Week 5 - FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM
CONNECT
What are you thankful for?
What challenge are you facing?
Have there been any answers to prayer?
Pray for each other.
Did anything stand out to you from last week’s follow-up Bible readings?
How did your “I will …” statement from last week go?
How did your sharing goal from last week go?
How’s your memory work coming along?
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he (she) is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!
DISCOVER
Let’s start with a review.
FROM ADAM TO CHRIST - Union with Christ
We were born into Adam. This means that whatever was true of Adam was true of us. But by grace through faith, we have been born again into Christ. This means that whatever is true of Jesus is now true of us. Therefore, we are no longer characterized by Adam’s sin and death but by Christ’s righteousness and life.
FROM DEATH TO LIFE - Regeneration
We were dead in Adam, but now we are alive in Christ. Because we share in Jesus’ resurrected life, we already have eternal life here and now. From our new birth, new heart and the presence of the Holy Spirit, we can stop living for ourselves and start living for Jesus.
FROM GUILTY TO INNOCENT - Justification
On our own, we are guilty sinners, who have rebelled against God’s authority and broken God’s law. We stand condemned and deserve death. Jesus, however, took personal responsibility for both our obedience to God’s law and our disobedience of God’s law. He did this by living the life we should have and dying the death we would have. Now through faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, when God looks at us He sees His Son. And because Jesus is righteous, God sees us as righteous. God has acquitted us of our guilt and declared us innocent in Christ.
FROM ENEMY TO FAMILY - Reconciliation and Adoption
Though we were God’s enemies because of our sinful rebellion, God has reconciled us to Himself as His friends and has adopted us as His very own children through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. He has also given us the Holy Spirit to assure us of His Fatherly love, especially when life is difficult.
And now …
FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM - Redemption or Ransoming
Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.
1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV)
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed (or ransomed) from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Have someone retell the passage in their own words.
What stands out to you in this passage?
What does this passage say about God (The Father, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit)?
What does this passage say about people, including ourselves?
What does this passage say about the life God invites us to live?
Digging Deeper
How would you describe the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors that Jesus has freed us from?
What price was Jesus willing to pay to set us free?
What does this say about our value to Jesus?
Ransomed
Mark 10:45 (NET)
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Today, people are ransomed when their kidnappers are paid a ransom price. Their freedom is purchased.
In the ancient world, people were ransomed from slavery. Maybe they became a slave through military conquest or financial debt or birth. But they could be ransomed. Their freedom could be purchased by another or even themselves.
Another word for ransomed is redeemed. Today, coupons and lottery tickets and bottles and cans are redeemed. Biblical redemption, however, is so much more. WE have been redeemed. Jesus has paid our ransom price. He has purchased our freedom with His very own life—His blood—His sacrificial death on the cross.
Let’s consider what slaveries we have been set free from.
Slaves to Sin
Romans 6:6-12 (NIV)
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Colossians 2:14 (NET)
[Jesus] has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
Matthew 6:12 (NIV)
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
How does sin create a debt? What do we owe God?
How did Jesus pay our debt and so purchase our freedom?
What does it mean to be freed from sin?
How could you better experience this freedom from sin?
We have been freed from the penalty of sin. Jesus bore that penalty for us when He died on the cross in our place. We are also being freed from the power of sin. Because we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ (see Romans 6:11-12), sin’s authority over our lives has been broken. Sin still remains, but we don’t have to let it reign. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can say “No” to temptation and sin. Finally, someday we will be freed from the presence of sin. On the Day of Jesus’ Return, we will become fully like Him and sin will be completely and eternally in the review mirror.
Slaves to Satan
Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT)
13 For [God the Father] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
1 John 5:19 (GNT)
We know that we belong to God even though the whole world is under the rule of the Evil One.
When did we become slaves to Satan?
How does Satan rule the world?
What does it mean to be freed from Satan?
How could you better experience this freedom from Satan?
There’s more to life than what meets the eye. There are two kingdoms that influence our lives and actually supersede every authority on Earth. We were born into the kingdom of darkness, and therefore, are Satan’s captives. Jesus, however, is our Rescuer King and has both rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of Light. We are now citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are FREE!
Slaves to the Fear of Death
Hebrews 2:14-15 (NLT)
14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
How did we become slaves to the fear of death?
How do people—how have you—expressed this fear of dying?
What does it mean to be freed from the fear of dying?
How could you better experience this freedom from the fear of dying?
Having been freed from the fear of death, what could possibly be left to fear?
Romans 8:35-39 (NET)
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Pray
Pray for each other to experience greater freedom from sin, Satan and the fear of dying.
Foundational Truth
Here’s the FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH we discovered today:
We were in bondage to sin, Satan and the fear of dying. Jesus, however, purchased our freedom with His own blood. He personally paid our ransom and we have been redeemed. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36).
Theologically, this is called Redemption or Ransoming. Jesus paid the ultimate price to set us free.
Preview
The next part of Follow The Way is called FREEDOM.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1). You don’t have to be paralyzed by fear or tripped up by lies or crippled by bitterness or in bondage to sin. Over 10-weeks you’ll discover how to personally and practically embrace the freedom that Jesus has purchased for you. Now that you have learned the foundational truths about who you are in Christ, it’s time to apply these truths to your freedom in Christ.
LIVE
What truth have you discovered from today’s Bible passage(s) and conversation?
What would stop you from believing and obeying this truth?
How will you live out this truth this coming week? Finish this statement: “I will ….”
Who else needs to hear this truth? How could you share it with them?
When will we meet again?
Who will facilitate that meeting?
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
FOLLOW-UP BIBLE READINGS
Here are the Bible passages you are encouraged to read this coming week:
BUDDY SYSTEM
Connect with your buddy this week and ask each other these questions:
How are your readings going?
How’s your “I will …” statement coming along?
How’s your sharing goal coming along?
How can I pray for you?
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