Then Jesus was saying to the Jews, the ones having believed in Him, "If ever you yourselves remain in My word, truly you are My disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will free you." They answered to Him, "Seed of Abraham are we, and to no one have we been enslaved ever! How do You Yourself say that `you will become free?'" Jesus answered to them, "Amen, Amen I say to you that everyone doing sin is a slave of the sin. And the slave does not remain in the house into the ages--the Son remains into the ages. If ever, then, the Son frees you, you will be really free!
If somebody asked what holiday celebrates freedom, most would say the 4th of July, when Americans declared their independence from England. Free from King George's "tyrrany", the 13 colonies celebrated their freedom as a new nation in 1776. But you are Lutherans, so you are given to view freedom a different way. The holiday on which you celebrate your "freedom" is Reformation Day, the day you rejoice at Luther's rediscovery of the Gospel which frees you from sin, death & the devil. You need to be set free from sin, though you don't always want to admit it. You consider yourself as a capable person, as though sin isn't a problem for you. But it is. You think you can avoid sins by your own willpower. You can't. You think that you can pray your sins away. It's not possible. You want to view yourself as a person able to avoid sin. But you are trapped in it! You are a habitual sinner: gossiping, hurting people, wanting what isn't yours, and selfishly doing things your way, not God's. But you have become free from sin through Christ! Before you even had a chance to clean up your act, Jesus came to you to cleanse you from your unrighteousness in Holy Baptism. The sins which ensnared you, Jesus removed from you so that you are now free from sin and its hold! Every sin of thought, word, feeling, or act which you have ever committed is washed from you, and they are all deposited squarely upon Jesus Himself at the +, where He bore your sin in His Own body for you! Not only do you need to be freed from sin, but you also need rescue from it's consequence of death. The wages of sin is death, and so you deserve great punishment because of your sinning. Not just a regular normal death, but the death you have earned because of your sin is an everlasting death. You have merited hell because of your sinfulness, which is everlasting separation from God & His blessings, and the eternal anguish of condemnation in the fires of perdition, forevermore. Yet in Christ you are freed from the death you deserve! For the price that pays for your salvation is not gold or silver that man could fork over to buy indulgences. It is the holy precious blood of Jesus sacrificed in death at Calvary for your sake. It is His body given willingly unto death on the + in your place. Jesus dies your death willingly, in your stead. By dying for you, Christ's Own death destroys death's hold on you, freeing you to live life eternal as you eat His living body & life-giving blood. You not only need freedom from sin, and from death, but also from the power of the devil. Satan tempts you constantly, and you give in to him daily. Though you are baptized into God's team, you act as though you play for the devil's team. Satan uses the world in attempt to convince you of sinful notions like "abortion is fine" or the lie "homosexuality is just an alternative lifestyle". The devil uses your own sinful flesh to cause you to cave in to your own sinful desires, instead of doing God's will. Indeed, it seems as though devils fill this entire world, eager to devour you at every turn. But you have no fear of Satan nor his minions, for Jesus has freed you from the devil's hold. Though the devil tries to whisper his evil word into your ear all the time, you have a better Word with which to counter him. You have the word of the Gospel, the word that says, "Jesus has defeated you, once and for all at the + Satan! Christ's death has rescued me from your evil clutches. I belong to Jesus now!" No, you are incapable of freeing yourself from sin, from death, or from the power of the devil. With might of ours, can nothing be done. But where you are weak to fend of this unholy trinity, your God is strong. For us fights the Valiant One Whom God Himself elected. Who is this? It is Jesus Christ of sabaoth, which means "heavenly armies". There is no other God Who can set you free from sin, from death, and from the devil's hold on you. 1 little word can fell him. That word is none other than Jesus. John C. Drosendahl, Pastor
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