This freedom is freedom from something as well as freedom for/to something. The freedom from is the freedom from the power of sin over the body and mind. Until you are saved, there is no freedom from the power of sin because your spirit has not been made alive in Christ; you don't have the indwelling Spirit of God within you. Of course someone who has not received the Spirit of God within can fight against sin in the flesh. Many do and they win the battle some of the time and you can be a really good person and do mostly right things even if you are not a Christian. But what a non-born again person can't do is erase the penalty for past sin and correct the problem of inherent sin born into them through the race of Adam.
When Christ sets you free, many wonderful things happen. None of these things happen to anyone who has not received the Spirit of God:
1 You are set free from the penalty of sin imposed on you through Adam.
2 You are set free from the power of sin over you, because when you are born again you receive the Spirit of God internally; your spirit is made alive and has within its imprint the ability to stand against sin in all its forms.
3 You are set free to serve God without the burden of going to God guilty. This is really important. You currently have (as a born again believer) the ability and the right to go directly before God, without any mediator, such as a priest, pastor, apostle, rabbi, guru or any other spiritual leader. This right to go before God enables the supernatural power of God to be available while on the natural earth/world.
You can come to God in your current condition and make a request and all of heaven will go about working out the dilemma with your consent. You can invite God into any situation that you are in, any plans you have, any business you intend to start-up, any new church start-up, any relationship you might be going into, any anything, and God will make His ways known to you so that you can make the right choices in life. God will not make the choices for you nor will He avert your foolish choices if you indeed invite Him in and then go against His will. Free will is part of this freedom that Christ gives you.
But don't let anyone fool you, when you are born again, blood washed, sanctified, filled with the Spirit, full of the Holy Ghost, any way you want to say it, you also have the free will to go against the will of God, with the same measure of your ability to follow after Christ and do the will of God. Those who teach that your ability to sin ceases after getting saved or a second blessing or getting filled with the Spirit are mistaken and that kind of philosophy gives the believer a false sense of pride and security.
Your ability to sin is part of the power you will always possess on this side of heaven. However, your propensity to sin will be reduced at the same rate as your commitment to faithfulness.
- Yes you can overcome.
- Yes you can make the right decisions.
- Yes you can live a faithful life/lifestyle.
- Yes you can keep your commitments to God.
- Yes you can follow Christ.
- Yes you can overcome temptation.
- Yes you can choose not to sin.
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