Sermon by: Mark Engler,
Mt. Vernon Christian Church
Mt. Vernon, Missouri
“Freedom in Christ”
Intro:
“History of Independence Day”
Most of us in America learn the basic history of the events surrounding the Fourth of July, but the details of this monumental occasion in American history somehow fall through the cracks.
Although July 4th is celebrated as America’s official split from Britain’s rule and the beginning of the American Revolution, the actual series of events show that the process took far longer than a single day. The original resolution was introduced by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia on June 7, 1776, and called for the Continental Congress to declare the United States free from British rule. Three days later a committee headed by Thomas Jefferson was appointed to prepare an appropriate writing for the occasion.
The document that we know as the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress on July 4th although the resolution that led to the writing of the Declaration was actually approved two days earlier.
All of this had occurred with some of the delegates to the Congress not even present; New York, for example, did not even vote on the resolution until July 9th.
Even more interesting is the fact that not a single signature was appended to the Declaration on July 4th. While most of the fifty-six names were in place by early August, one signer, Thomas McKean, did not actually sign the Declaration until 1781.
Nevertheless, July 4th was the day singled out to mark the event of the United States establishing itself as a nation.
Only four American holidays are still celebrated on their proper calendar days: Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s and Independence Day. Of all the secular holidays, the Fourth of July is the only one whose celebration date resists change. Even in more provincial times, suggestions to alter the day of the festival to the preceding Saturday or the following Monday when July 4th fell on Sunday were protested.
The feeling about the sanctity of America’s Independence day was best expressed in a quotation from the Virginia Gazette on July 18th, 1777: "Thus may the 4th of July, that glorious and ever memorable day, be celebrated through America, by the sons of freedom, from age to age till time shall be no more. Amen and Amen."
Ø What a glorious freedom we have in the U.S. As a result of what people like Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Richard Henry Lee, and many more who signed our Declaration of Independence, and the many who fought for our freedom we have freedom today in this country.
Ø We have a debt of gratitude that needs to be paid to these people for what they did for us.
Ø Can you imagine living in a country that wasn’t free?
Ø We have freedom in Christ as well.
Text: 2 Cor. 3:12-18 - 12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Prop. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17b)
Ø Make it clear we are not free to do wrong (12 “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Cor. 6:12))
Trans. Sentence: With our freedom in Christ comes:
1. New Life
Exp. Rom. 6:4 - 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Acts 5:20 - 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”
Illus. Someone who has come out of a car accident may consider that they have new life, a new lease on life. Then they live life differently. We need to live differently we have taken Christ as our Savior. We have new life and get to start over.
Trans. Sentence: With our freedom in Christ comes:
2. Freedom From Bonds
Exp. John 8:34-36 - 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Illus. As a prisoner is set free from his/her bondage after he/she has served his time, we are freed from our bonds of sin when we come to Christ.
Exp. Rom. 6:15-18 - 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Trans. Sentence: With our freedom in Christ comes:
3. Knowledge Of The Right
Ø We have God’s word to help us in each and every situation.
Exp. 2 Tim 3:16 - 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Exp. 1 Cor. 13:8-12 - 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
Ø Maybe James 4:17
Trans. Sentence: With our freedom in Christ comes:
4. A Desire For The Right
Exp. Rom 7:18 - 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Illus: Town Board of Hughesville, our own Council meetings. (How many times in board or council meetings good things are decided to do, but somehow they never seem to get done.
Illus: My desire to see people come to Christ. Make a difference in peoples lives.
Exp. James 1:22-25 - 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
Trans. Sentence: With our freedom in Christ comes:
5. Quick Sensitivity To The Wrong
Illus. A person who knows he/she is an alcoholic knows right away when he/she takes and drink that he/she is wrong. A person who knows they have a problem with something, but does it anyway knows right away they are wrong. The indwelling Holy Spirit does that for us.
Exp. 1 Peter 2:16 - 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
Conclusion: With our freedom in Christ comes:
1. New Life
2. Freedom From Bonds
3. Knowledge of The Right
4. A Desire For The Right
5. Quick Sensitivity To The Wrong
Invitation: Hymn #448 I’ll Tell The World I’m A Christian
