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So the title of the sermon this evening is Free in Christ. Free in Christ, of course, this is the 4th of July, and we're celebrating our freedom today that we've had. That was one for us, the Day of Independence, and I don't want to really focus in on that. I really don't have a problem with any of that. People that want to celebrate that, that's their deal. They go ahead and do that. I understand that we have a history in this country of people having fought for our rights, and I don't think those are things we should take for granted. I think it's good to acknowledge the fact that there were people that stood for freedom and all of that. But at the same time, what does it come to mean today? Rather than looking back and just trying to be nostalgic about the past, what we should really do is think about where we are today as a nation. Quite frankly, what the nation stands for today is not really anything that I care to get behind. It's not something I care to celebrate, so I'm never going to fly the flag up here. I don't get real nostalgic about what this country has become. Having said that, we also don't want to develop this attitude where we take for granted what we do have. No doubt about it, we have a lot of liberties, we have a lot of freedoms here that a lot of other people don't have. We tend to take those things for granted. When we've grown up with these things, we've grown up with the freedom to travel, the fact that we can just go from one state to the next without having to pass some border. There are some borders around here, except for that one that's over there by California, the border patrol, which is nowhere near an international border, by the way. But by and large, you can travel from one end of this country to the other without ever having to stop from state to state. Now that's not the case in a lot of places. Go to these other European countries and things like that, you have to stop wherever you are, so on and so forth. All the different freedoms that we have. We still have, to a large degree, the freedom of speech, despite the fact that large corporations like YouTube and Facebook and so on and so forth are shutting us down, are silencing the message, are trying to have a cancel culture where they're trying to get rid of us and quiet us and only have one side of you be allowed. We still have the ability to gather here publicly and to preach. This is something they can't take away. They might kick us off Facebook, they might kick us off YouTube, but they're never going to stop preaching the word of God in the church house. We still have that freedom, but you know what? Some places, they don't have this freedom, the freedom to just gather together openly and freely. We don't want to take those things for granted. I don't want to become such a cynic about the forefathers and everything like that. People want to argue, are they godly men or are they what they seem to be, rationalists of their time who were deists and denied a lot of the things of the virgin birth and so on and so forth. Like Jefferson rewrote his own Bible. We could go on and on about that and have that debate, but does that really have any bearing on where we are today as a country? What I want us to think about is the fact that we have these freedoms now. There's been times in the past where not everybody's had these freedoms, and there's even places today where people don't have the freedoms that we have, and there's going to become a time in the future when we don't have the freedoms that we have. They are going to try and crack down. They are going to begin to tighten the noose. Look at the things that are going on in Canada. They've got preachers getting locked up. It's hate speech to turn to certain passages in the word of God to even mention them from the pulpit. Go to jail for it in Canada. That's where we're headed, but here's what I want to get across. At any time, no matter what our standing is in the world, no matter whether or not we have civil liberties granted to us by our government, we are always free in Christ. They can never take that away. Just like we have a tendency sometimes to take our civil liberties for granted, we could do that about our spiritual liberty. We could take for granted the fact that we are free in Christ and that we don't have to be brought again under the oak of bondage, and that nobody can take that freedom away from us. I just want to instill that again in us tonight. This isn't going to be anything new. This is going to be anything that you haven't heard before, but these are things that we need to be reminded of, to invigorate us and to remind us that we have a freedom in Christ which cannot be taken away by the world. If we're not careful, we could take that for granted. One thing that helps us to appreciate the spiritual liberty that we have is when we consider the fact that we were at one time in bondage. We in the last few generations perhaps don't take our civil liberties. We take them for granted perhaps because we weren't the ones that fought for them. We weren't the ones that had to sacrifice and give. We just kind of inherited it. If we don't stop and appreciate the fact that those were fought for or that there was a group of people that were in bondage or were threatened to have those liberties taken away, we might take it for granted. The people that fought for it, that freedom, they didn't take it for granted. They did not take the liberty that they had for granted. Why? Because they were the ones that sacrificed, they were the ones that fought, and all that. I want to remind us again, what's going to help us appreciate the freedom that we have in Christ is if we remind ourselves that we were all at one time in bondage. Every one of us were in bondage, spiritually speaking, and that might prevent us from taking things for granted. You're there in Galatians chapter four. I'll read to you from Hebrews chapter two. Listen to me as I read from Hebrews two. It says, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also speaking of Christ himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy them that had the power of death. That is the devil and delivered them, now who's the them there? That's me and you. Deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime, what, subject to bondage. Death had us in bondage our entire life. Of course, we know one day we're going to die, but you know what? The fear of death is taken away. The sting of death is taken away. The victory of the grave is taken away in Christ. We're going to die one day, but we can go to that death without fear. Now, of course, I'm sure that we're all going to experience that natural fear of death when that time comes, the unknown. Maybe not. I don't know. Maybe we'll go with complete peace. I can't imagine that. I don't know what it's like. I've never done it. But we're not living in dread and fear every day of the fact that one day we are going to die. I'm not saying we're just going to go bravely to our death beds and just have complete peace all the way through. Maybe we will. But there's people that are decades away from a death bed that are afraid of dying every single day, and that has been taken away from us. We might end up taking that for granted if we don't remember the fact that we were in bondage. We get saved. We've been saved for a long time. We have eternal life. We know we can't lose that. Sometimes we might forget the fact that we were on our way to hell. We were on our way to hell. We were in bondage. That's something I want to remind us of so that we don't take the freedom that we have in Christ for granted. Look, the world can take away our freedoms. The governments can lock down. They can take away things. They can shut us down. They can de-platform us. They can do all these things, but they cannot take away the freedom that is in Christ. We should learn to appreciate that. We'll appreciate it more when we understand that we were all in bondage. It says there in Galatians chapter 4 verse 1, Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all. What is he saying? He's saying, look, the heir, the prince, the one who's going to inherit the throne, he's no different than a servant as long as he is a child. He's on that same level. Why? Because he is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so, we, when we were children, before the time appointed of us by the father to inherit, to become heirs, we were just servants. Even we, when we were children, were what? In bondage under the elements of the world. Look, we were in bondage. And Paul's including himself in that. He's speaking to the Galatians, he's speaking to, you know, the Gentiles, himself being a Jew, and he's saying we were in bondage, meaning we were all in bondage. There's no exceptions here. Even so, when we were children, we're in bondage under the elements of the world, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth a son made of a woman, made of a law, to redeem them that were what? Under the law. So we were in bondage under the elements of the world. We were in bondage when we were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. You know, before you got saved, you were in bondage. You were spiritually shackled and bound and on your way to hell. Every single one of us, self included. And we should never lose sight of that. We should always remember that. You know, and that's kind of what's going on today. You know, people are remembering, you know, the Independence Day, they're remembering 1776, all of that, but you know, I want to remind us today of our spiritual liberation. The day we were made spiritually independent from the bondage of death and the law and the elements of the world. Because all that they can take away. If there's anything we learned this last year is that when something goes wrong, the government has the power to start shutting things down, telling people to stay home and everything else. Right? And we can debate about that whole narrative or not. You know, it happened. I don't see what the point is about dating about it. But they can't take away the freedom that's in Christ. To redeem them that were under the law, that you might receive the adoption of cause. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. That's who we are. We went from being a servant to what? To being an heir, to being a son, to being a child of God through Christ. That was the spiritual liberation that came to us when we got saved. We'll take that for granted if we don't understand, if we forget that we were in bondage. There was a time when we were on our way to hell, okay? And there's no exceptions. Everybody. You know, we understand, we know the scriptures that all of sin comes from the glory of God. The Bible says, if you want to keep something, go over to Ephesians chapter two, Ephesians chapter two. It says in Romans five, whereas were by one man sent into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. The world's getting real excited today about, you know, their, this nation's independence. You know, and I don't even know if a lot of them are, a lot of them are just getting excited about the fact that they got tomorrow off and they can get blind drunk tonight. That's what they're getting excited about. They're just going to eat and drink and, you know, blow a bunch of stuff up, which, you know, I'm for about blowing up some fireworks, you know, we'll do that too. We'll join in. Right? What are they, are they, you think a lot of people today are celebrating, getting excited about, you know, our independence, about the battles that were fought for independence? Probably not. I mean, sure. There's probably people out there that understand it and know the history and appreciate it and everything like that. But I want us to get excited about the fact that we have been spiritually, spiritually liberated. Okay. And here's the thing. Everyone's getting excited about that. Everyone, you know, but a lot of people are still, even these people that are celebrating that, they don't understand that they are in bondage. They're, they're, they're in a lot worse bondage than, you know, some tax, they having to pay some tax, you know, or having some soldiers quartered in their home, you know, those were egregious things. You know, we're still, by the way, we're still paying the taxes. You know, they got all upset about, you know, the things that, you know, Britain was doing to them and so on and so forth. But here we are today, maybe free from all those things, but in a lot, still no better off spiritually. Yeah, they might've thrown off the shackles of imperialism and all that, but they're still shackled by sin and they're still bound. And you know what? We here tonight who are saved are not. We're free. We have a freedom that they can't even imagine. And if they took all these other freedoms away, we'd still have that. They can't touch it. But everyone, no matter what nation you're from, you know, nationality makes no difference. You know, people today, they, you know, they think, well, of course I'm Christian. I'm American. Well, what religion are you? Well, I'm in America, so clearly I'm a Christian. Right. And people think like this, you know, and people think this is a Christian nation that we're living in today. It's not. It, you know, whatever you want to talk about what it was at one time, you know, that we can have that discussion. Well, about what it is today, there's no denying it. Not a Christian nation is not supporting Christian values. It's chased God out of every public square. The Bible is not a welcome. The Ten Commandments are not welcome. It's promoting, you know, sodomy to the world. It's promoting every kind of vile filth and wicked sin that there is to the entire world. That's what we're known for in the world is promoting, you know, filth. Okay. So, nationality makes no difference, and the Bible says that the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God, except for America, because America is so great. Right. No, it says all nations, you know, all nations are less than nothing before God, the Bible says. There are no exceptions to that. It doesn't matter what country you live in. It doesn't matter, you know, what you understand about politics or any of that. You are in bondage. We all were in bondage until we got saved. We were in bondage spiritually with no exception and with what? No expectation. You weren't going, you're not going to deliver yourself. You know, those men that fought, you know, in the war of independence, they, you know, they freed themselves, didn't they? They did that. They took up arms. They went out in the cold. They went out and they sacrificed and they left their families. They fought those battles. They freed themselves. But the spiritual bondage that we're in, you can't do that. You cannot free yourself from that. You're not going to do enough good works. You're not going to go to church enough. You're not going to repent of enough sin. You're not going to get baptized enough. You're not going to keep enough sacraments. You're not going to, you know, do whatever the church tells you in order to earn your way to heaven. You can't free yourself from it. We were without hope in this world. That's what the Bible says. Are you in Ephesians 2? Look at verse 11, wherefore remember. That's what Paul was trying to do. Remember. That's what I'm trying to do tonight, is to get you to remember the fact that we were in bondage. Before we get all excited about our, you know, our spirit or our national identity and our national freedom, let's, let's get excited about our spiritual freedom. The one they can't take away. Wherefore, remember that ye being in past, in times past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision of the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of the promise and having what? No hope and without God in the world. The Bible says that before you got saved, before God, you know, revealed his son to you and you accepted Christ as savior, that you had no hope in this world. It wasn't like, well, you know, if you get, if you find out, if you know, if you hear the gospel and you get saved, you got to change, you know, you'll get saved. No, sure. You know, on the off chance you don't, there's still this slim chance that maybe somehow you could find in another way. Nope. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that without Christ, we are without hope. You know, they can go and fight their wars and they can liberate themselves, but they cannot liberate themselves spiritually. And what I'm trying to do is get you to remember that that is what has happened for you and me, that we've been liberated spiritually through Christ, meaning this, that we were at one time in bondage. We were at bondage, but Christ came and set us free now through him. We are set at Liberty. We didn't do that ourselves. He did that for us. He's the one that did all that work. Go over to keep something Ephesians chapter two, go over to Romans chapter five, Romans chapter five. Bible says, I'll begin reading in verse 18. You know, we, we are set at Liberty now. That's the good news. I'm not just here to remind you that you are on your way to hell today. Let's close in prayer, guess, you know, you were all on your way to hell and then Christ saved you. Amen. Okay. I also remind us the fact that we are set at Liberty, you know, yeah, we were in bondage, but now today we're free in Christ. Christ has made us free and that's, that's what they're celebrating today. The 4th of July, they're celebrating the fact that we are free, that we are a free nation. Okay. But we spiritually are set at Liberty. In Romans chapter five verse 18 it says, therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men under justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, many shall be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Satan kept sending his troops. God just sent more grace. He said, well, I was, I was really bad. You know, I did a lot of bad things. Well, grace abounded. That sin, look at verse 20, and that sin that hath, hath rained unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. It says there that righteousness is reigning through Christ. It has the, the preeminence. It has dominion in your life. Once, once God set us free, that's it. We're, you know, we're, we're, we're set at, we're set at liberty today through the righteousness that is in Christ. Go to Ephesians chapter two, back where you were, verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, remember we were reading earlier how that we were without hope in the world, that we were strangers from, from the covenant of the promises from God, of God. But now it says in verse 13, after we've been liberated, after we've been set free by Christ, but now in Christ Jesus, not by yourself, you didn't do that. He did it for you. Ye who are sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one and broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Talking about that partition between the Israelites and the Gentiles, okay? Being abolished in his flesh, the enmity, even the law of the commandments, remember that's what we were under. We were under the law. We were subject to the law. We were subject to the elements of the world and that he is the one that abolished in his flesh that enmity, even the law of the commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself twain of twain one new man, so making peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one by the body of the cross, having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you which were far off and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Look at verse 19, now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners. We're set at liberty. We're not in bondage. We are fellow citizens, it goes on and says, with the saints and the household of God. Which one are you more excited about this morning or this evening? More excited about that I'm American or are you more excited about the fact that Christ has made you an heir and a fellow citizen with the saints of the household of God? That's the identity that I get excited about. That's the identity that I want to promote. I don't want to get into this, and look, if people want to promote patriotism and nationalism, that's on them. I get excited about this. This is what I want to promote in this church, is the fact that we are made nigh by the blood of Christ. That we are no more strangers. That we are built, it says, upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. That's what I'm built upon. That's my cornerstone. That's the bedrock of who I am. Jesus Christ. The commandments of the apostles and the prophets. That's what I get excited about. Those words. Not the degradation of independence. Look I'm not against that. I'm glad it's legal. I'm glad we have the Bill of Rights and all that. We benefit from that. I'm not saying we should take that for granted. But they could take all that away. That can go away like that. And you know what, one day it will! It's called the Antichrist, okay? They're never gonna take this away. They can destroy this flesh, they can burn down this building, and you know what, send me right on up into heaven, where I can be a fellow citizen, where I'm an heir. I'd like to see them take that away. We are set at liberty by Christ. We didn't do that, he did it for us. And not only that, we are still at liberty. That's not something you have to worry about losing. Once you're set free in Christ, that's it. And I should have kept some Romans. Go over to Romans chapter eight. Jesus said, if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. So I don't care what country you're in. I don't care if you're in communist China, I don't care if you're in whatever communist hellhole you wanna point to, where they don't have these liberties that we have in this country. If they're free in Christ, they are free indeed. They might have to suffer the consequences of living under a wicked regime, but I think those people probably appreciate the freedom that they have in Christ even more than we would. We kinda say, oh yeah, it's cool, we're free in Christ. If that ever happened, we would have that. There's some people, that's reality for them. They say, wow, we have to have church in secret. We have to smuggle Bibles in here. We have people that end up in jail, we never see them again. Well, that's never happened. Oh yes, it has. It's called the Soviet Union. It's called communist China. It's out there. Okay, that kind of thing happens. Those are the people that are really appreciating the fact that they are free in Christ, that they have been set free indeed in Him. And I'm just trying to help us to do that tonight. You know, I want us to remember that we were in bondage spiritually and we've been set free by Christ. And again, I don't think we should take our civil liberties for granted, but you know what, maybe that's what we need sometimes. Sometimes I wonder, maybe that's what this country needs to wake Christians up, is to go through some kind of persecution and to wake up the people in this country who just think that life's just all about fun, fun, fun and doing whatever they want. And you know, they'll give God a thought twice a year on Easter and Christmas. And that's about all he gets. You know, the people that are living in these communist hell holes, you know, that are Christians that are saved, I guarantee you God's on their mind quite a bit. That they're reading John 8, 36 and saying, amen. The Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. He said in John 5, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Look, once Christ set us at liberty and he broke those shackles and broke the bondage of sin and set us free from the law and the elements of the world, it's done, it's over, it's permanent. It always makes me think of that hymn, I can't remember the song, but it says, it talks about how, you know, the dungeon filled with light, my chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee. Something to that, I'm probably butchering it. It always makes me think about that. When I hear about Jesus talking about being set at freedom, liberty being made free in Christ, having passed from death unto life. And I always think about that picture of a Christian who continues to live in sin. And it reminds me of them, they're like a prisoner. Christ shows up, spiritually speaking, and he throws the prison door open and the shackles fell off and he sets them free and says, hey, the prison's door, we can go. And they say, no, I wanna stay right here. And they start to hold that shackle on. You know, that's their sin. So I just wanna stay here and I'm real used to this chain. You know, I've spent a lot of time in this cell, in this sin, with this particular sin, this chain, and you know, I don't wanna leave it behind. And they hold that shackle on. And as soon as they let it go, it just falls off again. Whoops, let me put that back on. People might live that way. Christians might live that way in their life. But the fact is, that shackle is loose. That prison door is open. And it's up to them to just start walking and following Christ and he'll lead them right out of that dungeon of sin. They are set free. We are set at liberty. Once we're set at liberty, we're always at liberty. We've passed from death unto life. Look at Romans chapter eight, verse one. There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now there's a comma there, not a period, okay? There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Meaning this, you know, there is no condemnation if you walk in the spirit. But there is condemnation if you walk after the flesh. Now I'm not talking about damnation. I'm talking about condemnation. You know, you're still gonna be saved. You're gonna go to heaven no matter what. But you can still be judged in this life. Because that's what we get accused of all the time, isn't it? Oh, you're saying people can live however they want and still go to heaven. Yep, that's what I'm saying. In part, what I'm really saying is this, is that people can live however they want and suffer sin's consequences on their way to heaven. That's what he's saying. There is no condemnation then which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh. There's no condemnation to those who walk after Christ Jesus, to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk out after the flesh. There is none, okay? But those that do walk in the flesh, you don't walk in the spirit, there is some condemnation. It's just not going to hell, okay? For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made me free from the law of sin and death. Verse 12, therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. Going back to that picture, drop that chain. Leave that prison behind. You're not indebted, you don't have to stay there. We're not debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. What is he saying? You mortify those deeds, you walk in the new man, you walk in the spirit, there's no condemnation. You'll live, there'll be God's blessing. Verse 14, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. You know, God hasn't shackled us with a new shackle. God set us free. We're not being bound again. Ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Sound familiar? Going back to Galatians. The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with them that we may also be glorified together. So what am I saying? We're set at liberty. It's permanent. We can still suffer the consequences, right? He said, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. You know, we have the option of serving whoever we want. Look, before, there was no other choice. There was sin, and that's it. That's the only option you had. Serve Satan, serve sin, serve the flesh, and go to hell. That was it. That was our only option. But now we have the option of, you know, we're gonna go to heaven, we're heirs, we know, but we still could go serve sin, couldn't we? I mean, Christians do it all the time. Get backslidden, get out of church, quit on God, and go serve the flesh. Happens all the time. And whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. That's why he said, did you keep anything in Galatians? I'll just read to you from Galatians. He said in chapter five, verse one, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now, in Galatians, obviously, he's talking about the fact that, you know, Judaizers were coming in and trying to bring them under the bondage of circumcision, teaching that they needed to still be circumcised. And Paul's saying, no, you don't. That's bondage. Don't be entangled with those things again. But, you know, we could make the application tonight that, you know, God, Christ has set you free, has given you the spirit of his son, the spirit of God dwelling in you, whereby you cry Abba, Father, and if you really wanted to, you could have victory over those sins in your life. Now, I'm not saying we're gonna live a perfect, sinless life. That's not what I'm saying. But we can, through Christ, have victory over sin. That we can be, you know, we are set at liberty. If the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. I'm not just, you know, not just, oh, when I get to heaven, then everything will be better. Of course it'll be better. Then I can quit sinning. No, you can, you know, you can stop those sins now. I'm not saying you can quit sinning completely, obviously. Don't misunderstand me. But there's the fact is that some people have sins in their life that they just hang onto for no good reason. It's just their pet sin. And if they wanted to, they could let it go. You know, they could leave it behind. That's what I'm saying. That's, and how are you gonna do that? By standing fast in liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free. That's what I'm trying to get across tonight. That's what I'm trying to hope that we can appreciate, the fact that we were in bondage. We've been set free by Christ, and if that's the case, then we might as well live like it. And don't be people that take your spiritual liberties for granted. You know, people might take their civil liberties for granted and things like that, and that's too bad. But you know what's a real shame? Is when Christians take their spiritual liberty for granted. That's the real shame. You know, maybe then I might fully appreciate everything that they have in this country, but you know what's even worse than that? Is when they don't appreciate everything that Christ has done for them. And when they know that there's some sin they should get rid of, and they just don't do it. Or they know there's something, you know, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth not his sin. It's not just the bad things we do, it's the good things we don't do. So I know I should start doing whatever. But you know, I just don't feel like it. Well, that's a shame. You know, you need to learn to stand fast in liberty, wherewith Christ hath made you free. Go over to Romans chapter 12. This ain't gonna be a long sermon. I know I'm trying to preach until it gets dark, but you know, I know Paul preached till midnight in the book of Acts, but it'll be plenty dark here in a bit. All right? The long sermon was this morning. I'll give you a break. Now it'll be 30 minutes from now. The Bible says in 2 Peter, for of whom a man is overcome, of the same as he had brought in bondage. You know, if we let sin rule over us, you know, that's who we serve. You know, if we serve sin, we're the servant of sin. He said, did I have you go to Romans 6? 12? Jump back to Romans 6. You're right there. Romans chapter 6. I wanna draw attention to verse 12, where it says, that first word, let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal bodies. Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal bodies. You know, we have a lot of ability, a lot of power in Christ to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies. Oh, I just can't help it. Yes, you can. That's what the Bible says. That's why it says, let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal bodies. That's a commandment. That you should obey it and the lusts are up. Now, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy, but I'm saying it's possible through Christ. That's the liberty that we have in Christ. That's the freedom that we have in Christ, that we can even have victory over sins in our life. Let not sin, because we always say, well, I know one day I'm gonna be free in Christ. You can never take that away from me. I'll be in heaven. It'll be glorious, wonderful. We know that. But you know what? Don't take for granted the fact that you can have victory over sin in your life right now. Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that you shall obey it and the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. That's what he's saying. I mean, when you think about it, that's a perfect picture. Those that are alive from the dead. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We were on our way to hell and Christ revived us and he put his spirit in us and saved us. Literally brought us back from the dead in the spiritual sense. And that's what you are as a born again believer. Somebody who's been brought back from the dead and has been given the spirit of God. And he's saying because of that, because you have been brought back from the dead, yield yourselves unto God. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. No man can serve two masters. We need to learn to pick righteousness. We need to learn to pick Christ. We need to learn to not yield to sin, but what? Yield unto God. Yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. You know, I think that's probably sometimes the struggle that Christians have. Is that they just look at their members that where so much sin comes from, the lusts of the flesh, and they just say, rather than looking at, they just look at it like some loathsome thing that they have to drag around until they get to heaven. I just got to drag, I'm just stuck in this carcass that's just full of sin and iniquity that just has all these lusts. You know, and it's just this constant battle. And it is, I know that, but you know what? Maybe we need to learn to understand that it's not just, it's not just the fact that our members need to be crucified, we need to mortify the members, but maybe we need to learn to what? To look at them as instruments of righteousness. If you started to look at this body, this temple, as the Bible calls it, your body is the temple of God. If you looked at it as an instrument of righteousness, you know, it might be a little bit easier to get some space between you and those sins. It might be easier for you to put those things away and have the victory in Christ if you saw your body not as just some source of iniquity, but what, an instrument of righteousness. Isn't that what he said there? I mean, I read that right. Yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members, talking about your body, know your members, as instruments of righteousness unto God. Now, I look at mine, I go, an instrument of righteousness? That's what the Bible says, an instrument of righteousness. Not in its glory, not in its beauty, but what? In its ability to what it can accomplish for God. You know, where these feet might have gone some places that they never should have been, but now they can go to places where God would want them. You know, these hands might have done things that I would be ashamed to even speak of, but now they can go out and do what? Open up a Bible, knock a door, hand out an invite, write a sermon, fold in prayer, shake a hand. You know, your body is an instrument of righteousness. That is the liberty that you have in Christ. That is the freedom that has been given us. Don't take it for granted. Don't take it for granted. Go to Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, verse one. I beseech you therefore, it says, in a very familiar passage, probably people in here have it memorized. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. He says that's reasonable. Oh, man, crucified the flesh, turned this body on an instrument of righteousness. That's kind of a big, that's kind of a tall order, God. It's kind of a big ask. The Bible says that's your reasonable service. That's not God asking too much at all. He said that you may present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable, perfect will of God. He says that's your reasonable service. Why? Why is that so reasonable? Because of the fact that we have been set at liberty. We will remain at liberty. Even if we decide to serve sin, ultimately we're headed for heaven. Why is that your reasonable service? To use your bodies as instruments of righteousness, to yield them as a living sacrifice. Why is that reasonable? Because of the fact that you are indebted. Why should I do it? Why should I do that? Why should I live for the Lord? Just because the Bible says so? Because you owe it. Because you're indebted. You owe that. He says that's your reasonable service. Not so you can go to heaven, because God owns you. He owns us. He bought us. He redeemed us. I mean, if you went and bought something at the store and then somebody else walked up and said, no, that's mine, you'd say, well, here's the receipt. I paid for this. This is mine. Well, no, that's mine. I'm gonna do whatever I want with it. You know, good luck. You know, I'm not gonna just let that go. You know, God feels the same way about us. God looks down at us and says, what are you doing with my body? What are you doing with the members that I purchased? What are you doing with the mind and the tongue and the eyes and the ears that I redeemed? What are you doing with that life that I own? Is what God is saying. We are indebted. We're gonna close here soon. Go to First Corinthians chapter six. First Corinthians chapter six. Yes, we're free in Christ. It's a great feeling to know that no matter what happens in this world, war, famine, coronavirus, you know, whatever they censor, whatever they take away, they can't touch the liberty I have in Christ. They can't touch the inheritance that has been given me. I'm an heir. You can't take that away from me. You know, and hopefully we're learning to appreciate that. You know, and hopefully we don't have to go, you know, through some great tribulation before we'll learn to appreciate that. That's great, isn't it, to know that you have that, that you are free in Christ, that you're free in deed. But what I also need to understand is that we're indebted because of it. We're indebted. First Corinthians chapter six, look at verse 18. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. Verse 19. Well, I mean, who are you to tell me what I can and can't do with my body? What do you mean I can't commit fornication? What do you mean I can't be a drunk or whatever? What do you mean I can't commit whatever sin I want in my body? Well, Paul says what? Verse 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? I mean, those words just need to ring in our ears sometimes. When we're tempted to do some sin, when we're tempted to do something we know we shouldn't do or slack on doing something we know we should do, those should just ring in our ears. Ye are not your own. If it weren't a sin, I'd say tattoo it on your forehead. Make sure you do it backwards so you can check it out in the mirror. But those should just, you know, those should be written on the fleshy tables of our heart. You know, those should be in our mind, the fact that we are not our own. And when the Bible commands us to do something, we should just say, yes, Lord, that's what I'll do. Because you redeemed me. Why? Because ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. The Bible says we are bought with a price. You know, our liberty, our freedom did not, you know, I know it's cliche, but I'm gonna say it, freedom isn't free. Now, most people wanna use that saying and say, well, yeah, you know, respect the military. And you know, that's another sermon. But you know, there's some truth to that spiritually too. The freedom that we have in Christ wasn't free. We were bought, oh, I love the fact that I'm free in Christ, that I'm heaven bound, that I'm saved, that I have victory over sin in the grave, that I'm no longer, you know, in bondage through the fear of death all the days of my life. I'm so glad for that. Okay, that's great, but understand this. That came at a price. You didn't pay anything for it. You didn't have to do anything for it, but somebody did. And we know who that is, that's Christ. He was the one that paid that price, right? A price was paid. Go to 1 Peter chapter one, we'll close there. We all know these passages, but I'm just trying to remind us again. This is a day of remembrance for a lot of people, isn't it? A lot of people are contemplating and thinking about the past, trying to, you know, not everybody, obviously, but people are trying to, you know, recall certain things so that they can appreciate the freedom that they have in this country. You know, and rather than just trying to promote that, you know, I want to help us in that same vein, remind us and cause us to be appreciative of the fact that we are free in Christ and that a price was paid for that freedom in Christ. Because that's the real liberty that we should get excited about, the one that they cannot be taken away. The Bible says in Galatians three, you're going to 1 Peter one, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. You know, there was a price to be paid. He redeemed us, and that's great, isn't it? And we love that. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law. But sometimes we kind of forget about that last little bit of that phrase, being made a curse for us. He became sin who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. You know, that was the price that was paid. Christ came and laid down his life for us. 1 Peter chapter one, verse 17. And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Not fear of death, not fear of sin and its consequences, but what, the fear of God. Be afraid of God, the one who's redeemed you. Pass the time of your sojourning in fear, for as much as ye know that ye are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation that you received by tradition from your fathers. You didn't buy your way out of this. Sorry, Catholic Church, you know. You didn't pay enough penance, you didn't, you know. No one's gonna get you out of purgatory by paying a bunch of money. You didn't do that. Christ is the one that paid that price. You're not redeemed by your vain conversations, but with the precious blood of Christ. That's the price that was paid. That's the blood that I get excited about. That's, you know, we wanna get excited about the red, white, and blue. Well, that's the red I get excited about, is the blood of Christ. Because you can't make that stand for anything else other than for Christ. The precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who was verily foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifesting these last times for you. Man, why did he come here? For you, to redeem us, who by him to believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Look, my faith and my hope is not in this country. It's not in the Bill of Rights, it's not in the Constitution, it's not in some senator or some president. It's not in any of those things. My faith and hope is in God, because he's the one that has brought me the only real and true hope that there is in this world, through Christ. And I hope that we'll learn to appreciate that, that maybe this evening we can walk out of here, rather than being super excited about something that happened hundreds of years ago, it seems like a distant memory, rather than be excited about the Fourth of July, let's get excited about the fact that a price was paid for us that brought us real liberty, a real liberty that cannot be taken away from us. Let's get excited about the fact not that we're free in America, and I'm not saying take it for granted, appreciate it, use it, put it to work, take advantage of the opportunity that we have, spread the message, shout it from the housetops, let people know, publish it abroad, use the freedom of speech as much as we're able, as they start to tighten that noose, use the freedom of religion, do all that, but let's not get excited about the freedom in America more than we are, what? Let's not be more excited about that more than the fact that we're free in Christ. That's what I want to get excited about. That's what I want you to be excited about, is the fact that Christ has made us free. You know when we'll get excited about the fact that Christ has made us free, when we understand that we were in bondage, that we were without hope, and that a price was paid, and Christ is the one that paid it, his blood was shed, then maybe we'll get excited about the fact that we're free in Christ. Let's go ahead and pray.