SET FREE!

In one of the greatest wildlife movies of all time, the story of a particular killer whale is examined named Willy. The movie plot focuses around a particular plan with the potential outcome of freeing Willy from captivity so that he might return back into the wild from where he came from.

The Bible tells us that each and everyone of us are slaves to sin. We have become captives of our own actions that we have done against God.

In order for us to be "set free" we have to realize that we cannot set ourselves free. No slave ever set themselves free from slavery. Certainly they could run from slavery often times with a bounty upon their heads, but even in areas where they were considered "Free" they were still slaves.

As individuals that are slaves to our own sins, no matter how hard we try, we ourselves can never separate ourselves from our sins. The only way that a slave could ever be set free was if their slave owner allowed them to go free. By a slave owner doing so, no longer was the slave indentured or "owned" by another individual. It was the only way that a slave could truly be set free.

You and I as slaves can only be set free by our owner, and our owner Sin is definetly not going to set us free. Sin wants to keep us, and not let us go at any cost. Yet, it was 2,000 years ago, that a special individual stepped onto this earth. We celebrate his birth at Christmas time, and remember his death and resurrection at Easter. His name is Jesus. The Bible says in Romans 5:8 that "God showed us his love towards us in the while we were yet sinners Christ came and died for us." You see God loved his creation so much, particularly that of the human race, that although they had turned their back on Him, he still loved them. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son (Jesus) that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

God loves you and me so much, that he sent his only son to come to earth to die upon a cross for us. The Bible says that a sacrifice had to be offered so that our sins could be forgiven. No amount of money could be paid, or good works could have been accomplished for us to go to heaven. Only the blood of the perfect lamb of God could set us free.

When Jesus died for us, he bought us from sin with His own blood. We quickly found ourselves no longer owned by Sin but by Christ! And since we had a new owner, our new owner could willingly set us free from our sins.

The Bible clearly shows us that no matter who you are, we are all sinners.
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." None of us are perfect.
Romans 3:10 "As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;" None of us are righteous, but we have to be righteous in order to go to heaven!

Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.." Because we have all sinned we are all destined to die.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." You see we deserve to die and spend eternity apart from God forever, but God sent a special gift His son Jesus

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." God showed us just how much he loves us by sending Jesus, long before we were even born! Before we were born God knew we were going to need our sins forgiven!

Romans 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." We are told in God's word that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again for us we can be saved! Our ability to have our sins forgiven and be able to go to heaven does not come from anything that we do, it doesn't matter how many times we go to church, how much money we put in the offering plate, how many "Hail Mary's" or saying of the Rosaries that we do. It matters whether or not we believe that Jesus came and died for you and for me.

Romans 10:13 "For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." All you have to do is believe and accept. Its a free gift. The only way that you get a gift is to accept it, and claim it as yours.

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Don't you think that if there was any other way that we could get to heaven, Jesus would have told us so that he didn't have to go through that horrific death upon the cross? If we could get to heaven by attending church, putting money in red kettles at Christmas time, being kind to others, or helping old ladies across the street, certainly Jesus would have told us rather than go through the torture that he did upon the cross.

Maybe as you read this you have begun to realize that you are still stuck in your chains, and that you are still a slave to sin.

The author of Amazing Grace (John Newton) , knew exactly what he was writing about. One of the most well known hymns ever written, and still today one of the most misunderstood.

"Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found was blind but now I see."

We are lost in our sins, and we don't even realize it, but what Jesus did was come so that we might see the truth and be set free.

If you have any questions about being set free from your sins we would love to talk to you! Feel free to email or call!

"If the Son (Jesus Christ) therefore shall set you free, you shall be free indeed!" John 8:36