Jesus is Life, and Liberty to Follow

While citizens of the United States love to celebrate liberty on the Fourth of July, every believer in the Body of Christ should rest in the knowledge that Jesus came to give us something greater than liberty:

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)

Jesus did not come to make bad people good, but he came to make dead men alive.

"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2: 1-2)

The deepest need of man is based first and foremost on life. This proclamation is more than a Declaration, but a certainty as a gift. Christ is the life that man craves, the very gift which God promised to every one who believes on His Son:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)

That we not perish, that's the first goal -- we are dead in our trespasses. Mankind has a sin problem deeper than his actions. We are sinners by nature, born in the image of sinful Adam (Genesis 5: 2), and we need to be set free from sin, not just sinning:

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6: 14)

Under grace, God gives us power to live godly:

"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world" (Titus 2: 11-12)

This grace allows us to reign in life in righteousness (Romans 5: 17) as sons of God (1 John 3: 1-3; 4: 17)

Jesus is our Life, and He sets us free:

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8: 36)

and

"So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free." (Galatians 4:31)

Jesus is Life, which we receive by grace through faith, that in Him we receive forgiveness of sins and freedom from the bondage of God's law, which no man could keep (Colossians 2: 13-15), and instead we walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5: 16) who has written God's law on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8: 10-12)