Faith With Arthritis: Stand Fast in the Freedom Christ Gave You

Sermon outline

Christ has completely set you free, so stand fast in that liberty: do not go back under the law by judging others or condemning yourself, because faith only works by love.

1. Christ has completely liberated you

   The Amplified Bible says Christ has made us free and completely liberated us. This is your position now, not a future promise: when you put on Christ you put off the yoke of slavery. You may think or speak bondage, but your positional truth is that you are no longer in bondage.

   “Your positional truth is that you are no longer in bondage.”

   • Galatians 5:1
   • 2 Corinthians 3:17

2. Go back to the law and Christ profits you nothing

   A believer can willingly put himself back under the do's and don'ts of the law, and then Christ is of no advantage to him. You can say the right words, walk the right walk and even carry a Christian title, praying in Jesus' name, yet nothing happens because the spirit of liberty is no longer working in your life.

   “You look like a Christian, you smell like a Christian, you even have a title like a Christian, but it's not working.”

   • Galatians 5:2-4

3. Judging others puts you back in bondage

   Christ received you without holding your trespasses against you, whatever you had done. But Christians have short memories: once cleaned up, they forget they were nobodies and begin to judge and criticise others. Having received mercy, love, grace and healing, you are to dispense them; holding others' faults against them re-enslaves you.

   Illustration: It is like coming out of jail and then walking willingly back into the cell and locking yourself in.

   “Having received mercy, you give mercy. Having received love, you give love.”

4. Faith works by love

   Some laws in the kingdom work whether you acknowledge them or not: seedtime and harvest, faith, and love, because God is love. Loving those who give you gifts is only human love; God's love is unconditional, and He answers prayer on the basis of His love, not how well you pray. A mature Christian loves everybody, including people who are unkind, and also forgives himself and lets go of the past.

   Illustration: Baby Christians say, 'I don't like you because you didn't give me a gift, you don't look like me, you don't come from the same town.'

   “Anybody that works or walks the Christian life without love has faith that has arthritis.”

   • Galatians 5:6
   • Genesis 8:22
   • 1 John 4:8
   • Psalm 91:11

5. Stand fast: the onus is on you

   God did not say He would stand fast for you; He gave you liberty, love and grace and told you to stand fast in them. When condemnation comes, answer it with the Word. Who hindered you? Take back the joy and the clean heart you had the day you were born again, and walk out with a spring in your step.

   Illustration: When you were first saved you would have believed someone who told you the moon rises out of the ground, because your life was so full of joy.

   “He didn't say I'm gonna come hold you tight and stand fast. He said you stand fast.”

   • Galatians 5:7-8
   • Romans 8:1
   • John 8:36

6. You have the spirit of a master

   Jesus was called Rabbi and Master and mastered death, bread, fish, water, sickness and demons. That same Christ lives in you, so you rule from the inside, whether you are in a pit, on a throne or in a storm. Like an ambassador in his embassy, whom the police cannot arrest, the devil cannot arrest you.

   Illustration: An ambassador in his embassy cannot be arrested by the local police.

   “He's not your master. You are his master.”

   • 1 John 4:4
   • Mark 4:39
   • Romans 8:31
   • 2 Corinthians 5:20
   • Ephesians 6:13