1 00:00:04,719 --> 00:00:10,759 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:10,759 --> 00:00:16,120 moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:24,699 today, of all the liberties to which we lay claim as free men, which is the chief? Which 4 00:00:24,699 --> 00:00:31,100 liberty is the first liberty? With the 4th of July coming, America turns its thoughts towards 5 00:00:31,100 --> 00:00:36,500 independence and freedom. And generally, Americans have thought of their freedom under three broad 6 00:00:36,500 --> 00:00:41,799 types of liberty. Number one, personal liberty. That's the most direct and sensitive to Americans. 7 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:48,439 It's my decision as to where I spend my money, what field of work I choose to go into, where I live, 8 00:00:48,439 --> 00:00:54,600 where I travel, whether what I choose to drink or smoke or eat or do on a Saturday night. It's my 9 00:00:54,600 --> 00:01:01,719 choice and precisely with whom I choose to do these things. Second kind of liberty that we think 10 00:01:01,719 --> 00:01:07,079 of is political liberty. And here, we perceive ourselves as free to vote for whomever we choose, 11 00:01:07,719 --> 00:01:13,459 say whatever we want on any issue, contribute money to whatever cause we deem appropriate, and not 12 00:01:13,459 --> 00:01:21,159 have an oppressive, meddlesome government interfering at every turn as it is today. Politics, which the 13 00:01:21,159 --> 00:01:29,739 founding fathers saw as the divine science of setting policy, it seemed to be the right and domain of 14 00:01:29,739 --> 00:01:36,540 every citizen, not just the upper classes of society. And thirdly, we also think of religious liberty. 15 00:01:36,739 --> 00:01:41,560 This freedom means that I may practice the religion of my choice. It's one of the most 16 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:49,219 debated and contested liberties in history. So many states demanded not only the particular religion, 17 00:01:49,219 --> 00:01:55,680 but it's very sect to which it was legal to belong. Now, while the United States is Christian in its 18 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:02,980 roots and principles, the widest liberty is allowed for one's personal conviction to worship or not 19 00:02:02,980 --> 00:02:09,379 worship at all. So these three liberties, personal, political, and religious, are at the heart of 20 00:02:09,379 --> 00:02:15,840 American freedom. Our constitution ensconces them in limiting big government while articulating those 21 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:23,520 specifically, for example, the first amendment, guaranteeing our freedom of religion and of speech, and the 22 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:30,379 right to petition the government to redress of grievances. And of course, the fourth amendment that keeps 23 00:02:30,379 --> 00:02:37,520 government out of our personal business. All of them mean to protect our liberties. There is one liberty, 24 00:02:37,699 --> 00:02:44,759 however, that is presumed by our founding fathers to be the general case for most of America's citizens. And it's not 25 00:02:44,759 --> 00:02:50,860 articulated in the earthly document of our constitution because, by definition, it is a heavenly liberty 26 00:02:50,860 --> 00:02:59,680 acquired only by petitioning the great governor of heaven, not a governor of an earthly realm. And that 27 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:08,319 liberty is none other than a spiritual liberty, dear listener, a spiritual liberty, the freedom of spiritual life 28 00:03:08,319 --> 00:03:16,099 and birth and birth and the release from death and sin. Wisely, this power was beyond the reach of any of our 29 00:03:16,099 --> 00:03:23,599 founding fathers. It is in God's hands alone. But make no mistake about this. Upon this one liberty, 30 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:32,080 spiritual liberty, hang the destinies of all the rest of our liberties. As the book of John says, 31 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:39,400 for example, so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly 32 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:46,580 my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are 33 00:03:46,580 --> 00:03:52,360 offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become 34 00:03:52,360 --> 00:04:01,000 free? And Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:08,580 The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. So if the son set you free, you will 36 00:04:08,580 --> 00:04:15,539 be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place 37 00:04:15,539 --> 00:04:21,899 in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father. 38 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:30,060 Those are Jesus words. Well, two points I want to make with you today concerning the spiritual liberty. 39 00:04:30,060 --> 00:04:38,980 From these verses, number one, from verses 31 to 33, liberty, spiritual liberty. The first liberty, 40 00:04:39,540 --> 00:04:47,740 Jesus conditions on abiding in him and knowing the truth. Yeah, true spiritual liberty from whence all 41 00:04:47,740 --> 00:04:57,160 other liberties proceed. Jesus conditions on abiding in him and knowing the truth. Oh, our text engages 42 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:03,399 Jesus as he is in the teeth of confronting the Jewish leaders of Israel, the Jewish leaders of Israel. 43 00:05:03,899 --> 00:05:12,180 And like Denethor II and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the Jews are mere stewards of the place, 44 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:18,360 position, and princedom of the king to come. They are not the perpetual holders of that power, title, 45 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:24,740 and privilege, and privilege, that is the Jews. But like Denethor, and I urge you to read Lord of 46 00:05:24,740 --> 00:05:33,139 the Rings if you're not familiar with him and his mythology. Like Denethor, so accustomed have the 47 00:05:33,139 --> 00:05:38,319 Jews become to their stewardship that they have mistaken it for actual ownership of that power place 48 00:05:38,319 --> 00:05:44,839 in princedom. Therefore, just as Denethor rejects the real prince when he comes, so the Jews reject Jesus 49 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:52,100 when he comes. And Jesus is patiently laboring to point this out to them, even here in the text before 50 00:05:52,100 --> 00:05:58,000 us. And along the way, Jesus gives us insight into the nature of true liberty, which is first and 51 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,800 foremost spiritual liberty. And Jesus does this by initially addressing the Jews who had believed in 52 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:11,420 him. There are several conditions upon which a man may rely to measure his quality of spiritual life, 53 00:06:11,420 --> 00:06:18,379 the fulfillment of which indicates his spiritual liberty. And these conditions are enumerated in 54 00:06:18,379 --> 00:06:25,360 what we call a conditional sentence. And one can identify this structure of a conditional sentence 55 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:31,899 by the if-then structure. That is, if these conditions are met, then these results will follow. 56 00:06:32,019 --> 00:06:37,240 And Jesus does this for us. What are the conditions then for real spiritual life? Well, Jesus tells us, 57 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:45,779 he says, if you abide in my word, if you abide in my word, the word per se was not some physical bubble 58 00:06:45,779 --> 00:06:52,240 in which the disciples safely abode, shielded from the world around them. No, Jesus' word was that body 59 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:57,819 of truth that he had consistently expressed to them in his preaching and teaching since the onset of his 60 00:06:57,819 --> 00:07:04,420 public ministry. Jesus has been clear that this is the essence and nature of his ministry from the very 61 00:07:04,420 --> 00:07:10,199 beginning. The whole book of John begins. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with 62 00:07:10,199 --> 00:07:17,060 God, and the word was God. Oh, therefore, dear listener, if you continue to live in Jesus' teaching 63 00:07:17,060 --> 00:07:24,439 such that you live in Jesus' person himself, you are a true disciple. The word of life leads inevitably to 64 00:07:24,439 --> 00:07:33,439 the life in the word. That is Jesus' person himself. Oh, the true disciple will so desire to live in 65 00:07:33,439 --> 00:07:40,120 and dwell within Jesus himself, that he immediately flags himself as a particular kind of thing. 66 00:07:40,339 --> 00:07:48,759 Three consequences then follow. Then, first of all, then you are a true disciple, Jesus says. When you live 67 00:07:48,759 --> 00:07:54,220 in him and you live in his word, then you are a true disciple. Life in Jesus as the word is a banner 68 00:07:54,220 --> 00:08:01,279 indication that such a one is a true disciple. In a world of false disciples and counterfeit apostles, 69 00:08:01,279 --> 00:08:08,060 it is necessary to have an infallible test. And this test is endorsed by Jesus himself when he says, 70 00:08:08,439 --> 00:08:16,139 abiding in my word, abiding, that is remaining in, dwelling in, living as a permanent resident within 71 00:08:16,139 --> 00:08:23,480 my word. The true disciple by nature shares the life of his master, and that life is communicated via 72 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:30,500 the word, that is the life, teaching, and person of Jesus. And then the second thing that obtains is, 73 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:36,039 then you will know the truth. Then, when you abide in him and his word, then you will know the truth. 74 00:08:36,299 --> 00:08:41,399 There are a number of kinds of truths, aren't there? Mathematical and scientific and historical. 75 00:08:41,820 --> 00:08:48,220 All of these have their place. But the realm of truth Jesus has in mind is eternally abiding. 76 00:08:49,179 --> 00:08:56,039 That is, truth is that reality that God has created and determined and revealed in his word. 77 00:08:56,039 --> 00:09:01,919 Fallen man asserts competing truths that vie in the hearts and minds of other fallen men for their 78 00:09:01,919 --> 00:09:08,120 allegiance and leave these false truths to them. Blind eyes do not see, deaf ears do not hear. 79 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:15,679 You have been given spiritual life in your Savior, and you now possess the spiritual faculties to see 80 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:22,179 and hear and know the truth. It is important to know the truth that we were once sinless creatures 81 00:09:22,179 --> 00:09:28,759 in our first father, Adam, but now stand in him as guilty and condemned sinners from birth. And 82 00:09:28,759 --> 00:09:33,860 correspondingly, it is also important to know the truth that Jesus stood in our place 83 00:09:33,860 --> 00:09:40,000 as a condemned, guilty sinner, and he endured the punishment for it so that we might once again 84 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:47,860 stand as sinless creatures in him before God, the Father. Knowledge of and faith in the one who has 85 00:09:47,860 --> 00:09:55,139 made it so is requisite for the last stage, which is number three. Then the truth will set you free. 86 00:09:55,440 --> 00:10:02,200 How the world loves to use this cliche. Then the truth will set you free. Know the truth and the 87 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:08,120 truth will set you free. It is passed into our lexicon as a kind of in-your-face challenge to accept 88 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:14,659 what I assert to be true. Science has proven that there is a gay gene in our chromosomes, so deal with 89 00:10:14,659 --> 00:10:19,500 that. Know the truth and the truth will set you free. Science has proven that man-caused global warming 90 00:10:19,500 --> 00:10:25,480 is true, Mr. Denier. Know the truth and the truth will set you free. If God hadn't intended us to have 91 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:32,100 a right to bear arms, then he wouldn't have given us a trigger finger. Deal with it, Mr. Anti-Second 92 00:10:32,100 --> 00:10:37,860 Amendment. Know the truth and the truth will set you free. Well, how many of us so glibly use this 93 00:10:37,860 --> 00:10:45,720 cliche and even know who said it? For example, a Harris poll says that seven of ten people do not 94 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:50,460 even know who preached the Sermon on the Mount? How can we be expected to know who said this? 95 00:10:51,500 --> 00:10:57,500 And of those who do, how many know the context in which Jesus declares it? Know the truth and the 96 00:10:57,500 --> 00:11:03,940 truth will set you free. Just because you use the words of Jesus as an appendage to your assertions 97 00:11:03,940 --> 00:11:11,000 does not make them true. The liberty of which Jesus speaks is the first liberty, spiritual life 98 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:18,879 in him. And without this, all other liberties are trivial and meaningless. In fact, so dead and 99 00:11:18,879 --> 00:11:25,539 twisted is our nature that all of these liberties will be twisted into another form of death and 100 00:11:25,539 --> 00:11:33,480 slavery. The 4th of July, Independence Day, then becomes a dance of death, a hollow claim to rights, 101 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:41,860 to spend on my wrongs, a mere shadow of what it was to our forefathers at least, a sad remembrance day 102 00:11:41,860 --> 00:11:48,000 rather than a true Independence Day. What is a true Independence Day? The true first liberty is 103 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:56,059 spiritual liberty, spiritual life in Christ. He is the personification, the embodiment, the very 104 00:11:56,059 --> 00:12:02,360 body of truth into whom you are engrafted when you believe in him. When you come to truth in 105 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:09,139 Christianity, you do not come merely and only to a set of intellectual principles by which to live. 106 00:12:09,740 --> 00:12:16,620 When you come to truth in Christianity, you do not come to relative progressive thoughts and feelings 107 00:12:16,620 --> 00:12:24,200 that shift and change depending upon the evolving consensus of humanity. When you come to truth in 108 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:31,840 Christianity, you come to a person. You come to life in the person of Christ, who is in himself both 109 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:39,639 objective and subject of truth. Jesus said to his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 110 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:47,279 No one comes to the Father except through me. If only lost man could see this and live. Oh, dear listener, 111 00:12:47,279 --> 00:12:55,639 if only the Jews of Jesus day could see this and live. But they manifest their spiritual death with 112 00:12:55,639 --> 00:13:01,759 their response. They said to Jesus, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. 113 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:09,100 How is it that you say you will become free? Oh, dear listener, what kind of freedom do you suppose 114 00:13:09,100 --> 00:13:16,320 the Jews have in mind when they speak this way? They immediately hear Jesus' words in the context of 115 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:22,799 race, race, blood, and nation. Abraham, father of all these things, is the paragon and a talisman 116 00:13:22,799 --> 00:13:30,559 of freedom to them. We know that these men, the Jews of Jesus' day, were waiting for a political and 117 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:38,620 ethnic Messiah. They were relying upon their blood and heritage, being faithful to it in order to inherit 118 00:13:38,620 --> 00:13:45,840 a political and ethnic redemption when it came. Dead and fallen men cannot but hear Jesus' 119 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:53,379 words in any other context than dead and fallen categories. Jesus is not spiritually alive. I mean, 120 00:13:53,519 --> 00:14:01,360 these men, these Jews and people of our day are not spiritually alive, and thus they are incapable of 121 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:08,980 hearing the word of life in living categories, in spiritual categories. So, to this Jesus speaks. 122 00:14:08,980 --> 00:14:18,220 To this Jesus speaks to you as well, dear listener. All lost men speak in categories like those of these 123 00:14:18,220 --> 00:14:24,679 Jews. For instance, a man may say, I'm a Buddhist. I've been released from suffering, so I am a free man 124 00:14:24,679 --> 00:14:30,039 and have never been a slave to anyone. Someone may say, I am a progressive and a member of the party. 125 00:14:30,039 --> 00:14:36,779 The Marxist truth of the inevitable triumph of communism has set me free. I have never been a 126 00:14:36,779 --> 00:14:42,440 slave to anyone. Or someone may even say, I am an American born in the land of the free and the home 127 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:49,340 of the brave. I've never been a slave to anyone. This kind of thingy goes on and on. All of these and 128 00:14:49,340 --> 00:14:57,340 more. Tragically ignore that first liberty, however, spiritual liberty in Christ. Do not be such a one 129 00:14:57,340 --> 00:15:06,480 yourself. Be liberated to Jesus and be liberated from. And that brings me to point two, verses 34 to 38 in 130 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:13,600 John chapter 8. Liberty, spiritual liberty, the first liberty. Jesus conditions on release in him 131 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:21,259 from the bondage of sin. Release from the bondage of sin. To be set free is not only liberation unto 132 00:15:21,259 --> 00:15:27,480 something. That is the person of Jesus. But also, true liberation, spiritual liberation, is liberation 133 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:33,720 from something. This is implicit in the declaration, know the truth and the truth will set you free. 134 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:42,059 Prisoners of war are a vivid illustration of this principle. For example, the Military Channel has an 135 00:15:42,059 --> 00:15:48,399 hour special on the Hano Hilton of the Vietnam War, where so many of our U.S. pilots shot down by North 136 00:15:48,399 --> 00:15:54,059 Vietnamese anti-aircraft fire, were kept prisoners. What a poignant scene when they were released from 137 00:15:54,059 --> 00:16:00,840 prison into the arms of their loved ones. Or, another example, a few members of the Branch Davidians. 138 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:07,340 That was that cult in Waco, led by David Koresh. A few of them managed to escape before the compound was 139 00:16:07,340 --> 00:16:14,539 consumed in fire. Remember them fleeing from the flames into the arms of family? Oh, the liberty from 140 00:16:14,539 --> 00:16:23,360 a thing about which Jesus speaks here is of even more urgency. It is freedom from sin. Freedom from sin. 141 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:29,399 Your sin and your sinful nature, if not slain and dealt with, will kill you most assuredly, not only in this 142 00:16:29,399 --> 00:16:38,320 life, but the next. It's urgent. Do not treat this lightly. Jesus likens our bondage to sin to slavery. He says, 143 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:45,039 Truly, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. That is, who continues 144 00:16:45,039 --> 00:16:52,779 and practices sin as a way of life. That's the idea of those who commit sin. This, however, is the 145 00:16:52,779 --> 00:16:58,820 default setting for the human soul ever since the fall. All men are born slaves, slaves to sin. This is our 146 00:16:58,820 --> 00:17:07,539 natural condition. We flatter ourselves if we think anything else. We are all born POWs, prisoners in the 147 00:17:07,539 --> 00:17:14,180 concentration camp of death, in the war against sin and death. We are not born free. And later, some of 148 00:17:14,180 --> 00:17:19,839 us are seized as slaves and captives in this camp of death. No, all men are born into this life as slaves 149 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:27,480 to sin as a condition of that life. Oh, thanks a lot, Adam, for doing this. Lost man tries to make the 150 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:34,000 best of a bad situation, however, by finding slivers of comfort in the slave camp. And he can do nothing 151 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:39,259 else, really. Maybe a cup of clean water, an extra bowl of moldy rice, a clean shirt from time to time, 152 00:17:39,319 --> 00:17:44,960 a candy bar from home once a year, maybe. Oh, dear listener, without Christ, this is all, relatively 153 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:51,920 speaking, that even the finest, longest, and most luxurious life can give you a few meager morsels in 154 00:17:51,920 --> 00:18:00,740 the POW slave camp. And then you die, temporally and eternally. Jesus means to liberate you from this 155 00:18:00,740 --> 00:18:07,819 camp altogether, the camp of sin. And he means to set you free from your bondage to sin. And he means 156 00:18:07,819 --> 00:18:15,299 to set you free unto a life of freedom and prosperity and joy. Which would you rather have? 157 00:18:15,299 --> 00:18:22,980 Jesus employs the analogy in contrast between the slave and the son in a household. As every Jew would 158 00:18:22,980 --> 00:18:28,980 have known from the earliest days on his father's knee, being raised in a solidly patriarchal society, 159 00:18:29,500 --> 00:18:35,420 Abraham's son by birth and blood in Sarah's womb, Isaac remained in his house forever. That is 160 00:18:35,420 --> 00:18:40,880 perpetually from generation to generation. Initially, though, even Abraham thought it would not, 161 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:46,279 it would be his servant, Eliezer of Damascus, who would inherit his line. The text tells us, 162 00:18:46,339 --> 00:18:50,660 Abraham said, behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my 163 00:18:50,660 --> 00:18:57,680 heir. It was not supposed to be that way. The slave serves and passes on, inheriting nothing from his 164 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:03,240 master. It is the son who carries on the name and inherits the rights and privileges and fortune of 165 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:10,740 the father. How crucial this is in patriarchal societies. And to this principle, God promises Abraham 166 00:19:10,740 --> 00:19:16,920 that he will be faithful. He goes on to say, God said, no, but Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son 167 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:23,000 and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant 168 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:31,039 for his, his offspring after him, unquote. That's the sense in which Jesus means the son remains 169 00:19:31,039 --> 00:19:38,200 forever. It is a covenantal given a condition of a covenant cut in a patriarchal society. God has 170 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:45,099 established an everlasting covenant with his son. And those consequently found in that son, you and me 171 00:19:45,099 --> 00:19:52,400 as Christians born in Christ, we are then co-heirs with him, heirs of life and prosperity and joy 172 00:19:52,400 --> 00:20:00,039 eternally. Oh, dear listener, covenants are cut with sons, not slaves. And this is why Jesus can deduce 173 00:20:00,039 --> 00:20:07,160 with ineluctable logic. When he says, therefore, if the son set you free, you will be free indeed. 174 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:14,220 Oh, liberty, true freedom is found first and foremost in Christ. Spiritual liberty is the first 175 00:20:14,220 --> 00:20:21,740 liberty. Jesus has raided the slave and concentration camp and he has liberated the prisoners and he has 176 00:20:21,740 --> 00:20:27,740 made of them free men. They have become co-heirs with him of a spiritual kingdom. What liberty? What 177 00:20:27,740 --> 00:20:33,720 freedom? It is first and foremost a spiritual liberty. That's the first liberty, the chief liberty 178 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:40,900 without which all others are but mere morsels of temporary relief in a life of death. So go ahead 179 00:20:40,900 --> 00:20:46,759 and fight amongst yourselves for a raw potato. There's some grainy black and white film of U.S. 180 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:52,519 prisoners of war in German POW camps toward the ends of World War II and all food was scarce. And they were 181 00:20:52,519 --> 00:21:00,160 fighting over a few raw moldy potatoes that were thrown into the camp by German soldiers. Oh, go ahead 182 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:06,140 and fight over this because I'm out of here. I'd rather be liberated, that is, free indeed, than linger 183 00:21:06,140 --> 00:21:13,279 for those occasional morsels of relief in this life. Just as every man must be confronted with the reality 184 00:21:13,279 --> 00:21:20,740 of his circumstance, that is, he is a captive in a slave concentration camp of the soul. Oh, he must be 185 00:21:20,740 --> 00:21:27,559 confronted with this. And if he will be free indeed, so Jesus confronts the Jews with the reality of their 186 00:21:27,559 --> 00:21:34,799 circumstance. He says, I know you are Abraham's seed, that is, by physical descent, but you betray you are not 187 00:21:34,799 --> 00:21:42,019 his by spiritual descent. You are more like Eliezer than Isaac. And that evidence is manifest because you 188 00:21:42,019 --> 00:21:49,240 intend to kill me rather than letting me kill the slave in you and bringing you true spiritual life. That is, my words 189 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:57,480 find no place in you, Jesus says to them. Oh, dear listener, if Christ's words finds place in a man's soul, 190 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:07,259 he will come to life. He will see that Christ, he will flee from his abject slavery to true liberty. This is 191 00:22:07,259 --> 00:22:15,480 the first liberty, spiritual liberty in Christ. It is a spiritual liberty, a life of freedom found only in 192 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:23,500 Christ. The conclusion is that while Jesus testifies to what he has seen in his father, they testify to 193 00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:29,380 what they have heard from their father. That is, the devil, as becomes apparent in the following text, 194 00:22:29,460 --> 00:22:36,759 right? And note the contrast in census, too. Jesus has seen the father. They have heard from theirs. There is 195 00:22:36,759 --> 00:22:44,000 an implicit claim to divinity here for Jesus himself, an implicit disparagement of them by alluding to their 196 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:49,940 father, the devil. They have taken the liberty bestowed upon them by God in the faith of Abraham. 197 00:22:50,299 --> 00:22:56,519 They have taken it and distorted and perverted it into the works of death and slavery. This is always 198 00:22:56,519 --> 00:23:03,740 the way of fallen man. He will inevitably take the good gifts and blessings given him and turn them into 199 00:23:03,740 --> 00:23:11,160 curses. Dear listener, without a true spiritual life in Christ, personal liberty is perverted into 200 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:17,700 personal license. Like the freedom to marry someone of the same sex, or the freedom to use drugs of my 201 00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:23,900 choice. The freedom to live a life of dependence on the government dole. Oh, do not make the fatal 202 00:23:23,900 --> 00:23:30,279 mistake of confusing a license with liberty. Oh, without true spiritual life in Christ, dear listener, 203 00:23:30,799 --> 00:23:38,619 political liberty is perverted into slavery and dependence upon government as God. Government as God. 204 00:23:38,619 --> 00:23:45,079 Many Americans live that way today. As we observe happening before our very eyes, Americans are 205 00:23:45,079 --> 00:23:51,119 becoming enamored of big government, seduced by the siren song of we'll take care of you. 206 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:57,480 Oh, which they will. They'll certainly take care of you. All right. Just because government provides you 207 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:04,599 with the illusion of a free vote does not mean you live a free life. Only biblical Christianity provides 208 00:24:04,599 --> 00:24:11,539 a true answer in a constitutional republic where political liberty is grounded in limited government 209 00:24:11,539 --> 00:24:19,299 and true responsibility is assumed by the individual. Oh, without true spiritual liberty, dear listener, 210 00:24:19,660 --> 00:24:27,079 true spiritual liberty in Christ. Why? Religious liberty is perverted into progressive tolerance and 211 00:24:27,079 --> 00:24:34,940 diversity such that even the death cultures of atheism or Islam are allowed to flourish to the eventual 212 00:24:34,940 --> 00:24:41,859 death of true religious freedom. And ironically, close adherence to biblical Christianity is the only true 213 00:24:41,859 --> 00:24:48,819 guarantee of religious freedom. That's one of the great ironies of it all. So, dear people, the choice is 214 00:24:48,819 --> 00:24:55,859 now before you, dear American, on this Fourth of July. The gate is flung open. Liberty for the captive 215 00:24:55,859 --> 00:25:03,839 is yours. Will you be free indeed and find that spiritual liberty in Christ? Or will you continue to 216 00:25:03,839 --> 00:25:11,220 fight and scrap for a few morsels in an otherwise life of death and misery in the slave camp, the 217 00:25:11,220 --> 00:25:17,339 concentration camp of sin? Keep this in mind, dear listener, as you celebrate Independence Day, 218 00:25:17,339 --> 00:25:23,880 the liberties that we cherish in the United States are sweet indeed. Personal liberty, political liberty, 219 00:25:24,140 --> 00:25:31,779 religious liberty, God has given them to us as unalienable rights. But without that first chief and prior 220 00:25:31,779 --> 00:25:38,759 liberty, spiritual liberty in Jesus Christ, all of them are, in comparison, but a few delectable 221 00:25:38,759 --> 00:25:45,619 passing morsels in an otherwise slave and concentration camp of death and misery and sin. So, dear listener, 222 00:25:45,619 --> 00:25:52,460 come to eternal life today. Come to eternal freedom. The first liberty, spiritual liberty. Come to 223 00:25:52,460 --> 00:25:59,480 spiritual liberty in Jesus Christ today. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox 224 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:07,500 Presbyterian Church. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. We indeed worship in true 225 00:26:07,500 --> 00:26:14,900 spiritual liberty on Sundays. And we begin at 10 a.m. We meet at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and 226 00:26:14,900 --> 00:26:22,579 Boulevard. And we encourage you to find us and to seek us out and to visit us. And hopefully you will 227 00:26:22,579 --> 00:26:29,000 find true spiritual liberty in Christ amongst us. And we love Christ and we love the liberty he has given 228 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:35,299 us, which is, first of all, a spiritual liberty. We celebrate that every Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th 229 00:26:35,299 --> 00:26:44,200 Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. 230 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,700 208-523-0196.