I know that there's probably
some religious organizations around it might suspect because
we believe in absolute sovereign grace of God and because we believe that Christ died for
our sins, past, present, and future, and that we're entirely
free from the condemnation and the wrath of God, that we have
unnecessary liberties, but we really have liberty. We really
have freedom. We don't just have freedom from
sin. We have a lot of freedoms. Christ
is, when he said, the Son shall make you free and you shall be
free indeed, he was talking, I believe it went a whole lot
deeper than just free from your sin. That's mainly what he was
talking about, but I believe it goes a whole lot deeper than
that. Beginning with verse 20 of chapter 8, John. These words
spake Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and
no man laid hands on him, for his hour was not yet come. Then
said Jesus again to them, I go my way and you shall seek me
and shall die in your sins. whether I go you cannot go. Then
said the Jews will he kill himself because he said whether I go
you cannot go. And he said into them you are
from beneath I am from above. You are of this world I am not
of this world. I said therefore to you that
you shall die in your sins for if you believe not that I am
he you shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who
art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I have many
things to say in judge of you, but he that sent me is true,
and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of
him. They understood not that he spake
to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When
ye have lifted up the Son of Man, Then shall you know that
I am he. And that I do nothing of myself,
but as my father had taught me, I speak these things. And he
that sent me is with me. The father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him. As he spake
these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, Then
are you my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth.
And the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be
Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest
thou you shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is the servant
of sin. And the servant abideth not in
the house forever but the son abideth ever. If the son therefore
shall make you free you shall be free indeed. Notice he says appear in verse
thirty two and you shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free. And in verse thirty six if the
son therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed. He said, I am the way, the truth
and the life. It's good to know some things.
It's good not to be ignorant. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
made us free. And I've looked at seven things
here that he's made us free from. And this is just a little bit
of what he's made us free from. Number one, he's made us free
from sin and its condemnation and its power. Number two, he's
made us free from the guilt of sin. There's no more guilt of
sin. Number three, he's made us free
from the bondage of the law. Four, we're free from the fear
of man. Number five, we're free from
ignorance and confusion. Number six, we're free from religious
traditions, Sabbath, idolatry and stuff like that. Number seven,
we're free from the fear of afflictions and sicknesses. I know people
read in Isaiah 53 and think that the Lord Jesus Christ freed them
from sickness and affliction. We're not free from afflictions
and sickness. We're free from the fear of it.
There's still affliction and sickness. He said that we're
going to have that. We're just free from the fear
of it. If you're free from the fear
of it, that's good enough. He sends sickness and affliction
to us to chastise us, to show us things, to show us that he's
God. And the first one, free from sin, we're going to go through
a lot of verses of scripture here. Look at 2nd Corinthians
5, 21. You're going through a lot of
verses of scripture. Freedom from sin. Now we are full of sin, I know
that. He's John said in first John
he said if we say we have no sin we're liars we make God liar
truth is not in us. But we're free from sin as far
as God is concerned he looks on the child on his children
and he sees no sin. Second Corinthians five twenty
one Paul said for God it made him the Lord Jesus Christ to
be seen for us. who knew no sin, he knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. There's a transfer
there. He made him to be sin, and he
made us to be his righteousness. He said he came to seek and to
save that which was lost. He came to seek and to save us
from the presence of sin and the power of sin. We still, well,
we're still, we're still in the presence of sin, but he comes
to save us from the power of it and the condemnation of it. If you hate your sins, that's
what he's talking about, from the power of it. John 3, 18,
he says, he that believeth on him, on the Lord Jesus Christ,
is not condemned. That's what the Lord said. He
that believeth on him is not condemned. Simply to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ delivers you from condemnation. It's like that. Where there is no sin, there's
no condemnation. It's as simple as that. And in 1 John 4.10, the Apostle
says, Herein is love, not that we love God, that he loved us
and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. That's the satisfaction
of law and justice. And he came and worked out a
perfect righteousness for us and died on that cross. That
was the satisfaction of law and justice right there. God demands
perfection out of us. We couldn't deliver it, but Christ
did. He demands a blood sacrifice for our sins. We can't deliver
that either, because our blood is full of sin. But He's the
satisfaction of God's law and justice. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. We're free from sin. We're forgiven. The Word of God
is clear that there is only one way a just and holy God can forgive
sin. And that's through the righteous
obedience and satisfactory sacrifice of an all sufficient substitute.
It's the only way. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that substitute. And let's look at a verse of
scripture, a few verses of scripture we're very familiar with, Romans
3. Paul just expounded on these
very verses the other day. These are verses that many of
us know by heart, Romans 3, 23 through 26. This is as clear
as I've ever seen. Freedom from sin. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And I believe this
is talking about God's people specifically here. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. It looks like it
means all people, all people. But look at verse 24, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. Not all people is justified freely by his grace. I believe
that's talking about God's people has to be whom God has set forth
Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, mercy
seat, a covering, a satisfaction of divine justice through faith
in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Remission
of sins. That's freedom from sin there. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus." That sounds like freedom from
sin. What grace the Lord has bestowed upon his people in Christ!
What a great debt of love and gratitude we owe to the Son of
God, don't we? Let these words of grace comfort
your hearts right now. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus." To believe in Christ Jesus is
to be in him. Like what Paul said Sunday, God
looks down on one of his children, he sees him in Christ, in him. He just don't see him about Christ,
he sees him in Christ. And there's freedom from sin. And the second one is freedom
from the guilt of sin. And if we're freed from sin,
there shouldn't be any guilt of sin. All this sin is all through
our body. It crawls in us like maggots
all the time. It's always there. But we're
free from the guilt of it. John said, My little children,
these things write I unto you. that you sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous, and he's the propitiation for our sins. We have an advocate with the
Father. We have an advocate with the Father for the guilt of sin. A few more verses in scripture
over here in Romans, if you still got Romans. Romans 3. Beginning at verse 19, it's talking
about the law here, but it's talking about freedom from this
guilt of sin. Now, we know that whatsoever
things the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Uh oh, here's guilt, here's guilt. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. faith in Jesus Christ as that
lays hold to the righteousness of God. So that freezes from the guilt
of the sin. In Old Testament times, when
sacrifices of animal blood was offered as an atonement for sin,
we know that the blood of bulls and of goats could not put away
sin. as we find recorded in Hebrews 10. Take a look over at Hebrews
10. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance made of sins every year. And if there's a
remembrance of sin, there's guilt. But if you look on down This is in Hebrews 10, 3, which
I just read. But if you look on down in verse
12, it's speaking of Christ. It says, But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. In verse 14, he says, For by
one offering he had perfected forever them that are sanctified.
I see the guilt leaving. In verse 16, this is the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I
will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. And in verse 19, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. by a new and living way which
he had consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience. No more guilt of sin. No more
guilt. Then back over in Colossians. I hope I don't weary you going
back and forth through the scriptures, but I believe we should stay
in the scriptures. And just let the scriptures speak
for us. Colossians 1, 23-22. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross, talking about Christ, by him to reconcile
all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And you, you that were
sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight." Well, if we're presented holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight, should there be a guilt of sin?
No guilt of sin. Well, the third thing is freedom
from the bondage of the law. Now, we know we're free from
that, free from the bondage of the law, because Christ kept
the law. When the Spirit of God first
took the things of Christ and revealed them to us, a great
burden fell off of our shoulders. Oh, what a burden. We wondered
how in the world we was going to please God. When this Christian seemed to
be doing that, and that Christian seemed to be doing that, and
that Christian seemed to be doing that, what are we supposed to
do, you know? Then we read down through the
Scriptures, and we see in the Old Testament here where they
did this, and they did that, and wonder what in the world
to do. But it tells us something here. 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1 here tells us who the
law is for. See if we fit this. 1 Timothy
1.9 or 1.8 Paul says, but we know that the
law is good if a man use it lawfully. That's the trouble with a lot
of us. We don't use it lawfully. Knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, And that's where Christ had the
heat on him when he spoke to those scribes and Pharisees,
knowing this, that the law was not made for a righteous man,
but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners,
for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,
for men slayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves
with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons,
and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,
that's who the law is for. And I wonder, do we think we're
nice little righteous folks? And verse 11 says, According
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which is committed
to my trust, According to that gospel, that's
who the law was made for. Then, back over to Galatians. Galatians 2. This is saying just
about the same thing, I believe it's saying the same thing we've
seen in Romans. It's the same thing we've seen
in Romans 2.19 or 3.19. Galatians 3.16, knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified." Here's given us an outline of the law,
that we're free from the bondage of this. And then up in 310,
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Then down on verse 24, wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us into Christ, that
we might be justified by faith. That's what it did. It was our
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. If we look at the laws, I don't
know where in the world we can keep that. What are we going
to do? Well, the law says, He did it. He did it. Look to Him. He did it for you. Then back up to 3.13, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. I know who hung on a tree, and
he was made a curse for me. And I'm free from the bondage
of that law. Once a man comes to Christ by
faith, The law has no more claim on him and no more dominion over
him. It don't anymore. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And
I like that word end. End of the law. It didn't say
Christ done away with the law. It said he's the end of the law.
That means he finished the law. He kept the law. Finished it.
It's done. It's taken care of. We who are free dare not entangle
ourselves again with the yoke of bondage. And Paul confronted
the Galatians concerning this matter. You remember over here
in the first part of Galatians. In chapter three, he said, Are
you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made
perfect by the flesh? He's talking about the law. Someone
had come in and started saying, Yeah, salvation is by grace,
but you got to be circumcised. You got to be this and that. Our freedom has been purchased
at too high a price to go back to the law. the precious blood
of Christ. Remember, in Philippians 3, Paul
spoke of his freedom from the bondage of the law. In verses 7 and 8, he talked about, up in verses
4, 5, and 6, he talked about where he was under the law. trying
to keep the law. He said, touching the righteousness
which is in the law blameless. Paul says, I thought I'd done
a pretty good job at it, but I was under the bondage of it.
But what things were gained to me, those I counted, lost for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. For whom I have suffered the
loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win
Christ." He said, all that trying to keep the laws, nothing. Christ
kept it. When he seen that, then he counted
all them other things. Loss. Loss. Our Lord said, if the Son therefore
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. not just in profession,
but in reality. You know, it's easy for us to
say, I'm free from the law. But he makes us free in reality.
We not only can say that, we believe that. For Christ, the
Son of God, is our representative in the flesh, has fulfilled every
jot and tittle of the law on our behalf. gives us a perfect
holiness in God's sight. That's amazing grace. He honored
the law and satisfied justice for us before the Father in order
that God might be just and the justifier of those who believe. He did everything free from the law, free from
the bondage of the law, free from the fear of the law. It
used to be we're afraid of the law, but now the law looks good
to us because we see what it says. Paul said that the law
is good if a man use it lawfully. Use it lawfully is to see, look to the one who kept
it. Well, we're free from the fear
of man. Look at Philippians, again. First chapter of Philippians. First chapter of Philippians,
verse 27. Paul said, only let your conversation
be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. that whether I come and see you
or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand
fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith
of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries,
which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation
and that of God. Nothing terrified, and nothing
terrified by your adversaries. Do you have any adversaries?
Do you have anybody that rises up against you about the truth
of God, how God can be just and justify the ungodly? He says, don't be afraid of them.
Paul said in Hebrews 13, 5 and 6, Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have, for
he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that
we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear
what man shall do unto me. Is it recorded somewhere in the
scripture that we should not fear man,
which is able to kill the body, and that's all he can do, but
fear God, who's able to both kill the body and cast the soul
into hell. Don't fear men. Many professing Christians are
bold to supposedly witness for Christ, To proclaim that men
are totally depraved and lost, have no will nor inclination
to come to Christ for mercy, and that the Holy Lord God of
heaven and earth is totally sovereign in all that he does with men,
that reveals a fear of man. There's a lot of professing Christians
that supposedly witness for Christ, but they don't declare this.
They won't come and tell you this. They won't tell you that
Christ is the only one to come to for mercy, and that God's
sovereign, and He does with men whatever He wants to. Because just like our Lord said,
you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
The truth will make you free. But God's people are so caught
up with Christ and what He's done for them, while still realizing
that it was and is of the Lord alone. They realize that. But
they're so caught up in what Christ has done, they can't help
but proclaim the truth of the matter. They can't help. Don't it kind of bring a little
heat up inside of you when you hear somebody talking about free
will and that it's more than Christ, that
He's not all that you need, the only mediator between God and
man? Psalm 27, 1 and 2 says, The Lord
is my light, and my salvation, whom shall I fear? There's no need to fear. The
Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to
eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. When your religious or irreligious
adversaries come up on you to eat up your flesh or to tell
you that that's not the way it is, they'll stumble and fall
because they can't find anywhere in this Word where men save themselves. They
can't find anywhere in this Word where men are saved by their
free will or they can come to God anytime they want to. Religious fools may argue plenty
against truth, but don't forget, it tells us very clearly in the
scriptures, the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword.
It'll divide. It divides the weak from the
tired. And if a person is truly one of God's elect, they'll see
it. They're going to see it. We don't
know who they are, but they'll see it. Look at Isaiah 54, 17. Isaiah 54, 17. This is a good verse of scripture
here. I like this. It says, that is formed against
these shall prosper. This is God speaking to his people. He says he's talking to his servants
here I believe he's talking to everybody every one of his people.
Not only the preachers the teachers pastors he's talking to all his
people here no weapon that is formed against these shall prosper. And I believe that's talking
about no false doctrine that's formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord. See? No fear. No fear. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. That
right there says it. Their righteousness is of me.
They don't have their own righteousness, it's of me, he says. And that, for that reason, no
weapon that's formed against them will come, will prosper. And every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Oh, he said, so shall my word
be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. I don't have no fear
of men. Tell me something. Who is the
one that's made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no fear of man. no fear of man. One more, 1 Peter
3.12. 1 Peter 3.12. For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their But the face
of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will
harm you if ye be followers of that which is good? But, and
if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not
afraid of their terror, neither be troubled." Don't be afraid of the terror
of those that believe not. And then look at verse 15. But
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience. Be ready to give an answer to
him. Answer out of this book. Answer out of God's word. And don't fear no man. All right, I get to move along
here. Freedom from confusion and ignorance. Christ has made
us free from confusion and ignorance. 1 John 5.20 says, And we know that
the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding, that
we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true,
Even in His Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal
life. He's given us an understanding.
We don't understand all things, but we understand the vital things. And we learn. We learn little
by little. We might not have a perfect understanding
of God's Word, and we don't boast of knowing many things, but we
know and understand just how God can be just and justify and
pardon the guilty. Our Lord said it is written in
the prophets and they shall be all taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that have heard and have learned of the father cometh
unto me. Many might talk about Jesus,
but if they ain't learned of the father, they can't come to
him. And no man goeth unto the Father
except by me, he said. Look at John 6.45 here. John
6.45. They shall all be taught of God. That's not talking about everybody's
talking about all of God's people. They shall all be taught of God.
When that's that's the reason they won't be ignorant. That's
the reason they won't be confused because they'll be taught of
God. And the scriptures say God is not the author of confusion. And every man that hath heard.
Have you heard? And have learned of the father
cometh unto me. I want to learn from Him. I don't
want to learn from man. I want to learn from the Father.
I want to learn from the Spirit of God, because I know the Spirit
of God takes the things of Christ and shows them to me. And then back over to Ephesians
4. I'll try to hurry along here.
Ephesians 4. four through seven. There is
one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope
of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all. And if it was one God and Father,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one body one spirit, one hope
of your calling, then how come there's so many of them around?
Somebody's wrong. Looks to me like somebody's wrong. Then in verse 7 it says, but
unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
of the gift of Christ. Given grace for what? To understand. Grace to understand. That's grace
to understand what he's talking about up here. Christ said to
his disciples, unto you is given to know the mystery of the kingdom
of God. Did he say that to the scribes
and pharisees? No. Sometime I believe that people
that call themselves atheists that the reason they call themselves
that is there's so many people, different people, that call themselves
Christians. And then when they look and they
see these Christians acting like that, and them Christians acting
like that, and then there's a Baptist church here, and a Presbyterian
church there, and a Methodist church here, and an Episcopalian
there, and a Catholic church down here, and some other church
back here, but they're confused. I know that if God deals with
them, he'll show them which one's the right one, but they're confused
and fed up with it. I believe that's the reason people
call themselves atheists. I don't believe there is an atheist,
because I believe that God has wrote his moral law in all men's
hearts, and they know that there is a God. And the scriptures
say that they know there is a God, and without excuse. But Christ
has made us free from confusion. We're free from ignorance. The Lord's been pleased to reveal
to our hearts the truth concerning his son. In 1 Thessalonians 2,
13, Paul says, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of
us, You received it not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe." He didn't receive it of men, he received it as
the truth. John 16 real quick. John 16, 13. Christ is speaking of his spirit
that he was going to send into the world, which is in the world
now. How be it when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and show it unto you." He guides you into all
truth. Who is the truth? I am the way,
the truth, and the life, Christ said. And he'll guide us into all truth.
I believe he's guiding us into all truth right now. Paul said, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek. For therein, in that gospel,
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, The just shall live by faith." Oh, it's good to be delivered from
confusion and ignorance. I'm just a naturally ignorant
person anyway, but I'm glad to be delivered from some spiritual
ignorance and confusion. Well, here's another thing. Freedom
from religious traditions. Christ made us free from religious
traditions. Look at Matthew 15. Matthew 15. I hope you're not getting tired
of going back and forth through these verses. Christ is speaking to these scribes
and Pharisees here at Jerusalem, and he jumped on them about their
traditions. came to Jesus, scribes and Pharisees,
which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress
the tradition of the elders? There you go, tradition. For
they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered
and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment
of God by your traditions? Men's traditions are a transgression
of God's commandments. For God commanded, saying, Honor
thy father and mother, and he that curses father or mother,
let him die of the death. But you say, here's your excuse,
you say, Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, It is
a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor
not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you
made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
You hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying this people
draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honor me with their
lips but their heart is far from me but in vain do they worship
me teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. I think or the Spirit of God
giving us somewhat of an understanding of His Word, we're quick to pinpoint
these doctrines of men. When we hear something, it don't
sound parallel with these scriptures. It's the doctrine of men. There's good news, though, over
here in 1 Peter. Back over in 1 Peter again. First
chapter of 1 Peter. Verses 18 and 19. Peter said,
For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He said these traditions, these
sayings, these old tales and these religious free will sermons
that you've heard all your life, that's not what redeems you.
They're corruptible things. But you were redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ. Oh, when I found that out, then
I started seeing that those other things weren't nothing. We're
free from owl walking, mourner's benches, you don't see those
kind of things in here, altar calls, Easter sunrise services. I don't know how many people
asked me if we had an Easter sunrise service, didn't we? I
said, no, we had a death and burial and resurrection service.
Nativity programs at Christmas, auxiliary meetings, Lord's Day
sales, these things not mentioned in God's Word. It seems to me
like it's written in the book of Acts that the people of God
gathered together in certain places and had all things in
common. and were gathered together one
accord, and that was to worship God. They didn't have all these
silly things. And we don't have to dress any
certain way so that the world might see that we're Christians.
We don't have to dress a certain way. There's been very poor Christians
in rags, and there's been some pretty wealthy Christians too.
It's not how you dress. And we don't have to have people
look at us and say, oh, he must be a Christian. See the clothes
he wears or something, the kind of car he drives or something
like that. No, the world should be able to tell that we're children
of God because of where we go to public worship and why we
go. So they go to that place over
there called Central Baptist. They preach sovereign grace over
there. And they should be able to tell
because we love one another. Christ said, you'll know if you're
my disciples if you love one another. They should be able to tell by
our conversation because Christ gets all the glory. We tend to shun when someone
Just talking this free will stuff. We're liable to hear a few, a
few words on free willism. One brother Don gets here for
the conference and he just does not back down from that at all.
Well, the last thing, we're free from the fear of afflictions
and sicknesses. Romans 828 is a very familiar
verse of scripture, and we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. All things work together, good,
bad, sickness, afflictions, even death. Because the scriptures
say precious in the sight of God is the death of his saints,
even death. To many people, when sickness
and affliction come their way, they immediately give the devil
credit for it. They don't realize that for whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. He does. Though any event in
life singled out and standing alone may seem terribly evil,
when it is viewed as one spoke in the great wheel of divine
providence, we can see it is truly good. It may be a physical
evil, but it's working for spiritual good. It may be a temporal evil,
but it will surely bring eternal good. And then David said in
Psalm 34, 19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, many, but the
Lord delivereth him out of them all. You know, when David spoke
of the righteous, he usually spoke about afflictions and hard
times. But when he talked about the
evil, the unbelievers, he talks about them prospering. You have
no step. He talked about them prospering.
He said, he said, I was envious of the wicked when I seen their
prosperity, but I seen their end. Seem like they prosper a
lot, but when he talks about the righteous, he speaks a lot
about affliction. but the Lord to live with him
out of them all. And then back over to 2nd Timothy. I'm almost done here. Back over
to 2nd Timothy. Yeah, 2 Timothy 1, verse 8, Be
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of
me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God. The afflictions of the
gospel is when you're going to get, you're going to get opposition
to it. who has saved us and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. I like that, not according to
our own works, but according to his own purpose. But is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. For unto I am appointed a preacher,
and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. And he said,
For the which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I
am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed
to him against that day. He says, Hold fast the form of
sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which
is in Christ Jesus. Paul talked about being afflicted
and suffering for Christ's sake. Christ said we're going to suffer. But we're free from the fear
of it because we know it's doing us good. And to suffer affliction for
Christ's sake, for His name's sake, is honoring to Him. It's honor to him. We should have boldness in the
time of conflict like that. Not to present ourselves as offensive,
but to be in defense of the gospel. We're free from the fear of death.
What is death to a child of God anyway? A short sleep? a change of Raymond from this tabernacle to another,
from hope to a reality, a complete conformity to the Lord Jesus
Christ, total freedom from sin in all respects. Then one last verse here, and
I'll be finished. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. First Corinthians 15, 51. Paul tells us what death is here
to the believer. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. and
we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. Death to a believer is victory.
That don't sound right to the world. O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, we're free
from many things. This is just a few of them. We
really have freedom. I tell you what, I believe the
greatest freedom we have, and it's a liberty. We're free to
worship God. If we weren't free from sin,
the guilt of sin, the power of sin, the condemnation of sin,
we wouldn't be free to worship God. But we're free to worship
God. We have that great liberty. You
know, a person might ask the question, could you tell me such
and such? And someone else might say, well,
I'm not at liberty to tell you. He's either unauthorized or he's
too ignorant to say anything about it because he don't know. But we're at liberty to worship
God, although it's not a perfect worship because we're still sinning
here. But God don't see it. God don't see it. Christ made
us free from many things. I hope this helped you. I hope
it helped. All right, you're dismissed. to. Thank you all for being part
of this course and for all that you do for us. I'm very honored
to have you here tonight. I'm from the mountains of New
York and I couldn't be here without all of you guys. It's a pleasure
to be here. Straight up and down. It's a revolution, but you gotta
find a way to make it work. It's a revolution, but you gotta
find a way to make it work. It's a revolution, but you gotta find
a way to make it work. It's a revolution, but you gotta
find a way to make it work. It's a revolution, but you gotta
find a way to make it work. It's a revolution, but you gotta find
a way to make it work. It's a revolution, but you gotta
find a way to make it work. Thank you. Thank you.