FREEDOM FOR A WRETCH LIKE ME (1 OF 3)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: I Timothy 1:13-16
This content is part of a series.
Freedom For A Wretch Like Me (1 of 3)
Series: Amazing Grace
Jeff Strite
I Timothy 1:13-16
OPEN: In 1776 the great patriot Thomas Paine, wrote the following words about freedom:
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly;
'tis dearness only that gives everything its value.
Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed,
if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated."
APPLY: Thomas Paine was saying that our Freedom as a people should always be highly prized, and likewise, the Bible tells us that our freedom in Christ should never be taken lightly either.
Jesus said that He had been sent to "…preach good news to the poor. (The Father) has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, Luke 4:18
Hebrews tells us that Jesus "… shared in (our) humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death- that is, the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." Hebrews 2:14-15
Our freedom in Christ is a powerful thing and it has been bought at great price… the price of Christ's death on the cross. And those have made the greatest difference for God have often been those who have understood how precious their freedom in Christ actually is.
Back in the late 1700's, there was a preacher named John Newton. Before he died he preached a sermon where he said: "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember 2 things. That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!"
Now ordinarily, those are the kind of words you'd expect out of preacher. Any preacher worth his salt would be proud to come up with a line like that one. But John Newton was not your ordinary preacher. He had indeed been a GREAT sinner.
In fact, on his gravestone in Olney, England are engraved these words:
"John Newton, clerk [preacher], once an infidel and Libertine, a servant of slavers in ...
Series: Amazing Grace
Jeff Strite
I Timothy 1:13-16
OPEN: In 1776 the great patriot Thomas Paine, wrote the following words about freedom:
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly;
'tis dearness only that gives everything its value.
Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed,
if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated."
APPLY: Thomas Paine was saying that our Freedom as a people should always be highly prized, and likewise, the Bible tells us that our freedom in Christ should never be taken lightly either.
Jesus said that He had been sent to "…preach good news to the poor. (The Father) has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, Luke 4:18
Hebrews tells us that Jesus "… shared in (our) humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death- that is, the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." Hebrews 2:14-15
Our freedom in Christ is a powerful thing and it has been bought at great price… the price of Christ's death on the cross. And those have made the greatest difference for God have often been those who have understood how precious their freedom in Christ actually is.
Back in the late 1700's, there was a preacher named John Newton. Before he died he preached a sermon where he said: "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember 2 things. That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!"
Now ordinarily, those are the kind of words you'd expect out of preacher. Any preacher worth his salt would be proud to come up with a line like that one. But John Newton was not your ordinary preacher. He had indeed been a GREAT sinner.
In fact, on his gravestone in Olney, England are engraved these words:
"John Newton, clerk [preacher], once an infidel and Libertine, a servant of slavers in ...
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