Real Freedom*

In today's message, which is on July 4th, Independence Day, I would like you to consider the meaning of independence and freedom. America has always represented freedom to other nations, and oppressed people around the world. Many desire to come here to America to obtain that represented freedom. America is described in our national anthem as "the land of the free, and the home of the brave". What is the real truth about freedom? Jesus began to reveal to those who believed in Him the truth about freedom: "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (Jn. 8:31-32). The root of freedom is not political, but spiritual, and not just any spiritual source, but freedom is created and obtained in the truth of the Word of God, and more specifically, the Word that Jesus came to deliver to us. However, his listeners rejected the idea that the Words of Jesus exclusively provided this freedom, as He had said. They argued that as the descendants of Abraham, they had already entered into the freedom of which Jesus spoke. On the same occasion, Jesus revealed the root of the opposite of freedom, which is slavery and oppression: "Jesus answered them, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant (meaning "slave; to be in bonds")of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (v.34-36). Jesus told them that sin in a person's life made that person a slave to that sin. It is sin that creates slavery. He also said that His unique position as the Son of His Father's house, rather than being a servant, such as Abraham had been to God, gave Him the authority to set the enslaved sinner free. The Apostle Paul wrote that not only is freedom found in Christ's power to deliver us from that slavery to sin, but in order to remain free, we must abide in Christ, and not again submit to the bondage of sin. Sin still has the power to enslave us, if we give it a place in our lives: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that sre dead to sin, live any longer therein? ...that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life....Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve (meaning "to be a slave") sin." (Rom. 6:1-6, excerpt). Our body of sin was killed, crucified on the cross with Jesus. Why would we want to reintroduce sin to our new lives to be enslaved once again? "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace...Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you...But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (v. 12-14, 16-17, 22-23). America is not representing freedom when it does all that it can to celebrate and condone sin. Instead, it is guiding people into slavery. Again Paul wrote, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage...For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." (Gal. 5:1, 13). In that liberty from the enslavement to sin given to us through Christ, we have become a special people: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy...for so it is the will of God, with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God." (1 Pet. 2:9-10, 15-16). How we carry ourselves, our lifestyle of service to God through Christ, puts to silence those who would lead others into the slavery of sin. Are we serving God here in America, or are we serving flesh? Concerning those who, having known the freedom of Christ, turn back to the slavery of sin, and encourage others to do the same, Paul wrote: "For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption...For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and The sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." (2 Pet. 2:18-22). America, along with Israel, are the only two nations that have ever dedicated themselves from their beginnings to service to God. However, America is turning away from the true liberty found in Christ, and turning back to the ways of bondage to sin and the flesh. The verses above warn that the end of such are worse than their beginnings. We have a responnsibility, as those who are commanded to love God and to love our neighbor, to live in the ways of freedom from the bondage of sin bought by Jesus Christ for us, so as not to lead our neighbors into the slavery of sin. As we celebrate Independence Day here in America, let us thank the two people who have been willing to lay their lives on the line for our freedom: those who have served in the military to fight on our behalf, and Jesus, Who died and rose again to make men free. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 7/4/21 message to the church. To contact: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and endtimeschool.com.

What Price Liberty?

 

As our nation enters into the July 4th holiday celebrating our independence and liberty, most Americans will center their attention and activities on cook outs, fireworks, beaches and other summer fun. Little thought or appreciation will be given to the blood that was shed to secure that liberty. Our American soldiers and many civilians died to insure it, and they continue to stand ready in an instant to fight for our continued liberty, not only ours, but for many living across the globe. Other political and economic agendas play their parts in war, but for the American soldier, there is only one reason for which he or she risks dying-for our safety and continued liberty.

President Lincoln made note of the tenuous nature of liberty, and the sacrifice of blood that is required to protect it, at the site of one of the bloodiest battles in American history: Gettysburg:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. ... It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.    (excerpt)

Benjamin Franklin also remarked upon the fragile nature of liberty when asked what form of government he and the Continental Congress had given us: "A Republic, if you can keep it."
As tenuous as our political liberty may be, have we also considered that the same is true for our spiritual liberty? Like our political liberty, our spiritual liberty was won at a price: not with the blood of soldiers, but with the blood of Jesus Christ:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.//That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit....For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God...the creature (creation) waiteth  for the manifestation of the sons of God...Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."   Rom. 8:1-2, 4, 14, 19, 21
However, the Word also tells us that this precious liberty, this gift from God through the death and resurrection of His Son, requires something of us if we are to continue to enjoy it:
"What then? shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?...For if we live after the flesh, we shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."   Rom. 6:15-16, 8:13
God has ordained that He should reign and rule in us by His Holy Spirit. His laws will be written in us, because Christ is in us and He fulfilled the law:
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds, I will write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."   Heb. 10:16-17
If we rebel and disregard this law that God has written within us, which Jesus fulfilled on our behalf (Mt. 5:17), we lose that liberty:
"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He who despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace?... It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."  Heb. 10:26-29, 31
We live in a nation that disregards the cost paid for its liberty, using that liberty for license, enacting laws and embracing sins that are against the laws of God, and are an abomination before Him. Let us, the people of God in Christ, not share in that same spirit of disregard concerning our even more precious spiritual liberty in Him:
"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
                                                                                      Rom. 8:5-8
As we resolve to turn away from the carnal, and to walk in the Spirit of God, not only will we walk in the liberty of God, but we will affect the spiritual liberty of our nation:
"If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."    2 Chron. 7:14
This healing is not for our land only, but for all creation which awaits the manifestation of the sons of God, who walk in the Spirit, in His liberty, and not in the flesh (Rom. 8:19).

Let us remember the price paid for our precious liberty through Christ, and honor it.


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Reference:
http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm