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You can be truly free!

Subhead
Built on a Rock
By
Pastor Laura Phillips, Palisade Lutheran/First Lutheran Church, Valley Springs

“Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’” John 8:31-32
There is much talk about freedom recently. We consider it a freedom to wear a mask or not, and in the upcoming election we are free to vote for the candidates that best suit our interests. Jesus here lays out a different sort of freedom — one that can never be taken away.
Now we surely do not like to think of ourselves as sinners, and yet we could make a list of our sins, and it wouldn’t be difficult to do. We find our security in money, things, and people instead of God,
We gossip, we have hatred toward others not like us, we covet what other people have and do, we act in self-interest, our eyes stray and admire a spouse who is not ours to admire ... and we think we are not slaves to sin.
Yet, in that moment when we are faced with an opportunity to sin, we call a bad thing good rather than naming it for what it is. We often think of sin as a choice — a freedom! Sin can be sneaky in this way.
Here is the good news: Christ knows that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves – we sin against God in thought, word, and deed.
And what does Christ do with us who are sinners? Well, he doesn’t say, “Good luck with that!” or “You sure have gotten yourself into a pickle. That was stupid.”
No. Christ simply sets you free! He destroys that which would destroy you.  In the radical wonder of the Gospel, the one, the only one, that can take care of your righteousness has does it!
And Jesus continues to do it day after day — taking his own righteousness and handing it over to sinners, making them believers.
You are made free from sin as you believe Christ, as you believe you are saved by God’s grace through faith, which is a gift from God. In Christ Jesus, you are free from the bondage of sin, free from the power of death, and ultimately, you are free to live for Jesus and for your neighbor who needs you.
This is true freedom!

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