From Slavery to Freedom

You know, in the latter days of the 18th century, a small group of men changed the course of modern history. While not fully realized at the time what the ramifications would be, their vote gave rise to the most influential and powerful nation in the world for the past two centuries and counting. Their vote and the results of what they had done had been prophesied for thousands of years since the passing down of blessings from Jacob in Genesis 48.

It severed the ties with their brother and allowed the fledgling country to strike out on its own and to chart its own course. On July 2, 1776, Manasseh entered the modern age. Recently, just this past month, we celebrated the 236th year of that independence. We commemorate the ratification of the vote on July 2, actually on July 4, that's become our Independence Day. And on that day, in 1776, the Second Continental Congress of the United States voted unanimously to dissolve their ties with England and to become a sovereign and independent nation.

The battle with the English had been raging since the battles of Lexington and Concord the previous year and with all other avenues of resolution exhausted, with the British literally on their doorsteps. The time had come for America to declare their independence. This declaration was drafted by a committee of very influential men, who, while not perfect, but they grasped a concept that God had bestowed upon mankind certain rights and certain freedoms, and that no government of men had the right to remove those freedoms from His people. They summed up their declaration as follows. And in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them.

But decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. This is the famous statement, 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, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriding their just powers from the consent of the governed.

And that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them that shall seem most likely to affect their safety and their happiness. They go on in the document to then state their case, and the reasons for why they declared independence from Britain. One of the reasons was King George had levied taxes without their consent. He dissolved their representation. He'd conscripted them into his own armies and navies without their consent as they went out by sea.

They would waylay them at sea. And the list of things that King George did to the American people goes on. In their minds, they had no other option. They had exhausted all avenues of dealing with the situation. With their independence from Britain declared, the blessings of Jacob were fulfilled in America, kind of like a newborn foal.

You see him stand shakily at first, stood on its wobbly legs, and it took its first steps. And the rest is history. Now, following the surrender of British forces after the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers worked to codify the freedoms and the rights that American people were to experience. Found in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights includes the numerous rights and freedoms that we, as Americans, experience. In fact, within that document, the First Amendment itself is the one that contains the majority of the freedoms that we enjoy.

Included within that First Amendment is the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom of the press, freedom to peaceably assemble, and freedom to petition. These freedoms were intended for very specific purposes. The Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that under no circumstances would America ever again be under tyrannical rule. They wanted to ensure that these freedoms were upheld for their citizenry forever. And if we examine these freedoms within the original context that the Founding Fathers used, we can better see the original intent of these freedoms. Freedom of speech. Our Founding Fathers wanted people to be able to say whatever they wanted against our government.

That there could be political discourse. That you couldn't be, you know, what oftentimes happens in other countries arrested and executed for speaking out against the government. The ability to have a governmentally uncensored discourse was necessary in order to keep America free. Freedom of the press was originally designed so that reporters could write an article or political cartoon or some other method of criticism against the government and not fear, again, pushback. Again, being able to critique the government, being able to talk about it in discourse was essential to have a strong democracy. Freedom of religion. The Founding Fathers didn't want what happened in Europe to happen in America.

Coming from Europe, where they have certain countries with country-wide religions, where you have Roman Catholicism, where you have even in England, the Church of England, they didn't want that situation occurring in America. They wanted people to be free to worship as they saw fit. The freedom to peaceably assemble.

Assemblies could serve many purposes, from what we're doing today, peaceably assembled in a room, studying the Word of God, to boycotts, to protests. There's a lot of different things that fall under peaceable assembly as long as it remains peaceable. As soon as it doesn't, well, then there's a whole other ballgame. Police can become involved in other things, but they wanted to make sure it was protected.

That assembly couldn't be broken up just because somebody decided, well, these people don't need to meet and talk about this. Lastly, the freedom to petition. Founding Fathers felt that if the government wasn't working, and if it was not representing the people, the citizens had the right to change aspects of it that didn't work. So in line with their democratic ideals, they built in a petition system a way to guarantee it as a freedom so that if something went wrong, it could be fixed.

Of course, we also see that in the very next amendment to the Constitution, they also put in another provision. The Second Amendment guarantees that a militia is in place, that in the event of something going on, that they were able to overtake and to reset, essentially, government. You know, we're enjoying many of these freedoms in their original intent as we sit here today. We are peaceably assembled.

Currently, by law, no one can come bursting through that door and tell us to disperse. We're peaceably assembled. We have the freedom religiously to meet on the Sabbath. We're not forced to meet on Sunday. We're not forced to go along with the established days of worship in the remainder of our country. We have the freedom to religiously meet on this day. We're also, to a certain extent, protected in what we say. There are limitations on free speech, but for the most part, as long as what's not considered what the government defines as hate speech or inciting a riot, we're free to speak our minds.

You know, it all seemed well and good. And it all seemed like a great way to get it set up and a good foundation. But if you fast-forward 236 years, these five freedoms have been argued, they've been adjusted, they've been changed, struck down, added to, negaled, modified as time has gone on. And they've moved from their original intent. In many ways, they've moved. And in recent years, they've been used to justify some pretty horrible things. Let's write this down somewhere. We're going to come back to it. You all don't have dictionaries in front of you, but I'm going to give you the definition of freedom as Webster defines it.

It's a two-part definition. The first of this, we kind of go, well, duh. I mean, it makes sense. It defines freedom as the quality or state of being free. That's our, duh. It's freedom, right? But there are a couple of conditions inside of that definition of freedom. The first is that it's the quality or state of being free as in the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action, which means essentially we're free and that we can't be forced to do something against our will.

That's the first definition of freedom. The second definition of freedom that's included in here is the quality or state of being free as in liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another. And one of the synonyms that is given is independence. Now, these five freedoms that we just looked at inside of the U.S.

Constitution, they fall under the first aspect of that definition. They fall into the aspect of not being coerced or constrained in our choices or actions. We have the freedom to say what's on our mind. We have the freedom to meet as we wish. We have the freedom to worship as we wish. What these things do is they guarantee that we have the freedom to choose and that we have free will. Biblically, we can see that God created all men free and this gets down to the core of what God instilled in man at creation. Man was made in God's image and given free will. And again, the founding fathers who were familiar with their Bibles, unlike some of our politicians today, they knew this.

In fact, they acknowledged it in the first line of the Declaration of Independence that these rights came from our Creator God. We see in the Bible that God gave His people specific laws, moral, spiritual rules to operate by, but ultimately allowed the individuals involved to make their own choice. Let's turn over to Genesis 2. Genesis 2, verse 16. We'll see the first of these examples. This is one of those scriptures that we have been through dozens and dozens and dozens of times. It's not a new one by any means.

But I want to draw your attention to something that is not said here. Sometimes we take things at face value and we don't look at what is not said. I'd like to draw your attention to what is not said here. Genesis 2 and verse 16. Genesis 2, 16 says, In the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

And that was that. That was that. He left it at that. In fact, look at the next scripture. The next scripture jumps right into it's not good that man should be alone. There's no additional instructions from verse 17. It doesn't say, And God placed an electric fence around the tree of which man should not eateth. It doesn't say that he placed a legion of angels between Adam and Eve and the tree.

God simply told Adam, This is not for you. This is not for you. And he left it at that. Leaving it up to Adam to make the right choice. Leaving it up to Eve to make the right choice.

Did Adam have free will? Absolutely. Did he have freedom? Absolutely. Notice too, in Genesis 3, and we won't turn there, but in Genesis 3 we know the very well-known account of the deception of Adam and Eve. And as Adam and Eve start to head down the road of that deception, we don't see God jump in there, either.

We don't see God jump in there. He didn't swoop in and stop them. They had free will. They had the ability to choose, and God let them go down the road that they were headed down. And you can imagine the anguish seeing it happen. Imagine the anguish seeing it happen. We see, as the story continues, Eve takes the fruit, as does Adam, doing the exact thing that God told them not to do.

They transgressed the law. They earned the death penalty. They took their freedom too far. And instead of remaining free, they became slaves to sin. They were banished then from the garden, never to return. Freedom was a double-edged sword for Adam and Eve. Let's turn over to Exodus 24, verse 7. We'll see another example of a freedom of choice taken too far. Exodus 24, verse 7. Just prior to this, Moses is giving the list of the requirements for God for Israel's part in the covenant. And he presented them to the Israelites. We'll pick it up in Exodus 24. Exodus 24, verse 7 says, Then he took the book of the covenant in front of the whole assembly of Israel, and read in the hearing of the people, and look at their response, all that the LORD hath said we will do, and be obedient.

Exodus 32, verse 1. Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us gods that shall go before us. Whereas for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Aaron said to them, Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, and your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.

Israel entered into a covenant relationship with God in chapter 24. In verse 8, in fact, you see the blood component necessary to seal the deal. They made the choice. They agreed that they would obey everything that God had commanded.

They had the freedom to walk away, but they didn't. They told Moses and God everything that God has spoken we will do and be obedient. And then chapter 32, their free will got them into trouble. In fact, it took them all 40 days to renege on that agreement. 40 days. That's it. And you know it's easy to bag on the Israelites.

It's so easy to read through the Old Testament and go, How in the world could they have done this? They had God in a pillar of fire, you know, and a cloud of smoke leading them around. How could they have just crossed the Red Sea? How could they have done this? It is so easy to bag on the Israelites. But what about us? How many times have we made the conscious choice to do the exact opposite of what God requires of us?

I see this in my own children all the time. Son, don't do that. A minute and a half later, he does it. Why did you do that? Huh? I wanted to. And you can think from a standpoint of God as our Father, the same situation. Look, don't do that. And then what do we do? Every time. But I'm constantly humbled as I read the Old Testament because it is very easy to attack the Israelites for transgressing time and time again despite all those miracles.

And then I think to myself as I read it, I'm sure glad that all the stupid things that I've done in my life are not recorded in a book for the whole world to see and to critique. Let's go to Deuteronomy 30. We'll see the words of God to the Israelites. Deuteronomy 30.

We'll pick it up in verse 19. Again, just reaffirming here that it is a choice, that we do have free will. Deuteronomy 30 in verse 19. Deuteronomy 30 in verse 19 says, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.

Therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, you may obey his voice, and that you may cling to him, for he is your life and the length of your days, and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. God has given man choice from the beginning, and it's a very important part of God's plan that man choose.

God doesn't desire a family of automatons, robots, that just go through the motions and obey because they don't have any other option. They've been programmed in that way. He desires a family of individuals that are circumcised of the heart, who have analyzed the choices available to them, have looked down both roads, and said, not interested in that road.

I've counted the costs, I've evaluated my options, and I've made the choice to obey God's laws in love. You know, as the Old Testament continues, it's full of stories of individuals and nations whose freedom of choice led them to bondage and slavery and sin. And that, sadly, is the America today. 236 years later, the freedoms that we discussed earlier are being used in cases contrary to the intent of the Founding Fathers and are being used to justify and encourage and allow, essentially enable, blatant sin.

Freedom of speech, instead of protecting voices of dissent, which it still does, it's been used recently to justify printing of pornographic magazines, tobacco advertising to children, swearing in movies, television and music, protecting the publishing of people's deaths on the internet. That's free speech. If you take a crime scene photo and post it against the family as well, that's free speech. And just this past month, one that really upset me, they've made it on grounds that it is, it was used to revoke something called the Stolen Valor Act, which is where if someone wants to now go down and wear a uniform and pretend that they served and got the Medal of Honor, they can do that now all they want.

It's no longer against the law, because that's freedom of speech, according to the Supreme Court. Freedom of press. Instead of protecting journalists from governmental backlash, it's been used to justify the paparazzi invading every aspect of people's lives, sometimes even resulting in their death from the insanity, as we saw with Princess Di and that race away from the paparazzi.

It's been used to justify invasion of privacy, or more recently in Salem, kind of a brouhaha that we had, publishing the salary of public employees in the newspaper in order to pit elements of society against each other. Freedom of religion. Instead of safeguarding against a natural, a national religion that forces all of our citizens to belong to it, freedom of religion has been used to justify marrying multiple wives, marrying underage women, satanic worship, mutilation of people's body, and something called the Church of Body Modification. Believe it or not, there was a student somewhere here in the U.S.

and I don't recall exactly where, but that claimed that it was an infringement upon her freedom of religion to make her take out all of her facial piercings at school because she belonged to the Church of Body Modification, and that was upheld by the courts. Basically, what it's done is it's allowed people to do whatever they want in the name of religion. Freedom would peaceably assemble for the most part has remained intact, and the Founding Fathers were brilliant on this because they added the word peaceable.

Because as soon as it becomes unpeacable, impeasable, non-peaceable, violent, whatever that word is, but as soon as it becomes a non-peaceable assembly, the police step in and they close it down. So for the most part, that's stayed the way it is. And the freedom to petition is still doing what its purpose is, but as time has gone on in the United States, as the people drift further and further from God, the petitions get further and further from God. A couple of years ago, we had the ballot measure here in Oregon to legalize gay marriage.

This year, we have ballot measures to legalize possession of marijuana, production of different things. The list just goes on. And ordinarily, prevailing heads went out, but not always. Not always. You know, as a society, through our concept of freedom, we have become slaves to sin. As a society, we have become enslaved and in bondage to sin through and in the name of freedom. And in my own lifetime, I have seen America descend further and further down the moral slope in the name of freedom.

And I'm sure that many of you that have been around longer than I have can hardly recognize this country anymore. It is a vastly different place than my father's generation and the America of my parents' generation. You know, the hand of God, and you can see it, has most certainly been removed. It has most certainly been removed from this country. Now, there's an interesting paradox here. There's an interesting paradox.

In the name of freedom, man's laws lead to spiritual slavery, while slavery to God and obeying his laws in love leads to true freedom. Let's take a look at 1 Peter, verse 2. We'll visit the Apostle Peter and his thoughts on the subject. 1 Peter 2, verse 13. 1 Peter 2, verse 13. Page 1067 in my Bible. What about yours? 1 Peter 2, verse 13 says, actually under a heading of submission to government, Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Verse 17. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Now, the Jews of the time who Peter was writing to refused to be in subjection to anyone but God himself. They believed that their liberty and their freedom from governance came from the fact that they were the chosen people of God. And what Peter's doing here is imploring them not to use their liberty as a cloak for maliciousness. At that time, they were not paying the taxes.

They were not obeying civil law. They were not doing a lot of different things in the name of liberty, in the name of freedom. The word here, actually, that's used for maliciousness is kakia, which is actually a little bit stronger than maliciousness. It actually more directly translates as wickedness. More directly translates as wickedness. So what he's really imploring them not to do is to not use their liberty to justify wickedness, that they're being admonished to be servants of God and subject to the ruling authorities, as Christ himself told his people in Matthew, ultimately, to render unto Caesar that which was Caesar's.

In addition, to not do what America has found itself doing, and that is using its liberty and its freedom to justify and enable sin. Paul, in Romans, adds another layer to the argument. Let's go to Romans 7. Paul, in Romans 7, spends a good portion of the chapter talking about the war within himself. We know this scripture fairly well. I've heard it read before. But Romans 7, that whole entire section, is talking about the war and that struggle that Paul finds himself in.

And in verse 25, he ultimately comes to the conclusion of his point and of his argument. So Romans 7 and verse 25 says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

And in some translations, the word serve there is actually a slave to. It's actually translated as slave to and a servant of the law of God. But he finds his flesh is slave to the sin, serving carnality. Now, the word used in both of these previous scriptures, where it talks about being servants and it talks about serving here in Romans, is the Greek word doulos. It's G-1-4-0-1 in Strong's Concordance. And it's defined as literally or figuratively a slave.

Now, what's interesting is it's also defined as either being a slave voluntarily or involuntarily. And you kind of have to understand what was going on at that time frame and in that language. They're operating under the Roman system. And in the Roman system, slaves only really had one option. The Roman system of slavery was an awful, awful system. There weren't a lot of voluntary slaves in Rome. There weren't a lot of voluntary slaves in Rome.

And unfortunately, in Rome, the slave had very, very few rights. And depending on the demeanor of the masters, they could be treated well or they could be treated just horribly. Instances of slaves being beaten for no reason, and crucified, executed on command. You can go back through and see some of these things throughout history. But the Romans themselves also, as you well know, had a twisted enjoyment in watching the suffering of slaves in the gladiatorial ring. They would oftentimes put slaves in the gladiatorial ring.

In fact, if you're familiar with the story of Spartacus, then you know that he led a very large army of slaves after escaping gladiatorial rings in the Third Servile War of Rome, defeating several Roman armies in various battles before he finally died in 71 BC.

But it should tell us something about the treatment of slaves in Rome if there were three servant and slave uprisings throughout Roman history. It was a very different form of slavery than what was intended in the Hebrew form, where people sometimes willingly sold themselves into slavery. In Israel, he had people willingly selling themselves into slavery because it was short-term.

It's kind of an interesting system. The Israelites as a people experienced both forms of slavery. They saw cruel masters when they were in Egypt, and they had the option for benevolent masters when they lived in Israel. If we go back to Deuteronomy 15, you'll actually see the laws that God set up in Israel regarding servitude, regarding slavery in ancient Israel. Deuteronomy 1512 is where we'll start. We'll actually see in that section a teaching of what is known as the sabbatical year, or the year of release, and how that applied to debts, applied to debts of service. But Deuteronomy 1512, as soon as I can find Deuteronomy, it's hiding in here. Here we go. Deuteronomy 15 and verse 12 shows us the principle behind this particular setup. We'll go from verse 12 through verse 17. Verse 12 says, If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let them go free from you. Verse 13, When you send him away free from you, notice the word free, no longer a slave, he's free and ready to go, you shall not let him go away empty-handed. You shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. You should give him sheep, you should give him oil, you should give him wine. From what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today. And if it happens, this is a unique situation, if it happens that he says to you, I will not go away from you.

You're trying to release this slave and say, okay, your years of servitude are up. And the slave says, no, I don't want to go. He says, I will not go away from you because he loves you in your house. Since he prospers with you, verse 17, then you shall take it all and thrust it through his ear to the door, pierce his ear, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant, you shall do likewise also. God designed a system here to remind the Hebrews of what servitude and what slavery was like. Remind them what the time that they spent in Egypt and how horrible that time was. But he built in mercy and he built in love into that system, requiring benevolent treatment of the slaves and again allowing for a release after a certain number of years.

But we also see that a Hebrew person in this situation could decide that they loved their master so much and that they did not want to go, that they could willingly choose not to leave after that sixth year. Now, they would become what is known as a bond servant to that house.

They're not quite a slave. They're not completely free. They willingly give up their freedom for eternity serving that house until their death. Now, interestingly enough, to an extent, they even become part of the family. It's almost like they've been adopted in a way. And there are instances where there would be inheritance in some cases for these servants. In fact, in Genesis 15, verse 3, we won't turn there today, but mark it down, Genesis 15.3, we see Abraham say, you know, I don't have a seed. Would you have that my house goes to my servant? So there was some unique situations in Israel where the slaves of the family could inherit the house.

You know, Christ tells his disciples in Mark 10, following yet another spat among the disciples about who would be the greatest, who would inherit the kingdom, actually the prime spots in the kingdom. Who would be first must be last. Let's pick up the story in verse 42 of Mark 10.

Mark 10, verse 42.

Mark 10 and verse 42, we see that those who wish to be first must be last. Mark 10, verse 42.

It says, Or in that case, it's that word, doulos, again.

For many. Again, in verse 44, we see, That person will serve everyone. That person will have a spirit of service, essentially what's being said there. Not a spirit of lordship. Not ruling with the rod of iron, so to speak, but ruling as a servant and leading as a servant. You know, we see Christ's word in his example in numerous places throughout the Bible and that concept of that in order to lead, you must serve. You must become a slave to others. You know, God desires that we become bond servants to him, just like in the Hebrew model, that we become bond servants to him.

This is the same opportunity that was offered to Adam and Eve in the garden, that they would willingly give up their autonomy, willingly give up their freedom of choice.

And to make that choice, to then serve God and his people forever. To not leave the house, to have the all put through the ear, and to become slaves to his house for eternity, and to the law of his house. Then we get to Galatians and we run into a little problem.

We get to Galatians and we run into a problem. Let's go to Galatians 5, verse 1. So we're talking about here being slaves to God, being servants, bond servants to God, willingly choosing to live that life, willingly choosing to be a part of God's family. And then we get to Galatians 5, and verse 1.

Galatians 5, verse 1, So stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. So we see here that being a slave to the law, you kind of go, well, wait a second. He's saying not to be a slave to the law here, but earlier he said to be a slave to the law. This is where the spot where the modern Christian goes, see, see? Paul himself said, you didn't have to do it. The Jewish law is a law of bondage, circumcision is bondage, Christ makes us free. They get all excited and they throw the baby out with the bathwater. In order to understand fully what's going on in Galatians, we have to go back a chapter or two, and we need to examine the social context of the day to understand what's being said here. So let's start first with the context. Let's start first with the context.

Galatia is found in the area of what is today modern-day Turkey. So Galatia is found in the area of what is today modern-day Turkey, and at the time of Paul's epistle to the Galatians, that area was fully under the rule of the Roman Empire. And there's some evidence, actually, that the Gauls that populated this area were related ancestrally to the Gauls that settled in the areas of France and Britain, and an analysis of the language indicates that it's very probable that they were related and that they had ties to ancient Israel. And we can't confirm it for certain, but linguistically, the evidence seems to suggest the connection. At any rate, when Paul got there, he found a very unique mix of individuals. There were Jews, there were converted Jews, there were converted pagans, and there were pagans. And so he had a very unique audience of people to talk to. You can imagine the situation and the difficulties that Paul would have here.

The pagans of Rome at this time, and the converted pagans that were there had come out of this system, belonged to a cult in Rome called the Imperial Cult. And the basic tenets of the Roman Imperial Cult were just a continuation of the mystery religions of Babylon. And what it really consisted of was worship of the Roman pantheon. So we've got all these Roman gods, and really those Roman gods were all set up from the Babylonian gods. There's, you know, nothing new under the sun, so to speak. It all just kind of keeps continuing. But once Caesar came to power, the first Caesar, Julius, all that changed. People started to deify and worship the Roman emperors as well.

So in addition to the Roman gods, now you have deified emperors. And by the time Paul got to Galatia, it's estimated that the Roman calendar contained over 40 civil holidays, 40 civil holidays that were in dedication to these Roman gods, as well as all of these deified emperors and Caesars and whoever else. These were required feasts. They were required celebrations.

Civilly, they were various gods and rulers. And there were temples all over the Roman empire at this time, typically, again, at the tops of hills. And Christians were persecuted mightily for not sacrificing, as they were directed by the rulers of Rome. The individuals that Paul was ministering to, specifically in Galatia, were mostly Gentiles, which came again with its own set of problems, because the converted Jews that were part of the faithful were not really accommodating to the new Gentiles coming in. They were challenging them and telling them they had to obey the law to the absolute letter in order to be saved.

Really what they were telling them, they were telling them that salvation came through slavery to the law. That salvation came, essentially what they were doing was they were telling the Gentiles that if you wish to be saved, you need to convert to Judaism first. That you need to be a slave to the entirety of the Jewish law. That means circumcision. That means everything. You've got to do that right now. Then you can be saved. They were preaching a justification of salvation through works.

So here we have newly converted pagans who have come out of this Roman imperial cult, being told by the people of their own church that they have to be circumcised. They have to convert, essentially, to Judaism and be saved to their works in order to have a part in Christ.

And then on the other side, from their family and their friends, they're hearing from the Roman authorities, the world that they came out of, that they are supposed to go up 40 sometimes a year to the high places in Rome and sacrifice to the gods and worship the gods. And really what they're between is a proverbial rock and a hard place, spiritually.

So when we get to the epistle in Galatia, Paul's trying to fix this before he gets completely out of hand. He begins the letter, and you can see the beginning of Galatia, he begins the letter by marveling that they could have accepted another gospel so soon, that he had been there, he had preached the gospel of Christ, and that they could have accepted another gospel so quickly after him leaving.

He said that there are some that have already fallen away believing in and following the words of this corrupted gospel of salvation by works. Galatian 2, verse 11, we can see something interesting here. Galatians 2, verse 11, kind of will set the foundation with this. We see Paul actually take Peter to task in front of the entire assembly.

That's Jew, that's Gentile, both. And we can see when we get into it, rightly so. We can see, rightly so, Paul calling Peter out here because his actions continued to foster this belief that they were justified, okay, and that they earned their salvation through works, rather than having liberty in Christ. Galatians 2, verse 11, says, now when Peter had come to Antioch, you can tell that he's pretty upset here.

Paul says, I withstood him to his face because he was to blame. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles. Paul's actually taking, or Peter here, is actually taking the time to eat with the Gentiles. Now, what did the Jews have to do before they would sit down and eat? There was all kinds of ritualistic washings and cleanings and things like that. And believe it or not, it says right here, when they would come, he withdrew and he separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.

So what we've got going on is we've got Peter here, who would, when there was no one around looking, would have no problem at all sitting down and eating with the Gentiles, not going through all the ritual washings and all the other things, you know, not keeping himself separate. He's fine sitting down and eating with them. But then when other Jews show up, it's, nope, I gotta go over here and I gotta do this.

And so we see kind of two different, two different Peters in a way here. And so even Peter himself is fostering the divide between these two people, between the Jews and the Gentiles, which upset Paul so much that we see here that he resisted Peter to his face. He got in his face about it. Go on in verse 13, and the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, the whole assembly, if you being a Jew live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? Peter was a Jew living under Jewish law. However, when he came to eat with the Gentiles, he didn't undergo all of the ceremonial cleansings. He didn't keep himself separate and distinct like all the other Jews did. He ate amongst them. He ate with them, which wasn't again a problem until the other Jews showed up. But then Peter became a totally different person. Verse 15, we who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. He tells Peter here they both know full well that the justification does not come by works of the law, but through faith in Christ.

Paul then goes on in Galatians 3 to discuss how the Gentiles were also inheritors of the promise of Abraham through their belief in Christ, not through their works, as you cannot, and we know that you can't earn your salvation. Salvation is a gift. You can't earn it. Okay, so Galatians 3, verse 2, just across the page from where we just were, Galatians 3 verse 2, This only I want to learn from you did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

You know, the Gentiles believed, as Abraham believed, they trusted in God, and through their belief, the Spirit was freely given, not earned. He goes on to inform the Gentiles that they are sons of Abraham, that they are inheritors of that promise because of their faith, just like Abraham.

He continues in verse 10 to dismantle the salvation through works gospel by discussing the penalty or the curse of the law, that the law only brings penalty while the gospel of Christ brings freedom and liberty. And verse 18 states it explicitly, Galatians 3 and verse 18, For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. The blessings of God were given as an assurance or promise by God following the faith that Abraham demonstrated. God promised that he would bless Abraham exceedingly, and that his people would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, as numerous as the dust of the earth. In other words, impossible to number. And that was a promise secured by Abraham's faith in covenant with God. So Paul here is building the case, and he's defining the purpose of the law, that the law is a tutor to the people of God, the Jews. It guided them to Christ, which allowed them to justification through faith and not through works. Galatians 4 and verse 1.

Galatians 4 and verse 1, Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Now Paul is speaking directly to the Gentiles here because he is describing the Roman system of inheritance. Roman children were given guardians and tutors for the years of their early life, which allowed them to grow to the point of becoming an heir. They weren't considered heirs when they were children, up until they grew to this point, and they'd been tutored, and they'd have these guardians. Once that appointed time was designated, they became a full-fledged heir of the family holdings. They were no longer a slave or a bond servant, but instead were a member fully of the family. Kind of along the lines of the ways that Hebrew slaves had chosen to become bond servants actually became a part of that family, were able to partake of the food of the house, and in some cases even share in the inheritance of the family.

He goes on in verse 8 to address the gentile upbringing specifically, Galatians 4 and verse 8, but he's making the point in Galatians 4 and verse 8 that while the Jews had the tutor of the law, the gentiles didn't. They didn't have the law to guide them as they were growing up. They came out of a totally different system. Nothing led them to Christ except the faith in the gospel that they had heard. He's exhorting them in verse 8 through 10 not to go back to the life that they once lived. Some of them were becoming discouraged. Many of the converted pagans who were part of that Galatian church were turning away from their conversion because on one hand the people in the church are saying, no, you have to become a Jew first, and their families are going, no, you need to be doing this, and they're bowing to the pressure.

Many of the converted Jews largely felt that they had to convert to Judaism first in order to then come to Christ. For many, it was so much easier just to return to the trappings of their childhood. It's so much easier for us to fall back into the things that we know and that we're comfortable with. Pushing ourselves and challenging ourselves is hard, but falling back into old habits is easy. For many of them, it was much easier to return to the things of their childhood, that imperial cult of Rome in which they were comfortable. So we get to Galatians 4 and verse 8. But then indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. All of those planets, all of those things, all of those those emperors and rulers, part of that Roman imperial cult. Verse 9, but now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements? The stoichiia is the Greek word there, which basically means the natural world, essentially, to which you desire again to be in bondage. You observe days and months and seasons and years, all of those things from that civil calendar, that Roman imperial calendar. And I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. What Paul's asking the Gentiles here is, how could you possibly return to the life that you once lived, now that you know God? Now that God knows you? How could you go back? How could you turn back to this Roman imperialism, go back to all those civil holidays, the sacrifices, and everything, the feasts of all these different people? How could you possibly go back to this?

What Paul is telling the Gentiles of Galatia here is, look, as steady as she goes, keep doing what you're doing, stay off the left shoulder. You know, you're not justified by your works. You're justified through your faith in Christ. You're a bondservant to Christ. Stay off the right shoulder. You know, don't go the other direction. You do not have ties to the imperial cult anymore. You are Christ's. You have been redeemed. You have been claimed. You do not have to become a Jew in order to be saved. You may not have had the same tutor as your brothers in Abraham, but you do have the same fulfillment of that promise. He's simply telling them, now go forward with it. Stop looking back. Go forward. Galatians 5, back where we started again, shows us where he wanted them to go. Galatians 5 and verse 1, read this already, but we'll go through it again. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Notice the word again. He's talking here about their previous ties, Roman imperialism. Indeed, I Paul say to you that if you become circumcised, if you decide you're going to go over here and you're going to do it anyway, you know these Jews have said, look, you got to get circumcised first. If you're going to do that, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that you are then a debtor to keep the whole law. That includes all the ceremonial, all that other stuff. You have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love. Paul's telling them, look, if you decide that you're going to get circumcised, that's fine, but as Gentiles it's going to profit you absolutely nothing. In fact, he goes on to then say it's going to sever you from Christ because what it's going to do is it's going to indicate to God that now you're trying to seek salvation through works. You had Christ. Christ claimed you. And now you're going over here.

It's unnecessary for the Gentiles to be circumcised. It wasn't necessary. Their responsibility was faith through love. Now we recognize, I'm not saying here, that the law goes away entirely. Please don't take that as the takeaway here. We recognize fully that in order to show our love for God, we do what we're instructed to do. We obey our master. We obey, especially once we become bond servants. And there are pieces of the law that aren't applicable today. Sacrificial law, things like that. They're just, they're not today. We don't have a sacrificial system anymore, okay, other than spiritually. There are ritual systems that were ordained by men, but a lot of that has gone by the wayside for now. Will it be reinstituted? I think absolutely. But for now, some of that has gone by the wayside. We also recognize that when Christ came, He didn't abolish the law. He magnified it. He brought in the concept of the spirit of the law, as well as the letter of the law. So Paul's telling the Gentiles of Galatia here to be free in Christ. That Christ's gospel, the gospel of the kingdom of God, brings true freedom. That they were not in bondage to the law in order to earn their salvation. They were not in bondage to the to the previous religions that they had. Instead, as Christ told His disciples in Mark, the Gentiles were to be bond servants of Christ. They were His. They had made again that conscious choice to follow His teachings, to become a part of that kingdom, and to willingly give up that autonomy.

To say, I am yours now for eternity. I will serve your house for eternity, giving them a part of the inheritance and part of the sonship to God, serving God in His house forever. And again, we see the paradox. Bondage to man's law leads to spiritual slavery and the death penalty, while willful bondage to Christ leads to spiritual liberty and eternal life. Let's look at the second aspect of the Webster definition, and we'll see the ultimate solution. We'll see the solution. Just a refresher from the second part of that Webster dictionary, it was the quality or state of being free, as in liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another, and the synonym again was independence. True freedom and independence have to come out of slavery. You have to come out of slavery of someone or something. In order to be truly free, we have to be liberated from the power and the influence of another. America was liberated from the unjust rule of the British, the Israelites were liberated from the unjust rule of the Egyptians and the Babylonians, and the people at the end of this age will have a system that they will need to be liberated from as well. The world around us have become slaves to a system that Satan has instituted as the temporary ruler of this earth. It's an incarnation of the Babylonian system that pervades our economy, it pervades our national dealings, the religious systems of the world, and everything else.

Really, if you think about it, there are only two systems in play. You've got God's system and you've got Satan's system. That's it. If it isn't of God, you know, we're admonished to be of this world. I'm sorry, in the world, rather, not of the world.

And that requires a lot of discernment. It requires a lot of time to take a look at things and make value judgments, essentially, as to whether or not we want to be a part of it or not.

But the depths of slavery to sin and depravity that the world has found itself in, we've got to be so careful not to get trapped into this and to become a part of a lot of this. And really, what it's going to require to get us out of it is divine intervention. That's the only thing that's going to lead us out of where we are right now.

You know, America has managed shakily for 236 years under the Constitution.

And I'm sure that you, as well as I, can see the end of this once great country as nine.

It's not long now. It's been foretold.

There will be a time of Jacob's trouble that Massa and Manasseh and Ephraim will experience terrible, terrible difficulties on the order that we've never seen before.

And then Christ will return for the elect's sake in order to shorten that time.

Just as God brought His people out of Egypt, He will send Christ to this earth to bring us out of the bondage that we've gotten ourselves into. Once and for all conquering death, establishing His Kingdom on earth forevermore, permanently freeing His people to a true liberty.

Freedom within a kingdom that will not end. And may that day come soon.