Free Indeed!
Study Guide, July 6, 2025
Pastor Clay Olsen
Watch video online – https://www.facebook.com/eichapel/videos/709292865600193
How many have been to the Capitol for the fireworks on the 4th? It’s pretty impressive with the Flyovers and then the orchestra playing the 1812 Overture along with the booming fireworks and all. (By the way…what year was the 1812 Overture written? This is not a trick question…Tchaikovsky wrote it in 1880, to celebrate the Russian victory over Napoleon’s invasion. Just thought you’d like to know…anyway…) What a great celebration of our Freedom in America. With the birth of America came our birthright of freedom. But a fascinating thing about freedom is that freedom is a two-sided virtue. It’s a freedom that is a ‘freedom from’ and a ‘freedom for’. In our country it was a freedom from oppressive rule…a bondage really, and a freedom ‘for’ the rights of…and you know the rest…the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And how thankful we are for all of those who gave so much so that we could live in a country with freedom from bondage and freedom for these great human rights.
As followers of Christ, we celebrate freedom as our spiritual birthright. And also fascinating, is that our spiritual freedom, too, is a freedom from bondage and a freedom for our spiritual rights…the rights of eternal life, liberty in the Spirit, and the pursuit of holiness…which, of course, is the key to happiness. So let’s continue the celebration as we celebrate our freedom in Christ and our spiritual birthrights.
But how about this…how ironic that in this land of liberty, this country of freedom, that so many are still living in bondage, living in spiritual bondage. To an unrepentant, unconverted man, the Apostle Peter said this: Acts 8:23- “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” NASU Is that really the condition of an unconverted heart? Spiritually speaking…yes it is! This ‘gall of bitterness’ is a description of a poisonous presence in a person’s life, which is essentially what ‘sin’ is in a human life. Most people think of sin in terms of ‘wrongdoing’, which it is, but ‘sin’ is even more destructive than that. Sin to the human condition is what poison is to food. Once food has been poisoned, it has to be replaced.
Consider this: If you were given a bowl of stew that had been poisoned, if the waiter then said, “But I can take a little out if you’d like…or I can add a little more to it.” Would that do for you? No way! That would not do at all, because the stew is still poisoned. It would have to be completely replaced with a poison-free bowl of stew.
In a similar way, that’s what sin did to the human spirit. The human spirit has become poisoned in sin. And yet how strange, and futile, that so many people think that if they just take a little of their sin-poisoned works out of their life, and then add some religious works to their life, well, then their human spirit should be fine. But not only is that completely unbiblical, it’s also totally illogical. If their poisoned stew was still poisoned, regardless of how much they took out or added to it, then their sin-poisoned spirit is still poisoned in sin regardless of how many sinful works they remove or how many religious works they add. That’s why, in order for any person to come into a saved relationship with Christ, and freed from their sin condition, a person has to have a re-birth of their human spirit. Their sin-poisoned spirit has to be re-placed with a new spirit, which is a spirit that is now united to God’s Spirit.
Remember: the effect that sin had on the human spirit is that sin not only spiritually poisoned it, but spiritually separated it from God’s Spirit. That’s why Jesus said to this religious Teacher, who was always careful to remove wrong-doing from his life, and careful about adding religious works to his life…Jesus essentially told him, ‘You must be Born again…you must have your sin-sick spirit replaced with My sin free Spirit. Jesus exactly told him: John 3:3- “Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” NASU No one can enter the kingdom of God without having Jesus create a new human spirit in them by giving them His own Spirit. And Jesus gives His Spirit to the one who in repentance and faith receives Jesus into his or her life as their Lord and Savior.
And right there is the difference between ‘religion’ and ‘relationship’. The problem is not in religion itself, it’s just that so many religions have used religion ‘irreligiously’! They have tried to make having a saving relationship with God be based upon subtraction and addition…again, ‘subtraction’ in what their religion says people should not do, and ‘addition’ in what their religious teachers say people need to do in order to qualify for Heaven.
Again, how irreligious and false such teaching is. In fact, God pronounces a ‘Woe to you’ to such teachers that teach their people such false doctrines. Remember God’s warnings and woes to false teachers? Jer 12:10- “Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard, they have trampled down My field; They have made My pleasant field a desolate wilderness.” “My anger is kindled against the shepherds…” Zech 10:3 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” Matt 23:13 NASU The final judgement and sentencing is going to be very hard on false religious teachers…on false religious shepherds who have taught falsehood instead of truth, and led so many people astray.
So sin is a poison in the human spirit. Sin is also a bondage of the human soul. Peter called it the ‘bondage of iniquity’. Again, how ironic, that so many Americans, who are living their lives in the land of the free and the home of the brave, are also still living their lives in spiritual bondage…their souls are in the bondage of iniquity and their spirits are being held captive by the devil. Say what? That was the Apostle Paul’s prayer for those in Asia Minor who, although many were enjoying some freedoms within the Roman Empire, were still fully deceived by not realizing their souls were being held captive by the devil. 2 Tim 2:24-26- “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” NASU
Right there is another irony: So many are blessed to live in this great country of societal freedom, yet many are still living in spiritually bondage…being held captive by the devil to do his will, which is anything that is not God’s will.
I was always struck by how Paul described repentance, in part, as people ‘coming to their senses!’ To not come to Jesus in repentance and faith is in fact, nonsense…not having enough sense to follow Christ as your Lord and Savior. You see, because people live in a world of deception, they therefore think according to delusion. And delusions are erroneous beliefs in the face of evidence to the contrary. Many people the world over are living according to erroneous beliefs about God, about sin, about Heaven and Hell, and how to be right with God, in spite of also living in the light of the facts of the God given evidence of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save us sinners from an eternity of separation from God. If there is one excuse no one will ever be able to use at the Great White Throne Judgment before their final sentencing in Gehenna, is the excuse that they weren’t given enough evidence in order to believe and receive the Savior. Rom 1:18-20- “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” NASU
Unbelievers have no excuse for continuing to be ‘Unbelievers’! For anyone who responds to the light that their Creator has already given them in His creation and in their conscience, they will receive the light and the life of the Savior who will save them from their sins and give them new spiritual life in union with Him. For any who will respond to the convicting and calling on their soul by God the Holy Spirit and seek the Lord, they will find Him. That’s a promise from God. Jer 29:13- “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” NASU
And when anyone seeks the Lord, he or she finds the Savior waiting at the door of their heart and life, just waiting to be invited into their life to become their personal Lord and Savior. And we pray that each one here today, and listening in, has that assurance, that you have opened the door of your life and asked Jesus to come into your life, to forgive your sin, and to give a new birth to your spirit in union with Jesus’ Spirit. If you have any question about your relationship with Christ, today is the day to make your salvation sure. Don’t leave Jesus outside the door of your life, waiting for you to receive Him into your life. Remember, the Apostle John said: 1 John 5:11-12- “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” NASU
Mark it down: Eternal life is not a thing…Eternal life is a Person. Eternal life is not something that we can earn by anything we do or not do. Eternal life is Someone with whom you come into an eternal relationship. John 17:3- “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” NASU That’s why we say, “You have something that God wants, and only you can give it to Him…your heart. And God has something that you need, and only God can give it to you…eternal life.”
So be sure you have given God your heart, your life…that’s repentance, and be sure you have asked Jesus into your life, trusting in His works to forgive your sins and make you right with God…that’s faith. And when you do, you are then freed ‘from’ your sins, and you are freed ‘for’ your birthrights…of eternal life, liberty in the Spirit, and the pursuit of holiness…which is true happiness!
These amazing wonders are birthrights of your citizenship in Heaven. Again, we thank God for the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of this great country. But we also thank God, praise God, for the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the ‘better country’…as citizens of Heaven! Just think…for a child of God and a citizen of Heaven, whatever you have to face or have had to forfeit in this world that takes our health or our provisions or our relationships and such, nothing or no one can take from us our eternal life and the promises of our eternal birthrights and eternal inheritance in the Eternal kingdom of our God and Savior!
Remember that T-shirt? “Life is good…Eternal life is better!” When you have eternal life, everything else is only temporal…it’s ‘this too shall pass’…except for the good that God has given you and the good that you have done for God…for then, that will last and even be rewarded! I like how when you commend some Christians for the good they are doing and the service they are giving, they respond with: “Just working on my inheritance!” I know they are serving out of their love for God and love for others, but they are absolutely right about their inheritance! Our God longs to reward each of His children for each and every good thing they do for His glory and other’s gain. When you have eternal life, every good thing you do for God and others is another eternal investment you make in your eternal portfolio of your eternal inheritance! That’s just the way our great God is with His children!
And, those who are ‘in Christ’ are also freed for a life of liberty in our walk with God the Holy Spirit. Christ has ransomed us and delivered us from our captivity to sin and the devil, and therefore neither has any hold on us, whatsoever. You were a sinner in relationship to yourself, but you are now a ‘Saint’ in relationship with your Savior. Your shackles to sin have been broken and the power of death and the devil has been defeated. Neither sin nor Satan has any authority over you, for in Christ you more than a conqueror of both…you are free in Jesus, and you have the authority of your God that now rules and reigns over your life.
So now…now and for the rest of your journey on your way home…now is the time to be wise, to choose wisely ‘how’ you will live out the rest of your days as free men and free women. And wisdom is knowing what we have been freed ‘for’…we have been freed for the purpose of now pursuing holiness, and thus, becoming more and more like our Holy God, who loved us and gave His live to have us as His own children. And also, just like our God, He has made life in such a way, that the very way to be truly happy in this life is through the pursuit of holiness all through life. It’s just like the Hymn… “There’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!”
Brothers and Sisters, enjoy your birthrights…Eternal life includes today, and every day after. Liberty in the Spirit involves letting God the Holy Spirit lead and guide you each day. And your happiness…your happiness will follow your holiness…holiness in how you think and talk and act each day. And then be sure every day to Praise God and to seek to please Jesus in what you do and say, for it’s because of Jesus that we truly are – ‘Free Indeed!’