Amen, so let me just put everybody minds and eens, we broke the record, so I don't have to sit and watch you guys count while I'm trying to read it.
And that's where Brother Phoebe is, so when he comes in, you know, not every head has to turn over there and stare and wonder what's going on.
We beat it by one, which is the best way to beat a record.
Amen.
You want to beat it by eight, anything like that?
No, I'm kidding, we love to break it any way we can.
Anyway, he's going down to E.G.'s. He's ever had the E.G.'s slushie? I don't know, what do you call that? It's a Tucson thing, right?
The Tucsonian's even, you just call it E.G.'s, right?
I had their sandwiches this afternoon, so that was good.
And we've had that slushie thing, and I don't want to call it a slushie because it's not really doing it justice.
It's really that good, it's got fresh fruit in it and stuff like that, so stick around after the service and help us celebrate that.
Well, that's two services in a row that we've broken the record, praise God.
But the title of the sermon tonight is True Freedom, True Freedom.
Normally on Thursdays, we're going through the book of Matthew, normally would have been a Matthew 26 night, but being that it's the 4th of July,
you know, everyone's kind of got freedom on their mind, we're celebrating our nation's independence and the fact that we fought for our freedom and won it back all those years ago.
Of course we can probably get up and preach about a lot of things, basically I want to preach on this notion that people have that they think they're free when they're really not.
They think they're free and they think they have freedom, but they don't even know that they are in bondage, they don't even know what true freedom really even is.
And of course we can talk about that in terms of wanting to get into politics or things like that.
We call ourselves a free country, but we saw all these regulations and things like that.
I really don't want to go that way, it just kind of inspired me to think more about the fact that even amongst Christians, even amongst God's people,
we get this idea sometimes that we're free just because we're saved, that there's no way we're in bondage just because we're God's children.
And there's even this kind of philosophy that's gotten into the Christian world today that we're under grace, not under the law, which is true, we are under grace.
But what they mean by that is they start to say, well the law doesn't really apply, all these rules that the Bible has, all these rules that they're trying to put on you using God's word,
that's not appropriate because we're under grace.
And so I want to talk tonight about what true freedom really is, what does it mean to be biblically free, what does it mean to have liberty in Christ?
And if you're going to keep something in Romans all night, just because we're going to be going back and forth in Romans,
but they had this idea that because they're free, it's okay for them to sin, it's alright for them to sin.
If you look there in Romans chapter 8, they'll quote this, I've heard Christians quote this, people who claim the name of Christ,
and they say well it's okay for me to do X, Y, or Z sin because it says right here in Romans chapter 8 verse 1,
there is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Now you might have noticed I stopped short there. That's how they like to quote it.
I remember being in a youth group when I first got saved and sitting around with a bunch of teenagers and young people,
and there was this one particular couple that started showing up, and they started sitting closer and closer,
and it wasn't a Baptist church, you know, she's wearing the wrong thing, he's not got his mind on the right thing,
then they're holding hands and they're being seen in public, and it's obvious what's going on.
And I remember talking the same, but the Bible says you shouldn't be doing that, you shouldn't be involved in fornication.
And so I talked to my pastor about it, and he said in Romans chapter 8, there is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
And that was his excuse. And that's the kind of mentality that's out there right now.
They think well I'm free because I'm saved, that means I get to do whatever sin I want.
Because I'm this new creature in Christ, God doesn't see my sin, and I'm free to just live my life however I want.
That's not true freedom. And of course that verse goes on if you just read it,
it says, who walked out after the flesh but after the spirit. Meaning this, you know, that if you are in Christ, if you walk after the flesh,
there is condemnation. There is judgment. God will judge your sin.
This isn't just this free for all in your Christian life where just because you're saved and God's child,
that you get to live however you want. And that's a big criticism that gets levied at us,
as those that go out door to door and teach people that salvation is by grace through faith.
And we'll tell them, we'll say, look, it's eternal security, it doesn't matter how you live your life.
And they'll say, well you're telling people they can live however they want and go to heaven.
And amen, that's true. That is the truth. You can live however you want and still go to heaven.
What they misconstrue that is us saying you can live however you want with no consequences.
Which is not what we're saying at all. And again, I know I've talked about that here recently and I'll go down there.
Again, we're just trying to bring up the fact that there's a lot of people out there,
they think they're free to do whatever they want in Christ, but they're actually in bondage,
and they don't even know what true freedom is. And that's what I want to preach about tonight, is true freedom.
Because the fact of the matter is, sin does not bring freedom.
You know, if we're going to get involved in sin, we might think that that's something we can just,
free to do whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want.
And you know, the philosophy of, well just follow your heart.
You know, just do that. Whatever your desire is, whatever you're passionate about.
Those are the type of things. You should just follow your heart.
This kind of mentality that's out there, which never made any sense to me.
You know, here are these guys that are involved in some, you know, rare, you know, career that, you know,
it would be like a dream job for anybody there to just say,
well you know, if you don't enjoy what you're doing, then don't do it.
Do you know how much trash would pile up in the streets of every city?
Do you know how many plumbing problems would go unfixed?
Do you know how many roofs would leak if everybody had that mentality?
Do you think every roofer and plumber and trash man wakes up and says,
Man, I love what I'm doing. This is what I was born to do. This is my passion.
Right? Do you think the trash man's following his heart?
You know, he's definitely not following his nose.
But it's just a stupid mentality that's out there and it's crept into, even in Christianity,
they think that they can just do whatever they want.
I'll read you from Proverbs 30. This is something that came to mind.
It talks about the adulterous woman where it says,
Such is the way of an adulterous woman. She eateth and wipeth her mouth and sayeth,
I have done no wickedness.
And there's people that have that mentality.
They can go on and just do the most worst, terrible sins that are out there
and say, you know, does God even see? Does he even care?
And they think they're getting away with it.
And they'll say, well, I'm just following my heart.
And if that's what, you know, the Holy Spirit told me that it's okay for me to do that,
then it's okay for me.
But it might not be okay for you to do it if you feel convicted about, you know,
committing fornication or being a drunk or being an adulterer.
You know, I have no conviction about that, so I can follow my heart.
It sounds stupid, I know, but that is the mentality that's out there.
This is what's out there today.
And it's contrary to scripture. The Bible says, very plainly in Jeremiah 17,
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
So if you want to follow your heart in the Christian life,
you're just going to do whatever you feel like doing, you know,
you're going to get let down some wicked paths
because your heart is deceitfully wicked.
And who can know it? Who knows where it might lead you?
But this is the mentality that's out there, that we can do whatever we want,
that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, you know,
and they want to put the period right there and not consider the fact that
there is condemnation if you walk after the flesh.
And they get real good at getting in these, that's why these churches are so big,
these big mega churches, and that's really what they sit there
and try to convince each other of.
The pastor gets up and just preaches on the grace of God week in and week out
and how life is great, life is good, don't worry about your sin,
God doesn't care, you're saved, and it's just love, love, love all the time.
And what they're trying to do is they're trying to convince one another
that they're free to sin, that they're free to have this attitude, this philosophy.
And we as God's people and preachers are supposed to get up
and call that on the carpet because it's contrary to scripture, if you would.
You guys, keep something in Romans 8 but go over to 2 Peter chapter 2.
You're going to 2 Peter 2, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 4,
Preach the Word, be instant, in season, out of season,
approve, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine,
for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but after their own lusts shall they heave to themselves,
teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn their ears away from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables.
He's telling them there that there's going to be a time
when they're going to heave to themselves, teachers.
And isn't that what we see today?
They're just heaving themselves, they want all the good,
you know, feel-good books, all the doctrine that they can just get
that's going to make them feel good about their sins.
They're going to get all the preachers that they want.
Why? Because they have itching ears.
They just want to go to church and have someone just, you know,
rub their earlobes and say, everything's fine, everything's okay.
God doesn't want you to change a thing.
You just keep on living your life just the way it was.
Scratched ears.
And just say, you don't need to change a thing.
And what happens as a result is that they turn their ears from the truth.
They stop hearing the truth. They don't know what the truth is anymore.
And when somebody comes along and shows them the truth, they're offended.
But the problem is that they don't understand true freedom.
They don't know what it means to be free in Christ.
Look here in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1.
But there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you who
rightfully shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them,
and bring upon themselves swift destruction,
and many shall follow their pernicious ways,
by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
Of course it goes on against the description of these people
and the things they do. Look at verse 18 where it says,
For when they speak great swelling words of vanity,
they allure through the lusts of the flesh,
through much wantonness,
those who were clean escaped from them who lived in error.
While they promised them liberty,
another word that we use for freedom,
and they promised, Oh, you'll be free,
they themselves are the servants of corruption,
of whom a man is overcome,
of the same as he brought into bondage.
So it's telling about these people are going to come in
and try to just itch the ears.
They're just going to use great swelling words of vanity,
and they're going to appeal to people through much wantonness.
And what they're doing is they're bringing them into bondage,
but they're promising them liberty while they're doing it.
They're saying, Oh, we're going to make you free in Christ.
But they're preaching a false doctrine,
they're teaching people the wrong way, the contrary way of the Bible,
and they're actually bringing God's wrath and judgment upon them
if these people are even saved.
You know, it's the same old lie that we heard all the way back to Genesis.
Thou shalt not surely die.
God says one thing, the devil comes along and says another
and contradicts God.
It's the same way today.
We have these false prophets, these false teachers,
these liars that are getting up in front of God's people
and saying, Oh God, that's not what God said.
He didn't mean it that way.
You know, we're all free in Christ.
They don't know what true freedom is.
We even see people in Scripture who conspire with one another.
We see people here, first of all, they're trying to convince one another
that they're free to do whatever they want,
that they're free to be in sin.
But if you would turn to chapter 2,
we'll see where there's people who will actually conspire
to try to achieve freedom from God.
They're trying to get free from the Bible,
they're trying to get free from the commandments.
Make no mistake about it, God has rules.
Just because you're saved doesn't mean God does whatever you want.
God wants you to live your life a certain way.
I mean, that's why we have such a big book.
There's a lot of rules here.
There's a lot of things we have to learn and understand and grow into.
And there's people who want to conspire to achieve freedom from God.
Look here in Psalms chapter 2 verse 1.
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
So first of all, we have to understand
what these people are doing is vain.
It's a losing battle to fight against God.
The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord
and against his anointed saying,
let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us.
That's them trying to just say, you know what,
we don't want anything to do with your rules,
we don't want anything, just get this book away from us.
Because the Bible does restrain us.
At least it ought to.
Because we all have the flesh to deal with every day
and if we're tempted to do some sin
and the Bible often God's word is what reminds us,
oh I can't do that.
I can't go there, I can't drink that,
I can't look at that, I can't be found here,
I can't be with this person.
The Bible does restrain us
and they look at that as being brought into bondage to these people.
They say, well you're not living free in Christ,
what do you mean you have all these rules,
you can't do this, you can't do that,
that doesn't sound like freedom.
But they don't understand the purpose of freedom,
what freedom is really for,
but that's what we see these people doing,
they want to break up the bands of sunder,
they want to cast off God's rules,
they want to cast away the cords,
the things that will tie us down
and keep from letting our flesh just run wild in the world.
And they think that's what freedom is,
they think that being able to just do whatever you want,
with whoever you want, whenever you want,
however you want, that's freedom to them.
But that's not true freedom.
That is sin, sin never brings freedom.
Sin, if you went to back to Romans 8,
always brings bondage.
And here's the thing, there's no neutral ground.
You can't be like, well I'm not going to serve God,
but I'm not going to serve the flesh either.
Everybody serves somebody.
Everybody is somebody's servant,
everybody is under somebody's yoke.
Whether it's sin and the devil,
or whether it's God and His word.
Look here in Romans chapter 8 verse 2,
For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
He went from serving one law to another.
It's not that you just got rid of the old law of sin and death,
you're no longer subject to that and now there's nothing.
Now there's the law of the spirit of life in Christ.
So the freedom that we've been given
is not a freedom to just do whatever you want,
it's a freedom to actually live a life free from sin.
Now I'm not saying sin is perfection and you'll never mess up.
But I'm saying that you no longer have to live a life in bondage to sin.
And that is freedom.
Anybody who's ever had to deal with any kind of life of sin,
anybody that's ever been on drugs or living a party life
or been addicted to something,
knows often that's a hard life to get away from.
You have to make some hard decisions if you're going to get free from that.
Even after you get saved you have to make some concrete decisions
and say I'm not going to hang out with these people,
I'm not going to do this anymore.
But what does that do?
That frees you from that.
And when you end up going years and years and years of being sober,
and having clear thinking and being free from that,
you start to understand just how free you really are
and what real freedom, what true freedom really is.
Go over to Romans chapter 6.
Everybody is going to serve someone.
Nobody is getting free in the sense that there are no rules.
Look at Romans 6, it says in verse 17,
But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin,
but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness.
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh.
For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity and to iniquity,
even so now yield your members servants to righteousness and to holiness.
For when ye were the servants of sin ye were made free from righteousness,
what fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?
For at the end of those things is death.
But now being made free from sin and become servants to God,
ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.
So again we see that it's not just one or the other,
or it's not just one, I'm free from sin but I don't have to serve God.
No, you're going from serving sin, being made free from sin and becoming the servant of God.
There's no middle ground there, where you're just kind of neutral.
You're a spiritual, who's the neutral country, I'm going to say it.
Every week I get up here I get corrected on something.
I'm either saying Armada when I met Armada.
And it turns out bees don't make honey out of pollen.
That was another critical error.
And I knew that too, that was the thing that bugged me the most.
Switzerland, right? We want to be the spiritual Switzerland in the Christian life.
Where we're just like, well I'm not on the devil's side but I'm not all the way in for God either.
I'm just kind of hanging out.
This is real clear here, what Paul wants from these people,
what God expects from us is that we go from being the servants of sin
unto the servants of God.
And notice there that it takes some will, it takes a decision on your part to do that.
It's not just going to happen, you're not just going to get born again
and then all of a sudden you're going to live and serve God with your life.
God's not going to take over your body and move you around like a little puppet
or write a computer program and download it into your brain
that's just going to make you do these things.
You have to make a conscious effort to do these things.
I mean, what do we read there? It says that it takes,
you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered.
That's obedience.
But then having to yield and say yes, this is true, I believe this, I'm going to obey it.
You have to yield, you have to obey, that's what we see in that passage.
Yielding your members, servants to uncleanliness and to iniquity,
even so now, yield your members, servants to unrighteousness unto holiness.
You have to decide to yield, I mean think about it driving down the road,
you see that yield sign, that's up to you whether or not you want to obey it.
The consequences of not obeying it are your fault if something bad were to happen.
In John chapter 8 verse 31 Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him,
If you continue my word, then are you my disciples indeed,
and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
So what is true freedoms tonight? It's when you know the truth.
That's true freedom.
It's not because we get to shoot guns and cook hot dogs and blow things up in the sky.
I love all those things. Those are great.
But true freedom tonight is knowing the truth.
And when we know the truth and understand what true freedom really is,
we see where it's found and the purpose of it.
What is true freedom? Why do we even need to know what that is?
So first of all, we see here in John 8, you don't have to turn there,
but it says that true freedom is found in God's word.
And if we want to be truly free tonight, we're going to find how to be free from the Bible.
He said there, If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed.
If you continue in my word, ye shall know the truth.
You want to know the truth tonight? It's in this book right here.
This is where the truth is.
And if you know this book and the truth of it, that truth shall make you free.
And then you shall be free indeed.
So it's found in God's word. Of course we know salvation is probably the biggest form of freedom that we get from God's word.
We're free from death and hell. We're no longer going to be...
We're free from the curse of sin, which is death and hell.
And not only that, but when we begin to obey God's word,
that brings freedom in this life. Not just in the life to come, but actually, you know, in this life, in this world.
I jumped way ahead of my notes because of the back here, so I've got to back up a little bit.
You know, people had this idea that serving sin is the true freedom. It's not.
It's serving this book. It's knowing this book. It's understanding this book.
And when we know what this book says, and we obey it, and we yield ourselves to it, that's when we're going to have true freedom.
If you would turn over to Psalms 119.
I wasn't going to try and go along tonight. I really don't want to just because it's been a long week for a lot of us.
I know it's the fourth and you want to go watch Bright Explosions probably somewhere, right?
You're there in Psalms 119.
You see, obedience to God's word, that brings freedom here in this life.
He said in Galatians chapter 5, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,
and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage.
You know, Christ has made us free in this life, and we should not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Which means you can be. Which means if you're not careful, if you're not in the book, if you don't understand what it says,
that you can be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
You know, if you start picking up those old habits and those old sins, and you still hang around that old crowd,
you never decide that I'm going to make some changes in my life.
You know, you might be free in Christ in the sense that you're not going to go to hell when you die,
but you can still live a life of bondage in this life.
A life where God is going to chasten you and discourage you, and you're not going to have true freedom.
You're not even going to know what it really is.
The Bible says, we all know 2 Corinthians 3,
Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
You want to know where true freedom is found? It's found with the Spirit of God.
Wherever the Spirit of God is. And if we walk in the Spirit, if we're filled with the Spirit,
then we have true liberty, we have true freedom.
But it's all found through our obedience, our willingness to yield to the Scriptures and do what God says.
The Bible says there in Psalms 119, look at verse 44.
Psalm 119 verse 44.
It says there in verse 44,
So shall I keep thy law continually forever and ever.
Oh, what a drag, man. Oh, what a bummer.
I don't get you down. You're in bondage, keeping the law forever and ever.
You legalist, David. You fundamentalist, you Pharisee.
You're under the law.
Well, what does he say here?
I shall keep thy law forever and ever.
And he says this in verse 45,
And I will walk at liberty. I will be free.
Why?
For I seek thy precepts.
Because he's keeping the law of God, because he's seeking the word of God,
then he's going to walk at liberty.
It's the complete opposite of what's being taught in many churches today.
That they need to cast off the word of God to be free.
They need to get away from the law of God.
We need to not worry so much about the precepts, all the do's and don'ts,
in order to be free in Christ.
But it says right here that if we seek after his precepts,
if we walk and keep his law continually, then we will walk at liberty.
It reminds me, sometimes whenever I think about this,
I get this illustration or this idea of how some Christians live their life.
Because we understand that we're free in Christ in the sense that
once you're saved, you're always saved. You can never lose that.
And we're likened unto a prisoner.
We were in bondage before. We were prisoners to sin.
The devil had us. We were on our way to hell.
We were in bondage to those things.
And it reminds me of a person who's sitting in a jail cell.
They're there. They're guilty. They deserve to be there.
But then, you know, the warden or whoever shows up, the governor,
just throws the door open, unlocks the shackles, and says,
You're free. You can leave anytime you like.
And some people, that happens to them in their Christian life.
They get saved. The door is open. They can walk out anytime they want.
The shackles are falling off. Sin's not going to have any more dominion over them.
But they decide to just sit there in that cell for the rest of their life.
They never decide to peek out around the corner and walk down and see what's waiting for them outside.
Where God would take them. Where God would lead them.
And they keep the old sins that have always kept them down.
It's like they pick up that old shackle and they hold it on.
You know, and every time they let it go, it falls off and they pick it up.
And they just want to hang on to that same old stupid sin.
And they want to hang on to their old ways of living.
And they never experience true freedom.
Because they're just so comfortable in that cell.
And they never experience what true freedom really is.
Or why God has given it to us.
Now, if you're there and you're still there, go back to Romans if you would.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 7, it says,
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
You know, you want to know freedom, you want to be able to serve God and His law in your mind.
A lot of people have that desire, but they never be able to experience it in their flesh.
And we have to really start to understand that there's a real battle going on in ourselves.
Against the flesh and against the spirit.
And the Bible talks a lot about this.
About how the flesh lusted against the spirit.
And the spirit against the flesh, and we'll get to that in a minute.
But that is the battle that's going on in us as people and even as a nation.
You know, because nations are just, you know, they're just groups of people.
You know, it's just the masses.
And if we really want to have true freedom in our life as individuals or as a nation,
we're going to find it when we start to obey the Bible.
When we get back to the Bible and obeying and doing what it says.
I mean, people today wouldn't say we're exactly obeying the Bible, would you?
People probably wouldn't say, oh yeah, this is a nation that believes the precepts of God.
I mean, when you look around, it's pretty obvious with all the abortions,
with all the stuff that's just going on in the LGBT, HIV community,
everything that's going on there, the transgender movement,
just all the filth that's being promoted in our culture.
I mean, this is a nation that's gotten away from the precepts of God.
We are not walking after the law of the Lord forever.
It's not happening. Now let me ask you, are we more free?
Are we freer now than when we used to follow it?
You know, they used to rebel over much lower tax rates.
I don't know what they were, but some people, we're getting gouged in the paychecks.
I mean, they're just there taking everything they want,
and they're giving it to the worst types of things, and to bums and things like that,
whole welfare systems, and we're not free today.
As a nation, we certainly are.
And we're more free than a lot of nations, don't get me wrong,
there's nowhere else I'd rather live.
I'm thankful for the freedom we still have, and that we should exercise those freedoms,
and we should continue to do that in order so we don't lose them.
But by and large, in a lot of ways, we're not free.
And I don't want to get real political about that anyway,
because that's really not the battle we're going to fight.
But the Bible says in Psalms 144,
Happy is the people that is in such a case,
yea, happy is the people whose God is the Lord.
You know, there's nothing wrong with serving God with your life.
You can be a happy person.
I'll tell you, the happiest people I know are people that serve God.
I like being around them, I like having them as friends,
I like talking to them, I like fellowshipping with them,
because they're happy people.
And the most miserable people I've ever met
are people who don't want anything to do with God.
They don't want anything to do with the Bible, they don't want anything to do with the church,
and they're just trying, and they're not happy.
And they know it.
And a lot of times, they're trying to make themselves happy through drugs, alcohol,
they're just drowning themselves in all these things.
I have more laughs and more fun with people living completely sober
than I ever had with the party crowd.
Because we have the Lord.
Because our God is the Lord.
And if that's not incentive enough,
you know, because everyone wants to be happy,
unless you're some kind of weirdo,
you know, where you enjoy misery,
you know, I guess there's some people out there like that.
But if that's not, you know, hey, I want to live a happy life,
let me find out what this book says,
let me see what true freedom is really like,
and let me start to do these precepts and obey them.
You know, how about this one,
the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God.
You know, there's scare tactics,
you know, there's two types of incentives here,
there's positive and negative reinforcement.
What's a good reason for a people to have the Lord as their God
so they can be a happy people?
Or how about this, so that their nation doesn't get turned into hell?
But people are forgetting God.
They don't want to know what true freedom is,
they don't want to understand who God is.
I don't know where I had you turn,
but go to Galatians chapter 5, Galatians chapter 5.
So we've seen where true liberty or true freedom is found.
It's found in obeying the word of God.
That leads to true liberty.
Because it takes you out of bondage of sin.
Because it teaches you to leave the bondage of sin
and to walk in Christ and newness of life.
But why?
Why is it?
What is the purpose of true freedom?
The purpose of freedom is to serve others.
Which is a concept that's lost in a lot of people
who would say that they're free in Christ or whatever.
That they have this twisted notion of what freedom is.
They say that so that they can serve themselves.
I'm free in Christ to do whatever sin I want.
There's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
so that I can get away with doing things that I want to do.
It's all about them.
It's a self-centered philosophy and mentality.
But the purpose of true freedom is to serve other people.
If you're there in Galatians 5, look at verse 13.
4, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.
I mean that's what we've been called unto.
To walk in newness of life.
To walk free in Christ.
To know that our sins are forgiven
and that we can have victory over this present evil world.
And he goes on and says only use not liberty
for an occasion to the flesh.
Which is the exact thing that these people want to do.
But by love serve ye one another.
And that's what true freedom is for.
That's the purpose of it.
So that we can serve one another.
So that we can be free to serve one another.
And really, if you think about it, the millennium
when Christ comes and sets up his thousand year reign upon earth
illustrates this.
I mean, when Christ comes and sets up his kingdom on earth
that is going to be the most freedom mankind has ever known.
I mean, you want to talk about a limited government?
It's right here.
And every law and statute and ordinance
is going to be right between the covers of this book.
This will be the law of the land.
His word.
And you'll say, well that's pretty thick.
Well go look at the IRS tax code in comparison to this.
Go look up Obamacare and see how many pages there are.
That's just one facet of this government.
One small thing that they do.
And it's just pages and pages.
I mean, God has a limited government, you know.
But here's the thing.
Is that just so the rest of us, those that are saved,
can just sit around and dip our feet in the river of life
and eat from the tree and just be lazy?
Can we sing that song, we'll work till Jesus comes?
We should correct that song and then we'll work some more.
Everyone has this idea that we're going to stop working.
I enjoy working for the Lord.
I mean, I know a lot of you do.
We had guys out there today on their day off on the 4th of July.
You know, they could have gone to some lake like the rest of the world
and hung out and done whatever the world does
but they decided we're going to serve others with the freedom that we have.
And they go out and do that.
And that's what the millennium is going to be like.
I'll read you from 11th relations chapter 22 verse 1.
And he showed me a pure river of water of life,
clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river
was there a tree of life which bared twelve mannered fruits
and yielded her fruit every month
and the leaves of the tree of life were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse
but the throne of God and of his Lamb shall be in it
and his servants shall serve him.
You know, the millennium is going to be work.
And I'm glad to do it.
And here's the thing, you know, we're going to be free then
but we're free now too.
I mean, we're not going to be free from every, you know,
device of man and every law and ordinance of man.
But we, you know, we're free to serve God now.
So we might as well start serving God now.
Because that's what the millennium is.
That's what heaven is.
It's serving God in his kingdom.
If you're there in Galatians still, look at verse 16.
This I say then, walk in the Spirit
and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
for the flesh lusted against the Spirit
and the Spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary one to another
so that you cannot do the things that you would.
If you want to know true freedom,
you're going to have to yield yourself.
You're going to have to obey the commandments of God
and walk in the Spirit
and understand that you've been given true freedom
for one reason, to serve others, not to gratify yourself.
You're going to find it in obedience to the word of God.
That's where true freedom is found
and it's going to be used to serve those that are around us.
Let's go ahead and pray.