra’ is NOT adequate!)

Rom 7:23-25
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

God will keep my new good name clean for me, in Christ. In the mean time “I keep my body under” because it never wants to fall in line with the new me on the inside. When we come up against an apparent conflict of norms (laws) which will we do, try to figure which law takes precedence and keep the law or trust that God will keep us clean? He will make a way for us to do what we know we should do without breaking ANY of the rules!

Rom 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

The law of sin and death says quite simply, “the soul that sins dies”. The christian life is on the other side of death; the rules are different Rom 6:6 Gal 2:20. You can not require a dead man to keep the law OR accuse him of breaking it! When we are born again we Have eternal life, this is our position in Christ.

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

You can’t TRY to be a christian! It is not automatic but it is not achieved by anything that we can do, including and especially obedience - keeping the law.

Rom 4:4-6
“To him who works the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. David described the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works Ps 32:8. The Bible recounts two men who’s faith was ‘counted for rghtsnss’. Abraham and Phinehas. Num 25:6-15 Ps 106:30-31 “Phinehas executed judgment and that was counted to him for rghtsnss”. Abraham did nothing but believe Gen 15:6. When you look closely that is what Phinehas did as well; his actions show that they were the consequence of his belief. It was not the judgment per se that ‘earned’ him rghtsnss; his action showed that he had believed before he did anything. Gal 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit (by faith) are you now made perfect by the flesh (by working for it)?” We are not called to obedience in the NT, we are called to faith, trust, rest! When Jesus told the man with the withered hand to stretch it out who did the work? When Jesus told the man to pick up his bed and take it home who carried it? Do not get the cart before the horse. Abel believed God who accepted his offering, Cain did not believe. It was Not that Cain’s offering was bad. Remember the disastrous results of Moses’ endeavor to do a little work for God? He knew that he would be the deliverer of Israel so he slew an Egyptian and where did it land him? If A had tried sacrificing I before God challenged him to do it what would have happened? “Faith without works IS dead” Jms 2:17 it is true BUT do not stop reading there. “I will show you my faith BY my works” Jms 2:18. The prime law under the NT is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”! When A offered I he showed the world that he believed God. He showed the world that he believed that God could and would Keep him clean in spite of the apparent impossibility, how could he be clean if he murdered his son? There are those who would say that God ordered A to do it however that is not the case. Please take careful note, A had already been declared rghts when God told him to sacrifice I. God was not testing A, He already knew! A could have demurred, erring on the side of right ‘you shall not kill’, and if he had we would not have the best illustration in the Bible of how our salvation works! We would lack an adequate understanding of how God can save a sinner like me and remain rghts even in doing so! We would not have one of the greatest illustrations that there is of what it means to ‘believe God’, that is to trust Him – to Rest in His promises! (what has God promised you?)
Freedom!