From Captive to Conqueror: Understanding Your Freedom in Christ

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:08] Good morning. Working on this whole Facebook Live aspect, so please give me a little grace.
[00:01:04] I hope you're doing well this morning and you have had an enjoyable weekend thus far with the snow and you were able to stay warm.
[00:01:16] if you have any praises or prayers that you'd like to add in please put those in the chat box and we'll share those in a prayer in a little bit again trying to figure all this out and i don't
[00:01:44] know why my camera likes to cut my head off but that's what it is so as we are gathering here uh again if you have any praises or prayers please put them in and share those in the chat
[00:02:00] so that we can pray for those situations and as we're doing that and as we're gathering and more and more people are coming in uh i'll introduce myself first my name is uh pastor steve ashby or reverend steve ashby or just steve i am a elder within the global
[00:02:20] Methodist Church. And I do not have a church appointment at this point in time. I am more in the extension ministries where I am part of sports medicine ministry, and that's where my calling is. So I work with athletes and coaches and all those involved within athletics and
[00:02:50] help them see who Jesus is and who God is in their life around athletics. So that is my area at this point. So thank you, Jane, for putting that in. It's hard for me to see. I see
[00:03:13] that there are nine viewers at this point in time, but I have a hard time knowing who's out there and what if you can hear me and everything is is okay. So one of the illustrations I'm going to
[00:03:33] use or I'm going to reference a song today and it's by Zach Williams and it's called Chain Breaker and so hopefully I don't get dinged by Facebook. I'm not going to play the song if you would like
[00:03:48] to search that if you're not familiar with that song. It's a Christian song. Zach Williams is a Christian artist. He, we were able to see him in concert this summer. And so this song, though, kind of goes along with where we are in Romans 8. So,
[00:04:13] so really in seven and eight so some of the lyrics from that it starts off if you've been walking the same old road for miles and miles if you've been hearing the same old voice that tells you the same old lies if you're trying
[00:04:32] to fill the same old holes inside there's a better life there's a better life the chorus is if you've got pain he's a pain taker if you feel lost he's a way maker if you need freedom from saving he's a prison shaking savior if you got chains he's a chain
[00:04:57] breaker we've all searched for the light of day in the dead of night we've all found ourselves worn out from the same old fight we've all run to things we know just ain't right when there's a
[00:05:14] better life there's a better life the last chorus if you believe it if you receive it if you can feel it somebody testify if you believe it if you receive it if you can feel it somebody testify
[00:05:36] testify if you've got pain he's a pain taker if you feel lost he's a way maker if you need freedom or saving he's a prison shaking saver if you've got chains he's a chain breaker so again that's
[00:05:58] zach williams song chain breaker uh it is one that i will reference in the sermon today so i just wanted to uh um offer that up if you've not heard it you can uh search it and listen um if you have
[00:06:13] hopefully i didn't butcher it too much um but uh again i'm happy happy to be here and um wish we could have met in person but just weather didn't uh allow that for today so again if you've got
[00:06:32] prayers we'll uh we'll offer any prayers here i see one for gary and the others on the cruise i'm definitely praying for them i will also add some of my own i have some missionary friends who
[00:06:48] are returning from india they were supposed to come in yesterday i made the trip in the snow to the airport, only to get to the airport, and the airport was closed. They had just closed it at that moment in time. My friends later, their names are
[00:07:09] Dar and Andrew Draper, and their their ministry is GLOW, which stands for Go Love Others Well. Primarily their ministry is in the Ukraine, and they take care of orphans in the Ukraine. And not just all orphans, they
[00:07:29] focus on the orphans who were displaced from orphanage care.
[00:07:35] So they aged out. And so once you become I don't know exactly what age but once you become a certain age, they age you out and put you out on the street if you're not if you're not
[00:07:47] adopted. And so they bring those individuals in those orphans in and give them a place and then basically give them a family.
[00:07:58] And so, so that is their ministry. That is kind of the premise behind glow. They also have what's called glow media, which is where they were out, which is a children's discipleship program, essentially, where they can,
[00:08:15] where the children can really come to know who God is and who Christ is and and so they were in India working on promoting that program and and talking to believers and training believers over in India so but as they
[00:08:35] were landing Andrew was telling me or excuse me Andrew was telling me that they were descending into Charlotte and got the word that the airport was closed and so they headed back to New York.
[00:08:48] So they had to spend the night in New York and I just received this morning that they were able to get on a plane and should be arriving at about 12.30 our time in Charlotte.
[00:09:02] So prayers for their flight and prayers for their ministry.
[00:09:06] We also have another missionary that I'd like to pray for in Greg Helms, Greg and Kilby Helms.
[00:09:17] their daughter Alma. Greg was over in the Sudan area and he became ill. The thought is he was poisoned while he was over there. So he is stateside recovering, getting much better, and they are starting to pray and put together plans for their return. So please be in prayer
[00:09:44] for them and also give thanks that he was able to recover from from the poisoning so we will pray for gary are there any others i don't see in the chat any others so let us pray father god we just
[00:10:05] give you all the glory this morning we thank you for this beautiful weather lord it's cold and some of us don't like cold it's snowy some of us don't like and aren't prepared for the snow
[00:10:20] but lord it's beautiful looking out into it uh lord we just see all of your beauty to on display and lord just help us to recognize your beauty help us to receive your beauty and help us to receive your glory lord we lift up gary and the others as they go on their uh their
[00:10:40] crews be with them that that batteries may be restored that energy may be restored that that you will bless their time together strengthen their relationship with each other and with you and bring them back safely father god we just lift up all of those who may not have the resources
[00:11:06] they need during this time may we be your hands and feet may the whole area be your hands and feet to mobilize and show how glorious you are that you are always taking care of us and you take care of
[00:11:21] us one of the ways you take care of us is by the use of our hands and our feet so help us to be your hands and feet lord i lift up all those who are in pain all those who are are ill all those
[00:11:36] who are suffering lord just bless them continue to bless them and allow them to feel your warm warmth and your hugs as they go through these trial times and lord i guess give you thanks for
[00:11:51] all the glorious things that you have done oftentimes we don't recognize them we don't pay attention to them because we have blinders on or we have an eye disease that we're only thinking about ourselves. But Father God, we repent of those times. We give them to you.
[00:12:12] We give you thanks in Jesus that he took those sins from us, that we can come to you and be with you and see your glory. So Father God, bless our time together as we worship. And it's in Jesus'
[00:12:30] precious and holy name we pray amen all right so this morning we are going to get into our service and pardon me for a second i'm trying to get all the stuff that i have up up all right so we're
[00:12:59] going to today get into Romans and Romans is a book that was written by Paul to the church in consisted of both Jews and Gentiles see the people in Rome and the church in Rome and really all the
[00:13:25] jews and the gentiles in the early church had an issue of how do we what do we do with jesus especially the jews the jews had an issue because they were so used to the law they were used to
[00:13:48] just being part of this system that they had to follow all of these laws all 613 and so they wrestled with what what do we do now how do we handle this law and for the non-jews
[00:14:11] do we need to follow the law do we need to do everything that's required of the jews because we're not jewish but we believe that jesus is our savior and jesus was the messiah and is the
[00:14:27] Messiah who came to us so they struggled with this and so this letter that Paul wrote really explains systematically how all people Jews and Gentiles receive salvation through Jesus Christ and so this is the premise behind why this book
[00:14:56] was written and then also included in our bible see we challenge ourselves with this also a lot of times we struggle with who is jesus in our lives so not only in the early church
[00:15:17] what did it mean to live in the fullness given to them through the holy spirit but how do we let go of the law and take hold of jesus which is where we are to our struggle
[00:15:33] is how do we let go of our laws and let jesus take over so let me ask you a question do you believe that god has empowered his church through the holy spirit hopefully that's a yes
[00:15:54] hopefully that is a resounding yes that absolutely that he has empowered us through the holy spirit we're all post pentecostal people or post pentecost people and in acts 1 8 jesus's own word said you will receive the power when the holy spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses
[00:16:19] in jerusalem and in judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth and so that's where we should be but i know i'm not always there i know i strive to be there but i don't always make it so how do
[00:16:38] we let go of this law and we take on jesus and that's what paul's argument and he really tries to set out through the whole book of romans his argument is jesus is enough and so we're going to
[00:17:02] dive in today to romans basically romans 8 verses 1 through 4 but romans 8 starts with the word therefore and as another pastor pastor earl bradshaw if you those of you may know him uh he
[00:17:22] has always said and it's in my head now just because he says it every time in it whenever you see the word therefore you need to figure out why or what it is therefore so we need to look
[00:17:38] back at Romans 7 and so I'm going to kind of give a cliff notes of Romans 7 because this is the foundation going into Romans 8 and what we're looking at Romans 8 so Paul wrestles in Romans
[00:17:53] seven with the universal question of why do I do what I don't want to do and fail to do what I want to do? That question resides in us today. Why do I fail at doing what's right and I do what I ought
[00:18:14] not to do? It's that classic cartoon where you have the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other shoulder battling out who who are you going to listen to what am i am i going to do
[00:18:30] what's right or am i going to do what i want to do and he lays this out in verse 15 through 20 where he says i do not understand what i do for what i want to do i do not do but for what i hate
[00:18:48] i do for i do not do the good i want to do but the evil i do not want to do this i keep on doing that resides in me that's how i feel at times he goes on in verse 24 says what a wretched man i am
[00:19:12] who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death and so much of us i believe are stuck in romans 7 but that's where we are in the world we look at laws and but when i say laws i don't
[00:19:29] mean our governmental laws i don't necessarily mean the the laws that our work give us or or things like that i'm looking at universal laws doing good just like what was laid out for the
[00:19:49] jews with the mosaic law they were put there one to bring people together to show them how to live as a community so there are lots of laws that deal with just keeping illness away and and how
[00:20:08] to treat each other as we bring different tribes together who may live differently how do we bring them all together under one group of laws or rules and regulations of how to live by but they
[00:20:26] also gave us another thing they gave us something else that we're going to dive into but he ends romans 7 with a great proclamation the answer to that question of what a wretched man am i
[00:20:45] who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death the answer he goes on at the end and says thanks be to god who delivers me through jesus christ our lord so he admits the tension in his
[00:21:02] mind a slave to god's law but in his sinful nature he's a slave to the law of sin and who delivered him it was lord jesus christ so now we're going to actually get into our reading today let me put
[00:21:21] on my readers it's horrible getting a bad eyesight in my older age but that's part of it so let me pull our verses up for today starting in romans chapter 8 verses 1 through 4
[00:21:46] therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus because through christ jesus the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death for
[00:22:03] what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh god did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering and so he condemned sin in the flesh
[00:22:21] in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh but according to the spirit the word of god for the people of god
[00:22:35] thanks be to god let us pray father god as we are gathered here today bless our time bless each and every one of those listening today that we may hear the words that you want us
[00:22:52] to hear lord transform those words that come out of my mouth to hit the ears of those who hear this sermon and this message that they don't hear me but they hear you transform those words and allow them to be your holy words that allows us
[00:23:16] to be transformed and to move closer to you as you wish us to do every single day and we ask this all in jesus precious name amen so verse 8 what a powerful declaration he starts out by there is
[00:23:40] no condemnation we are not under that any more which gets us to our big idea i'd usually do a big idea for our sermons and our big idea for today is in christ we are set free from
[00:23:57] from condemnation and this freedom shifts us from captives to conquerors by unlocking the abundant life that jesus promises us in john 10 10 but again we've got to set the stage by looking at romans 7 because so many of us are stuck right there see paul has an eye problem
[00:24:23] not an eye problem but a letter i problem did you notice in those verses and throughout seven if you read 7, he uses the personal pronouns like I, me, and mine a whopping 47 times. It's an I disease
[00:24:42] where he's centered on himself and not on who Christ is. And that letter I is also smack dab in the middle of sin. So many of our sins are subject to us being focused on I or me.
[00:25:06] but thankfully romans 8 flips that script it became begins with no condemnation and it climaxes at the end with no separation from god's love to illustrate where so many of us are in this i want
[00:25:28] to go back in our own american history to january 1st 1863 when president then president abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which in that moment on January 1st, 1963, freed the slaves in America. Tragically, though, so many of those freed slaves
[00:26:01] continued to live in bondage. For months and years, they continued to either A, Maybe they didn't know it happened.
[00:26:16] They couldn't read.
[00:26:17] They couldn't write.
[00:26:19] So I'll say out of ignorance, they were unaware.
[00:26:25] Unaware that they were set free.
[00:26:29] There are others that could have been kept in the dark by so many things.
[00:26:32] And how many times are we kept in the dark?
[00:26:35] How many times do we remain ignorant to who Christ is?
[00:26:42] But, friends, 2,000 years ago, God issued our own emancipation proclamation on a hill called Calvary and it wasn't signed in ink but it was signed in God in the blood of Jesus the lamb who takes away the sins of the world
[00:27:01] and even before that that makes us hearken and made all the Jews hearken to believe and see the Passover lamb in Exodus where they spread the lamb's blood over the doorposts and that protected them from death christ's blood covers us the same way
[00:27:28] so condemnation passes over us now let's look at our verses for today we're gonna there's four points one for each verse that we have that we're going to look at and we're going to kind of dissect
[00:27:45] where we should be and how we need to accept our glorious the gloriousness that god gave us that we have no condemnation so the first one's easy there's no condemnation in christ verse one says there therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus
[00:28:13] and again therefore bridges that gap in roman seven from the misery of roman seven of the eye disease and this isn't saying that we'll never fail or that we'll make mistakes because we're still in a we're still work in progress we're still on our way to sanctification but it bridges
[00:28:40] that gap from misery into fulfillment because condemnation that's a final harsh judgment it's that guilty verdict that we all deserve it's what everybody what really the world now you see the world taking on god's eyes and giving that guilty verdict even before there's a trial
[00:29:07] we're getting that harsh judgment even before we have a way to even defend what was brought up.
[00:29:21] See, that's condemnation.
[00:29:23] But in Christ, it's gone.
[00:29:25] It's lifted.
[00:29:27] Because Jesus bore that on the Christ for us.
[00:29:31] We're rescued from our eye disease and from self-slavery.
[00:29:35] And this is also echoed in john 3 16 through 18 some of the most uh known words of the bible for 3 16 says for god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
[00:29:58] eternal life for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him whoever believes in him is no is not condemned see if you're outside of christ
[00:30:16] condemnation lingers because of unbelief it sits there it makes us wonder am i really free am i really living by the law should i follow the law should i be part of the law do i need to
[00:30:36] do all of these things because we oftentimes feel that i'm not worthy or i blew it and satan takes that and amplifies that and puts that face or in our face all the time but for believers we're free
[00:30:56] we've got freedom because the cross silences that unbelief our second point from verse two says is set we are set free by the law of the spirit verse 2 says because through christ jesus the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death now again i
[00:31:24] don't want you to think of law like governmental laws we're dealing more in principles like gravity the law of gravity says that we're going to be grounded on this earth so sin's law drags us
[00:31:40] down to death but the spirit's law is superior it propels us up we're we are empowered post pentecostal people and as jesus promised in john 14 we do even we'll we're doing even greater things
[00:31:59] with the holy spirit and this is where i'm referenced that song chain breaker by zach williams if you're chained by addiction habits or past sins jesus has already broke us free we just like the slaves have to accept that and have to allow that to sink in see before christ
[00:32:31] we are captives and in him we're free to choose life over death our third point the law's powerlessness and god's solution verse 3 says for what the law was powerless to do because it was
[00:32:48] weakened by the flesh god did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to become a sin offering and so he condemned sin in the flesh the law was holy and good the law given by moses
[00:33:06] was was holy it was good it allowed people to live together under one group in one society and jesus said that he didn't come to condemn the law or get rid of the law he came to fulfill
[00:33:26] the law. But the law exposes our flaws. It's kind of like a diagnostic tool. It made me think of like an MRI or an x-ray or an ultrasound, any of those diagnostics. When we go to the doctor and
[00:33:47] they say we need to run these tests, it exposes what's wrong. But that x-ray, that ultrasound, that that ct scan that mri it can't fix the problem that's not the fix it can't repair us
[00:34:05] so the law isn't there to repair us and to fix us it's there to show us where we need to grow you can also think of and this dates me a little bit and dates it may date all of us a little bit
[00:34:25] and for those of you who don't know this you can go kind of look but from the show cheers In fact, the sitcom in the 80s and 90s from Cheers, you had Cliff.
[00:34:36] And we all know a Cliff, that know-it-all person, that person who can give you, has memorized the encyclopedia.
[00:34:45] So you can go to Cliff and you can say, oh, my car won't start.
[00:34:50] And he starts going on and on about the invention of the combustion engine and the history of it and who Henry Ford is and everything about the car, but he can't fix it.
[00:35:06] He has no idea how to fix it.
[00:35:08] He can tell you everything about it, but he has no idea how to fix it.
[00:35:14] That's what we look at.
[00:35:16] That's what the law is.
[00:35:19] And that's where God stepped in.
[00:35:21] And he sent Jesus in the likeness of our sinful flesh, fully human but without sin, as our sin offering, like that passover lamb he condemned sin once and for all now verse 4.4 righteousness righteous requirements are fulfilled in verse 4 he goes on in in order that the
[00:35:57] righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh but according to the spirit see jesus is only the one who can fulfill the law you can go back and
[00:36:16] look at all the prophecies of the messiah and jesus is the only one who fills that and he did it perfectly just as galatians 2 21 says i do not set aside the grace of god for if righteousness
[00:36:34] could be gained through the law christ died for nothing us becoming righteous isn't by living according to the law flawlessly yes we should strive to be better yes we should strive to do what we're what god calls us to do but it's not through the law that we get there it's only
[00:36:58] through christ so now we live by the spirit our power source through roman 7 is the eye driven defeat and roman 8 is that spirit-led victory which again takes me to our big idea in christ
[00:37:19] we are set free from condemnation so my question to you is will you die to self and live in christ do you trust his finished work because he absorbed your condemnation there was a young girl who's
[00:37:41] wisely texted her preacher after her grandmother had passed away and said in her text i have this peace i can't explain and it's from the lord so that's philippians 4 7 being lived out the peace
[00:37:58] that surpasses all understanding, even grief.
[00:38:03] So church, you're free to embrace the life that God designed for you.
[00:38:13] Don't be a captive.
[00:38:15] Don't live in captivity anymore.
[00:38:19] You're advancing as more than a conqueror in Jesus.
[00:38:27] Now, if this message has stirred you or you've never surrendered to Christ, come as you are.
[00:38:35] Repent, believe, and receive His freedom.
[00:38:40] Go to Jesus.
[00:38:44] He's waiting for you.
[00:38:46] He wants you to know Him even more.
[00:38:50] Let us pray.
[00:38:55] Lord Jesus, thank You for shattering condemnation's chains.
[00:39:03] Empower us by Your Holy Spirit to live victoriously.
[00:39:09] And for anyone who's still captive today, set them free allow them to really see who you are and allow all of us to get rid of our unbelief just as the father said i believe help my unbelief lord continue to work in us and allow us
[00:39:43] to be your people allow us to grow closer to you in everything that we do lord we bring this to you all in jesus precious name amen well thank you everyone for today uh i hope you found it to be
[00:40:07] enlightening in one way shape or form i appreciate you for allowing me to fill in for gary today uh i don't know if you had a whole lot of choice because he called me i don't know that he let
[00:40:21] you know ahead of time but i appreciate you uh being here the 13 of you who are here uh today and those who will watch it from here on out.
[00:40:30] I appreciate the time with you.
[00:40:34] So we will conclude our service today with our benediction.
[00:40:43] Go forth knowing no condemnation in Christ.
[00:40:47] You're rescued and eternally alive through Christ.
[00:40:51] God bless you all.
[00:40:53] Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
[00:40:55] be safe out there in the in the world as it is and if you need anything please reach out and I am willing to help and I know all of the members of the church are willing to help also so have a
[00:41:12] wonderful day