Trinity 8Jesse JacobsenTypeset
Last Modified: "Sat Jul 12 18:24:43 2008" |
1 The Spirit of God Secures Our Freedom
Many of the people who founded this nation
had left their homeland in search of freedom.
In particular, many of these wanted the freedom
to live spiritual lives
and to teach spiritual doctrines
as their consciences and the Word of God required.
In their homeland, their lives of worship had been restricted.
In the New World, they hoped to find a place
where they would be free to establish a Christian community.
So Plymouth, and Massachusetts, and Rhode Island
were established as places to safeguard religious freedom.
This is part of our heritage as Americans.
But there is another kind of religious freedom,
even more important than
the freedom to worship and live as conscience requires.
Instead of delivering us from the persecutions of man,
this freedom delivers us from the punishment of God.
Instead of ending our servitude to earthly masters,
this freedom ends our slavery to sin and death.
Jesus said those words, The truth will make you free,
but the preceding part is often left out:
If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
They didn’t understand what sort of freedom He meant.
Our text shows us that the Spirit of God secures our freedom.
Not the freedom sought by the Pilgrims and Puritans,
but the freedom we have through Jesus Christ.
The Spirit of God secures our freedom:
freedom for which we owe Him our life
freedom which we receive by His witness
2 Romans 8:12–17
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors — not to the flesh, to live according to
the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption
by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with
our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may
also be glorified together.
2.1 Freedom for which we owe Him our life
A bumper sticker this week reminded me that freedom isn’t free.
Usually, when someone says that,
we think of those who have fought to defend our country.
There have always been places without freedom.
It’s good to appreciate those who defend ours.
Spiritual freedom is not free either.
In fact, if freedom of religion and speech and the rest is costly,
often requiring the highest price that can be paid:
the shedding of blood and the sacrifice of lives;
then we have no way to measure the cost of freedom from sin.
We have no way to measure it, and no way to pay it.
Without a doubt, there has been a crisis in the mortgage industry.
No matter where the blame should lie for that,
no matter what anyone should do about it,
we can sympathize with those who are most affected.
It’s the stuff of nightmares:
You’ve signed the mortgage documents in 85 places.
You’ve committed to paying your first really big debt:
more than what you’d take home in five years!
You’ve relied upon the endlessly rising value of real estate,
so that when your mortgage rate goes up
you can refinance or sell.
But when your rate went up, the values went way down,
and you couldn’t sell, or refinance.
Now, you owe more than it’s worth,
and worse still, you can no longer pay the interest.
That sort of thing can ruin people.
Maybe it was their own fault, but we’ve seen it happen.
For some, it really is just a nightmare.
For others, it’s reality.
That’s what it’s like to be a debtor who can’t pay his debt.
Every one of us was born with an inheritance:
not of wealth, but of debt.
Yes, even today well after the Civil War,
many people are still born into debt — and slavery.
It’s the debt of sin accumulated through time
back to our very first parents.
It’s the slavery to that sin, so that if we could pay it down,
we still can’t stop making more,
like a compulsive buyer with a credit card.
We write checks with our bodies, our mouths, and our minds
that our souls can’t cash.
So the debt of sin and the addiction to sin that we have inherited
spell slavery for us that would never, ever end.
That’s why we should love the Small Catechism,
where we learn the explanation to the Creed’s Second Article:
I believe that Jesus Christ is true God,
begotten of the Father from all eternity,
and alse true Man,
born of the Virgin Mary,
and that He is my Lord,
who has redeemed me,
a lost and condemned creature,
purchased and won me
from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil;
not with gold or silver,
but with His holy, precious blood
and His innocent suffering and death.
He did that for us all.
He paid a price to win our freedom,
a price that we cannot measure,
a price that we could not pay.
His holy precious blood:
the blood of God’s eternal Son.
His innocent suffering and death:
not only a death He did not deserve,
but the death of God’s Son.
We are that servant who owed his master and king 10,000 talents.
It’s a debt beyond the world of servants,
it’s the value of a kingdom.
But our Lord and King had mercy and paid the debt Himself.
Just as in Jesus’ parable, the question for us is: now what?
What sort of life do we have?
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors — not to the flesh, to live
according to the flesh.
No, we are debtors to the Holy Spirit,
who has given us life through the death of Jesus Christ.
Again, the Small Catechism on the Creed:
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength
believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.
But the Holy Ghost has called me by the gospel,
enlightened we with His gifts,
sanctified and kept me in the true faith.
This faith is the spiritual freedom we need.
Freedom from the guilt and slavery of sin.
Freedom from the threat of death.
Freedom from the power of the devil.
We are still debtors to God.
We still owe Him our lives,
but now instead of punishment,
we are free to live under Him in His Kingdom
in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
3 Freedom which we receive by His witness
The Spirit of God secures our freedom
when He keeps us with Jesus Christ in the one, true faith.
And we receive that freedom by the Spirit’s witness.
There are some people who think themselves good Christians,
who base this upon something God has shown them privately.
It may have been a vision or dream,
or some experience at some particular time.
I hope that I never rely for my salvation
upon some private message from God.
That is the way to despair and unbelief.
Instead, give me the public witness of the Holy Spirit
that applies to everyone equally.
Give me the Gospel that cannot be taken away.
The apostle teaches us, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
these are sons of God.
He doesn’t mean that they are led by the Spirit secretly,
but that they are led through the outward Word.
We know the Spirit is here when we hear the Gospel.
When we witness a Christian baptism,
it’s certain that the Holy Spirit is working there too.
You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you
received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
The spirit of bondage comes with a message
that requires us to obtain God’s mercy and favor.
But the Spirit of adoption comes with the message
that Jesus Christ has already obtained God’s mercy
for us.
We are children of God by His choice,
just as adopted children are chosen by their parents,
so we have been chosen by our Father to belong to Him.
This is also given to us through the Spirit’s public witness.
If we had to rely upon some private experience,
or anything we have received only as individuals,
then it could be taken away from us as easily as it was given.
At the least, we might wonder if we have lost it,
especially when we fall again into sin.
Some Christians believe that they will not fall into sin again.
Others believe that Christians don’t sin.
Others believe that they at least resist sin perfectly.
These beliefs are wrong and dangerous.
They are naíve. Stumbling once, they could lose all.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are above sin.
And don’t think for a moment that God excuses your sin.
Instead, repent when you sin, and believe God’s Spirit.
Believe that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son,
cleanses us from all sin — and it always will.
No less than His blood was required,
and no less than His blood was provided for us all.
So through His Word, The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ.
One becomes an heir by the will of someone who dies.
Not by our own will, but by the will of another.
There are times when we are not very good Christians.
This is not to our credit, or something to be proud of.
On the contrary, it should shame us.
When you realize your faults,
whether in your life or in your faith:
when you see how easily you fall away from this faith,
you may well wonder if you will end up in heaven.
After all, those without faith in Christ are not saved.
But when that moment of despair comes,
remember the public testimony of the Holy Spirit.
What saves you
is not that you have chosen to remain faithful to Christ,
but that Jesus has chosen to remain faithful to you.
Because of God’s faithfulness to us,
and the utter reliability of the Spirit’s testimony,
we can afford to live as Christians:
freed from the slavery of sin.
Paul also wrote this, in Galatians 5:
You, brethren, have been called to liberty;
only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another.
Let the testimony of the Spirit remain in your heart:
that through Christ, you have been freed from sin and death.
You stand before God, justified, forgiven, and adopted.
In Jesus, you have eternal life.
and so you will be glorified in the life to come.
This document was translated from LATEX by
HEVEA.