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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you And as a custom, we will be reading the entire chapter. Galatians chapter 5, please say Amen if you're there. Amen. Galatians 5 verse 1 Amen. I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross seized. I would they were even cut off would struggle you. For, brethren, yet been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But, if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, traditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. For the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And they that are Christ are crucified of the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Bless and read of God's word, let us pray. Lord God, in the heavenly name of the Lord, for this day to be given to us, I pray that you would bless Lord this day, give us good weather, and bless the preacher, in the preaching of your word, Lord, this day. All right, we are here in Galatians chapter 5, and it is Independence Day, so I do want to preach a sermon about liberty and freedom and independence. And to be honest, I think this is a topic that most people think they understand, but I think most people are actually confused on what it actually means to have freedom and what liberty and independence actually is. So let me give you a couple definitions, because point number one is, what is liberty? Let me give you a couple dictionary definitions. In a political sense, it says, The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. So in a political sense, what it says is, if there are oppressive rules, then that takes away your freedom. Not any rules, but oppressive rules. Okay, because society can't function without rules. Okay, but oppressive rules would take away your freedom. Here's another definition in a personal sense. The power or scope to act as one pleases. Okay, so here's the thing. That doesn't mean that there's no rules. Because of the fact, rules, I mean, are a good thing in your life, and if we do not have rules, it will actually end up destroying freedom. We're going to see that in this sermon. But it's not the absence of rules. It's the ability to do what you want to do. And those are not the same thing. Okay, now Galatians 5, verse 1. Galatians 5, verse 1. The Bible reads, Stand fast therefore in the liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now, in the book of Galatians, this church gets confused on the topic of salvation and things that are necessary to do after you're saved, whether you have to, whether you don't, whether or not the law should still be followed, and things such as this. And Paul's just making it very clear, salvation is by grace through faith, and you have 100% liberty. What he's saying is, you can literally do whatever you want, and you will still go to heaven. It is literally impossible for me to go to hell. Right? Because when you get saved, it is eternal life. No matter what you do, you are still saved. And look, when we go soul winning, we make that very clear. I don't shy away from saying that no matter what you do, you're still saved. Because that is the gospel. They have to understand it is eternal life. So we make it very clear, and we don't shy away from that. Right? Some people criticize a church like ours, and they'll say, well, if you tell people they can go out and do whatever they want, people are going to be a bunch of drug dealers, and drunks, and fornicate, and do all these things. But you know, when it comes to salvation, they must believe it's a free gift. We don't shy away from proclaiming it is 100% a free gift. Now go to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians 2. Galatians 2. What's funny about that is the people that believe salvation is a free gift tend to live a more godly and holy life than those that think that you have to live a good life to get to heaven. Because what takes place is those that think you have to live a good life to get to heaven, well, it's hard to live a good life. So instead of actually becoming a good person, they just lessen what sin is. It's not really sin to watch that. It's not really sin to listen to that. And they don't up their level. They just basically lower the level of God's Word. I remember a long time ago, and I'm not telling you to do this. I'm just saying, a long time ago I did this when I was in college. I had a friend from high school who was a Mormon, and so there was one weekend I went and played table tennis at the Latter-day Saint Church. Once again, I'm not telling you to do this. At least I wasn't drinking. I was playing table tennis. And I was surprised because I thought Mormons were really conservative in everything. The music they were listening to in the background, I was thinking, how do you not feel guilty about that? And I told my friend, I was like, you really think this is okay to listen to that? It's just a song. We don't believe this. It's just a song. It's just a fun song. What he was doing was lessening the value of sin because they believe, be therefore perfect. You've got to be perfect to get to heaven is what they would state. Galatians 2 verse 3, notice this. Galatians 2 verse 3, But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. And what the Bible is saying is, when people try to add works to salvation, or saying if you're really saved, you're going to do these things, they're actually taking away the liberty that God has actually given us in Christ. Because what the Bible teaches is once you're saved, you're saved forever, you have 100% freedom to do whatever you want, and you will still go to heaven. It's that simple, okay? Now go to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Now here's the thing. You do have liberty to do whatever you want if you believe on Jesus, and you will go to heaven, okay? But that does not mean that we should go out and just do whatever we want. And the reality is, this mentality that there's no rules, you can do whatever you want, if you live that kind of life, you will not bring yourself into freedom. You're going to bring yourself into bondage. And I'm going to prove that to you. Rules are actually a good thing to govern our life, and they actually help us have freedom. The Bible refers to God's word as the perfect law of liberty. God's rules actually give us freedom. You say, how would they give us freedom? Well, you're going to see that in this sermon. See, this idea, like an anarchist government, no rules, no authority, that's not freedom. That will actually take away freedom from us, okay? In a political sense. Notice what it says in 1 Peter 2, verse 13. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. You say, Brother Stuckey, I mean, I thought that, you know, I had freedom. What does the Bible say to submit? Well, actually, rules do not negate the fact that you have freedom. Rules are actually a good thing, okay? It tells us to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God. See, a wrong attitude, a wicked attitude would be, well, you know what? I'm a believer on Christ, so I don't have to listen to anybody no matter what they say, right? And that's the mentality some people take, but God commands us to actually obey authorities in our lives. It's not just the Ten Commandments or the hundreds of commandments. God tells us to obey the authorities that we have. And you say, but I thought that there was freedom. Freedom is not the absence of rules. You misunderstand what liberty means. And we're going to see that as we go on with this sermon, but freedom and liberty is not a complete absence of rules. Go to Galatians 5. Galatians 5. Galatians 5. So in a political sense, we do have rules that we should follow. And rules do not negate the fact that there is freedom. That's a misunderstanding. What about not just in a political sense, but what about in a public sense, meaning in reference to other people, how you relate to other people? Notice what it says in Galatians 5 verse 13. For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. This is the same chapter that we looked at and talks about liberty and freedom quite a bit, talks about salvation. You have been called unto liberty only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh. You have freedom. You can do whatever you want, but do not take advantage of that and just do whatever your flesh desires. You say, what's the problem with that? Well, if that's what you do, it says, but by love serve one another. And the idea is, if you do whatever your flesh desires, you're going to harm other people. And what's going to take place is you will take away the freedom of other people if you just do whatever your flesh desires. Let me give you obvious examples. Let's say you committed murder. Well, you took away the freedom from that person to live their life. Right? Well, I mean, I thought freedom was no rules. Well, the problem is, if there's no rules and people commit murder, they're stealing the freedom from a lot of people. That doesn't sound like liberty to me. Right? Freedom is not the absence of rules. Or you kidnapped someone while you took away their freedom to live their life how they want to. Freedom is not the absence of rules because if there are no rules, we're all going to lose our freedom. That actually does not logically make sense. Okay? Verse 14. For all the lost fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And the idea is this, that if you obey God's rules, you're loving your neighbors yourself, you're helping allow them to have freedom in their life. But if you disobey God's rules, you harm other people. Why? No man liveth to himself or dieth to himself, the Bible says. No one liveth to himself. The actions you make affect other people, and if you live a sinful life and do wrong, you will steal the liberty and freedom from other people in their lives. Go to Romans 8. Romans 8. Romans 8. Romans chapter 8. I mean, just think about how this doesn't make sense. You say, well, Brother Stuckey, I don't think there should be any laws against stealing. I think you should be allowed to go and just take whatever you want. Well, here's the problem with that. When you take something that belongs to me, you stole my freedom. Right? And the thing is, that's going to start happening to everybody, and nobody has freedom. If there are no rules, we all lose our freedom. There have to be rules. Even by definition, they understand this because they said from oppressive rules. Because you cannot function and govern a society without any rules. That doesn't make any sense. If there are no rules, we all lose our freedom. Okay? It's just reality. So in a political sense, there are rules that we should follow. Now look, I'm not stating I agree with every single rule that a government makes, but here's what I'm saying. If there are no rules, you've got a major problem. It's going to be chaos. Okay? In a public sense, we must have rules to follow, which is the Word of God, because other people deserve their freedom, and if we sin, we take away their liberty. In a personal sense, if you live how your flesh desires, you will steal liberty from yourself. Romans 8, verse 16. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, one heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. What that means in verse 19, earnest is basically excitedly expecting, we know this is going to take place, the manifestation, the revealing of the sons of God. The idea is that physically, we do not have a manifestation of our salvation. There's nothing in me that you can look at and say, I can tell he's saved because he's wearing a suit. Right? That doesn't prove salvation. In fact, when I got saved, nothing in my flesh changed. I was the exact same as I was before I got saved. And we're waiting for the manifestation. One day there will be a manifestation when we get the glorified body at the rapture. Okay? But at this point, there is not a manifestation of being the sons of God. I cannot give you proof of my salvation here today. What I can do is tell you what I believe, and as long as I'm not lying, that means I'm saved. But I can't give you a physical, mathematical proof or evidence physically, this is my proof that I'm saved. Okay? We're waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. The Bible says in verse 20, For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Shall be delivered is a future deliverance. And see, the body does not have 100% liberty at this point. There is this battle between the spirit and the flesh. And the Bible says you're going to serve one of them. Right? If you walk in the spirit, you're not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh, but if you walk in the flesh, you're not going to do what the spirit wants. There is this battle that takes place, and you're going to serve something in your life. You say, well, I don't want to have any rules from God. I just want to live my life with freedom. So you're going to serve sin is what the Bible says. And you're going to be in bondage to sin. That's not liberty, my friend. Okay? Now turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3. See, what liberty is is not an absence of rules. Liberty is the freedom to do what you want to do. See, people would look at a church like ours and say, your church has all these rules. I just believe in freedom. Your church is so tough. All these rules is too much. Blah, blah, blah. Well, here's the thing. We tell you you should be at church every week, but aren't you glad to be at church here today? So aren't you doing what you want to do? No. No. So aren't you doing what you want to do? Right? Sounds like you have freedom. I tell you you should read the Bible every day. And by the way, you have your choice what you do in your personal life. I tell you you should, but it's up to you what you do. But here's the thing. If you read the Bible this morning, didn't you want to read the Bible? Sounds like you have freedom. Because you're doing what you want to do. Yeah, you know what? There's a lot of rules that God has. But here's the thing. I want to do what God says, so it sounds like I have freedom to do what I want to do. Right? Freedom is not an absence of rules. It's the ability to do what you want to do. And look, I want to do what God says. Yeah, you know, we preach on how you dress, what you listen to, what you watch. But here's the thing. I delight in the law of God after the inward man. I want to do what God says. So that's not a lack of liberty because there's rules by God because I want to do that. Right? When the Bible says something, if I don't know it, it's like, okay, I want to apply that to my life. I want to make changes. I want to make changes. Now, none of us have 100% complete liberty because we have a sinful flesh. And the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And so when you sin and do wrong, what it shows you is you do not have that 100% liberty yet because you're still in the bondage of corruption. But when I'm doing what's right, it's actually what I want to do. It's not that I'm just doing it because I'm forced. I actually have liberty to do what I want to do. Okay? Now, turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3. So what is liberty? Liberty is the ability to do what you want to do. It does not mean an absence of rules. Point number two, liberty is based on godliness. Liberty is based on godliness. Politically, publicly, and personally, it's based on godliness. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 17, Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The Bible says where God's Spirit is, there is liberty. What does that mean? If you have a wicked country, there's not going to be much liberty in a political sense. If you're living a very sinful life, you're not going to have much freedom or liberty personally because the Spirit of the Lord is not there when you're living a sinful life as you're grieving the Holy Spirit of God. If you're living a sinful life, you're not publicly to other people helping give them liberty because the Spirit of the Lord is not there. Where God's Spirit is, there's actually going to be liberty. There's actually going to be true freedom. Now go to Romans 6. See, in a personal standpoint, when you live a sinful life, you become in bondage to sin. That's not freedom if you're in bondage to sin. Let me give you an example. People that smoke cigarettes, a pack of cigarettes every day, do you think that they want to have that addiction? No, they don't. I mean, if you took someone who's addicted to cigarettes and told them, here's this magic button, and if you press this button, you will never have a desire to smoke a cigarette ever again. You know what? All of them would press that button. It would save their health. It would save their money. They would love to not be addicted to cigarettes. But they are addicted. Does that sound like they have freedom? No, they don't. Because they're not doing what they want to do. People that get drunk all the time, they don't want to have that desire, but they drink because they have that desire. They're addicted to it. That's not liberty. Because they're doing what's wrong. I mean, drug addicts. Do you really think some drug addict that's out of his mind and just on the streets and screwed up his life, do you really think that he wants that for his life? No, he doesn't. But because he chose sin, he became in bondage, and now he has no liberty. It's like, I can go out and drink and smoke and do drugs and do whatever I want. Well, go ahead and go down that road. You're going to find no liberty in your life to do what you actually want to do. Because liberty is not an absence of rules. Liberty is the ability to do what you want to do. And look, we live a strict life as Bible-believing Christians, but we're actually doing what we want to do. People that live a sinful life, they're not doing what they want to do. Our church promotes liberty more than any church in this area. Because a church that is clear on salvation and preaches hard on sin, I believe God's Word is the perfect law of liberty and it will give you liberty in your life. Notice what it says in Romans 6 verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And what that verse is saying is shall we keep doing sins that God's grace will abound? And what the Bible's stating is if we keep living a sinful life, God's grace will abound because it is eternal life. It's actually proving eternal security. But even though when we go sowing and we tell people it's by faith alone, is that really all I talk about in the pulpit? You can go out and do whatever you want. No, actually I preach pretty hard against sin when I'm preaching sermons. Because I'm speaking to people that are already saved. There's the difference. And so what Paul says is God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? What he says is yes, grace will abound no matter what you do. You're still safe. You're still safe. But God forbid you go out there and live a sinful life. God forbid you fulfill the desires of the flesh. Notice what it says in verse 6. Verse 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin. If you're serving sin, is that freedom? Who's the master if you're the servant of sin? Because if you have a master, that's not freedom. And what the Bible's stating is when you live a sinful life, all of a sudden sin becomes the master. You say what are you talking about? Here's what I'm saying. People when they choose to do wrong decide I'm going to do this, but I would never do this. But what ends up taking place? Once they get to this point, what's the master? Well, it's the sin. And the sin says no, no, no, you're going to go a little bit further. What's in control? The sin is what's in control. You become in servitude to sin. And the bottom line is this. People that say they don't want to serve God, what they do not realize is they're going to serve something. You can either serve God and obey what He says, or you're going to serve sin. There's going to be something that you're a servant to. And let me tell you something. If you actually do what God says, it's going to actually give you liberty in your life. You're going to be happy with the direction your life is headed. It says in verse number 12, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lustre. Once again, if you're obeying sin, if you're allowing it to reign, I mean, reign is a word that's usually used with a king. A king reigns, right? Well, if sin is the king in your life, you're the servant, you're obeying what it says to do. And what Paul's saying is, hey, as a saved person, if you decide to just do whatever you want and reject what God says, you will be a servant of sin. And you know what that means? You don't have any liberty. You don't have any freedom because you're serving something else. Right? Now go to James 1. James 1. James 1. You say, Brother Stuckey, but how do you have freedom if you're obeying what God says? We're going to get to there in a little bit. Okay? But the bottom line is you're going to serve something. It's impossible to say you're not going to serve anything. You are going to serve something. It says in James 1, verse 22, But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like on a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. The Bible refers to the Word of God as the perfect law of liberty. And in this passage, what it's describing is people that hear the Word of God, but they don't do it. They know what the rules are, but they choose not to do it. And what the Bible's saying is when you choose to do what God says, it actually gives you liberty in your life. It gives you freedom. Because some people hear a sermon about clothing standards or what you listen to and what you watch, and they think, that pastor's too strict. He's too fundamental. He's telling me what to watch. He's telling me what to listen to. But in reality, that would actually give you liberty if you obeyed what God said. How is that possible? Go to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. I'll show you. Psalm 37. Psalm chapter 37. Let me go there myself as well. Psalm 37. Psalm 37 verse 4. Psalm 37 verse 4. Psalm chapter 37 verse 4, the Bible says, Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. And see, what the Bible says is when you submit to what God says, He's actually going to give you the desires of your heart. You're saying, does that mean He's going to make me rich? No, no, no. Because here's the thing. When you start serving God, your desires actually match what God's desire is for you. When you're doing right and you delight yourself in the Lord, you want to read the Bible. You want to go to church. You want to do what's right. You love the laws of God, right? God's law is good. His testimonies are good. When you're serving God and doing right, you're happy to do what God says. And guess what? That's liberty because you're doing what you want to do. And let me tell you this. Us that are trying to serve God, we are actually doing what we want to do with our lives. People look at us and say, man, you guys have all these rules. You've got to go to church every week. You're going soul winning. Why don't you have some fun in your life? But we're actually doing what we want to do. That's liberty. That's freedom. But those that reject God's rules, they're not doing what they want to do. You say, why? Well, back to the example of people addicted to cigarettes. They're not doing what they want to do. People that are getting drunk, they're not doing what they want to do. People want to do this. They want to say, I want to be able to live as sinful a life as possible, drink and do drugs and smoke and fornicate and yet live a very long and healthy life, be very successful at my job, be a great father, great husband, great mother, great wife, be able to do whatever I want and just everything's going to work out great in my life. That's impossible. That's foolishness. That's foolishness. And it's like you do not have liberty because people that are getting drunk, they want to live a long and healthy life. It ain't happening, my friend. You're stealing liberty from yourself. Personally, you've taken away your liberty by the choices you make because the choices you make are going to cause results. And if you're doing what's wrong, you're going to find yourself losing the liberty that you have, losing the freedom that you have. Look, if you're a drunk, you're going to be a miserable employee. You're not going to have the freedom to have the money to do what you want to do. But if you work hard and you're a godly person, promotion cometh from the Lord, guess what? You can have that freedom. You can have that liberty. Those of us that are living a godly life and striving to, we're actually doing what we want to do with our lives. Okay, that is freedom. Go to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. And look, people find it strange because they don't understand the desire in going soul winning. So they think, you know, we're just doing this like, oh man, we've got to go soul winning again. It's horrible. It's like we've got to tell people how to get to heaven. You know, it's like what a miserable thing to be doing. But that's not the way we feel. That's not the way you should feel. If that's the way you feel, then you do need to start delighting yourself in the Lord. But when you're delighting yourself in the Lord, you want to do what's right. So here's the thing. I'm doing what I want to do with my life. I'm glad I'm in church today. I'm glad I read the Bible today. I'm glad I prayed today. That's what I want to do. Right? When you're actually serving God, you know what, you find yourself content and happy. That's what you want to do with your life. Right? 2 Peter 2 verse 18. 2 Peter 2 verse 18. And it says in 2 Peter 2 verse 18, it says, Verse 19. And the Bible states, there are people that are stating that they're going to give freedom. They're stating they're going to give liberty. And then they're actually the bondage of corruption. What are we talking about? People that would criticize our church for having rules. And they would say, at Verity Baptist Church there's no freedom because there's all these rules. Having rules does not negate freedom, my friend. It actually promotes freedom if they're the right rules. And they would say to our church, you guys are so oppressive. But the reality is, they're not free. They're not doing what they want to do with their lives. And when people start living a sinful life, they're going to find themselves doing wrong all the time and feeling bad about it if they're saved or if they have a conscience. And they can't stop because they have no freedom. God's rules actually promote liberty in your life. An absence of rules does not promote liberty. And people would criticize our... And isn't this true? People criticize a church like ours because we have so many rules. Right? We say all these things are wrong. Don't do this. Don't do this. I mean, you're taking away my liberty. But what you find is when you're actually doing right, you're glad for those rules. You want to do what's right. We are not negating liberty. I believe God's Word is the perfect law of liberty. But those rules are actually good for us. They actually protect us. They promote freedom and liberty in our lives. These churches that say you can go out and do whatever you want, yeah, but then there's side effects for that lifestyle. There's side effects to living a sinful life. Or people that are saved, every saved person wants to train their kids to serve God. They want their kids to grow up and love God. If you live a sinful and worldly life and are a bad example, your kids aren't going to love God. I mean, churches say go out and do whatever you want, but what about the side effects of that? And then there's no liberty found in that. You're going to find yourself not doing what you want to do, frustrated all the time, but when you're serving God and doing right, you're happy to do right. When I'm reading the Bible every day, I'm happy. I'm in a good mood. It's not like, oh, man, I've got to read the Bible again. This is terrible. No, I'm actually doing what I want to do. Turn in your Bible to Genesis 15. Genesis 15. And look, I mean, people can reject this kind of preaching if they want and go out and just make their choices and, you know, test it out if you want. You're a fool if you do, but go out and just do whatever your flesh wants and see how your life ends up. See if you end up happier. See if you end up having freedom in your life. Right? Go out and do drugs and smoke and see whether or not you end up having a lot of freedom. No, you're going to be in bondage. Okay? Freedom does not mean an absence of rules. Or people criticize the church because we talk about how the way you dress and, you know, where you go, what you watch and listen to. Okay, well, you can reject God's Word and as ladies, go out and dress like a whore at a club at 1 in the morning, getting drunk, and then find out what happens to you. Find out what some guy does to you. Right? That doesn't sound like a lot of freedom. It doesn't sound like a lot of freedom when some guy is forcing you against your will. That's just reality that's going to happen, though, if you dress like a whore at 2 in the morning at a club. That's what's going to take place. It doesn't sound like a lot of freedom to me. Well, I just want to be able to dress however I want. Yeah, there's side effects. Dress like a whore, guys will lust after you. How dare guys lust after... Well, if you dress like a whore, it's going to happen. This is what it is. You don't have freedom to dress like a whore without guys lusting after you. I mean, come on, use some common sense. God's Word, though, actually gives you liberty, following what God says, because when you find yourself submitting to what God says and delighting in God, you know what? You're happy to do what God says. You delight in the law of God after the inward man. Now, realize there is this battle between the Spirit and the flesh that will always exist. But when you're doing what's wrong, you become a servant of sin, and you'll find yourself guilty and feeling bad about what you did, and then you're frustrated because you don't have liberty. You're not doing what you want to do. Right? Genesis 15. So, in a personal sense, God's rules are actually good for us to promote liberty, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and when you're doing what God says, the Spirit of the Lord is there, there's going to be liberty in your life. How about politically? Genesis 15, verse 13. And he said unto Abram, Novashirdi that they seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And what you see is that God prophesies to Abraham about how they're going to be a servant into Egypt for hundreds of years, and here's the thing. When they weren't doing what God said, they're in servitude. Once they turn to God, they have freedom. In a political sense, it is true also. If a nation is wicked, there will be no freedom in that country. There will be oppressive rules. Let me help you out. You know, whatever happened 50 years ago with Ferdinand Marcos. You know why there was no freedom? Because the people were wicked. That's the reason why. Because that's always the way it is in the Bible. It's not about who the ruler is. It's about God's people. And if the people live a sinful life, there will be no freedom. It's just a fact. That is what the Bible teaches. When there is a lot of sin, you have to have a lot of rules to fix those problems. It's reality. Right? Turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. Look, I don't always agree with the rules that a country has, but I'm glad our country has some rules. Look, if there were zero rules in this country, let me help you out if you've never thought about this. You know what would happen to me within less than one week if there was no law and no rules? I would be murdered in less than a week, I promise you that, by some sodomites. It's a fact. If you don't realize that, think about it. Genesis 19, who runs the town, sodomites, no rules against it. What happens? Common sense, my friend. The only thing that stops them is that there's rules. And I remember coming to this realization, about six years ago when we had the big protest in Sacramento, got like 500 sodomites and sodomite sympathers plus outside, and then you had like 40 policemen in the town. It was a pretty big event. I mean, it hit the news here in the Philippines, right? And a lot of the policemen had rainbow bracelets. It shows how much they were really helping us. But I remember all of them are just kind of hanging out in front when everything's going on in the back, and I went up to one of them, and I was polite and respectful to them. He said, hey, you know what? All of the policemen are here. I was like, what if they decided to just attack us? And he's like, well, tell the people to come in front, because they didn't want to deal with it. But I came to the realization, the only thing stopping these homos from just like raping and killing all these people is that there's rules against it, because they were threatening those things. You walk into church, we will rape your children. That's what they said. Explain to me who even has that come into their mind. But out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, right? I mean, when someone's playing sports and they get angry, they say, I'm going to punch you. That shows what's in their heart. They're mad. They're angry. For them, it's like, I'm going to rape your children. What? Why would that even come into your mind? But here's the thing. If there were no rules, what would happen? Genesis 19. Common sense, my friend. And it wouldn't just be me murdering a week. A lot of you would be, too. Anyone who's posted any sermons online, I mean, you'd be going down, too. We would all be martyred. It's reality. Because evil people hate God's rules. Throughout the Bible, God's people are getting killed and stoned. I mean, it happens all over the world. It's not just here in the Philippines. It's everywhere. Not just in the U.S. and Philippines. Everywhere, it's the same thing. If there were no rules, we would all be in trouble. I mean, think about it. If there was no rules against murder, guess what? You'd pick up the paper and it's like, record amount of murders on Independence Day. Right? Wow, that'd be a great Independence Day. That is what would happen. No rules against stealing. Well, there'd be nothing at 7-Eleven later in like 20 minutes because people would just steal from it. Common sense. No rules. And what happens to the freedom of those that are getting killed? What happens to the freedom of those that own that store? Don't they have freedom to have their own money and do with it what they want? But they lose it because of people living a sinful life. You must have rules in order to establish and promote freedom. If there are no rules, there will be no freedom just logically speaking. Okay? 1 Timothy 1, verse 8. 1 Timothy 1, verse 8. But we know that the law is good. This is publicly in reference to with other people, their freedom. But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. I would say the same thing. The law is good. Right? Law of liberty. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murders of fathers and murders of mothers, for manslayers, 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. See, laws against murder actually protect me and you. Because we're not planning to kill anybody. We're doing what we want to do. We're not doing what we do in it. Right? I mean, we're not, you know, losing our freedom, but it actually protects our freedom from people that would hate us. Right? I mean, it's common sense. You know, people in America, like the big debate is, you know, should pro-life or pro-choice? Right? You know, pro-life meaning let the baby live. Pro-choice meaning a mom has the right to murder the baby in the womb if she wants. Right? Well, here's what's foolish about that. What about the baby's choice? Did anybody stop to ask the baby if it wanted to live? But here's the thing people would say, but wait a minute, because, you know, the libertarian movement, liberty and freedom, and so people should have a right, choice, and liberty. Well, here's the problem with that. If they abort that baby, you steal the liberty from that baby. That takes away freedom. I believe in freedom, but you have to understand what that means, and freedom is not an absence of all rules. We would all lose our freedom. Okay? You say, what about all these laws? Because people say, well, what about the Sodomites? You know, laws about the, you know, you guys talk about the death penalty for the Sodomites according to the word of God, and they get mad about that, and they say, what about their freedom and rights to do things? Here's the problem. Those people steal the freedom from young little children. Right. They molest young little children, a bunch of pedophiles, stealing their freedom. So here's the thing. Laws against them actually promote freedom, because they protect people that are not wicked people. Laws not made for righteous men, but for the lawless and disobedient. And see, God's rules actually protect and promote and give us freedom. They don't take away freedom. I'm not upset about God's rules. They help us. They're good for us. Here's the Bible to Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6. I mean, most laws in this country I'm thankful for, too. I'm not saying I believe in every law, but think about laws against driving drunk. I believe, in my opinion, the law for driving drunk, the penalty should be the death penalty if you kill somebody driving drunk, in my opinion. And I'll tell you why, because in the Word of God, you have judges to judge situations. And the reason why you need this is because you have basic laws in the Bible, but you've got to bring them to the modern situation and make applications. They were driving chariots in the Bible times. But driving on a road going 100 kilometers per hour with a bunch of cars, driving drunk if you accidentally kill someone, what should be the law against that? Well, basically, you're a living weapon when you're driving drunk. It's kind of like an ox is known to push in time past. You know what could be the repercussions of driving drunk. You could accidentally kill somebody. I'm glad for laws against driving drunk. You say, why? Because they help me have freedom. They protect my life. They help promote freedom. Now, for those that say, well, I have the right to drive drunk, the problem is you're taking away the freedom from other people to drive on the road and just live a normal life. You must have some rules, and if you don't, you've got problems. And look, any laws that there are, whether in this country or God's word, if I'm not breaking it, I don't feel bad about it. I don't feel guilty. Why would I be upset about a law if I have no desire to do it? I'm not going to do it. I would say it's a good law. The law is good. Right? I mean, you need to have some laws. If you don't have any laws, that's not freedom. It's going to end up causing chaos and all kinds of problems. It doesn't promote freedom. It will actually take away freedom from everybody. Now, turn in your Bible. Where are we at? We're in Ephesians 6. Number one, what is liberty? Liberty is the ability to do what you want to do. We can look at that politically, personally, or publicly dealing with other people. Point number two, liberty or freedom is based on godliness. A godly person is going to actually be doing what they want to do. They're actually going to protect the liberty and freedom of other people. A godly nation, if that exists, a godly nation is going to have freedom. They're not going to have a lot of rules. Because sin and breaking God's rules causes side effects and you must have a lot of laws to fix the problems. Right? But a godly nation is going to find... And look, here's the thing. People say there's so many rules in this book. This is nothing compared to any country in the world. This is not a small book, but a law book for a country is like 20 volumes this big. Right? This is not that many rules. I mean, if you choose to reject just the basic laws that God has, you're going to have a lot more rules. You're going to have oppression. You're not going to actually have freedom to do what you want to do. But see, if you follow God's rules, then you would actually have freedom. Point number three, liberty is a spiritual fight. Since liberty is based on godliness, liberty is not a political fight. It is a spiritual fight. Ephesians 6 verse 11, Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. The Bible says we are in a spiritual fight. We are not in a physical fight. I don't talk about politics a whole lot other than just showing what the book of Daniel says about just, you know, do whatever the government says, it's not that big of a deal, just live a godly life as we went verse by verse through Daniel. But you're not going to find me up here like hardcore promoting a candidate or saying, you know, you need to become a politician, right? God's will is for every Baptist to be a senator or a mayor or whatever, blah, blah, blah. It's just like, I don't believe that. I mean, there's many jobs that you can do. There's nothing wrong with it. And look, if you want to be a politician, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm just saying that it's like our fight is a spiritual fight. It's not a physical fight. It's not a political fight. Our fight's a spiritual fight. We fight this battle of freedom when we go out soul winning every single Sunday. Understanding that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If we live a godly life, we're going to have freedom. By us going soul winning, it will allow us to have more freedom in our lives. It's going to allow us to have more freedom politically. Look, if all saved people in this country turned to God, started reading their Bible and going soul winning, what you would end up finding is there would be a lot of freedom in this country. That is what it would take place. Wicked countries, though, they have no freedom. What's to prove that? Communist countries, right? Wicked countries, think of communist countries. How much freedom do they have? It's like the government controls everything, and if you're just a Bible believer and a good person, you're going to be the one in trouble. That doesn't sound like a whole lot of freedom. It's not freedom. Wicked countries result in no freedom. And around the world, what you're seeing is countries are getting less and less freedom now and losing their rights and losing their liberties. You say, why is that? Because the world's becoming wicked. The world is waxing worse and worse. And around the world, freedom is going down and down and down and down and down and down. Right now, you know, in America, because I can pretty much freely preach against the homos, and as of now, nothing really happens. In America, though, you preach against the homos, it's like a big deal in 2022. What's interesting is 50 years ago in America, it was illegal to be a homo. You went to jail. It was punishable you'd immediately go to jail for being a homo. It wasn't allowed. Now, though, preaching against it is not allowed. You preach against it, and it's like you'll be the one thrown in jail. You're going to be the one who's being persecuted. It's like, man, the world has changed a lot in 50 years. And the reality is, for those that are godly, good people, they're losing their liberties around the world because this world is becoming a wicked place. You know what? I have young children. I want my children to be safe. We don't live in that safe of a world right now in 2022. I wish I had freedom to raise my kids and not have to worry about some wicked sodomite being able to do something and having no repercussions, but that's the world we live in. When they get away with things, it's not that big of a deal. It happens all the time, right? We are losing our freedoms around the world. Don't get this idea that no rules equal freedom. That doesn't make any sense. And I'm kind of speaking logically and philosophically. I don't normally do that because I just believe what the Word of God says, but I'm just trying to help you understand this. Liberty is not an absence of rules. That doesn't make any sense. If there were no rules, there would be no freedom. You must have rules. It's a matter of the right rules. God's rules are the right rules, and it's going to give good people liberty. Personally, publicly, politically, there's going to be liberty if we followed what God said. And you're going to find yourself doing what you want to do. That's liberty. Go to 1 Samuel 8. We'll close up. 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel 8. I mean, I just honestly believe that in a political sense, in terms of freedom in this country, if we want freedom, the secret is me waking up in the morning and praying to God and reading the Bible and going to church and going soul winning. That's the secret. Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And if God's people would live a godly life, we'd have freedom. That's what would take place. But when God's people are living a wicked life and the world's living a wicked life, there's no freedom in that country. You say, why? Because there's no Spirit of the Lord there. Where the Lord is that Spirit, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel 8. And Samuel told all the words of the law unto the people that asked of him a king. Now in 1 Samuel 8, the people are rejecting God's rules. Rejecting God being their king. Because here's the thing. They want a king. They have a king. They have the king of kings. Right? They got the ruler of the world as their king. They already have a king. But they don't want to have the king that says this. They want to have their own king, just a personal king. They want to be like all the nations. Verse 11. And he said, this will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for himself. Doesn't really sound like freedom to me. For his chariots and to be his horsemen and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint them captains over thousands and captains over fifties and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and to be bakers. Basically, you're going to lose all of your freedom if you reject God as your ruler. People say, man, God's rules are so tough. I want to be able to go out and do whatever I want. You're going to lose all freedom in your life. Right? That is what we're seeing in 1 Samuel 8. Because they're rejecting God's rules and they want a king to rule over them instead, they're going to end up having no rules. What the judges did in the Bible, which is what they're rejecting, is the judges took the law of God and interpreted it for situations. And God was the king, God was the ruler, and the people that were in a political power were godly people that were promoting the Word of God. I wish that we could have that today. You go to a courtroom, they open up the Word of God, thus saith the Lord in Leviticus, this is our ruling. Wouldn't that be great? That's not what we have in 2022. I mean, the Word of God is not even mentioned in a courtroom. They laugh. If you're a lawyer and you quote the Bible as your proof, they'd laugh at you. Right? It means nothing in 2022. But what the judges did is they took the Word of God and they used this to basically determine situations. They said, well, this is what God says here, so this is the judgment. You stole an ox, here's the punishment. Right? Or whatever the situation would be if something went to a courtroom to judge situations. It talks about making them instruments of war. It kind of reminds me of America about 50 years ago when they had the draft. Who knows what the draft is in the United States? Has anyone heard of that? Do you know what I'm talking about? What the draft was was basically, America has always been involved in a lot of wars, and they did not have enough people that wanted to go to war. So basically, it was a lottery, random draft, where it's like, Matthew Stuckey, you're going to war in Vietnam. That's what took place in the Vietnam War. That's why there were so many protests against the war, because you've got 18-year-old kids who are being told, you're going off to war to fight for our country. That's not a lot of freedom. I mean, literally, I would be, and from what I understand, because obviously this is before the internet, it's harder to let people know. From what I understand, oftentimes you found out when you showed up to school. You showed up to school, and it's like, these four people in this classroom are going to be going off to war in six weeks. Can you imagine finding out that you're going to have to go, and literally fighting in a jungle where the Americans were getting massacred because they didn't know what they're doing, because you've got a bunch of people that don't want to fight. They don't want to shoot people. They don't feel comfortable, but they're being forced to do it. And see, that's what we're seeing here, instruments of war. Basically, people are being forced to fight in wars that they don't believe in, that they don't want to be. That's not freedom. If a country becomes wicked, there's going to be no freedom. Verse 14. And it will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And it will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. So basically, it's going to take a tenth of your earnings. There's a ten percent tithe to the king, right? Ten percent tithe to God. Ten percent. It's like, well, it was just ten percent. You complained. Now, guess what? You've got to pay ten percent to the physical king, and if you're right with me, you're going to pay ten percent to me as well. Now, all of a sudden, there's no freedom. You know, in America, it sounds like salaries are really high, and I understand people are more wealthy there than here. But people's average salaries are generally like 50,000 pesos per week. Sounds like a lot of money, but you do not realize how much money is taken by the government. Because pretty much 30 percent of your money is gone like that, which is a lot of money. And that money is used to fund abortions, to fund wars, to promote the LGBT. That's where the money goes. And you can't do anything about it. You don't follow that. Guess what happens? You're going to be thrown in jail if you don't pay your taxes. You have to pay your taxes. I mean, I have to pay my taxes every single year. At the end of the year, I have to do my taxes every single year, even though I'm living here. I'm required to, and you know what? They'll take some of my money. That's the way it goes. The money you make, because, you know, American salary, they take out a percentage, and they take out quite a bit. And your money is used for things that you don't want. It's used to promote what the king wants, what the president wants, what the ruler wants. Now, we have taxes here. They're not at that level of what they are in the U.S., I would say. But here's the thing. What I'm saying is, that's not liberty. It's my money. How do you take my money and use it to fund abortions? To set up planned parenthood around the country and around the world. That's not freedom. But see, here's the thing. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And countries around the world are becoming wicked, and what they're finding is all their money is being taken and used for things they don't believe in. They're losing their freedoms, and that's what God said would happen. You had one nation on the planet that actually had real freedom, and they rejected it. They wanted to be like everybody else, and then they lost all of their freedom. And they were warned. I mean, did they not listen to what he said? I mean, if I was in the crowd, it's like, you've got to start giving 10% to the king. No, never mind. I'm not giving 10% of my money. Right? But apparently they just didn't believe it. Right? And then, of course, they regret their decision, but it's like, well, it's too late. You already made your decision. Right? And then it says in verse 16, So basically, let's say you're a wealthy man, and you have servants or maids or helpers at your house. The king's going to take your servants, and he's going to use them for himself. It doesn't really sound like a lot of freedom. Right? Taking your employees that belong to you, and he's going to steal them from you. Right? Then it says in verse 17, You're going to serve the king. And you shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you, and the Lord will not hear you in that day. God says, you know what? If this is what you're going to do, and you're going to choose a king to reign over you, you're going to regret it. You're going to cry out to God and say, we made the wrong choice, and God's not going to hear you. It's too late. Look, sometimes you have a window to make a choice, and if you don't do it in God's timing, it's too late. Go spy out the promised land. No, no, no. We don't want to do it. Then when God rejects it, okay, we'll do it. It's too late. It's too late. God told you. I mean, He told you to do it. You rejected it. Now you're afraid of the repercussions. Oh, whoops. It's too late. God says, do something. You do it. And look, that does not mean you don't have liberty when you're doing what God says. Actually, God's law is the perfect law of liberty. What you're going to find is that you're doing what's right. And look, the main takeaway I want you to have from this sermon and understand is it's really kind of a defense of our church because people would criticize a church like ours and say, your church has all these rules, all these things that you have to do. They tell you what to watch. They tell you what to listen to. They tell you how to dress. They tell you what to do with your life. They say, don't drink. I mean, at our church, we'll let you drink. You can show up drunk. We don't care. Right? I mean, that's the sort of attitude people have. But actually, God's law gives you liberty. Say, why is that? Because those that are serving God, that are delighting in the law of God, you know what? We're actually doing what we want to do. I want to be at church today. I'm not here because I have to be at church. I want to be at church. And people that are serving God, they're actually doing what they want to do with their life. And here's the thing. If people would actually try God's method, just start reading the Bible and obeying what God says, they would find themselves doing what they want to do. They'd be happy. They'd be content. And look, I would say that if you're in this room and your heart is right with God, you are happy with the way you're living your life. You're glad to read the Bible. I mean, you're happy that you read the Bible through every year. You're happy you memorize the Bible. You're happy you pray. You're happy you go to church. You're happy you go soul winning. Now, obviously, I understand we have a spirit and a flesh, and our flesh wants what's wrong, and there is that fight that goes on. But look, when you're actually doing what's right and serving God, you find yourself doing exactly what you want to do. You say, why? Because God's Word is the perfect law of liberty. And any church that's actually promoting liberty will actually preach a bunch of rules and preach hard on sin. You say, why? Because it actually promotes liberty in your life. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just having this Independence Day. Help us understand what true liberty is, that liberty is not an absence of rules, liberty is actually doing what we want to do and being able to do what we want to do, God. And help us to submit to your will and do what you say, and we will realize that we are content and happy and doing exactly what we want to do in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen for our next song. Let's turn to hymn number 250. Hymn number 250, burdens are lifted at Calvary. Hymn number 250, burdens are lifted at Calvary. Days are filled, ready on the first sing. Days are filled with sorrow and care. Hearts are lonely and clear. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is living near. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Calvary, Calvary. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is living near. Cast your fear from Jesus today. Leave your worthy and free. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is living near. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Calvary, Calvary. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is living near. All those who will see her can see. Every heart they can hear. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is living near. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Calvary, Calvary. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is living near. All those who will see her can see. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is living near. Burnings are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is living near. All those who will see her can see.