Living As One Who Is FREE (Sermon Audio)

This is audio from a live broadcast of a devotional recap of the July 4, 2021 sermon, “Living As One Who Is FREE”, shared by Tom Lemler at the North Wayne Mennonite Church.

Text: John 8:31-51

When we live as those who have been set free by Jesus, we live as one who is:

Forgiven. John 8:31-32, 1 John 1:8-10
- Recognizing our sinfulness as well as God’s desire and power to forgive is a big part of the truth that sets us free. Rejecting the truth and claiming that we are without sin simply keeps us enslaved to the sin we refuse to acknowledge. When we experience Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, we find forgiveness through the washing away of our sins by His blood When we live as one who is forgiven, God calls us to also live as one who forgives.
Restored. John 8:34-36, Luke 15:21-24
- Living as one who is free through the power of Jesus restores us to the family as full heirs of all that belongs to God. As those who were created by God, who were knit together by God in our mother’s womb, our freedom in Christ builds on the forgiveness of sin found through Jesus and restores us as sons and daughters of the King. When we live as one who is restored, God calls us to also live as one who restores others.
Enlisted. John 8:42, 2 Timothy 2:3-4
- Living as one who is free means that we must live as one who has enlisted in service to the King. Because we have enlisted, our freedom is not about is rather it is about the One we serve and the people He calls us to love in His name. Our desire ought to always be about how we can please the One who has enlisted us to be His representative here on earth. When we live as one who is enlisted, God calls us to also live as one who enlists others into the family of God.
Equipped. John 8:49-51, 2 Timothy 3:16-17
- I know of very few people, if any, who like to be given a task to be done without the resources to accomplish it. Living as one who is free in Christ means we are equipped to to the very things we have been enlisted to do. God’s promise is that He will never leave us nor forsake us and He has given us His Word and His Spirit to equip us for every good work that He has prepared for us to do. When we live as one who is equipped, God calls us also to live as one who equips others with the truth of His Word.