Is Your Freedom Real?

Josh Owens

Clear Springs Baptist Church

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Is Your Freedom Real?

Text: 2 Peter 2:17-22

Your liberty is under attack!!! Many are presenting a message by which no one will be made truly free (or) live as if their liberty is so fragile that they themselves could destroy it. There are those who are zealous members of a cult that is completely opposite of the gospel message and then their are those who look very similar but has still missed the mark regarding the full work of God’s grace. Either way, their proposed freedom is false promising and EMPTY!

When it comes to our soul freedom, WE MUST GET IT RIGHT!!! Sadly, what I have found is that many who are members of or faithfully attending TRUE GOSPEL preaching churches, could not tell you who has the message right and who has it wrong. YOU MUST KNOW THE DIFFERENCE!!!

Let us be encouraged by Peter’s writing to apply ourselves to discover who is and is not teaching the gospel that imparts to the soul TRUE ETERNAL FREEDOM.

1) What Is The Gospel Of True Freedom?

John 3:16-18 “16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

John 3:36 “36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 “8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Romans 10:9-10 “9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

2) A Freedom Of False Promises

VERSES 17-18

Faith is only as good as it’s object.

Your faith can be STRONG, but if the object of your faith is WEAK, then the return from your faith is weak; ENPMTY.

Illustration: Having strong faith in a faulty parachute. It doesn’t end well.

Faith in Jesus will always accomplish something; the best of things.

Notice what Peter compares these people to:

Wells without water (gk. wrd = a flowing spring)

John 4:14 “14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Revelation 7:17 “17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

Revelation 21:6 “6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Clouds carried with a tempest

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Five: False Freedom (2 Peter 2:17–22)

Again, there is noise, motion, and something to watch, but nothing profitable happens.

The mist of darkness (the blackness of the darkness)

Those who preach an empty freedom will always promise to lead people to the light.

QUESTION — If these false teachers have nothing to give, how do they attract followers? (v18 ans.)

Eloquent speech — they don’t communicate truth to you, but rather communicate lies to manipulate you.

Appeal to your old nature — Pride

They avoid speaking of guilt, you are good already, God loves you, God needs you, probably in God’s family already, avoid speaking about repentance, etc...

Appeal to immature people (new converts)

Quote: “Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” — Augustine

3) A Freedom From False Christians

Peter is saying that those who are in bondage themselves has no power to lead others to freedom.

The men Peter is describing are those who has practiced some form of external separation from the world, but have went back to their former filth.

They professed to be saved, but have never really been set free.

They were enslaved by:

Money — 2:3, 14

Lust — 2:10, 14

Pride — 2:10-12

Peter gives us real insight on a dichotomy that lives among us even today. He speaks of Noah, Lot, and Balaam.

Noah — Noah kept himself completely separated from the apostasy of the world of his day. He boldly preached God’s righteousness and was faithful in his walk and witness, even though no one but his family followed the Lord. Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 459.

Lot — Lot knew the truth and kept himself pure, but he did not keep himself separated; he lost his family as a result. Lot hated the wickedness of Sodom, yet he lived in the midst of it and, by doing so, exposed his daughters and wife to godless influences. Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 459.

Balaam — Balaam not only followed the ways of sin, but he encouraged other people to sin! He told Balak how to seduce the nation Israel and his plan almost succeeded. Lot lost his family, but Balaam lost his life. Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 459.

Here is the sad reality of the what the bondage of sin creates: Those who are are bound, actually think they are free.

The freedom Jesus brought to us provides REAL PROMISE!

During the YEAR OF JUBILEE Jesus preached in the synagogue about how He Himself (the freedom giver) had come.

This freedom provides you with the joy to fulfill the will of God in your life.

Quote: (Quaker Rufus Jones paraphrased Aristotle) “The true nature of a thing is the highest that it can become.”

4) A Freedom Of Surface Experience

VERSES 21-22

Jude 19 “19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.”

Quote: It is not PROFESSION of spirituality that marks a true believer, but POSSESSION of the Spirit of God within. — Warren Wiersbe

They may point back to an experience, but it was a false one.

Peter provides some vivid pictures:

Pig — outside washed / still a pig / goes back to the mud / short time of being clean.

Dog — cleanses his guts by puking / returns back and laps it up again.

There was short time of cleansing, but not the kind that changes their nature.

True freedom must come from within; inner nature of a person.

God’s Word is PIVOTAL to know the truth!

John 8:32 “32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

It is only through God’s Word we discover the truth about OURSELVES, our WORLD, and out GOD.

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