Freedom In America And In Christ

We normally do exegetical/expository messages directly from the Bible; in other words, we do messages directly from a specific Book of the Bible and learn from passages in context. Today we will take a break from the Letter to the Hebrews and do a topical message to celebrate our Freedom in America and our Freedom in Christ.

On July 4, 1776 there was a Declaration of Independence; note that the Constitution, which starts with “we the people” is not the same as the Declaration of Independence; in your Bulletin are some excerpts from that Declaration…..

Today, we live in America with a freedom to be able to vote how we will govern ourselves for the better of the country and its citizens because of that Declaration of Independence about 243 years ago!

A couple of questions: First of all, what is the opposite of freedom??

Without freedom, there is slavery from something or someone!

The Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776 declared freedom for the citizens of the United States of America from an evil Ruling Monarchy. And so, was that freedom free; did that freedom just happen magically??

The godly citizens of the America in 1776 actually declared war against the British Empire in order to have freedom! That Revolutionary War to bring freedom cost 4435 American lives! We don’t have a count of injuries and all the amputated legs but we know they happened!

There is a cost for freedom!

Second question: Just because Americans were freed 243 years ago from the rule of England, did it mean that no Rules/Laws were needed??

The United States Constitution (Laws) had to be written and adopted to protect the freedom from the Declaration of Independence! Freedom without rules is chaos and leads back to slavery!

Third question: Does Freedom need protection and why??

Because there is evil (pride & power) in this world, freedom must always be protected!

Our Declaration of Independence calls for war if necessary to protect our freedom! We noted 4435 Americans died to fight for that first declaration of independence! Here are the Freedom Fighters for us who gave their all for our freedom today… show slide….

We annually celebrate the 4th of July to remember the Declaration of Independence; if we truly believe in freedom in America, we must, not just on a picnic or fireworks every year, but daily support our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and those who serve to protect it! Salute military families...

Our Freedom in America makes us strong and so we need to declare it and protect it!

Now for those of us who are citizens of heaven, as Christians, we have Freedom in Christ!

What does this mean? There are many similarities to our freedom as American Citizens and as Christians, Citizens of heaven.

We noted that “Without freedom, there is slavery from something or someone!” If a person is not a Believer of Christ, what are they slave to??

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Romans 6:6…. states for Christians “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin”

Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ are still slaves to their sins and eventually judged by God forever. Every person needs to be freed from the slavery of sinwhich leads to spiritual death!

We also noted that there is a cost to freedom. What is the cost for the freedom of people from their sins and ultimately judgment from God??

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Peter 1:18-19 ……………

God Jesus Christ paid the price for all our sins with undeserved sufferings and ultimate death.

And we noted that not having rules leads to chaos! What are the rules for Christian freedom??

Simply, a Christian must always put on the Armor of God and part of that Armor is God’s Word (Ephesians 6:17)!

And finally, does our Freedom in Christ need protection?

Although God has given us freedom from our sins, we still have to battle against our own weaknesses, the sins of the world, and the devil! How do we protect our Freedom in Christ?

1 Peter 2:16 - Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves. i.e. learn and follow God’s rules!

1 Cor. 10:23 - "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"-- but not everything is constructive. As Christians, we have freedom in Christ to do whatever we want because Jesus died for our sins but there will always be consequences from the things we do. Simply, “Do godly things = godly results!” “Do ungodly things and ungodly things will result!”