Born Free

BORN FREE!

Presented by

GODISNOWHERE

in cooperation with

People to People Ministries

www.realanswers.net

Man is continually seeking a life of freedom and happiness through various means. Trying to find meaning and purpose for their lives, many people turn to financial success, friends, social status, marriage and children, education, approval of others, sexual encounters, occupation, and profession.

However, there are many people who have had all of these things and still have not found fulfillment in their lives.

Could it be that man has been looking in all the wrong places?

1. Man's Problem:
Man is Spiritually Dead
and in need of Life

God created Adam and said to him, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." God gave Adam the choice to either remain dependent on Him for life or to become independent from Him which is spiritual death. Wanting to become like God, Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that day he died spiritually. Each of us are born into this world in the likeness of Adam. Sin and death has been passed on to every human being.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned...Romans 5:12)

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins... (Ephesians 2:1)

Our spiritual death (separation from God) is what makes us ask the questions, "Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?"

Pascal said:

"There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man that cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ."

Augustine said:

"Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee."

From God's vantage point, the problem of man is not just that he is a sinner in need of forgiveness; his greater problem is that he is dead and in need of life.

2. God's Solution:
God has provided Life through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ

For God so loved the world, (...insert your name here...), that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

I Am the Resurrection and the life! He who believes in Me, though he were dead, will live, andwhoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25 KJV)

Therefore...

Salvation is being saved
from the wages of sin (death)
by the gift of God (life)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4,5)

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,...(Colossians 2:13)

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:31)

However. . .

3. Before Life Could Be Given,
Sins Had to be Forgiven (Taken Away)

Only God can forgive sins

Who can forgive sins but God alone? (Mark 2:7)

God became a man

...Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing,...And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
(Philippians 2:5-8)

He died in our place

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

He is the sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

He is the final sacrifice for our sins

...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9:22)

Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. (Hebrews 10:17,18)

He took away our sins

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)

This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the One who would turn aside His wrath, taking away our sins. (1 John 4:10)

4. The Good News of the Gospel —
"It is Finished!"

We HAVE been reconciled to God

God's Part: All this is from God, who...was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:18,19)

Man's Part: We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:20,21)

Because we are saved by His life, the cross was not
an end in itself, but a means of accomplishing the end — that of restoring life that had been lost through sin.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation... (Colossians 1:21,22)

For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! (Romans 5:10)

Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. (Hebrews 9:28)

5. In Him You are a New Creation

Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (John 3:3)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Becoming a Christian can be likened to a caterpillar being transformed into a butterfly. Although you might not always act like a good "butterfly," you are never going to be a worm again!

In Him you are complete

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete... (Colossians 2:9-10)

In Him there is now no condemnation

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1,2)

In Him we have forgiveness

In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

In Christ you don't get forgiven,
you are forgiven!

Our Decision: To turn from our unbelief
and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our life.

For me to live is Christ... (Philippians 1:21)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Salvation is by Faith

For by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

"Religion" is man's best effort to reach up to God, but Christ is God's only method to reach down to man in forgiveness and offer him true life."

Salvation is crossing over from death to life

To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God... (John 1:12)

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. (John 3:36)

I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24)

Is there any reason why you would
not be willing to accept Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior?

We receive Christ by personal invitation

Receiving Christ involves man repenting from his sin of unbelief and turning to God and His provision in the person of Jesus Christ. It is trusting Christ for His forgiveness at the cross, and for His promise of new life to all who believe.

The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins. Thank you for offering me Your life. I now ask You to come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take control of my life and make me into the new creation You want me to be. I now thank You for coming into my heart and giving me eternal life.

If you prayed this prayer, the living Christ has come to dwell within you forever and you have begun the great adventure for which you were created as a child of God.

You can know that God will never leave you
— Assurance of Salvation —

...God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
(1 John 5:11-13)