Freedom in Christ

What this episode covers

03-01-2026 Blank Outline 03-01-2026 Filled in Outline Bible Verses John 8:31-36 Colossians 2:16-23 Well, if there’s ever a time we need to be standing on those promises, it’s today, isn’t it, with what’s going on in our world? But I’m so thankful we can rest on the promises that we can have peace with God. Even in the midst of world turmoil, we can have the peace of God. To know that God’s a sovereign God and he’s in control and he brings leaders up to a position, and then he takes them down in his timing. And thankful that the last chapter of history’s already been written, and God wins. And so, it’s all laid out there in several books in Scripture, especially the book of Revelation, and thankful for that. All right, we’re going to read some Scripture. This is John chapter 8, and Jesus has been in a little bit of dispute with the religious leaders, and then he turns to the Jews who believe in him, and he says, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. They answered him, we’re Abraham’s descendants that have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free? Jesus said, verily I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now, a slave has no permanent place in the family, but his son belongs to it forever. So, if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. All right, we’re going to be in the book of Colossians, and Colossians chapter 2, if you’d like to follow along in your Bibles. If not, you can kind of follow along on the screen this morning. So, I always like to give a little bit of background, just because a lot happens in a week, and sometimes someone will ask me, what did you preach on last week? And I have to go like; I have to think about that. What was that last week? So, book of Colossians. Here’s the background. Paul’s in prison in Rome. He’s under house arrest, and he’s awaiting trial. He doesn’t know if he’s going to live or die. And he’s there for about two years, and he’s able to have visitors come and go during that time. And a person by the name of Epaphras makes a long journey from Colossae to Rome, 1,300 miles back in the first century, to visit the apostle, Paul. And what drove him to make that visit was that Epaphras is the pastor of a church at Colossae, and there’s some trouble in the church. There’s some false teachers that are coming in and teaching false doctrine about who Jesus is, about how to get to heaven. And Epaphras tells all this to the apostle Paul. And even though Paul’s never been there, he’s led by the Spirit of God to write a letter to the church to correct doctrinal error and also to encourage them. So, during this two-year time period, Paul writes four letters, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon. They’re called the prison epistles. And so, we’ve been looking at the book of Colossians where Paul begins to write who Jesus is and correct that error and the correct doctrine of who Jesus is. And this morning, we’re going to look at verses 16 through 23 of Colossians chapter 2, and think about freedom in Christ, that when you come to faith in Jesus, you know the truth and the truth will make you free. What did Jesus say? I am the way, the truth, and the life. And so, we experience spiritual freedom. What is that spiritual freedom? Here’s the good news. First of all, when you put your faith in Jesus to be your Savior, to pay for your sin debt, to forgive you of your sins, when you put your trust in him for your eternal salvation, you are free from the penalty of sin. Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death. That’s physical death, came into the world when Adam and Eve sinned. Before then, there was no death. But also, spiritual death, separation from God. And the Bible says we’re dead in our transgressions and sins, and when we put our faith in Jesus, he makes us alive and we’re free from the penalty of sin. We’re at peace wit

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