You Are Either Born Free or Bound By Obligation
The degree that you experience the blessings of God in your life will depend on how well you understand what I am going to teach you today.
Turn to Acts 22:25-28. This is a story that really sets the stage to what I am attempting to reveal to you today. The Roman guards just arrested Paul and said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and un-condemned?” When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, “Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.” Then the commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.” The commander answered, “With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.” And Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”
In summary: When you believed and received Jesus as your Savior for your sin condition and you received the free gift of salvation, through Jesus Christ, you became born again and you became a member of God’s own family. You are born free!
If on the other hand you received this free gift of salvation and then went back to your old belief that you had to earn your position as a son or daughter in God’s family you are still bound by obligation and you are not free.