The PROMISE Of LIBERTY-I—2Peter 2:17-22
Attention:
*Read the Declaration of Independence*(minus the 18 ‘Facts’—specific grievances listed—& minus 56 signers)—18 grievances...27 total[9 of which are sub-categories to “Acts of pretended Legislation”]):
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, & to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate & equal station to which the Laws of Nature & of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty & the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles & organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety & Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light & transient causes; & accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses & usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, & to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; & such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries & usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
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He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome & necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate & pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; & when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them & formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, & distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, & convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, & raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, & the amount & payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, & sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, & eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of & superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, & unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
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For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, & enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example & fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, & altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, & declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
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He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection & waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, & destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation & tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, & totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends & Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, & has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes & conditions.
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In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration & settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice & magnanimity, & we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections & correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice & of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, & hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, & by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish & declare, That these United Colonies are, & of Right ought to be Free & Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, & that all political connection between them & the State of Great Britain, is & ought to be totally dissolved; & that as Free & Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, & to do all other Acts & Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes & our sacred Honor.
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The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
The PROMISE Of LIBERTY-I—2Peter 2:17-22
There are many purveyors of false ‘truth’ who are infecting & effecting our great country’s government.
Politicos promise happiness, prosperity, peace, freedom, wellness, care, etc...BUT is their’s True(real/actual) Liberty/Freedom?
We must ask ourselves a question in all seriousness...
Is Liberty/Freedom a reality for you?
Peter revealed that a false liberty had been presented to the Church.
The true Church yields to true liberty.
But panderers of false Liberty/Freedom can mislead the Church.
Why must the Church yield to God’s liberty?
*9 stipulations of true Liberty...God’s liberty.
OR negatively...
9 deficiencies/distinctions/expressions/functions/hindrances/hindrance/imitations/implications/invitations/limitations/quagmires/relegations of false liberty.
1—True liberty stipulates...
A QUENCHED THIRST(:17a)
Explanation:(:17a)“wells without water”
:17—“These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
“These” signifies a continued reference to the false prophets & teachers described & referenced above in 2:1-16.
These false prophets & teachers that promise liberty(:19) are unable to truly/actually Quench the (spiritual)Thirst of men, women, boys, & girls!
False prophets & teachers are the bane of the church because they promise much but deliver none of what is promised.
Peter gives two illustrations of undelivered promises thru situations in nature with which his audience would be very familiar.
1)“Wells” which contain no “water”
2)“Clouds” which bring damage but bring no rain.
Jude :12-13—“These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
“Wells/Springs”—phgh—Noun Fem.—1) Fountain, spring; 2) A well fed by a spring. Strong—probably from phgnumi[To fix("peg"), i.e. specially--To set up(a tent)](through the idea of gushing plumply); A fount(literally or figuratively), i.e. Source or supply(of water, blood, enjoyment) (not necessarily the original spring). Used 12X.
“Without Water”—anudrov—Adj.—1) Without water. Strong—from A(as a negative particle) & udwr[Water(as if rainy) literally or figuratively]; Waterless, i.e. Dry. Used 4X.
“Clouds/Mists”—nefelh—Noun Fem.—1) A cloud—1a) used of the cloud which led the Israelites in the wilderness. Nefov is general, nefelh is specific; nefov denotes a great, shapeless collection of vapor obscuring the heavens; nefelh designates particular & definite masses of the same, suggesting limit & form. Strong—properly, Cloudiness, i.e. concretely--A cloud. Used 26X.
“Carried/Driven”—elaunw—Verb—1) To drive—1a) Of the wind driving ships or clouds, 1b) Of sailors propelling a vessel by oars, to row, 1c) To be carried in a ship, to sail, 1d) Of demons driving to some place the men whom they possess. Strong—a prolonged form of a primary verb(obsolete except in certain tenses as an alternate of this) of uncertain affinity; To push(as wind, oars or demonic power). Used 5X.
“Tempest/Storm”—lailaq—Noun Fem.—1) A whirlwind, a tempestuous wind; 2) A violent attack of wind, a squall—2a) Never a single gust nor a steady blowing wind, however violent, but--A storm breaking forth from black thunder clouds in furious gusts, with floods of rain, & throwing everything topsy-turvy. Lailaq is the violent fitful wind which accompanies a heavy shower. Strong—of uncertain derivation; A whirlwind(squall). Used 3X.
Argumentation:
Jer. 2:13—“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
Isa. 54:6--15:7—“For the LORD has called you Like a woman forsaken & grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused,” Says your God. For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the LORD, your Redeemer. For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you. O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, & not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.” “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy & eat. Yes, come, buy wine & milk Without money & without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, & eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, & come to Me. Hear, & your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you-- The sure mercies of David[a man after God’s own heart]. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader & commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the LORD your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.” Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near[1Chr. 28:9; Heb. 3:7-19]. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
Jn. 7:33-39—“Then Jesus said to them, “I shall be with you a little while longer, & then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me & not find Me, & where I am you cannot come.” Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks & teach the Greeks? “What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me & not find Me, & where I am you cannot come’?” On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood & cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me & drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Jn. 4:4-15, 19-26—“But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered & said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, & who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, & He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, & the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, & drank from it himself, as well as his sons & his livestock?” Jesus answered & said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”.....“ “The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, & you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, & now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit & truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, & those who worship Him must worship in spirit & truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming”(who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Mat. 5:6—“Blessed are those who hunger & thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”
Ps. 42:1-8—<
Illustration:
Our summer(2015?) trip to Falling Waters State Park in Washington County(South of Chipley)/The number of people there that day could be counted on two hands/We walk along the trails/At the focal point of the park there is a boardwalk that descends to a large sinkhole, where the park boasts a 73 ft. waterfall...except for that year which had been so dry that the creek had dried up!—No waterfall!/BUT we filled the remainder of our time there on the trails to other interesting sinkholes & around a pond where swimming was allowed/We truly enjoyed ourselves!/But we did not find what we came for...What we ‘needed’/A QUENCHED THIRST
Most enter churches seeking answers to THE most important questions—But they will leave empty unless they submit & repent to God thru faith in Christ!
Application:
?Does Your version of Liberty stipulate A QUENCHED THIRST?
?Your Liberty True? Is it God’s Liberty?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Read the Declaration of independence(minus 18 “Facts”/grievances)
Action:
True Liberty...God’s Liberty stipulates...
1. A QUENCHED THIRST(:17a)“wells without water”
Pt. 1 only! presented 07/03/2016am to:
FBC Cbelle
206 Storrs Ave. SW(‘A’ Ave. SE)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
