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BIBLICAL FREEDOM “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” (Gen. 2:16) “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev. 22:17) Alright, we just saw the first and last Bible mentions of the word “freely.” Very instructive. Eve, being led by Satan, omits that word in the next chapter (3:2), and people have been omitting it ever since, subtly implying that God is some sort of cruel and unfair slavemaster who wants man loaded down with heavy burdens. Nothing could be further from the truth! Notice some of the various aspects of FREEDOM presented in the word of God. As our patriotic hymn declares, God truly is the AUTHOR OF LIBERTY . . . I. FREE SPIRIT David said in Psalms 51:12, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” God believes in freedom, and if we follow His instructions, we will enjoy freedom. II Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” But not liberty to sin, because God knows that sin leads to bondage. So, allowing Christians to live in sin would be counterproductive and contradictory. Jesus said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” (John 8:34). God knows that when a man chooses sin he is choosing bondage, so he warns us about sin all through the Bible so as to promote FREEDOM for us all. He wants us to enjoy a FREE spirit rather than a spirit of bondage. God is all about freedom. II. FREE WILL Psalm 119:108 says, “Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.” God believes in free will, so he’s not a Calvinist. God believes that a man reserves the right to CHOOSE along life’s way and to reap the positive or negative consequences of those choices. That was made very clear in Eden when God gave man a choice, and God upholds that righteous standard throughout the Bible and throughout history. The devil doesn’t “make” you do anything, and God doesn’t “make” you do anything. You and I CHOOSE what we want to do every hour of every day, because God believes in free will. Consider some scripture for this . . . Genesis 24:8: “And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath . . .” Exodus 35:5: “. . . whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it . . .” Exodus 35:21: “. . . every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing . . .” Exodus 35:22: “. . . they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted . . .” Exodus 35:29: “The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing . . . “ Ezra 7:13: “. . . all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.” 1Chronicles 29:5 “. . . who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?” Isaiah 1:19: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” 2 Corinthians 8:12: “For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” God’s word is clear. No one is forced to do or believe anything against their will. That’s why tyrannical rulers like Lenin, Stalin and Hitler don’t encourage Biblical Christianity. That’s why the Popes throughout history have not encouraged Biblical Christianity but have persecuted Christians instead. That’s why Satan has a long track record of raising up devils to oppress God’s people. He wants us enslaved to him, not free to live and make choices. God knows this and warns us about it all through his word. III. FREEDOM IN BIRTH In Acts 22:28, Paul makes reference to his Roman citizenship and says, “But I was free born.” The man he was speaking with was NOT free born, but Paul was thankful that he was. Well, if you were born in the United States of America, then you too are free born. That’s something for which to be thankful! You could have been born anywhere else in this world, and 96% of people were, but you were FREE BORN in the greatest nation that has ever existed on this planet! Let that sink for a while. People FORSAKE their own homelands to come and live in the country that you were BORN in! For 96% of world history, there WAS NO UNITED STATES, yet God was gracious enough to allow you to be in the top 4%! You are in the top 4% as it relates to time, and you’re in the top 4% as it relates to place! Wow! To whom much is given, much shall be required! The Author of Liberty wanted us to be free born, so we were, and we owe it to him to make the most of it. IV. FREEDOM AT HOME I guess we all take it for granted and seldom think about it, but we should also thank God for his institution of home and family, a place where we enjoy more freedom than anywhere else. Look at this verse from Deuteronomy 24:5: “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” Isn’t that good? FREE AT HOME! That’s God saying that a man and his family can relax at home and do as they please. No matter how tough the workplace or the rat race might be, you will be FREE when you get home. You can wear what you want, sit where you want, lay down where you want, sleep where you want, eat what you want, eat where you want, eat as much of it as you want, read what you want, watch what you want, do what you want and SAY what you want. You can’t do all that anywhere else on this planet, but thanks be to God, be it ever so humble, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME! V. FREEDOM IN TRUTH Jesus said in John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Folks often misquote that by saying, “The truth shall SET you free,” but “MAKE you free” is much better as it indicates that YOU become a free soul, rather than merely being “set” free from this or that. Big difference. There’s a great verse about this tucked way back in Isaiah, and it doesn’t get near the milage among most brethren that it deserves. The verse is Isaiah 59:14, which says, “And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” That verse says that you can forget about justice and judgment and equity as long as truth is laying in the street. That is, you can scream about “equal rights” all you want, but it will never happen as long as the nation is run by lying leftists and their lying political ideologies. Take the minimum wage issue, for example. They say, “You can’t feed a family on $7.25 per hour!” That’s a pack of lies, and anyone who falls for it will never enjoy a free and happy life. That’s a case of truth being trampled in the street, and God, the Author of Liberty, will not allow the advocates of such lies to enjoy freedom. They’ll keep pushing and yelling for justice, but it will never come. God will see to that. You say, “How is that a lie? How is it a lie to say that you can’t feed a family on $7.25 per hour?” I’m glad you asked. I’ll give you three quick answers . . . First, the statement implies that someone has claimed that you CAN feed a family on $7.25 per hour. No one with any brains believes that, and no political party or candidate takes that position. That’s a strawman argument that deserves no seat at the table of serious dialogue. Second, minimum wage has always been understood to be an entry-level pay, mostly for part-time students and part-time workers looking for extra income. Historically, minimum wage has been a beginning wage that people work up from, not a living wage. Third, the statement, “You can’t feed a family on $7.25 per hour!” suggests that employers should be forced to pay more, some even demanding $15.00 to $20.00 per hour, an amount that would supposedly make everyone happy. Wrong! The employer will be very unhappy, and he’ll lay off half of his workers, because he can’t afford to pay them. That means the remaining workers will have more work to do, so they won’t be happy either. Congratulations, stupid! You should have picked up the truth out of the street and embraced it, but you trampled it under foot instead. Now you have more misery for everyone. God is all about freedom, but it doesn’t happen when people walk in lies and deceit. That’s why John said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” (III John 4) Walk in truth and enjoy freedom. Walk OVER truth and invite misery. VI. FREEDOM FROM SIN “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (Rom. 6:18-22) “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:2) Beware of anyone who calls himself a sinner. As a believer in Jesus, you have been made FREE from sin and are no longer identified with it. You might still sin occasionally, because of fleshy influence, but sin is not the normal and natural way of life for you as a believer. Anyone who disagrees is trying to put the chains of sin back on you, whether they know it or not. God, the Author of Liberty, has made believers free from sin and has instructed us to live separate from it. That is one of the many aspects of freedom, that people get to enjoy freedom from sin when they choose to do so. We haven’t always had that option, but today we do. We should make the most of it. VII. FREE SALVATION “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (Rom. 5:15-18) For 6,000 years Satan has tried to put a price tag on salvation, but God has kept it free for all who seek it with pure hearts. That’s part of Biblical freedom as long as God remains on the throne: salvation remains free. Eternal life was free in Genesis when it all began, and it remains free in Revelation 22 when it all ends. God, in his glorious power and wisdom, has preserved free salvation for whosoever will forsake their own righteousness and receive Jesus Christ. After all these many years of Satan’s deceitful schemes and attacks, salvation remains the “free gift” that Christ purchased on the cross. Folks, freedom is a blessed gift from God, and we seldom take the time to reflect on how it affects our lives in so many ways. The Author of Liberty has been so incredibly gracious to us! May we remember this not only on special days, but on every day.