Pastor Leon Seaton

The Responsibility of Freedom

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, "If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  John 8:31-36

 <<< >>>

Most of us want to be free to do what we want to do, when we want to do it and in the way we want to do it. Dream on, brother! It ain’t gonna happen! There is a God in the universe, and it ain’t you! When you were two or three years old you may have briefly thought so, but if you were fortunate your parents quickly helped you see it differently!

Jesus told the Jews that accepted Him as the Messiah that by following His teaching they would truly understand the truth about God and would be free from the rules and regulations of the religious order of the day. We must always remember that there is a huge difference between being religious and being a child of God. You can be religious about how you wash your car or keep your financial records. But to be a child of God you have to walk in obedience to His instructions. And the obedience has to be from the heart, not just because you have to do it!

Spiritual truths are often hard to understand. When you study the scriptures you should always study the context so see it the issue at hand is a spiritual issue or a normal issue. When they heard the word “slaves” they assumed that Jesus meant they were not in control of their destiny. Jesus meant that they were slaves to sin.

The Jews thought that they were already free because they were descendants of Abraham. They also had a bad memory. They said that they had never been anyone’s slave, but they were under Roman rule when they made that statement. Just because we want to believe something does not make it true.

Jesus then put it in every day language…He said, “Anyone who sins is a slave to sin.” The Amplified Bible helps us here. It says, “Anyone who sins and practices sin is a slave to sin.”

We all sin…but hopefully we do not practice sin. 1 John 1:9, 10: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.” This was written to Christians.

1 John 3:1-6: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin.

“No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.”

The NKJV footnote says, “Habitual sinful conduct indicates an absence of fellowship with Jesus. Thus if we claim to be a Christian but sin is our way of life, our status as children of God can legitimately be questioned.”

Here is the secret. When you and I sin we ask for forgiveness. We feel regret and remorse - and often unworthy of God’s love. Sinners do not feel that way!  When you got saved you became a child of God. You may be a spoiled rotten, undisciplined child of God. But you are in the family.

And… you are in for some discipline!

I very carefully chose this scripture as part of my message on celebrating our freedom as citizens of the United States. As a citizen of the USA you experience many freedoms that people in other nations would never think of in their wildest dreams. That is why people try to sneak across our borders all of the time.

But, just as Satan never stops trying to steal you from God, there are always people in our nation that want to destroy your freedom for their own purposes. The financial gurus that did everything to get you to max out your credit did not do that because they loved you. They wanted to make all the money they could! Satan want to steal your soul, many people just want your money, your homes and your businesses.

In John 8:37 Jesus proves that they are not spiritual children of Abraham by saying, “I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word.” That, my friends is not something that God’s child would do!

Freedom is never free, and it is never permanent unless you and I are diligent enough to keep it! It is never easy!  

Our second set of scripture is found in the book of Psalms.

Psalm 33:12-19

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He chose for His inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth--He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.    

 The United States of America was a gift to us from Almighty God. The men and women that established this nation were God-fearing people that knew, understood and honored the Bible and its principles. Never forget that and always defend that position!

We have been given a great gift, but there are a bunch of responsibilities that go along with it! All of us received the gift of a free education, but you had to study and apply yourselves to gain anything from it. Many people “graduate” from high school without the ability to read. They were always looking for the short cut. If you determine that everybody else owes you a living, you are in for major disappointments in life.

Go and make your mark! You will earn more money and you will have a wonderful peace in your heart. Jesus said: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24) As citizens of our great nation we are to deny ourselves and to pay our taxes… and in the “good old days” the young men were drafted.  

I close with this question…if the Lord were to show up at your breakfast table tomorrow morning to ask you a question, how would you respond to this question:

“Are you willing to do anything I ask you to do?”

Of course you are wondering what the question would be… you have the handbook with the questions.  You call it your Bible.

July 5, 2009