There is freedom here in this place!  Complete freedom, true freedom!  Nothing holding us back, nothing weighing us down!  So free that not even death can stop us!  Jesus said:

John 8:36

if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

There is a freedom that we receive and experience through Christ that is unlike any other freedom that this world can offer us.  It is a freedom that is nearly indescribable.  It is a freedom that Jesus paid the highest price to purchase.  Jesus stepped out of Heaven, victoriously overcame all opposition in our weak and tempted flesh, gave His life on the cross to take on the curse and punishment that we all deserve because of our sin, and then defeated all sin and death. 

All power and authority given to Him and now accessible to us!  We have been empowered to rise above the weaknesses and temptations of our flesh and to destroy every work of the devil!  Jesus has set us free indeed!

That is, if we so choose to be free. 

Galatians 5:1‭;‬13‭-‬16

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

We were born in this flesh, born in sin.  Initially in life, it’s all that we know.  We live our lives controlled by our own will, our own desires, our own opinions, and our own feelings.  We think that freedom is being able to do whatever we want whenever we want however we want without consequence.  In fact, if you ask Google what freedom is, they define it as: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

Place a dozen or so toddlers (tiny humans who act, speak, and think as they want without hindrance or restraint) together in a room with some snacks and toys and see if you would call that a place of freedom.

This isn’t freedom, it is slavery to our flesh. I propose that true freedom is actually the power to act, speak, or think with chosen hindrance or restraint. It is the power to choose to restrain our own flesh that gives us freedom.

Anyone can act, speak, or think without any restraint and there are always consequences for them. Believing that we can ever do so without consequence is simply a lie about our reality that actually enslaves us instead of freeing us.

That train of thought usually leads to prison quite literally.

Gratifying all of the desires of our flesh simply makes our flesh our master.  We become a slave to it and are by no means lead along a path to freedom.

2 Peter 2:19

… “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

Paul teaches us that if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  Through Christ alone, by the empowerment and leading of the Holy Spirit, we are finally set free from our bondage!  As he also wrote:

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

There is a freedom available within us through the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit empowers us, emboldens us, sets us free indeed!

Even in the very beginning, this fight for freedom existed.  We usually think of the temptation of Adam and Eve.  However, I think it is interesting to read the encounter between Cain, the first person ever born, Abel, the second person ever born, and God.  God spoke with Cain who was really downcast and angry because he favored Abel’s offering to Him over his own.  His flesh was tempting him to act out on his anger and to kill his brother.  God came to Cain in his anger and told him:

Genesis 4:6-7

6 “Why are y