The Perfect Law of Liberty

I'd like to begin today by asking you the question, what does true freedom mean to you?

Maybe give that thought for a moment or two. What does true freedom mean for you? We just came through a holiday in this nation that celebrates independence and celebrates freedom. But when you think of that concept, what terms come to mind as far as what do you associate true freedom to be? Freedom is an interesting concept in our cultures today as a nation and as a people. We seek after freedom. Specifically, our nation was founded on the concept of independence and freedom. And so, as a nation, we pursue freedom. We grab hold of freedom as much as possible. We strive to maintain freedom, try to keep it from slipping from our grasp.

Again, it's a very important concept and foundational to our country's structure.

There is religious freedom, such as is protected under the Constitution. There is freedom of speech.

There's freedom of the press. There's freedom of association. You can have groups, you can have clubs, you can have memberships where you can say, all right, this is for an exclusive group of members and these can attend or these cannot. But you have freedom of different types of association in that way. Freedom to openly express yourself. Freedom to choose one state in life.

If you work really hard, perhaps even financial freedom. So freedom as a nation, as a culture, as a people is very important to us. I would say mankind in general desires and seeks after freedom. In our country, we love freedom, don't we? We fight for it. We have fought for it. We continue to struggle and fight to maintain it. And there's even times we'll go out and fight a war so that perhaps somebody else in another part of the world could experience even a taste of the type of freedom that we enjoy here. We elect people to office who vow to defend freedom and, you know, as we and honestly, I would just say we're coming up on another presidential election cycle. Seems like the last one just ended and I think it's sort of a continuous thread that runs, you know, 24-7, 365 and never really stops. But in this country, we're gearing up for another presidential election and you'll likely hear different candidates promising to defend freedom, seeking to receive votes based on a platform of preserving those things.

Our freedoms allow us to decide a number of things for ourselves.

You know, what am I going to be? What am I going to do with my life? What education will I pursue? What career will I enter? You know, what job am I going to work at? You know, we have the freedom to decide those things for ourselves. Where am I going to live? Who am I going to marry or not marry? How many children am I going to have? Those things aren't regulated or mandated by the government. We have freedom in those things. What am I going to do with my life? Again, last week, we on Thursday observed the national holiday, the Fourth of July, and we were celebrating in this country freedom. And people celebrate Independence Day in various ways. We were heading downtown to see the fireworks, but got a phone call and decided to go celebrate it in the ER with Austin until 3 a.m. Friday. But to each their own, his party was a little different than ours. But, you know, it's a day where freedom is acknowledged. It's celebrated. It's parties. It's whatever it might be. But people take this day in a very high basis and grab hold of freedom and simply do not want to let go. There are hang-ups, though, to the level of freedom that we have in this country and the type of freedom. And so what I'd like to kind of do today is examine what Scripture says in terms of freedom and compare it to what it is that we experience here today. It's interesting, last week I jumped online. I wanted to see some definitions of freedom and independence and liberty. And not necessarily from the perspective of a dictionary definition. I know what those are. But what do people think when they think of freedom? How do they interpret freedom in their lives? And what was interesting to me was the fact that so many people in their mind, the perspective of freedom, I would describe it as very self-centered. You know, self-centered. Again, what struck me most was the fact that it seemed to be about me, about my needs and my wants and my desires. Here's what freedom means to me. It allows me to do this, that, or the other thing. And the concept of freedom was, I don't want anyone else's rule over my life. I have the answers for me. And I'll determine for me what it is that I will do. Just give me my freedom, stay out of my way, and let me discover my life for myself. That was essentially the gist of a number of the comments. Not all, but a number of them. And again, as I say, we don't like to have our freedoms infringed upon.

I can be who I want to be. I can believe what I want to believe. I can worship whatever God I want to worship. I can decide for myself what orientation I want to be. Just give me my freedom, thank you very much, and let me be on my way. Freedom is a good thing in many regards.

I'm grateful to live in this country. There is no other place on the face of the earth outside the United States of America that I would personally choose to want to live. I'm grateful to live here. I'm grateful for the freedoms that we have. It gives us the opportunity to live God's way without opposition, largely. It gives us the ability to preach the gospel, to be open with the Word of God. There are benefits to the kind of freedom that we have. I began by asking, what does true freedom mean to you? I went online and saw what it means to other people, but as the people of God, what does it mean to you? The manner in which freedom is often perceived around us isn't necessarily God's definition of freedom and liberty, and it's not necessarily obtained in the same way as true liberty. A title today for the message is the perfect law of liberty.

Perfect law of liberty, and the Bible does indeed speak on liberty. It might seem like, though, maybe the concept of law and freedom and liberty doesn't seem to go hand in hand.

Like, if you add law, suddenly my liberties are being infringed upon. And that certainly can be the case. A number of places I've traveled in the world, and you see the police presence, you see the level of enforcement that's there, the way man can take laws, which we need laws for civil order and obedience. Those things are good, but you can layer law on top of law on top of law, and the more you layer those laws, more than likely, the less freedom you will have.

The more your independence will become infringed upon in that way. And so to say, the perfect law of liberty, that might sound like that's almost an oxymoron. You know, a contradiction in terms, law and liberty. But as we see from God's word, those two do indeed go hand in hand.

The Bible shows us that there is a set of laws that do in fact lead to true freedom, true liberty, and true happiness. In the book of Exodus chapter 20, God gave Israel his 10 commandments. You know, he had brought them out of Egypt, brought them to Mount Sinai, and given them these commandments for life. And he said, when you go to take possession of the land, this is how you need to be living. You're going to receive my guidance and my direction.

And again, in Deuteronomy chapter 5, Moses repeats those same commandments to the children of Israel, again, in preparation of entering the promised land. I'm not going to go through the 10 commandments. We know them, but I want to begin by looking at the result of actually keeping them, as God intends. So let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 6 to begin.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, I want us to see today that God's word and His truth and His commandments are the perfect law of liberty. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 17, this is Moses speaking unto the people.

And he says, You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, to cast out all your enemies from before you as the Lord has spoken. So what we see off the bat here is that the keeping of God's commandments, and the result of that is actually twofold. And the first is, it says, it will be well with you.

That's what verse 18 said. Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you. As in keeping God's commandments will lead to blessings in our life, because there's a cause and effect to the commandments of God. You do as He instructs, and it is for your good and your well-being, and good comes as the result. If you put God first, if you love neighbor as yourself, good becomes the result, and blessing is as a result. As Moses said, it will be well with you.

So that's the first part of that. It will be well with you as a result. And secondly, you will obtain God's blessing through keeping them. See, the commandments themselves are a blessing, all right, when you keep them. But also, in addition, God will pour out His blessing on those who respond to Him in obedience. Mr. Allwine was talking about what can we give to God. And as he pointed out, there are some things that He's given us we can give back, but God wants us to give Him our heart, our obedience, our will, ultimately allowing our nature to be conformed to His. And it's as loving children towards their Father, again, as was covered in the first message.

So not only will they be a blessing to you, but God's blessing will be poured out because of obedience. In Israel's case, they would receive the blessing of the Promised Land. They were careful to do according to all the words that the Lord had commanded. God would push the enemies out before them and allow them to settle the land with vineyards and crops and fields and all these things that were already established and developed for them, and indeed it would be a blessing.

So I say, as I consider this, just even starting out in these couple of verses about God's law, this doesn't seem like a burden to me. This doesn't seem like oppression. It seems like liberty. It seems to me to be freedom and a blessing.

Continuing on in verse 20, still in Deuteronomy 6, it says, When your son asked you in time to come, saying, What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments with our Lord our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son, We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all of his household. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. You know, the nation of Israel had been under this oppression of slavery. They knew what bondage was, what the revoking of freedom was. They were under Pharaoh's boot and under the taskmasters, and God brought them out, not simply to go run amok, he brought them out and he gave them laws and standards for life. He said, If you live these things and you go into the land implementing these things, don't do what the other people do with their gods. He says, It'll be a blessing to you, and I will be with you. Again, this is true liberty. Verse 24, And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, this is what you would tell your children, that fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.

So again, this passage is expressing freedom, brethren. Liberty, the opposite of oppression and the revoking of rights. These laws, living them in obedience to God, would in fact be a blessing.

Again, Moses said, It is for our good always. And he says, It will be righteousness for us.

And it brings about blessings which God desires to pour out through obedience.

So what we find in the biblical record is, as long as God's people were willing to submit to him and live his way in obedience, blessing would be the result. And they would be free.

Take away I want you to take from the sermon today is that the form of liberty, the form of freedom that God offers us, is not freedom to sin, but rather it's freedom from sin.

You know, freedom is good. Our liberties in this country is good. It gives you the freedom to basically go do whatever it is your heart desires. The freedom God offers is not freedom to simply go out and sin. It is freedom from sin. And indeed, that is the greatest expression of liberty that mankind could ever experience. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 1, again, we'll continue to the thread of the freedom which God's law would bring.

Deuteronomy chapter 28 in verse 1, again, this is expressing the most liberating kind of freedom.

Deuteronomy 28, verse 1, now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all of His commandments, which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the word of the voice of the Lord your God.

It's like, you know, they're gonna, it's not like you're just gonna sort of wander along and fall into blessings. He says these are going to overtake you, like come up from the rear and simply lay out before you in response to your obedience. Verse 3, bless the shall you be in the city and bless shall you be in the country.

Bless shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of the ground, and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle, your offspring, your flocks. Bless shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. You know, essentially anything they put their hand to through obedience to God and living His way, it would be a blessing.

Blessed, verse 6, shall you be when you come in. Blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will cause your enemies to rise against you to be defeated before your face. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord would command the blessing on you in your storehouses and all to which you have set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people for Himself, just as He has sworn to you if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.

Then all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods and the fruit of your body, the increase of your livestock, and the produce of the ground, and the land in which the Lord swore your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand.

You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. The United States used to be a lender nation. Now we are a debtor nation, and God says, you know what? When you live my way and my blessing is poured out on you, you're going to be the strength of the world, essentially. And as you walk further and further away from that, and that blessing is withdrawn, then you will not be what it was you could have been. This nation was a lending nation. We have now become a borrowing nation, and it is adding greatly to the weakness of our standing in the world. Right alongside that, though, is our social decline. Verse 13, and the Lord will make you the head and not the tail.

You shall be above only and not beneath. If you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them, so you will not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right or to the left to go after other gods to serve them. Israel was to be a model nation. God says, I brought you out, I've given you these laws, you're going to be my holy people, and all the world is going to notice because you're going to be different.

And ultimately, as God had planned, they would be the model nation to the world by which knowledge of the Lord would cover the earth as waters cover the sea. But they weren't obedient. They didn't respond in obedience as God desires. The day is coming when God will put his law in their mind and in their heart, and they will be that model nation that they should have been from the start. But again, it's just simply clear the cause and effect of the blessing for obedience to these words of God. True liberty.

Verse 15, it says, but, but it shall come to pass. If you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. Curse shall be you in the city, curse shall be you in the country, curse shall be your basket and your kneading bowl and the fruit of the body and the produce of the land. Basically, everything that God had walked through, that would be a blessing for obedience, would now be turned around and would not be blessed. And it would actually be cursed because of their disobedience and turning from God. So indeed, we see what freedom looks like, but also on the flip side what oppression looks like. And indeed, bondage results from taking established freedom such as Israel had been given and then run amok with it. It is perhaps to a degree what we in this country have experienced freedom given to us, but what have we done with the freedom as we've lived our lives? The laws of God lead to freedom when they are kept.

But the interesting thing about the exact same laws is that when they're broken they lead to bondage.

The wages of sin is death, and the consequences of not living according to the word of life leads in the opposite direction. A simple example, and you could pull out any of the Ten Commandments and kind of run through this exercise, but I'm going to pull out the Seventh Commandment, which is one of God's commandments. It says, thou shalt not commit adultery. And I just want to pull it out as an example of simply obeying this one commandment in marriage will be a blessing and a freedom to that relationship.

People say, oh, the law of God, you know, we don't want that. That's bondage.

And I'm saying you can walk down the line through every law and pull it out and recognize that by the observance of it, it is freedom. It is not bondage. The Seventh Commandment leads to freedom and contributes to freedom in your marriage. Lifelong monogamy between one man and one woman is a blessing to that relationship. It's a blessing to the intimacy and the trust that can be built and developed. And it's also an important part of the integrity of the family relationship as a whole.

And as with any of the commandments, what we understand is that breaking them oftentimes affects more than just one person. But keeping them as well often affects more than one person in a positive way. Now, not everybody around us in this world would actually agree with this principle on the Seventh Commandment. I've read a number of articles in recent time. They're becoming more and more mainstream, the concept that, you know what, it's actually healthy for your marriage. If you and your spouse agree to go out and have an affair and in controlled environments, that's actually healthy because you come back together and you can make your marriage stronger. There's other articles that have talked about the fact that the more experienced primarily that you have in relationships with multiple partners, that it leads to a stronger marriage when you actually do settle down with somebody. I think we know, brethren, that's rubbish.

Horse apples, we could say. The fact is that God's Word sets the standard for what produces freedom in our lives, not the concepts of man, not the concepts of this world around us.

It is God's Word that sets the standard for what produces freedom.

Over the years running a business, being self-employed, I had a number of employees that, due to state mandate, I had to withhold 50% of their paycheck every week because of maybe decisions that had been made at some point that seemed like freedom at the time, but then it led to certain consequences. The state would mandate hold out 50% of this person's check. So this person would be out working. You have an employee working all week long, working overtime, and then at the end of the week, your reward is half the paycheck. Believe me, from my perspective, that didn't seem much like freedom. And unfortunately, at times, certain decisions that any of us even could make, apart from God's Word, leads to broken homes, broken families, and for some, every Friday, broken finances. You know, it's just, again, it's that cause and effect. Believe me, when you work all week and receive 50% of your wage, and you don't have your family to show for it, you don't have nothing maybe but destroyed relationships to show for it, it doesn't feel much like freedom.

Actually, it feels like bondage.

You know, I was thinking today, and I have no clue what the numbers would even be, but, you know, simply the social programs in the country that help to provide for those who are in need.

And I just think, personally, that if you could pin down how many dollars go out to cover what was somebody's sin, I'm not saying it's the result of the person who is receiving those funds, I'm just saying sin has outcome and creates consequences and domino effects. I think we would be staggered at just how crushing of a financial load the social system of this country is carrying if you could equate dollars to the fallout of disobeying God's law in some way.

You're going to go from being a lender nation to a borrower nation in a real hurry just by decisions made in one category, but spread it out across all the word of God. Again, the blessing comes by doing things according to the perfect law of liberty. Ten commandments of God are summed up by Jesus Christ as love towards God and love towards neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Take that ten commandments as a package. You could basically boil them down to those categories. And the principle of love, if that is in place in our lives, then the result will be according to the freedom which God provides. If we love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, if we love our neighbor as ourselves, as truly the scripture tells us, that is not bondage. That is freedom, and the result is freedom and liberty as well. It is why the Bible calls it the perfect law of liberty. Let's go to James chapter one. See this term used. James chapter one will begin in verse 21. James is honestly one of my favorite books of the Bible. It's wisdom literature, the New Testament. It's Christian living in action. As in, you know, all the laws are sort of in the background here, but the expression of this book is, how do you live this way in practical application? There's much to be learned from the book of James. James 1 and verse 21 says, therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. God said in Jeremiah chapter 31 that the day was coming when he would pour out his spirit and write his law on the minds and hearts of his people. The implanted word isn't just something that we read and goes, you know, in one ear and out the other. The implanted word is implanted in our heart, in our life, and it has to become something that is more than simply what we know, a set of commandments. By God's Spirit has to become part of our nature, you know, part of who and what we are. That's how Christ could live perfect life without sin, you know. The debate is, could Christ have sinned? Sure. If he desired to, he could have sinned. Would he sin? Well, you know, it wasn't his nature. It wasn't his character. He had the Spirit of God. He had the nature of God, so it wasn't even in his character to sin, and that is what you and I are to be moving to as we come to seek after the stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ in our life.

These aren't just words. These become who and what we are, and our actions will flow out in response. So James just says, you know, we need to, with meekness, receive this implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Verse 22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and forget immediately what kind of a man he was. You know, hearing without responding in obedience or doing anything about it doesn't produce character growth. We all got ready for church today. I put on a shirt, a tie, a suit. You know, before we walked out the door, I would assume most, if not all of us, looked into the mirror. You know, my clothes on straight, my hair on straight, whatever it might be. How are we presentable? Is there something that needs fix before I walk out the door? Well, the word of God is the mirror for our life and our soul, and we look into it, and we, for honest, see ourself reflected against the character of God. We say, is there something that I need to fix?

James says, if you hear but don't do, it's just kind of like you glance in the mirror and you're on your way, didn't do anything about it, and you forget what kind of a man you are or a woman. Now, verse 25, it says, but he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. So again, we notice it's through our response, through our action of obedience, that then the blessing comes.

Not just knowing the word, it is responding, is living. God says, then my blessing will be poured out on you, and just simply responding to that word and living it will be a blessing in your life.

The mirror here that James is describing is the perfect law of liberty. It's God's words for life.

It's God's words that lead to freedom, that remove the bonds of oppression. The wages of sin is death.

That's big oppression. That's big bondage.

But obedience to God in his way leads to liberty. The perfect law of liberty motivates us to look into this mirror and make changes, and that same liberty, if we're going to walk in it, requires repentance, and it requires God's forgiveness. Because this law is perfect, right? James says it is the perfect law of liberty. So if you kept it perfect, you would be perfect, right? Jesus Christ kept this perfectly. He was perfect. The law is perfect. We are not. So the liberty is in this law, but the liberty is also in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and coming under that, so that we then can have the wages of sin removed, be reconciled to our Father in heaven, and walk in liberty again. It is perfect law of liberty coupled with the liberty that God gives us through his Son. Some like to look at the law and say, well, that that old law, that oppressive law, that law of bondage, you know, that was nailed to the cross, stung away. I live under grace. We do live under grace, brethren. By the grace of God, we have liberty. Our sins are forgiven. But what was nailed to the cross figuratively? What, you know, Christ is on the stake, right? He was crucified. Christ was nailed to that stake and he died. Paul said the handwriting of requirements that were against us, having been nailed to the cross. What is against us? Is it the law of God in terms of the commandments that we're to live by? Is that against us? Is thou shalt not commit adultery against your marriage? Is thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal? Put the Lord your God first. Are those things against us? They're not.

The handwriting of requirements that's against us that is connected to the law is the penalty for breaking the law. The wages of sin is death. That is what is against us. And the liberty and the freedom, that penalty was nailed to the stake with Christ if you come under that sacrifice. And you walk in liberty. Putting these two things together, God's Word and the sacrifice of His Son, puts us in a position where we can receive the full benefits of the grace of God, and we can live according to the blessings of it. We can't just throw out one and say, I'll take the other. These two go perfectly hand in hand. Let's notice King David's thoughts on the law of God, Psalm 19, in verse 7. What we're going to find is his thoughts are very similar to James.

James called God's law the perfect law of liberty. Psalm chapter 19, in verse 7.

Here David says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

So just like James, David referred to the law of God as perfect.

And when you look at this word perfect in Hebrew, it essentially means without blemish. It is complete. It is perfect. And as we read on, we'll notice the benefits that David describes for living according to it. Verse 8, he says, the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold. Yes, much more than fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them your servant is warned. And in keeping them there is great reward.

David says there is a great reward living according to your laws, God, according to the standards, according to what it is that God has given us. It leads to life.

Sounds to me like David rejoiced in walking in the liberty of God's word. Rejoicing the freedom that God gave him through these laws. He could look at the life of David and recognize very clearly that whenever he strayed from these things, it was not liberty to him, it was bondage.

And he recognized time and again when he did stray from God in his weakness.

In his weakness that he needed to be right with God. He needed to be reconciled to God and return to him, return to his word, and then the blessing and the liberty would return as well.

But again, David calls it the perfect law. Let's notice what else he had to say. Psalm number chapter 119. Psalm 119 verse 43.

Psalm 119 verse 43. David said, And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in your ordinances. So shall I keep your law continually, forever and ever, and I will walk at liberty, for I seek your precepts.

David says, I will walk at liberty. The word liberty here literally means a wide place, as in keeping God's word is like walking in a wide place, in a spacious place, in wide open spaces.

I kind of imagine it like if you've ever been hiking in the mountains and you're you're on a narrow wooded trail and you can't really see much around you, you're sort of boxed in, but then the trail opens up and you step out into a meadow and you have just this overlook and you can see the rolling hills and the mountains and the grass and the meadow and it's wide open spaces. It's freedom. It's liberating. And David says, that's like walking in your word, God. It's walking in liberty in the open spaces. It's not confined or boxed in.

It is a blessing to be in a wide place according to the word of God.

The laws of God, brethren, allow us to walk at liberty as well and in wide places because the benefit of keeping these words are so abundant. And this here is a beautiful picture that David paints in a very poetic fashion. Now, if we go back up to verse 43, he says, take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. Here, David refers to God's word as the word of truth. Back in Psalm 19, he said it was perfect. Here in Psalm 119, he says, in verse 45, he says, he'll walk at liberty. So we could put those two together and essentially see David is calling this the perfect law of liberty as well. But also, again, back up in verse 43, David refers to God's word as the word of truth. Who else called this word the word of truth? Well, Jesus Christ. John 17, 17. You know, sanctify them by your word. Your word is truth.

It is truth. Let's now notice the consequence of holding on to truth and living truth.

John chapter 8, verse 31.

John chapter 8, verse 31. Hear the words of Christ. It says, then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So to abide in Jesus Christ's word leads us to truth, and you will know the truth, and that truth leads to freedom.

Again, the perfect law of liberty. Verse 33.

Verse 35.

Bring back now then to the true freedom and liberty that can be experienced through coming under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You had the death penalty, you had the ultimate oppression hanging over you, but now you can walk free. The truth of God given to us by God, the Son of God given to us by God put together in our life allows us to walk in wide spacious places and walk in liberty.

The freedom which God gives us, again through his word and through his Son, go hand in hand to produce a true liberty that cannot be matched even by the most wonderful governing systems that man can devise. Again, I am grateful for the liberty of this nation and the freedom that we live under. I would not want to live anywhere else, but the freedom that God gives us is freedom from sin, not freedom to simply do as we please. And there is a difference. The fact is, many of the freedoms that I listed off earlier that we greatly appreciate about this nation are actually in conflict with the way of God when we get right down to it. Again, we like them. We benefit from them. Freedom of religion allows us to preach the gospel, to be a light and example to the world, and to assemble here freely as we do. So as God's church, we enjoy the benefit and blessing of being under that freedom. But what does the Bible say about these things? What are true freedom? What is true freedom in the eyes of God? Is it in conflict? Is freedom of religion freedom to worship whatever God you want in any way you desire? You could be a Christian, you can be a Buddhist, you could be a Muslim. Is that true liberty in the eyes of God? Now, I'm grateful again to live under freedom of religion for what it allows for us in our lives today. But again, let's understand because sometimes we're ready to join the fight for certain things that maybe aren't of God's system. It's a blessing to be here, and there's laws, and the laws should be upheld. The Constitution should be upheld. I'd like to see it upheld and live under the benefit. But again, as Christians, do we fight for freedom of religion? How does that maybe measure up against the perfect law of liberty? Is it freedom or is it bondage? Is freedom of speech true freedom in the eyes of God? You know, you're free to go out and speak your opinion on whatever matter you would. Don't quote me on it, but I think it's Rush Limbaugh who says, okay, you have the right to speech, free speech, but you don't have the right to be heard.

He can just turn you off anytime. And I'm not a big fan of reality TV shows because, you know what, what just kind of flows out of there, in my opinion, is mostly just filth. But is that freedom, is that true liberty to be able to express anything you would like in that way? Again, in alignment with God's Word. Will there be freedom of religion, freedom of speech, in the same way in the millennium? Ephesians 4, 29 says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers? You know, that's the standard God sets. So I'm grateful to have live in a country where I can function under freedoms in these things. But again, we have to be cautious, I believe. And I personally try not to bring worldly politics into messages. But I would just say, brethren, we are entering into a nether presidential election cycle, and things are going to be ramping up, and the rhetoric generally ramps up. Let's be careful what we say, what we post on Facebook, how it is that we express ourselves. We represent a kingdom not of this world. We do live in this nation. Again, I'm grateful, and I'm grateful for the laws that govern it, and I would like to see them upheld in a responsible manner. But let us just be careful what it is that we will put our reputation on the line to fight for. It may be something that will be done away with this system. What about my right to privacy? If I live under man's system, I want a right to privacy. I'll give you that. All right, but what about under God's system? What about Jeremiah 1710? I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. Oh God, that's kind of intrusive, don't you think? I don't think I saw the search warrant for that search. Revelation says Jesus Christ as well knows the heart searches the heart, and it is for the purpose of true justice and judgment.

What about my right to keep a loaded pistol in the nightstand?

You know, as Christians, you know, I say we have to be careful. Some would fight tooth and nail for that one. My point is this. The point is this is probably the most political I'll get for a while, but my point is this, brethren, under man's system there are certain freedoms that benefit us, even as God's people, and I am grateful to be here, and I'm grateful to live under the system that we do, but in the end the best form of freedom that mankind can come up with doesn't hold a candle to the liberty of God's Word and living according to the perfect law of liberty.

Isaiah chapter 55 gives us the contrast.

Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 8.

Isaiah 55 verse 8, God says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my way, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. So there's a vast difference between the thoughts of God and the thoughts of man, vast difference between the ways of God and the ways of man, and there's a vast difference between the liberty that God offers and the liberty under any government of man. There's a difference, and it's quite dramatic. Again, freedom which comes from God is freedom from sin. It's not freedom to sin, and so his thoughts, his words, his ways, again, if it's the implanted word, by his spirit, is to become more and more of who and what we are and what we represent. We represent a country of freedom and liberty. We may be citizens of the United States and have dual citizenship, but the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom that represents true freedom in which the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and liberty will be available, true liberty, for all that would accept it.

Back to the book of James chapter 2 this time in verse 8.

James chapter 2 in verse 8, this brethren, this word is a reflection. Not only do we look in it as a mirror, it's a reflection to us of who and what God is and his nature and his character, and we need to emulate these things. James chapter 2 in verse 8 says, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You do well.

I just love it that James calls this the royal law. Why would he do that? Why call this the royal law? What is royal about this law? How about the fact that it proceeds from the king?

Right? This is the king's law. This is God's law as given to us. It is the royal law. It proceeds from the king, and as such this is a royal decree. Right? It's the royal decree of the kingdom of God that the subjects of that kingdom are to live according. It is the royal law.

In addition to that, as the royal family of God, that's you and I, right? We're children of the king. We are sons of God if we've received his spirit, come into relationship with him. We are the royal family. This is the royal law from the king and is the royal law to be lived by the royal family of the king. It's a royal law for a royal family. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9 says that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, right? A holy nation. And so as such God's law is the law which governs us as the royal family, and it does indeed produce freedom. So again, James 2 verse 8, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Wages of sin is death. Again, back to bondage. Verse 10, for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not murder. Now, if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. You are a lawbreaker. It is the condition that each and every one of us has found ourselves in at one point or another. Verse 12 gives the remedy in part. It says, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. Again, it's the law of liberty. And ultimately, you and I are being judged on how much we love freedom. We're Americans, right? We love freedom. But how much do we love true freedom? True liberty. That's what we're being judged on. How high of a treasure is that in our life that we would live according to this royal law? So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. There's two important elements covered here, brethren. There are our words and there are our actions. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So I would say we can very easily, it's our nature and our character in this as well. Again, this is who we are supposed to be to the core. So speak and so do as those who would be judged by that perfect law of liberty. The Bible describes a day when true freedom will be a way of life for all of mankind. And the results of that on a global scale will indeed be dramatic to behold. Let's conclude over in Micah chapter 4. It's a passage we generally read at the Feast of Tabernacles every year. Micah chapter 4, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, right in that narrow version of the Bible. Again, you get these books packed in here and again I'll admit to you this is my sticky note, sticky note in one scripture today. Micah chapter 4 and verse 1 says, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and people shall flow to it.

When the Bible describes mountains and hills, oftentimes it can be referring to nations and governments. The government of God will be reigning supreme over all the nations of the earth. That is what it is saying. Verse 2, Many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The law that's being referred to here, brethren, is not a different law than what we've been given. It is the perfect law of liberty, and will flow forth across the world. And indeed it will have dramatic consequences. Verse 3, He shall judge between many peoples, rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. I guess they may have to have an adjustment to the right to bear arms, or at least the intent under which they're used. Verse 4, But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.

For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. Brethren, what a beautiful picture of true liberty.

Of true freedom. At a time when the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth, as the waters cover the sea, there's not going to be a dry place on earth where God's law, his words, the opportunity to have a relationship with him won't be available. There's not a place that would be dry in that way.

God's word and the knowledge of him will permeate everything. And the blessing and the result will be freedom and liberty and truth for all that would submit their lives to it.

Brethren, you and I have been blessed to live in a nation which has received rich and choice blessings from the hand of God. I do believe they have come as a result of the hand of God, not because of our extreme righteousness, but because of Abraham's righteousness and faithfulness.

We have been the recipients of those blessings today. A portion of those blessings are wrapped up in the freedoms that we enjoy and live under. In light of those things, let us always remember that the freedoms established by man pale in comparison to the true liberty which comes forth from the word of God. As we reap the benefits of our national freedoms, let's always remember James' admonition because we're not given freedom to just simply do what we wish. That may be the perception of freedom at times, but let's remember James' admonition as we live according and under freedoms in this nation, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the perfect law of liberty. And in doing so, brethren, we as God people will indeed be free and liberty will reign in our life.