How to Be Free Indeed
Introduction: Everyone cherishes freedom. Political freedom is sought by people everywhere, and they will devise ingenious methods to get through the Berlin Wall, or pay exorbitant sums to gain a place on a boat leaving Indochina, or risk their lives in the face of guns in the Philippines, all for political liberty.
People are also desperate for religious freedom. Our own church’s forefathers cherished freedom from the state churches of Scandinavia, so much so that they named their churches the “Free Churches.” Today religious scholars will risk excommunication from the Catholic Church or the Mormon Church for the right to speak their conscience on theological issues. Parents all over this country will pay heavy taxes for public schools but send their children to parochial schools instead, often over issues of religious freedom.
In addition, people are desperate for economic freedom. Millions of Mexicans cross the Rio Grande River and risk death in the deserts of the Southwest in an effort to find work in the United States. Peasants in China, who all their lives have been forced to work for the state on collective farms, are flocking to the cities under the new regime and setting up little booths to sell their produce, or the products they have made, so that they can have some financial freedom.
And social freedom is also sought. Even if a person can vote, worship as he chooses, and earn a good living, he also wants to be able to go into any restaurant or club or organization he chooses without being barred because of his ethnic or social background.
But there are still other kinds of freedom which human beings need desperately, but which are so elusive. There is freedom from guilt, freedom from the past, freedom from self-doubt and poor self-image, freedom to love others, freedom to be all they can be.
Let me share the stories of several people I know, none of whom attend this church. One is a woman about 60 years old who is an absolute prisoner of bitterness. She is still nursing grudges for things that happened 5, 10, and even 25 years ago, to say nothing of unresolved childhood experiences that probably underly all the adult hurts she is still reliving. She has never learned to forgive anyone. How desperately she needs freedom from bitterness.
Another person is a prisoner of pride. A self-made man, he was born into a poverty-stricken ethnic family and through hard work and study became a top executive in a major corporation and a millionaire many times over. But he is a prisoner of pride. Since people respected him in the corporate world and deferred to him constantly because of his position of authority, he felt that people should likewise defer to him in the church. When the church leaders made a decision that hurt his pride, he virtually stopped all of his involvement. He is a prisoner of pride in desperate need of freedom.
A third person is a woman who is a compulsive people-pleaser. From childhood she learned that love must be earned. She feels she must constantly do something for her husband, children, friends, or church so that she will be worthy of their approval. She can never relax, and her life is a constant stream of frantic effort to assure a desired reaction from people. Her self-image is in shambles and she is immobilized by fear that people will not approve of her looks, her house, her kids, etc. She desperately needs freedom from being a people-pleaser.
Each of these people, and countless others you and I have both known, are psychological, emotional, or spiritual prisoners. How do they become free? Well, living in a free land certainly does not ensure personal freedom; neither does attending church (each of the individuals I spoke of attends an evangelical church regularly); nor does being financially successful. They need something else.
In fact, they need what the Apostle Paul offered to a group of Jews and Gentiles in Antioch of Pisidia approximately 1950 years ago. Freedom in Christ was the focal point of a magnificent sermon he preached in the synagogue there, as recorded in Acts 13 and read earlier in our service. Everything he said led up to his triumphant conclusion in verses 38 and 39: “Let it be known to you therefore, brethren, that through this man (Jesus) forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him every one that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”
But if freedom is the focal point of this sermon, the first of Paul’s recorded for us in the New Testament, there is much supportive material that leads up to it. After a brief look at the context and situation, I want us to examine Paul’s sermon under four headings: the faithfulness of God, the forgiveness offered in Jesus Christ, the faith that grasps the gift, and the freedom which follows.
Context and situation
The Apostle Paul is on the first leg of his first missionary journey. He has been ministering with Barnabas in the great city of Antioch in Syria, where the Gospel first penetrated the racial barrier and where believers were first called Christians. While ministering there the Holy Spirit fingered these two men for the special task of taking the Gospel to Asia Minor and Europe. The Church commissioned them, and they promptly headed for the Mediterranean Coast, crossed over to the island of Cyprus, and after a brief ministry there, headed north into what is present-day Turkey. In the very center of Asia Minor, between the provinces of Phrygia and Pisidia, they came to another city named Antioch, and there they headed for the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
It is probable that Paul and Barnabas introduced themselves to the leader of the Synagogue and possibly even shared with him Paul’s credentials as a student of Gamaliel and a former member of the Sanhedrin. Whatever was said, the leader, who was responsible to find speakers for the services, offers to let Paul address the synagogue after the reading of the Scriptures. Never one to miss an opportunity, Paul stands up and preaches.
Paul’s Sermon (16-39)
Let’s read from verse 16-39:
16 Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. 18 For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. 19 When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took about 450 years.
20 After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’
23 From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24 after John had proclaimed, before His coming, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
26 “Brothers, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the declarations of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. 28 And though they found no grounds for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29 When they had carried out everything that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. 30 But God raised Him from the dead; 31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.
32 And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33 that God has fulfilled this promise to those of us who are the descendants by raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm:
‘You are My Son; today I have fathered You.’
34 As for the fact that He raised Him from the dead, never again to return to decay, He has spoken in this way:
‘I will give you the holy and faithful mercies of David.’
35 Therefore, He also says in another Psalm:
‘You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.’
36 For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, and was buried among his fathers and underwent decay; 37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.
38 Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.
As any good preacher will try to do, Paul starts where his audience is. They are principally Jews, and even the Gentiles among them are God-fearing proselytes. So, his sermon begins with an emphasis upon the faithfulness of God as demonstrated in the preparation of a people and the provision of a Savior.
The faithfulness of God (16-37). The key to this whole point on the faithfulness of God is found in verses 32 and 33: “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus.” In other words, all that Paul tells us about God’s relationship with Israel leads up to the fact that he faithfully kept a promise He made way back in Abraham’s day and remade frequently throughout the OT, the promise of a Messiah to save them from their sins.
1. Preparation of a people (16-23). This first section on the preparation of a people (16-23) is best understood by emphasizing the verbs, all of which concern the action of God.
“Chose:” Israel didn’t become God’s people by accident or because of any inherent goodness in them; rather God sovereignly chose them for His own purposes. But He not only chose them, He also “made them great.”
“Made great:” this occurred during the Egyptian captivity, as the 70 starving Hebrews who went there in the time of Joseph multiplied to perhaps two million at the time of Moses. Though they were great in the sense of number they were still slaves, so with an uplifted arm God “led them out.”
“Led out:” this happened, of course, under the leadership of Moses, as the entire nation escaped following the ten plagues, crossing the Sea of Reeds and entering the Sinai desert. The next verb is “put up with.”
“Put up with:” this describes the fact that for nearly forty years the people complained, disobeyed, rebelled, and in countless ways communicated to God that His plan for their lives was not satisfactory. Did He abandon them? Did He go find a different people for Himself? No, He put up with them, not without discipline, of course, and not without great cost to them, but He remained faithful to His original purposes. Though God did not destroy them, He did “destroy” seven nations in the land of Canaan.
“Destroyed:” you see, centuries before God had promised the land of Palestine to Abraham and his seed. It was not, however, uninhabited. There were seven nations that lived there, nations of unspeakable immorality and cruelty, so despicable that God ordered their extermination. He then “distributed” their land as an inheritance.
“Distributed:” this reassignment of land to Israel is, of course, to this very day a matter or great contention in the Middle East. The Israelis today believe that that distribution was permanent, and that is why, after some 19 centuries of exile from the land, they took the land back in 1948 from the Palestinians and others who had occupied it for centuries. Israel has its political supporters, of course, but only the Bible-believing Christian, who agrees that God’s promises are for good, supports their inheritance of the land on a spiritual basis. All of this, according to verse 19, everything he has recited from the Egyptian captivity to the conquest of Canaan, took approximately 450 years. The next verb is “gave.”
“Gave:” God gave the people judges to rule them during their formative years as a nation. This lasted until the time of Samuel, when the people rebelliously demanded that God give them a king like the other nations had.
“Gave and removed:” so God reluctantly “gave” them what they wanted, a king, Saul. But Saul was a wicked and ruthless king, so God “removed him” and in his place “raised up” David to be their king.
“Raised up:” David was a man after God’s own heart, not perfect, but committed to doing God’s will. “From the offspring of this man,” says Paul in verse 23, “according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.” Do you see the emphasis upon God’s faithfulness? He promiseda Savior of the seed of David, and He produced a Savior of the seed of David.
This survey of Israel’s history is brief, ignoring completely the 1000 years between David and the Son of David, but Paul’s principal concern has been to get to Jesus, the Savior, and from verses 23-37 he focuses exclusively upon Him.
2. Provision of a Savior (23-31)
Six key events in the life of Christ are enumerated (list them):
Proclaimed by John the Baptizer. The fact that Paul would speak of John the Baptizer in a synagogue a thousand miles from Jerusalem, without any explanation of who he was, indicates that John was well-known even among foreign Jews.
Before moving on Paul pauses to address his audience very personally: “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the word of this salvation is sent out.” Maybe some were dozing and needed to be brought back to reality—”what I am saying to you is relevant and meaningful!”
Condemned by the Jews in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, however, he has to tell them that those in Jerusalem and their rulers, both Jew and Gentile, refused to recognize Him as Messiah and refused to believe the prophets who spoke of Him even though they read the prophets every Sabbath. Instead, they condemned Him.
Crucified, though innocent, and buried. They asked Pilate to execute Him, even though they found no ground for putting Him to death. When He had been crucified, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. But God (I like those words—they are found many times in the Scriptures) … but God raised Him from the dead.
Raised from the dead by God. The resurrection, of course, plays a key part in every Apostolic sermon recorded for us. It is that which marks Jesus apart from every other religious martyr in history.
Seen by witnesses. The resurrection itself was seen by no one, but the results of the resurrection were seen by many witnesses, as Paul reiterates in verse 31, and in more detail in I Cor. 15.
Exalted by God. Still one more aspect of Christ’s life is mentioned in verse 33, where we are told that God “raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘Thou art My Son; today I have begotten Thee.” Most scholars believe this use of “raised up” refers not to the resurrection but to the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of the Father.
The fact is clear that all of God’s dealings with Israel, and all of the events of Christ’s life point to the unmistakable truth of the faithfulness of God. God made certain promises to Abraham more than 2,000 years B.C. He made more to David, about 1000 B.C. He made still more through the prophets. And every promise was fulfilled in minute detail. That is why Paul quotes the OT so many times in his sermon—it is to show these who profess faith in the Scriptures that what has happened in Jerusalem in their lifetimes is a direct fulfillment of what a faithful God had promised.
The emphasis on David, particularly in verses 34-37 also was intended to show these who honored and reverenced the great king of antiquity that there is a greater King, one whose body did not undergo decay as David’s did (“For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, and was buried among his fathers and underwent decay,” verse 36), who is calling for their allegiance.
The initial thrust of Paul’s sermon, then, is on the faithfulness of God, consuming the bulk of the sermon. His second point, however, is stated very succinctly in verse 38: “Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.”
The forgiveness offered in Jesus Christ (38). Is there anyone who does not need to hear this? Is there anyone who does not suffer from guilt for sins committed? The answer, of course, is negative. All have sinned and all have experienced guilt. All need forgiveness.
What does it mean to be forgiven? It means first of all, that God doesn’t hold your sins against you. Secondly, it means that you will never be punished for your sins. Thirdly, it means that your relationship with God is restored to what it ought to be. All that is available through Jesus, and only through Him.
We’ll come back to the issue of forgiveness in a minute, but first let’s look at the Apostle’s third point, namely …
The faith that grasps the gift (39). This point, though made very briefly in verse 39, is absolutely essential, for though Jesus Christ is the solution to our sins, and not ours only but also the sins of the whole world, not everyone experiences God’s forgiveness. Verse 39 tells us why: “and through Him everyone who believes is freed . . .” The word “believe” and the word “faith” are identical in the Greek language. One is simply the verb form and the other the noun form of the same word. God has established a principle in His universe, namely that people cannot appropriate the salvation He offers except through simple trust in Jesus.
Finally, we come to the fourth point in the sermon, which seems to be the focal point, namely …
The freedom which results (39). “Through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” I’d like to ask several questions about freedom.
1. What is freedom? The word used here for “freed” is not the ordinary word meaning “to release from some kind of bondage.” It is, in fact, the biblical word for “justification.” That word includes the idea of freedom but goes even further; it signifies that one has even been declared “not guilty.” Felons are frequently released from prison once they have served a portion of their time, but relatively few are pardoned or have their records expunged. But that is exactly what Paul says is available for those who put their faith in Jesus. They find freedom and they are even declared “not guilty” so that they can never be tried for the same crimes again.
2. Where can people find freedom? Well, first of all, freedom is found in truth. Jesus Himself made that clear when He said, “If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” To that affirmation the priests and the Pharisees responded, “We are descendants of Abraham, and we have never been in bondage to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will be made free’?” Then Jesus gave the key to freedom: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house forever; the Son continues forever. S, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34-36).
In other words, it is the truth that frees, and the truth is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
3. How does the Son make us free? The answer is forgiveness, already seen in the previous verse. Forgiveness and freedom are inseparably linked. Only a forgiven person is truly free, and we know that from our experience. The memory of past failures is like sand in the gears of our effectiveness. The careful computer of memory records all the things we have done or have had done to us, and those things haunt us until we are forgiven. But the forgiveness must be radical and deep by One who has authority to forgive. He is the One who said to a grossly immoral sinner, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.”
Many of us do not really experience the Lord’s forgiveness because we have never learned to forgive ourselves. We acknowledge that God has forgiven us, but we keep reliving our failures and sins and putting ourselves down while God is trying to lift us up.
We must not only learn to forgive ourselves, but also to forgive others. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely thing, until they have something to forgive.” The surest sign that we have received and experienced the forgiveness of God is our willingness to forgive others, past and present. Some say, “Oh, I forgive him, but I’ll never forget what he did to me.” That’s silly! That’s just another way of saying, “I won’t forgive him.” Stack that up against God, who is omniscient and has a perfect memory, and yet says, “I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:34). God chooses to forget. Our freedom is dependent on the gift from God of a poor memory of other people’s failures.
Clara Barton was known to never hold resentment against anyone. One time a friend recalled to her a cruel thing that had happened to her some years previously, but Clara seemed not to remember the incident. “Don’t you remember the wrong that was done to you,” the friend asked. “No,” Clara answered calmly. “I distinctly remember forgetting that.”
But our passage not only tells us how to find freedom; it also tells us where it can’t be found.
4. Where do many vainly look for freedom? Paul says, “Through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” Now we must clear up a possible ambiguity right away. It is possible to read verse 39 as though it were saying that the Law of Moses can free a person of some things, but Christ is needed to complete the task. That is not what the Apostle is affirming. He is saying that Christ frees us from all things, and the Law of Moses was incapable of freeing us from anything.
I think if Paul were speaking to us today, he would put his point differently. Perhaps it would go like this: “You cannot be freed by effort, by seminars, by psychoanalysis, or by reading ‘how-to’ books.” But for his primarily Jewish audience the fundamental mistake in seeking freedom was to seek it in the Mosaic Law. The Law was given by God to guide the people of Israel in a right relationship with God and with one another, but it was never intended to make them righteous. Only an abandoned trust in his grace and mercy could do that.
But instead of trusting in the goodness of God, the people trusted in their own goodness by trying to earn their status before God by impeccably keeping the Law. They worshipped the Law and their own capacity to please God more than God himself. They were not free. They negotiated their own piety to the extent that they did not need God, for who needs a Savior when he believes he can save himself? But that effort to save ourself is the ultimate demise of freedom. God came in Christ to liberate us from this compulsion.
But when by faith we claim the forgiveness Christ offers and the righteousness He gives, then we know with assurance that we are loved and that nothing can change that. The insecurity of having to be adequate is gone. We are free to be ourselves, love ourselves, and give ourselves away to others. When we know that God is pleased with us out of sheer grace we could never deserve, we do not have to try to win his pleasure. The test of freedom is not just what we are free to do, but what we are free not to have to do.
This has amazing implications for our relationships with the people in our lives, which brings us to our final question.
5. What are the implications of freedom for our lives? We are free from the necessity of having to earn the love of people and requiring that they justify our love for them. When I think of people with whom I am free to be myself, I find without exception that they are people who are so secure in God’s unmerited favor that they exude acceptance of me. I feel affirmed and liberated in their presence.
Freedom covers all dimensions of time. It enables us to look back at failures and hurts and forgive ourselves and others. It enables us to look at where we are now and not despair, knowing that healing righteousness of God is available for ourselves and for those around us. It enables us to take a forward look, knowing that the future is not an enemy and meet each new challenge.
The sermon concludes with a warning in verse 40.
A concluding warning and reaction (40-52)
Once again, let’s read the text:
Therefore, see that the thing spoken of in the Prophets does not come upon you:
41 ‘Look, you scoffers, and be astonished, and perish;
For I am accomplishing a work in your days,
A work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’”
42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people repeatedly begged to have these things spoken to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them and urging them to continue in the grace of God.
44 The next Sabbath nearly all the city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. 46 Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you repudiate it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us,
‘I have appointed You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their region. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. 52And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
The warning is this: “Therefore, see that the thing spoken of in the Prophets does not come upon you.” What thing? Paul quotes the prophet Habakkuk, who, on the eve of Nebuchadnezzar’s rise to world-power, called on the nations, in the name of God, to look with astonishment on the impending invasion: “Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.” Great as was the disaster that overtook those who ignored the warnings of the prophets, an even greater disaster will fall upon those who refuse the gospel.
The reaction to the sermon? Well, the last ten verses of the chapter inform us that it was two-fold, as it always is. Some were hungry for the word and begged the Apostles to preach again the next Sabbath. And that next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of God. But there were the scoffers too, that the prophet Habakkuk also had in his day. They were filled with jealousy and contradicted Paul’s message and blasphemed. Eventually they drove Paul and Barnabas out of their district. But the new disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps today there are these same two responses. I urge you not to scoff, not to contradict, not to blaspheme, but rather to rejoice in the fact that freedom is available to you by faith through the forgiveness offered by Jesus Christ. If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
Tags:
Freedom
Forgiveness