Freedom Isn’t Free!

I’m so grateful to live in a land where there’s freedom to worship the Lord and preach His Gospel message. Yet these freedoms are under attack today, and it’s time for God’s people to again take a courageous stand for liberty.

Throughout history, however, no experience has proven more costly than freedom. Faced with the ominous cloud of Nazi aggression, Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the British Parliament in May 1940, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” His message was clear: In order to maintain their liberty, the British people would have to be ready to pay a terrible price.

Two of the top American generals in World War II echoed Churchill’s statement about the price of liberty. Dwight Eisenhower warned, “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” And Douglas MacArthur added, “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”

Tyranny comes easily enough, but liberty is a costly thing. And vigilance is required to maintain it.

Your Spiritual Freedom

Many people still don’t experience this gift of freedom. While countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan are blessed with liberty today, much of the world still suffers under dictatorships and repressive governments.

But the deeper problem is a spiritual one. Of the world’s nearly 7 billion people, over 2 billion have never heard the name of Jesus even once. Over 250,000 people die each day, and many of them have never experienced the freedom from sin that Christ came to give them. What a tragedy. And it’s also tragic that many Believers aren’t truly walking in the spiritual liberty available to them in Christ.

Jesus paid the ULTIMATE price for your freedom when He died on the Cross. Because He paid the penalty for your sins with the shedding of His precious blood, you truly can be “free indeed” (John 8:36)—not just politically free, but more importantly, free from sin, sickness, and the power of the enemy.

So whatever chains of bondage or oppression you are experiencing today—whether addiction, depression, fear, anger, lust, bitterness, financial lack, or some other stronghold—Jesus came to set you FREE!

Redeemed and Free

To fully grasp the freedom we are offered in Christ, we must understand the concept of “redemption.” Many Biblical passages declare that God has “redeemed” us, but people today often are unaware of how significant this is.

Redeem means “to purchase back something that has been lost, by payment of a ransom.” Picture a slave who has endured torment at the hands of a cruel master. But then a wealthy man purchases this slave from the evil slaveholder. After paying a high price for the slave, the rich man astonishes everyone by setting the slave free.

This is how you and I have been redeemed. The Bible declares that you’ve been “bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20) and “redeemed from the hand of the enemy” (Psalm 107:2). That means Satan, the evil master, no longer has any claim over you. No longer does he have any right to interfere with your life or enslave you to sickness, poverty, depression, or addiction.

Many Christians think their redemption is only a matter of saving them from hell and giving them a ticket to Heaven. But Psalm 103:3-5 says God not only “redeems your life from destruction,” but He also “forgives all your iniquities…heals all your diseases…crowns you with lovingkindness…satisfies your mouth with good things”…and even causes your youth to be “renewed like the eagle’s.”

What incredible redemption! Throughout eternity we’ll sing the praise of Jesus, the Lamb of God: “You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

It Is Finished!

Those who have heard about the price Jesus paid for their freedom have a choice. They can choose to remain a slave to sin—or to whatever else is holding them in its grip—or they can choose to receive their redemption and be set free.

What about you, my friend? I hope you are living in the reality of this amazing Good News:

Christ died on the Cross not only to pay the penalty for your sins, but He also came to set you FREE!

On the Cross, Jesus looked up to His Father and said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) The cost of your freedom was marked “Paid in full!” You were purchased out of bondage by His precious blood, so you don’t have to remain a slave! You can get unstuck from whatever has held you back from the incredible life God has planned for you.

David Cerullo

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 Prayer Request