20 Bible Verses That Remind Us Where Freedom Really Comes From

“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Acts 13:38-39

In Acts 13:38-39, the Apostle Paul was sharing the salvation message with his “friends” whom he previously named in Acts 13:16, “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!” Paul went on to explain to them that no one was ever capable of keeping the laws of Moses on their own. They sacrificed animals to atone for their sins, but they were never completely set free from sin the way the sacrificial lamb Jesus set believers free.

The same Good News is true for us today. Our own efforts will never set us free from sin and conviction, but belief in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection sets us free from the need to keep on sinning. We lose the desire and will to sin. It’s often hard for people to believe that such a precious gift of salvation is given to us so freely for just believing in Christ, but it’s true. Christ paid the price for us on the cross, and our thank you to our Savior comes from living our lives for Him. Paul’s words ring true for us today: “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.” (Acts 13:32) 

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“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free . . . Luke 4:18

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36 

Since the spiritual leaders of His day did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God, they considered His claim to be the Son of God as blasphemy and unjustly crucified Jesus. However, the heart of Christianity is that Jesus had to go to the cross to make available to generations after Him the ability to repent, ask for forgiveness for their sins, and receive the grace of salvation. 

The freedom that Jesus spoke of was the freedom from enslavement by the evil darkness and addiction to sin. Only Jesus Christ can grant us that kind of freedom. It can’t come from a pastor, Pope, elder, or minister... only Jesus. Men can all be tellers of the truth and explain the path to salvation, but only Jesus can change a heart. It’s a personal decision and a personal relationship between freed believers and the Lord, who took on all our sins and nailed them to the brutal cross.

Once received, we can’t lose that salvation, even though we will never be completely sin-free until we’re with Jesus in heaven. But we will find less and less desire to sin because the Holy Spirit now resides in our heart, and Jesus is always ready to forgive a repentant sinner. That’s what it means to have freedom in Christ.

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Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17

Jesus told His disciples that He would be leaving them, referring to His ascension back to Heaven, but He assured them, “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” John 16:13-15

That same gift of the Holy Spirit given to the disciples is given to every person who believes in Christ as their Lord and Savior. It’s simultaneously glorious and amazing that Jesus speaks directly to you and me through the Holy Spirit living in every believer’s heart! That still, small voice we hear in our mind and heart guiding us in the way we should go. I often find myself arguing with the Holy Spirit when I want to go a different way, but I’ve learned that peace and freedom from worry and anxiety come when I let the Holy Spirit guide my words and actions. 

The Holy Spirit also intercedes for us to the Father when we pray. Prayer is a wonderful gift given so freely that most of us don’t use it often enough, not only to pray for ourselves, but also to intercede for those the Spirit puts on our hearts who need prayer.

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“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12  

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13-14  

I think everyone who enjoys Constitutional freedom can periodically take it for granted, especially if it’s all we’ve ever known. The same thing can happen with our religious freedom if we live in a country that allows citizens to practice their religion of choice, but there are many countries where practicing their faith has to be done in secret or even underground. Those people truly appreciate the cost of freedom.

The Apostle Paul also addressed those who might think that, since they couldn’t lose their salvation by the grace of Jesus Christ, maybe it was okay to keep on indulging in sin and just ask for forgiveness. Paul addresses those misconceptions in Romans 6:1-3: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
 As Christians, we have repented and turned from our sinful ways, and just as Jesus died on the cross for our salvation, we die daily to the desire and propensity to sin. The world should no longer have influence on our lives. Just as our country’s leaders should never become complacent in our current freedoms, we should never become lax in our spiritual freedoms. This requires daily reading of our Bibles, prayer, and surrounding ourselves with mutual accountability prayer partners.

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It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4

When we become a Christian, the Bible assures us that our past is wiped clean. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;” Isaiah 1:18. Wow, what an amazing gift and one that is sometimes hard to imagine as true, but it is. God remembers our sins no more, and He doesn’t want us living under the guilt and shame that keep us from enjoying our freedom in Christ.

One way to free yourselves from the burden of the past is to write down all your past sins, then prayerfully remove them from your mind by having a personal, private burning or tearing up of that paper. Satan wants you to wallow in the past, but Jesus wants to set you free so that you can live in the freedom of your newfound life in Christ. There may be consequences to deal with from those past sins because we’re responsible for our actions, but rest assured that Jesus has forgiven you. To experience your new freedom, you must also forgive yourself.

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Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 1 Peter 2:16

I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. Psalm 119:45 

What a joy to wake up every morning and know that, whatever our personal or physical circumstances, nothing can revoke or rob us of our spiritual freedom to love and honor our Freedom-Maker, Jesus Christ. “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 

If you know liberating freedom, give God thanks daily that through Jesus Christ, you’ve been set free from Satan’s grip as you await your eternal home in Heaven.

Often, we’re guilty of not appreciating freedom until we don’t have it. It’s been said that to know how precious freedom really is, maybe you have to lose it. I pray that wouldn’t be said of you or me. 

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Romans 6:22

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. Romans 8:20-21

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