Freedom is not free! It is for freedom that Christ has set you free! FREE? Free from what? Free for what? Jesus, speaking about HIS word said to the Jewish people in John 8:32, "you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” A few verses later HE says “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. In Romans 8:15 Paul teaches that "you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” How awesome to KNOW that we are no longer slaves to sin...we are sons of the KING! In 2 Cor 3:17 says something similar...Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the heart of a human the heart of stone is ripped out and replaced with a heart of flesh. Mark, that sounds a little radical, sounds like you are talking about heart transplants...YEP! I went to the creator of the heart for my heart transplant! Have you not read what Ezekiel wrote in Ezekiel 36:26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Remember what Paul wrote in Gal 2:4? But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. It is amazing that everyone in the chains of bondage gets mad at you if you don't love and wear their particular brand of chains! Paul warns us in Gal 5:13 not to abuse our freedom, "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Let's consider our reading in Psalm 63 this morning...I believe that we are free in Christ to experience what we see in Psalm 63! In Christ we are free to enjoy, delight in, rejoice in our right relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ as we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. In Psalm 90:14 the Psalmist cries out, "O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." Only God Himself can satisfy the itching, burning, craving soul that has been aroused by the Holy Spirit! We seek satisfaction in so many things or relationships, but the human heart was created by its creator with a God shaped vacuum that ONLY GOD can fill! HIS true children are consumed with a hunger for HIM...and the more they pursue HIM and the more they feed on HIM, the bread of life, the more they want!
What did this look like in the life of David, "O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water." How awesome to see David expressing his hunger, thirst and desire for God! In verse 2 David tells us, "Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory." Remember Jesus prayer before going to the Cross in John 17:24? “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." If the Son has set you free you are free to behold HIS glory, the eyes of your heart have been open and you may behold the ONE who has set you free, you may gaze upon the one who died in your place.
It is only after the eyes of your heart have beheld the glory of your Savior...it is only after "the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" that you will be able to see and that you will be able to say what David said. Unless you behold HIS glory you CANNOT SAY...Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. In verse 3 David is saying that God's saving grace is better than life...a human cannot say that and believe it unless he has beheld the King of kings and looked on HIS face.
It is only in Christ that we are free to rightly relate to God the Father and it is only in Christ that we may rightly relate with each other. Let me put it this way...IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for a husband and wife to experience true oneness, true intimacy, (physical, emotional, spiritual) without a right relationship with God!
Father in heaven, enable me to pursue YOU, enable my soul to cling to You; I praise YOU that Your right hand upholds me.
John 10:27-30 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”