True Freedom

In 1976, when I was a boy, the nation we lived in celebrated its 200th anniversary. And we called it, it was the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, both the proclamation and Declaration of Independence. So they signed it, actually, on July the 3rd. They proclaimed it on July the 4th. And sometimes we think that July the 4th is the signing of the Declaration. It's actually the public proclamation of the Declaration of Independence. And 200 years later, when I was a boy, in 1976, we called that our bicentennial. I don't know how many of you remember the bicentennial. Yes, a few of you do. And in our bicentennial, there was this train that went throughout the country, and it was called the Liberty Train. And it was loaded with all kinds of history artifacts, like the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia. There was a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and many other things were in it. It was like a museum on wheels. And I remember when I was a kid visiting this train, and when it came near my area, and I think we had to drive to it. It didn't come to my city. But we did drive to it and see it. And I absolutely loved American history. I felt very patriotic, and I still am quite patriotic, to tell you the truth. But after the Declaration of Independence, in fact, a little bit more than a hundred years later, in 1884, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor. They built it from, I believe, 1881 to 1884. But it was actually started—it was being built in Paris. It was a gift from France to us. And it was built in 1876, 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And it's all about liberty and the American ideal of liberty, that the whole world looks to in somewhat awe and sometimes imitates. This Statue of Liberty symbolizes liberty and freedom, and it is extolled in every corner of this nation as our most precious value—liberty. The Statue of Liberty represents one of our most fundamental beliefs. You could almost call the statue our idol, because Americans almost worship liberty. The Statue of Liberty represents what Americans want more than anything else—freedom to do as we please. So, as our most cherished national value, the notion of the American freedom is actually the foundation that is very great, noble, and worthwhile to mankind. And it's almost universally taken for granted.

Confidence and liberty—in America, at least—even goes beyond confidence in the Bible as the guiding light of our nation. Increasingly, Americans seem to be convinced that we should be free to chart our own course in life, to choose our own values and what we live by. And, believe it or not, America is not totally wrong. Freedom or liberty is indeed a blessing from God, if properly defined and applied. God is the author of a certain measure of liberty, but not freedom for every person to do what is right in his own eyes. Believe it or not, that's not freedom.

Because it's—I hope to explain this today and show you exactly what true freedom is and explain to you why doing what's right in your own eyes is actually not freedom, but it is slavery. It's bondage. Freedom that God gives is liberty that's defined by law, which used to actually be the American concept of freedom, by the way. Not anymore, but it used to be. True freedom is defined by God's law. So here's the question. How can you be free if you have to keep somebody's law? How can you be free if you have to do what you're told to do? That seems like an oxymoron. It seems like an absolute contradiction. How can you be free if you have to do what you're told? That's what I want to explain today. God's law guarantees freedom. Think about it. Freedom from theft, thou shalt not steal, translates into the right to own property. You have the freedom to own a car, a purse, a house, nice clothes that nobody can take from you because God said thou shalt not steal. And that law protects your right to own that property. Even more important, it guarantees that we will maintain a close relationship with other people and with God himself. But God's law doesn't give unrestricted liberty because that's not liberty. America's liberty is supposed to be based on the same exact principle, freedoms that are sanctioned by law. We have a constitution, which is a set of what? Laws that we're supposed to live by. Not everyone, however, is committed to that definition of freedom. Even the majority of our justices in the Supreme Court feel that our constitution should be interpreted according to the prevailing sentiments of the people instead of by a set of principles defined by pre-existing law. Therefore, we live at a time when law may be reinterpreted by our highest judges to conform to the prevailing whims of society. What is the consequence of that on our freedom? There is a real consequence on society when our judges do that. A real consequence on you and a very terrible consequence on your children and your grandchildren. That's what I hope to show today.

But not to fix America, but to help this church, the firstfruits, who we are, to help Jesus Christ when he returns, fix the whole world. So we have seen rulings from the Supreme Court lately that make you really scratch your head if you've been paying attention to the Supreme Court. And it's important that we understand liberty from a godly perspective.

God has chosen us to assist Jesus Christ in bringing true liberty to the whole world. Let's start with Romans chapter 8. It's one of my absolute favorite chapters in the Bible. Verse 28, all things work together for good is one of my favorite scriptures in the whole Bible.

Let's go to Romans chapter 8 and start in verse 19. Romans 8 verses 19. Now, in chapters 6 and 7, Paul is explaining what baptism is all about. What committing your life to Jesus Christ is all about. Literally laying down your life completely, 100%, and saying, my life is now yours. And then he's summing up that conversation in chapter 8 by discussing two opposing concepts. Bondage, which is what America was trying to get away from when we declared independence from the king, was oppression and bondage. Taxation without representation. They could literally take over your home and just move you out so that their military could move in. You had no freedom. It was bondage. So Paul does this contrast in Romans 8 between bondage and true freedom. Romans 8 verse 19. The earnest expectation of creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. That word, sons in the Greek, means children. It's every one of us. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. In other words, everything you have, everything you own, like your cell phone, in your wallet, or your pocket, will eventually break. It gets slower and slower, and the battery doesn't hold its charge, and it's futile. The whole creation is like this cell phone, subjected to futility. Everything winds down. Everything breaks. I did 11 miles to when one day at one of the Disney parks, 11 miles, I am futile. My body is feeling it. Verse 20, verse 21. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage, there's the slavery, but notice it's a specific kind of bondage. And we're going to talk about this specific kind of bondage through the sermon today. The thing that Americans hate the most, which is oppression and bondage, and we want freedom. Paul talks about true bondage. Delivered from the bondage of corruption. What really holds you into slavery? Corruption. Into the glorious, now here's the contrast, the glorious liberty of the children of God. What makes you so free? That you keep the Sabbath and the laws of God in the holy days? Really? Are you saying that makes you free? Yes! How does that make you free? Verse 22, for we know the whole world groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. What's causing that pain? Why is the world in pain? Because of the consequences of the bad choices everybody makes every single day.

A corporation up the road that you have no ideas even there is putting poison in the water, in the ground which poisons the water that your children drank that causes cancer 20 years later. Bondage of corruption. It was a choice. It was a decision and it created pain. Multiply that times eight billion people on the planet. The bondage of corruption. That's slavery. It's slavery to the consequences of our bad choices which eventually lead to corruption. In other words, decay. We die and we turn back into dirt.

But it means so much more than just dying and turning into dirt. It's all the consequences in between. Verse 23, not only that but we also have the firstfruits of the spirit, even ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body. Because as we go through this process as firstfruits, becoming like God, overcoming that human nature we have inside, learning to love and serve like we heard in the sermon at time, it is difficult. And we grown ourselves. One of the greatest liberties is freedom from fear of death. But that must be preceded by the freedom from the bondage of corruption.

It is not the rules that God gives us that put you in bondage. Listen to this. Here's true bondage. Bondage is the consequences of our unguided actions of our human nature. The consequences of your actions put you in bondage. Here's a simple example. Simple example. You spend all your money on something you want. That's freedom, right? You're free to do whatever you want to do. You see something you want. You have the money in your pocket to buy it. So you buy it thinking, I'm at liberty to do that. So you do it. But then you get hungry. And you don't have any money to eat because you spent it all on the thing you wanted. Now you're in bondage. You're either in bondage to your hunger pains or you're in bondage because you're forced to sell the thing you wanted for probably much less money now that it's used so that you can buy some food. Or you're in bondage because you have to borrow money from somebody else and now you're in bondage to them because you owe them.

You thought you had liberty to do whatever you wanted to do. But the choices you have, the choices you made, have consequences. And it's those consequences that most often put us into bondage. That's bondage. That's slavery. Paul called it the bondage of corruption. Peter actually calls it that, too. We'll get to that later in the sermon. Jesus Christ is all about giving true liberty. Freedom is bond... it's freedom, true freedom is bond... is freedom from the bondage of corruption. Notice Luke chapter 4 verse 14. Luke chapter 4 verse 14. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And the news of him went through all the surrounding region and he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all. So he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue and the Sabbath and he stood and he read. Verse 17. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, sent me to heal the brokenhearted, and to proclaim liberty to the captives and recover the sight of the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Notice how Jesus emphasized freedom, true liberty, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and he gave it to the attendant and sat down. And all eyes were fixed on him and he began to say to them, Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. That is why Jesus Christ came two thousand years ago. And that is what he is still doing in the church today. And that means you.

Paul warns us about not redefining freedom as being the ability to do whatever you want to do. And this is a really important contrast, brethren, because throughout my entire life growing up in the church, more than 50 years in this church, I have seen this concept, this counterfeit concept of freedom, try to weave its way in and out of the church. And the church goes through these eras, these swings of misunderstanding freedom and what the purpose of God's law is.

And Paul warns us about not redefining freedom. And it is very important in the church that we understand what true freedom is and what true freedom is not. Galatians chapter 5. Let's go there. Galatians 5 verse 13.

For you, brethren, Galatians 5 verse 13, for you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Now we just read in Luke 4 that Jesus said he came to proclaim liberty, and therefore he called you to that liberty. What is the warning Paul gives about this liberty? Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. In other words, to do whatever your flesh tells you to do. I want it, therefore I'll do it. And why not? Jesus called me to liberty. Paul says, nay, nay, don't do that. But those who love serve one another, just like we heard in the sermonette.

What does true liberty cause us to do? To treat others well.

For all the law, remember the law defines liberty. All the law is fulfilled in one word, even this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Imagine if the whole world did that. Imagine if that corporation that lived up the road that you never even heard of didn't dump those chemicals into the ground, and they didn't seep into the water, and children 20 years later didn't grow up with cancer. And imagine that multiplied eight billion times over with all the people on the earth. What a wonderful world this truly would be. That is liberty. It's freedom, yes, but it's freedom defined by rules of how to treat each other better than yourself. True liberty doesn't grant you the freedom to satisfy your every desire. Freedom is the opportunity to accomplish what is good in your life. To go as far as you can possibly go. To be as great as you possibly can become. That's freedom. And that's what the founding fathers in America really wanted. To not be held back by others, but to be able to attain our true potential. Well, God wants that too. That's what His law is all about. Quote, His law is not oppression. Consequences of our bad actions, that's oppression.

God's law defines what is good. True freedom is accomplishing what is good, and therefore, God's law defines true freedom.

Because it shows the way to reach your true potential. To truly become great. James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Please turn there with me and read it with me. Verses 23 through 25.

We hear this a lot. We hear it in sermons and sermonettes, but I wonder if we tie it to liberty. I wonder if we make the connection that He's talking about true freedom. James says He's talking about freedom, but I wonder if we, when we hear, you know, we should be free to do whatever we want. Think that that is a toxic concept.

Notice what James defines in James chapter 1, verse 23. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, if you're not loving and serving other people, but you come to church and you hear it and you go, ah, that was a good message. I really like that. What's for lunch? And you don't go, that was a good message. I need to do this better in my life and become a doer of the Word. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is a man, like a man, observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself and goes away immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

Ask yourself, and don't answer this question to anybody else, just to yourself. What was the sermon about last week? And what did you do about it?

You know, life gets so busy. Happens to me, too. And I'm the one giving the sermons. And sometimes people go, what did you speak about last week? And I say, I don't know. You don't remember?

Because life gets so busy, doesn't it? But we really need to dive in. Like Peter jumped out of the boat with both feet, didn't he? When Jesus was walking in the water, did Peter stick his toe in the water and see if it was cold? No! He just jumped out of the boat. And that's what we need to do as Christians. Just jump out of the boat. Follow God. Follow Jesus Christ.

Verse 25. Notice what James is talking about here. But he who looks into the perfect law, so the law of God, he's talking about keeping the law, being a doer, not a hearer. What kind of law is it? What is James and John and Peter and the Apostle Paul talk about with the law? Liberty! This is freedom. This is freedom from all the bad consequences, all the bad relationship mistakes we make, all the financial mistakes we make, all the health mistakes we make. This is freedom. Freedom from all of those bad things. 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 and what he does. That concept of blessed goes along with the concept of being happy or joyful.

So God's law is the standard of true liberty. Defines freedoms, sets limits on us, not just paying lip service, but actually defining liberty. God's law is liberty. So before we look closely at God's law to clearly understand true liberty, let's look at some history and how important liberty is under the law. How it's been important to our nation and how it's very, very important to us in the church.

There were two major historical examples of very precious freedom in the world that were guaranteed by law. Freedoms that are guaranteed by law. The first one was the English Magna Carta. It's actually called the Magna Carta Libertarium, which is medieval Latin for the great charter of freedom. All right, and the second one that we'll look at is the American Bill of Rights. So first, let's look at the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was a royal charter, or in other words, an agreement, of rights agreed by King John of England in 2012.

Now, why would a king draft a charter of freedom? That sounds contradictory to what a king of England would do. After all, America had to fight for our freedom from, literally, the king of England. So why, back in 1215, did this king, King John of England, give the Magna Carta? Well, if you remember your history class in the feudal system, there were three classes in medieval times.

There was the ruling class, and those were all the people that owned the land. And that ruling class had a royal family, a hierarchical structure that ended with a king at the top. That king was supported by those landowners, and he had to have, he had to be popular with those landowners. And if he wasn't popular with those landowners, they would kill him and select one of his, you know, rightful heirs to be the next king.

So it wasn't like he was the absolute ruler. He had to please that ruling class. The second class was the military class. They protected the ruling class. So, you know, the knights of the round table and all, they protected the king and all the land barons. So you were an upper classman if you were in the military class. And then there was everybody else, and that was the working class. And you worked the farms and the metalworking and all the things, the buildings, and all the things that went into feeding and keeping, you know, everybody happy and healthy.

So you had these three classes. Well, back in 2012, King John wasn't getting along with the land barons, and he was a very savvy man. And he knew that if he didn't make a deal, off was going to be his head. So he drafted to make peace between these land barons and this very unpopular king, and the Magna Carta. What was it? It was actually promised that protection of the church rights— sounds very familiar, doesn't it?—protection of church rights, protection of the barons from illegal imprisonment.

So the king couldn't just say to one of the land barons, I don't like you, I'm going to take your land, now you can go to prison. Right? And it limited feudal payments to the crown. He couldn't just raise taxes. Okay? So he had to go through a council of 25 barons and get approval on raising taxes before he could do it. Sounds very, very familiar, doesn't it? But in the end, neither the king nor the baron stood by their commitments. So the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, which later led to a really long war.

But it started something very, very great. This Magna Carta started something very great later in history in America called the Bill of Rights that gives American citizens liberty, freedom from oppression, or what the Apostle Paul would call freedom from corruption. It gave us the freedom to worship God, the freedom to assemble like we are here, without worry, that the sheriffs are going to come in here and stop us from speaking. It gives us the freedom to speak up when something is wrong, without threat of reprisal from the government, the right to a fair trial decided by a jury of our peers, not by the king or the president in our case, the right to own our own house without the government taking it over for military use.

So you actually have the right to live in your home or your apartment, wherever you live, in peace, because of a law. You can put your head down on a pillow at night and know the government isn't going to kick you out. Those are laws that grant us the opportunity to reach our American potential. Now you can go to work, you can leave your home, and rest assured that you can come back home and the government will not have taken it away from you.

So you can concentrate on doing what it is that you want to accomplish. What protects that? Law. It's our law in America that grants us liberty. It's our law that protects us from tyrannical government. It's our law that protects us from anarchy, which is no government at all, which is every man for himself, which keeps your neighbors from coming and taking your house when you're out from work. Law also protects you from that.

So you see the point. Good laws protect true freedom. God's laws are perfect. America doesn't have a perfect law. Many times we change our laws to fit the whims, and that even creates more strife in our country. But God's law doesn't change. It defines liberty. It protects society from those people who would tear it down. Let's go back to James chapter 2, verse 8. James chapter 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, sometimes the law applies in your life, and sometimes it does not. It depends on who you're dealing with. Partiality. You commit sin, he says. You are convicted by the law as transgressors, for whoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble in one point is guilty of all. Why do you think that is? Let's read on, verse 11. Why, if you commit, if you break one law, do you suffer the same penalty as you broke another law?

Verse 11. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. If you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you become a transgressor of the law.

So speak, and so do, as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.

Because corruption comes in, no matter which one of the laws that you break.

There are so many truly oppressed people in the world today. What gives you the advantage? Why should you sit here in Orlando, Florida, in the middle of winter, and feel absolutely blessed? Because of your financial situation? No. Because of your health? No. Because the Word of God applies to you. It's not just that you know the Word of God. It's that you actually try to keep the Word of God. And the more we do that, brethren, the more actual freedom we start to feel. Romans 3, verse 1. I'm going to read this from the NIV. It makes it a little bit more clear. You know, sometimes the Apostle Paul gets wordy. It's kind of hard to understand. So sometimes it's good to read it in a more conversational translation. Romans 3, verse 1. What advantage, then, is there being a Jew? Think about this from your life's point of view. What advantage do you have? What advantage is there of being a Jew? Or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? What if those people who you encounter in the church don't quite measure up and don't quite treat others very well? Does that nullify God's word in your life? Does that stop you in any way from following God? That's what his point is here. What if you see others and they're not keeping the word of God the way they're supposed to? Do you go and get offended and leave? No!

Your advantage is here! You are among the most blessed people on the earth. Not financially or any other way the world would consider blessed, but because you have the opportunity to become great in the word of God. And that gives you the greatest advantage that any human being on planet earth could have. If some do not have faith, will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all. Let God be true in every man a liar as it is written, so that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge. In other words, brethren, trust God. That's what Paul is saying. If you want true liberty, trust the words of your Bible and do them, as James said. Let those words be what you live by. Jesus said in John 8 and verse 31, John 8 and verse 31, Jesus said to the Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you what? Free. That wasn't lip service. He meant that. Because he, Jesus Christ, understood that. If you follow the truth, you will become free. The one thing that Americans cherish the most, even above the Bible, is what following the Bible actually gives you. By rejecting truth, true freedom has been thrown out the window. Truth, as defined by God, that is, is actually the source of real liberty. But our nation has come to worship a different kind of freedom, and that worship of freedom actually eeks its way into the church. The freedom to do whatever you please. And then we hear sermons sometimes, and we're like, you know, that's a little too, whatever word you want to use, too old school, too conservative, too whatever. You know, there's nothing more old school than God. I mean, talk about the OG, the original. And his word does not change. It is perfect, and it gives you the perfect advantage. This freedom that America worships leads people into the bondage of corruption, because it rejects God's word as the basis for truth. When people try to redefine gender or sexual preference or what a marriage is or isn't, when they live on social media just to savage the reputation of other people, they think they're free. They think that is freedom. And that just binds them up and makes them miserable. Then, of course, it's everybody else's fault.

They're subjecting themselves to bondage of the consequences of their actions. That's what you and I are supposed to be here for, overcoming. The bondage of corruption is what we're to be overcoming. Just like the consequences of spending all of your money, and then you have nothing to eat. That's not freedom. That's slavery.

Human nature can get us into a lot more trouble than just missing a meal, can't it? The consequences of our own bad actions start to add up. And then you combine those with the consequences of everybody else's bad actions, and now you have a real mess on your hands. And that's what we have in the world today. Everyone facing the end of all life on the earth, eventually. You can't even turn on the news and not see the horrible things we've seen in our nation this week happening over and over and over again. And it'll play out in the news, and it'll be used as sort of a political football. And people will be angry with each other all over again.

All because people define freedom as being the ability to do whatever we want to do. That's not freedom. That's slavery. Second Peter. Peter chimes in here on this topic. Second Peter 2, verse 15.

Second Peter 2, verse 15. For they have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity, a dumb donkey speaking with a man's voice, restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water. Now Peter is warning of people pulling you away from the church here. He's warning, just like Balaam did in ancient Israel. Do not let other people take your crown. Verse 17. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. For when they speak swelling words of emptiness, you can do anything you want to do. They shouldn't have told you not to do that. That's so oppressive. Why would they tell you not to do that?

Swelling words of emptiness. They allure you through the lust of the flesh. Go! Fulfill whatever it is you want to do. Spend all your money. Take all the risks you want to take. You're young. You'll get through it. Through lewdness, ones who have acted, escaped from those who live in error. Or actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promised them liberty, oh, they promised you freedom. They themselves are slaves of corruption. There's the same thing the Apostle Paul said. That decay, that breakdown of life, that holds you in slavery, the misery that comes with the consequences of human nature. It is slavery. They themselves are slaves of corruption. For by whom a person is overcome, by him he also is brought into bondage. For if, after we have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again are entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it turned from the holy commandment delivered to them. What is it that gives us the advantage in life as a Christian in 2023? The same thing that it gave Peter in the first century A.D. The commandments of God. True freedom requires self-discipline. Brethren, this is the entire point of the sermon today. Self-discipline. Self-discipline that is defined not by you, but by principles revealed by God's word. Self-discipline brings freedom. That is the main point. Learn to discipline yourself according to God's truth, according to God's law, and your life will start to feel more free.

God's word is not oppressive. Keeping God's law is not oppression. It is not bondage. Living the consequences of not keeping God's law, that is truly oppressive. Savage oppression. Second Peter, first Peter this time. Back one book. First Peter chapter 2 verse 11. Beloved, I begged you as sojourners and pilgrims. This is first Peter chapter 2 verse 11. Abstain from fleshly lust that war against the soul. Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that they may speak when they speak against you as evildoers and they do, don't they? What, you don't keep Christmas? You won't go to the party? You won't go to that Christmas party? What, why not?

Crazy, weird Christian cult.

Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak against you as evildoers they may by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. It is a beautiful thing, brethren, that you suffer by doing something good, and you show such a good example to this world, and they make fun of you, but you're actually helping to save their life.

And one day, and for the rest of eternity, they will be so grateful to you, it won't always be like it is now. One day it's going to be exactly the opposite, and you are going to be so appreciated for what you're doing right now. Verse 13, Therefore, submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether the king is supreme or the governors or those sent to him for punishment of evildoers, 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, you are free from the death penalty. You who are baptized did accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and you are free. As free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice.

Sometimes you see in the church, people use the liberty of Jesus Christ as a cloak for vice. It's like this card I have here in my wallet. This gives me membership into, in this case, Costco, gets me into the store, right? Now, without this card, I don't get into that store. But with this card, I can get in, and I can get all the discounts that that store offers.

Some people have this idea that they have a Jesus card, and that Jesus card gives them liberty. What Peter calls here a cloak for vice. Yeah, you know, I made a mistake. God is faithful to forgive, and he is faithful to forgive, by the way. He is. So what's the difference? If God will forgive every single time, you repent. Why is Peter even cautioning us here? And he will, by the way. God is faithful, even when we're not. We fall down, we make a mistake. I'll never do that again. What do we do? We do it again.

So why is Peter saying, Don't use liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservant, like as though you were a slave. You are free. He just said you're free. He says, act like a slave.

What's the difference? People that use Jesus like a card in their wallet. People who use their freedom as a cloak. What is a cloak? It's something that goes over, and it covers, and it hides. Your true motives and intent. You know what the difference is? Simple! They don't actually repent. They're not actually sorry that they made the mistake. It's a cloak. It's deceit. Yes, I now have freedom. And this is largely America's problem with freedom. It's freedom to do whatever you please. It's a cloak for vice. To do whatever lust. You want to fulfill.

And they don't go to God and say, I am truly sorry. I really messed up again, even though I said I wouldn't. And God will take you back every single time. Peter knew that. It's why he said you're free. At the very beginning of verse 16, he says, as free. Because we are. Because God is merciful. God does love us, and He will forgive every. Single. Time.

When we repent. So Peter suggested there that we act as though we were bond servants. Even though we know God will forgive us. So that we will truly be humble under the mighty hand of God. That He can mold us and shape us. Because He gave us choice. He gave us freedom.

Then Peter gives an example of how to exercise our true freedom. Verse 17, the very next verse. And notice it's all about treating other people well. Notice where our self-control is supposed to lead. Notice the end result. Here's the end game. Verse 17. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. What even the ones who, yeah, fill in the blank. Whatever annoyance you have with other people, even them. In fact, especially them.

Honor the king. What? He's not in my political party. No, no. Honor. It's Mr. President. It's not his last name in Petuhi.

Servants. In other words, employees.

Be submissive. In other words, cooperative. With your masters, your employers. With all respect. Not only the good and gentle, but also the harsh. This is commendable. If, but if for conscience sake towards God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. Verse 20. For what credit is it? When you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently. So what? He says. You messed up. You got the punishment. You earned it.

But when you do good and suffer, now that takes self-control. That takes self-control. When you do good and you suffer anyway, when you're obeying those traffic laws and you get cut off and you do what that gentleman did, Jacob, who gave the sermon at, you back off and you let them come in.

When you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called. This is why you're here.

Because Christ also suffered, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return. Self-control. When He suffered, He did not threaten. Self-control. Controlling yourself. Treating others well, even when you don't feel like it.

But He committed Himself to the One who judges righteously. He prayed about it. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that having died to sins might live for righteousness. And that's what we're supposed to do.

By whose stripes we are healed. For you were like sheep going astray. And that's true bondage. Not having the leadership of God. That's slavery. Suffering the consequences of every predator and every dark sound at night. Having no protection. No shepherd. No guidance. No idea what pasture has the grass and not the grass. Sheep astray. That's mankind. That's why we should have so much pity on them and not revile them and not be mean to them, even when they're mean to us. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseers of your soul. When you were baptized and freed from the death penalty, and the terrible consequences of human nature and all its desires, you start to learn self-control. And with the help and strength of God's Spirit, and He will work with you, you start to govern yourself. That's what this sermon is all about. You stop believing that true freedom is doing whatever you want, you realize that freedom comes from God's law, which keeps us away from those bad consequences that totally ruin our lives. And you stop believing the lie that freedom is the ability to do what you desire it when you desire it. That selfish, immature attitude that leads to the bondage of the negative consequences and eventually death.

Proverbs 16, verse 25, there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it's the way of death.

So God loves us. And that's why He gave us His laws. He has a lasting, eternal intention for our lives, and He very much desires us to live free from the bondage of corruption. David understood this in Psalm 8, verses 3-9. Psalm 8, verse 3. When I consider your heavens and the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of Him, and the Son of man that you visit Him? For you have made Him a little lower than the angels, and crowned Him with glory and honor. He loves us. He doesn't just love us. He adores us. But brethren, not just you and me. Every human being on the earth, He adores us. That is so encouraging to me. But we need to now pick up on that and start adoring others as well. And only self-control, controlling of our nature, will allow us to do that.

Notice the attitude of true freedom as defined by God's law. Notice what it produces. Notice how Jesus Christ is. And what we are to become. Matthew 11, verse 28.

Matthew 11, verse 28. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

He adores mankind. And that's what we are to do as well. This is what self-control leads to. And this should be our attitude. I will give you rest. Take my yoke. You would think, well, yoke, that's slavery. Putting a yoke on me is what you put on an ox to make him pull the plow.

And Jesus Christ is saying, yes, do the work I've given you to do. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Are we? Are we gentle? Are we lowly in heart? And you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy. Ask yourself, is your yoke easy? And my burden is light. Do you give people an easy and light way to go in life?

In the future, we know that the tribulation will come. We know that the majority of mankind will be killed. The rest of mankind who survived, the remnant who are left, will be a humble and teachable people. And you and I are going to be there to train them. What kind of people will we need to be in order to be there? Not a hard-nosed, stubborn, hot-headed, overreacting, easily offended human being.

But our yoke must be easy and our burden must be light. As a pastor, I have the occasion to go into the hospital when somebody has been injured or has had a stroke or a heart attack or cancer. And oftentimes, I'll go into the ICU. And I meet some remarkable people in the ICU. ICU nurses. Not every one of them. But there are some of them who are amazing people. Because the person in the ICU is suffering. Sometimes doesn't even know what they're saying. And they can say some pretty rude, pretty mean things. And yet that nurse is just tending to their needs and giving them a drink of water and patting them down and all the while monitoring the measuring tools and giving the proper medicines and never losing his or her cool. And I think that's what you and I are going to have to be like in the millennium. Because they're going to be people, basically, in the human ICU. And we're going to have to have our attitudes under such self-control, such love, such adoration for mankind. That our yoke is easy and our burden is light, just like a really good ICU nurse.

One day the world is going to need you to be gentle. It's going to need me to be gentle. So we need to learn the self-control now. Learn to be governed by God's way. Learn to be governed by truth. And the truth will make us free. Pray for self-control and gain true freedom.