245 years ago, on July 4th, 1776, in Boston, Massachusetts, our forefathers signed the declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Now, there were a great many reasons why our fathers rebelled against the crown. It can’t be boiled down to just one or two things, but it was the age of enlightenment and people began to think and question everything.
There’s also the fact that the colonies were far away from England and had grown accustomed to a great deal of freedom that distance had brought them. So, when the crown began to use a heavy hand to force the colonies to toe line, resentment and the thirst for liberty grew until it overflowed into full scale war.
Liberty… Freedom…These have been an important part of the American psyche from the beginning. Before this was ever a country, deeply religious people, Christians, came to this land in search of freedom! Freedom to believe and worship as they chose. They had suffered greatly under the rule of kings who wanted to run their lives, and popes who wanted to run their worship.
These godly men and women were stuck in between the proverbial rock and the hard place, so, when opportunity arose for them to go to a new land where they could live their faith as they chose without fear, they took it.
The war for independence was a war for freedom and the liberty to determine our own course as a nation. Americans have never liked living under the rule of kings who only wanted to enrich the crown, or other government authorities who wanted to enrich themselves upon the labors of their fellow citizens.
Every war we have fought, in one way or another, was fought to maintain our freedom, or to help another country gain or keep theirs. So, countless American lives have been given up by brave men and women so that you and I, and untold millions around the world might be free.
But how much longer will we be able to keep our freedom? Men and women have died to gain and maintain this privilege we have, but today in the name of that freedom, we’re allowing ideologies that undermine our basic beliefs into our schools, our colleges, and our government.
And as if that weren’t enough, we’re letting them come into the Church as well. Worldly philosophies and ideologies that aren’t even Christian (Critical Race Theory, Gender Fluidity, and Intersectionality), are allowed into the Church under the pseudonym of social justice, or equality. Outside enemies have never conquered this country, but we are falling victim to enemies from within. They are the little foxes that spoil the vine (Son 2:15). And if they are allowed to continue, they will destroy this country and turn it into a Marxist nightmare.
We long for freedom, and we thought we were free, but for several years now, our freedoms have been chipped away at, little by little, bit by bit. We’re like the frog in the pot where the heat slowly increases, and it doesn’t realize it’s being boiled alive until it’s too late.
And the reason the freedoms we have are being eroded away is because by and large, we’ve turned away from the Source of liberty and looked to men like ourselves. But men cannot give us true freedom, only God can do that!
Our founding fathers knew this and even enshrined that truth in the Declaration of Independence when they wrote: *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, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Friends, the freedoms that men give, can be taken by men, but when God gives men freedom, though man may try to take it, they will fail because when the Lord makes you free, like Jesus said—you will be free indeed!
So, what is freedom, or liberty, exactly? How can we get it? Well first, I think it’s important to know that…
I. People have been looking for freedom for thousands of years.
Jdg 2:16 Then the LORD raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them.
Earlier I said that freedom has been a part of the American psyche since the beginning, and that’s true. But it’s true because it’s been something that men have pursued throughout history. The quest for freedom is a theme that’s found throughout the Bible.
Ever since Genesis, chapter 3, where mankind lost his freedom by rebelling against God, and enslaving himself to sin, mankind has desired to have that freedom once again. But that perfect freedom that God created in the garden of Eden was gone, and the long-term effects of that have been devastating on mankind, both physically and spiritually from that time on.
We see examples of this pursuit for freedom in the Old Testament where the people of God lost their freedom over and over again as they turned away from God. Then as punishment, He handed them over to various empires or invaders to either take them into captivity or cause them to pay tribute to foreign and ungodly countries. After Egypt and before Assyria and Babylon, the book of Judges records many times when the Lord’s people were oppressed by kings from Mesopotamia, Moab, Philistines, Canaanites, Midianites, and many others.
Their loss of freedom was always directly tied to their disobedience. Remember that folks, because this is true even today! *Loss of freedom is directly tied to disobedience. They worshiped false gods. They wanted to be like the nations around them. But when they turned to God again in repentance, time and time again He would forgive them and rescue them from their oppressors. Judges 2:16 tells us that the Lord, Jdg 2:16 …raised up judges who delivered (or freed) them from the hands of those who plundered them.
Friends, when the Bible says that the Lord is longsuffering, it means it. Any of us would have thrown up our hands in disgust after just a few times of this apostasy, repentance, restoration cycle that the Israelites constantly went through, but God didn’t. He punished His children as a loving Father would, but He never stopped loving them. And when they turned to Him again and again, and repented again and again, like a loving Father, He forgave them and restored them again and again.
And lest we think that this cycle only applies to the Israelites we would be wrong. Each and every one of us know full well that we have tried God’s patience over and over, just like the Israelites did. He was longsuffering with us too, and He not only forgave us, but He also restored us over and over again, just like He did Israel. So, when we point our finger at them for messing up so often, remember, there’s three other fingers pointing right back at us.
Folks, a lot of people today are living in spiritual slavery without even knowing it. Sometimes we fall into it unawares, ourselves. We chase after false gods and idols like money, success, personal comfort, and power only to realize that we’re still empty and seeking something that only Jesus can give us. He’s the only one who can help us, because from the very beginning…
II. God’s answer to losing our freedom has always been Jesus.
When Jesus began His ministry, He announced His intentions by going to the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth and reading from a passage in Isaiah that everyone would instantly recognize, and completely understand its implications. Luke records this event in…
Luk 4:17-21 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, (18) "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, (19) TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." (20) And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. (21) And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Folks, Isaiah’s ministry ended hundreds of years before the Lord’s birth, but he prophesied about Christ so much that many people call his book, the Gospel of Isaiah. When the Lord returned home to Nazareth and then read this passage to the people of His village, He was plainly telling them that He was the promised Messiah! And to make it even clearer, He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
In other words, he was telling the people who had watched Him, and His brothers and sisters grow up, and had known His family for years, that He was the One that God sent to proclaim liberty to the captives and set free all who are bound and oppressed. He was the One anointed to preach the gospel, restore sight to the blind, and to let everyone know that today is the favorable year of the Lord!
You know, we can almost understand the reaction of the people of His hometown. It would be difficult for them to believe that this person they had known for so many years was the One who had been promised long ago. In fact, He was promised all the way back in the Garden. Remember, I said that God’s answer to losing our freedom has always been Jesus?
Well, from that very first prophesy about Christ, when God told the serpent Gen 3:15 …I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." He was letting us know that His cure for the freedom we had lost through our sin and rebellion would be found only in the One who bruised, or crushed Satan’s head, which means that He would destroy the devil’s control over us.
God’s answer to losing our freedom, and becoming slaves to sin, has always been Jesus! And so…
III. Jesus came to free us from anything that enslaves us.
Beloved, at the very core of the Christian faith—the Gospel—is the message that Jesus came to rescue us from our slavery to sin, and only He offers us true freedom in this life and the life to come.
In the eighth chapter of John, beginning in verse 31, Jesus was speaking to the Jews who had believed in Him, and He told them that Joh 8:31-32 …"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; (32) and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
Well, they answered what Jesus had just said by saying they were Abraham’s descendants, and had never been enslaved to anyone. Now, this has got to mean something other than what appears on the surface, because even a child in Sunday School knows that Abraham’s descendants have been enslaved several times in their history. At the very moment they spoke these words to Jesus, they were a conquered people, in bondage to Rome.
So, it has to mean something else, and I’m thinking that maybe it has to do with the fact that since Abraham was given the promise to be a blessing to every nation in the world (Gen 22:18), or like Paul wrote in Rom 4:13 …that he would be heir of the world, so, maybe they were talking about a religious or a spiritual pre-eminence the Jews have above all nations, regardless of their current circumstances. A spiritual superiority, so to speak, where they are always free, even when they are enslaved.
But whatever they meant, Jesus told them that freedom isn’t found in being a physical descendant of Abraham, it’s found in Him. Because they were still slaves to sin (v.34), and if they wanted to be free from sin, then they would have to look to the Son, because Joh 8:36 …if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Friends, the Good News—is that when anyone believes in the Son of God, they are set free! They are free from their bondage to death, because of their fear of death. Heb 2:14-15 tells us that when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He destroyed, …the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, (15) and that He delivered …all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
He freed us from the power of death, and our slavery to the devil, but He also freed us from the punishment for our sins by taking that punishment upon Himself. And because of that, when the judgment of God falls upon this world at the end of the age, we have no fear because Jesus paid that debt for us, and we have been clothed in His righteousness. The Apostle Paul said that we are Rom 3:24 … justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus
You know, we may have been freed from sin, and are no longer slaves to it, but in this world, and in this flesh, we still struggle with it, don’t we? We are tempted by it, and we struggle against it! But through the power of Christ, and the Holy Spirit within, we will be triumphant! 2Co 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
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Earlier, I asked what is freedom, and how can we get it? Well, Jesus said, Joh 8:31-32 …"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; (32) and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
So, true freedom is found only in Christ, and walking in obedience to His word. Are you doing that today? Are you in Christ, and walking in obedience?
