“Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”
2 Cor. 3:17 KJV
The purpose of Jesus dying on the cross was to free us from the bondage of our sin! The power and nature of sin enslaved us. Although we had good intentions we did not have the power to break free from its shackles. We made promises to God, to ourselves, and to others, but we inevitably failed because of the weakness of our sinful, fleshly nature. Though we sincerely tried, the root and the tentacles of sin still held us firmly in its grip. Despite our best efforts, sin always pulled us back into our old patterns of living. We were defeated time and time again! And we felt even worse whenever we failed. It was a vicious never-ending cycle.
But the power of the Cross, which was released through the Mighty Resurrection of Jesus, broke once and for all the power of sin that enslaved us! The justice of God and the Holiness of God were fully and completely satisfied in the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God! Because of the furnished work of Christ, we have been set free and can now walk in complete liberty from the sin that once enslaved us.
That does not mean that we will never sin again. We do! But it does mean that when we sin, the Power of the Cross and the Powerful Blood of Jesus can still remove that sin. When we truly repent, turn unto Him, and surrender to Him, we then receive His total cleansing and forgiveness for that sin! (1 John 1: 9-10). It is the Holy Spirit who does that work. He is the One who empowers us to walk in complete liberty! It is the abiding (resting) in Him, that breaks the power of the sin which seeks to draw us back into slavery again. (Rom. 6: 11-14). It is in the abiding in Him, that we learn to live and walk in victory over sinful areas of our lives that once held us in bondage! (John 15: 4-5). It is in Him that we discover that it is no longer in our striving to be free that liberates us, but rather in our resting (abiding) in what He has already accomplished. That indeed is the Spirit of Liberty!
