Subtopic: “ Striving To Stay Free”

Sermon Notes By Pastor Arthur H. Coleman Sr. For Sunday July 1, 2014

Text: St John 8:31-32;36 “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; (vs32) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (vs36) If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary,Vol.17, Pages 392-393, a comment on St. John 8:32 “ SPIRITUAL FREEDOM is (1) Freedom from sin. From its bondage, its control, its consequences, its guilt, and from sin itself. In the true disciple sin will ultimately be destroyed, not a vestige of it will be left behind. (2) Freedom from the Law. From its curse, penalties, terrors, its heavy and unbearable burdens. The known truth , or Christ, becomes the law of the disciples life, written on his heart. Its letter becomes dead, while its spirit is preserved. (3) Freedom from the evil rule of the flesh. From the lower passions and appetites, from the captivity of self-seeking. The soul is brought out from itself into Christ, to breathe the natural and pure air of spiritual life, love, holiness, self-sacrifice, and willingness. (4) This freedom is effected by the truth.         ( The manifestation of God’s Word In Christ Jesus) St. John 14:6; St. John 1:14 (a) The truth is the efficient means of spiritual freedom. It is based on and produced by the great facts of redemption. (b) The truth is the efficient incentive to spiritual freedom. The revelation of sin, in its enormity , debasing effects, and ultimate consequences, and revelation of God’s loving, costly, and self-sacrificing provisions for sinners, are calculated to inspire the captive soul to struggle for and accept the offered liberty. (c) The truth experimentally known brings the fact of spiritual freedom to the consciousness. No sooner the facts of redemption, such as justification, forgiveness, and reconciliation by faith, are experimentally known than the soul begins to realize in itself the blessings of spiritual freedom. Christ lives in the disciple’s consciousness, and he feels that he is the subject of the spiritual empire and a free-born citizen of the new Jerusalem.”

Subtopic:" Getting From Where I Am To Where I Need To Be"

Text: 2 Cor. 3:17-18 "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (vs18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord".

Gal.2:20 " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me".

1 John 3:2-3 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.(vs3) and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure"

PREMISE

The Pulpit Commentary page 75, on 2 Cor.3:18 concerning the "Glorious Transformation" "Faith in Christ and fellowship with Christ are the forces which produce assimilation to Christ. The image which is beheld seems to infix itself upon the mirror-like soul that receives it. The life of faith thus serves to carry on a gradual process of spiritual assimilation. The progression is denoted by the phrase, "from glory to glory", by which we understand, not earthly splendor, but spiritual excellence and perfection. And the agency is indicated by the expression here used, "as by the Lord the Spirit". Because he is the Spirit, the Lord has access to the heart, and renews, hallows, and glorifies the nature to which he makes himself graciously and divinely known. And there seems to be no limit to this most blessed process. In fact, the future state appears to offer the most amazing scope for its continuation :"We shall be like Christ; for we shall see him as he is".

Subtopic: "Even Our Faith: The Love Component"

Text: Deut: 10:12 "And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,"

Gal.5: 6 "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

1 John 5:4-6 "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.(vs5)Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

Premise

The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.10, page 290  a comment on Gal.5:6 "Faith inspires love, as love also in truth inspires faith. We believe in and trust the goodness of Christ, and so we are moved to love him. If we did not believe in his love we should never return it. Faith having once roused love exercises itself in promoting the object of love. We trust in the unseen God, we also love him; then we try to please him, to enjoy his favour, and to live in his presence---- object of love; but objects we should never seek if we were not supported and urged on by our belief in and trust to what is beyond our sight and experience."