Freedom Follows Following: Living Free in Freedom

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John 8:31,32

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

The Holy Bible

• Over 40 different authors wrote it over a period of 1500 years 
• These 40 authors came from all walks of life
• The biblical authors lived on three different continents - Africa, Asia, and Europe 
• They also wrote under a number of different circumstances 
• The authors of Scripture wrote in three different languages - Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek 
• The Bible was written in a number of different literary forms such as narrative, poetry, and law 
• The writers cover many different topics such as the existence of God, the creation and purpose of humankind, the explanation for the origin of evil and the coming of the Savior 
• The writers all speak on these topics with complete harmony and continuity 
• The Holy Spirit is the Divine author of Scripture.
  2 Peter 1:20,21 “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of humans, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Known & Loved Series Recap

• You are completely known and comprehensibly loved by God.

• Satan majors in telling us 2 lies:
    1) You are not enough.
    2) God is not enough.
  When you hear either of those 2 lies don’t follow the emotional trail he is trying to lead you down. 

• The Good News of freedom is good because the Bad News of sin and death have been defeated.

• Life doesn’t stop at the Good News. We are to keep adding to our faith.

Living Free in Freedom

Deuteronomy 6:1-3

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe (follow) in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping (Follow) all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey (follow) so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

• Observe/Keeping/Obey = A continual following

• Fear = Reverence & Awe. We don’t react to God afraid, we respond to God in reverence/worship/admiration/respect/devotion.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" = The Shema.

This proclamation literally says “YHWY is our God, Unique, Only and Alone. 

3 Freedom Traps & Responses

Freedom Trap #1 – Freedom Amnesia

Deuteronomy 6:10-12

10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Freedom Responses

Deuteronomy 6:13-19

13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

Freedom Trap #2 – Freedom Compromise

Deuteronomy 7:1-4

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.

Freedom Responses

Deuteronomy 7:5-9

5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah pole and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. 7 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. 

Freedom Reward

Deuteronomy 7:12-16

12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. 15 The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. 16 You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Freedom Trap #3 – Freedom Pride

Deuteronomy 8:10-14

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

Freedom Responses

Deuteronomy 8:16-18  

16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

• The ultimate answer for living free in freedom is to Remember and to Revere God. 

• We must be on our guard for Freedom Amnesia, Freedom Compromise and Freedom Pride.

• Stay aware. Stay committed. Stay humble