“If therefore the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.” (Jn. 8:36 NAS)
For anything that God wants to give us, the devil will offer a counterfeit. How can we avoid deception and walk in true freedom of the soul? We have all struggled with habits or character flaws that leave us with feelings of guilt and shame. The writer to the Hebrews calls these “the sin which so easily entangles us”. Obviously, the goal is to overcome sin, but we must still deal with the feelings as we struggle with these imperfections. How we do this will determine our experience with the freedom Christ has promised us.
Do you remember the peace and joy that came when you first accepted Christ as your Saviour? These were the result of the freedom we have in Christ. Is it not interesting that we experienced this freedom from guilt, even before we were rid of all our imperfections? We did this by receiving the forgiveness for our sins. Oh, the precious blood of Jesus! How could we not fall in love with such a loving and merciful God?
As powerful as our first experience was, however, it only lasted for a while. The problem was not with God’s gift, but with our response to those recurring weaknesses. It was natural for us to try to correct our behaviour; and when that failed, we may have suffered discouragement. Eventually turning to God for forgiveness, we again experienced freedom from guilt; the underlying principle being that we can only stand in true freedom if we stand in grace. We came to salvation by grace through faith, and that is how we must continue to walk with God (Eph. 2:8-10). In grace we have mercy and the ability to overcome weaknesses (Heb. 4:16). It is important that we learn this lesson early in our Christian walk. If not, we may start looking for a different way.
One of the methods Christians use to compensate for a lack of victory is to adopt religious practices. This is what Paul rebuked the Galatians for: “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:2,3). Religion offers a false sense of spirituality, but it does little to produce true freedom. The flesh is opposed to the Spirit so if people continue in this path, they will begin to oppose the work of the Spirit. The religious spirit always tries to kill the prophetic. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her!” (Lu. 13:34). Not only will they find themselves resisting the Spirit, but they may even become hypocrites, teaching others to do what they fail themselves to do, thinking that this will somehow justify their failures.
The Scriptures tell us how to walk in true freedom: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16). Many are forsaking the false security of the religious system and pursuing again a life in the Spirit. This is where the end-time Church will be found. What happens, however, if we pursue spiritual things but fail to obtain victory over the enemy? The religious spirit told believers that it was normal to sin and that we should not expect perfection. Walking in the Spirit requires that we go past the cross; we must walk in the new life we have in Christ. The same reasons that led us to replace faith with religion may also lead us to replace truth with lies. We must recognize and deal with issues or we will continue to be “tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming”. (Eph. 4:14). Or worse, we may become one of those who, in the latter times, “will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons”. (1Tim. 4:1).
The main reason why we might fail to obtain victory is a lack of faith (Jas. 1:6,7). The Christian walk is first and foremost a walk of faith. We must embrace the life of Christ by faith, as we identify with the death and resurrection of our Lord (Ro. 6:1-11). The second reason why we fail to obtain freedom is wrong motives (Jas. 4:1-3). It is not that we knowingly pursue selfish desires, but there may still be thought patterns in us that need to be renewed (Ro. 12:2). The way to effectively exercise our faith for grace is to humble ourselves by renouncing every form of pride and submitting ourselves to God (Jas. 4:6-10).
We can still have problems with pride even if we are not proudful. I first began to understand this problem in my life when the Lord showed that my fears were routed in the pride of life (1Jn. 2:16). Yielding to fears was for me a form of self-preservation. I have shared before how letting go this form of protection was a challenge for me, but the Lord helped me by encouraging me to replace my fears with wisdom. Rather than withdrawing because of fears, I could move forward in God’s protection with wisdom.
Nearing the end of the Apostle Peter’s journey on earth, he warned believers about false teachers “promising freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption” (2Pe. 2:19). They preyed upon believers burdened by guilt or condemnation. The false teaching that tells us to ignore sin because it belongs to death and religion, is a deception. The way to true freedom is through humility. Religion is not responsible for guilt or self-condemnation. God does not condemn us so if we feel condemned, we are most likely passing judgment on ourselves. This also is pride. There is a difference between discerning our steps and passing judgment on ourselves because of our actions. We must learn, as Paul did, to submit to God as our only Judge (1Cor. 4:3-5). A proper response to the sins that trouble us will allow us to experience true freedom without deception.
Highway in the Wilderness 