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Lansing SDA Church

Wes Peppers

Freedom’s Freedom

I'm thankful today for the freedom that we have.

And this nation was built around freedom.

It was built out of the ashes of political and religious tyranny of Europe.

And We are thankful today for those who have given their lives for that freedom.

And there is a freedom that we have in America that is unrivaled in the history of humanity.

But I would say this morning that it is not rivaled, or rather it is rivaled, I should say, by what I believe to be a greater freedom that we have, and that is a freedom in Jesus Christ.

But I have a question for you this morning.

Because you might be free as an American, and we're thankful for that freedom, it's a blessing, but you also still could very well be a slave to your own self.

And so we're gonna look at today a message entitled Freedom's Freedom.

Because with freedom comes responsibility.

So we're going to dive into that this morning.

I'm going to invite you to bow your heads wherever you are.

We're just going to ask the Lord's blessing to be with us.

Father in heaven today, we are grateful for the truth that sets us free.

We're thankful for Jesus Christ who sets us free.

We're thankful for the freedom that we have as Americans, all united together under 1 banner, the freedom that was purchased at a very high price.

And Lord, today I just want to ask that your Spirit would anoint these lips, that they may speak words from heaven, and that the Spirit of God may speak to our hearts today.

You may open our eyes to the truth that you want to reveal to us.

So Lord, draw close to us, we pray, in a very special way, And may Your Spirit settle our hearts.

May You open our ears and open our souls to hear Your voice, we pray.

In Jesus' name, let all God's people say, Amen.

Want to invite you this morning to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 4.

How many of you appreciate liberty and freedom?

But what do we do with it beyond just simply enjoying it?

How many of you think that there might be something the Lord wants us to do with our liberty beyond just enjoying it ourselves?

How many of you think that would be the truth?

So turn with me to Luke chapter 4, and we're going to read verse 18.

I did a little word study as I was preparing this message, a little word study on freedom and also on liberty.

And the Bible says some pretty amazing things about it.

Of course, I'm not going to exhaust that today, but I just want to look at a few thoughts.

But Luke 4 and verse 18 we are going to see here even the words of Jesus.

It says, So he, speaking of Jesus, came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

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, he has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And so when Jesus came, when he presented himself as the Savior of the world, he spoke about liberty, didn't he?

We speak about liberty this weekend and friends, let me tell you something just to be clear.

The 4th of July is more than about fireworks, veggie dogs or hot dogs and chips and barbecue.

There's a religious history that is revealed in Revelation 12 that tells us that that liberty which we are so thankfully experienced was provided through a divine intervention.

The liberty and the freedom that we have in America was ordained by God Himself.

He set it up, He organized it, He designed it, and as I mentioned the other night in our class, we talked about the United States in Bible prophecy, that it's very ironic that this continent sat over here for hundreds of years, thousands of years really, with very little occupation.

There were the natives here, but as a massive population, it was basically empty.

And as the tyranny of religious and political persecution got worse and worse over in Europe, God opened up through Revelation chapter 12.

It says that the woman was persecuted but the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood that was taking place.

God ordained this nation to be a refuge in the last days for those who were seeking religious and political freedom.

So it was ordained by God, it was designed by God, the timing was of God, and those people who came over here were blessed by God.

And so God has ordained this nation to be a last day refuge of freedom for people to worship according to their conscience.

Now if you read the rest of the prophecy you find that that freedom is very rapidly what?

It's going away and we see it happening before our very eyes.

But let me just say today, friends, that the freedom that we experience would not be possible, A, well, certainly because of those who have died to give us that freedom, but the greater freedom comes from God.

And Jesus, when He came to this earth, He spoke about liberty, and I believe that greater than political liberty is spiritual liberty, amen?

Jesus says, He's anointed me to preach the gospel of the poor, to heal the brokenhearted.

If your heart is broken today, Jesus has liberty for you.

If your heart is broken today because of a marriage, because of a circumstance, because of some trial you're going through, because of a history of plague, whatever, Jesus says, today, I have come for that purpose, to give you liberty, to give you healing for your broken heart.

He says, and recovery for the sight of the blind, to reclaim liberty to the captives.

You know, there's lots of people today who bask in what they think is freedom, but they are not experiencing a deeper freedom that only Christ can give.

The freedom that America offers is wonderful, but it is not the ultimate freedom.

Jesus goes on to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Jesus proclaimed liberty, and I want you to understand this, but you can only give liberty if you have liberty yourself.

Jesus possesses the greatest amount of freedom and He gives it and offers it to us.

So He offers it to us, and you can never give freedom unless you first, what?

America has brought democracy to many nations, but it could not have done that if it was under tyranny, yes or no?

And so the 1 who possesses the greatest freedom is Jesus and He came to give it to you and to me.

If you're a captive this morning, He offers you freedom.

Now go with me to the next verse, 2 Corinthians 3, that's the first point we want to make, that Jesus possesses liberty, He gives liberty.

This is a very powerful verse, 2 Corinthians 3, and verse 17.

2 Corinthians 3 verse 17, it says, Now the Lord is the what?

Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what, friends?

So it doesn't matter if you're an American citizen or you're a citizen of some other free country.

If you do not possess the Spirit of God, You're not free.

And the other half of that is, if the Spirit of God does not possess you, you are not free.

Because only where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

And that's why friends America has enjoyed such wonderful freedom over the last couple hundred years because they have had who?

The Lord led this nation, he led its leaders, but now the leaders are beginning to push away, the leaders are beginning to close off the door to religious freedom, and the spirit of the Lord will be what?

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Freedom’s Freedom

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