John 8:31-35 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 33  They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?” 34  Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.


There is no doubt that Christ is the only one who can set us free from a life of sin. Here in John's gospel He lays out a simple formula for understanding how we have been set free.  First we must abide in Christ, this means we "dwell, endure, are present, remain, stand, tarry," with the Lord. Freedom for a believer isn't won or worked for, rather it has been purchased through Christ work on the cross. The "abiding" is specific to the word of God, or the "logos" the divine expression of Christ, as living truth that does not cease but continues into eternity. This living word is what leads us into "truth" not worldly truth but rather divine or eternal truth that comes from the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and the word (logos) of God. The freedom that comes from that divine truth is what makes us exempt from the penalty of sin that was upon us.

1. Christ came to free us from sin through His atoning sacrifice. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that Jesus “shared in their 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” (New International Version).
   
2. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Christ paid the death penalty for us, freeing us from death row through His sacrifice. We have been set free, but, as Paul wrote, this freedom does not give us license or permission to continue to do the very things that brought on the death penalty (Romans 6:11-22). Paul wrote in Galatians 5:13, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).
   
3. God's calling frees us from a wrong spiritual concept of what genuine freedom in Christ really consist of. Galatians 4:3-7 says: “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
   

A Christian is called away from superstition, error, bondage, deception, guilt, depravity, ignorance and a destructive life, from being a captive of Satan and facing eternal death. He is called to liberty in Christ, receiving forgiveness of sins through His shed blood, now knowing freedom from guilt, an awareness of the truth of God and, as a free gift, the hope of eternal life.

James 1:19-20So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

There are things that I need to be swift at, and things that I need to be slow at. James gives some clear parameters in order for me to produce the righteousness of God in my life. I need to be quick to focus my attention on what the Lord has to say. Making sure that I am not formulating my response while the Lord is still speaking. And by no means allowing wrath to become a controlling factor in my life.