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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with A Moment

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of Truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today,

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I want to challenge you to think through the issue on this Independence Day weekend, and I want to

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wish everybody who's listening today just a blessed and glorious Independence Day coming up

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and for the week afterwards, too. This message will run for a couple of weeks, so I just want

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everybody to consider this proposition that liberty is learnt. Liberty is learnt. It doesn't

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come naturally to the human mind and the human soul. It must be taught and inculcated, and it must

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be done so from the Bible. So let's consider that a little bit today, the proposition that liberty is

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learnt. And since it must be learnt, and it must be learnt from the Bible, it is definitely a biblical

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principle where we find it in its best and purest form. Let me read a Bible verse that does have

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bearing upon this topic today, the fact that liberty is learnt, when, in fact, Israel is taught to teach

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their children about the living God of the Bible in whom dwells all of the principles of liberty that

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we need. And I'm going to read then from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 through 9, and that text reads

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thusly, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your

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heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words that I command you today

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shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of

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them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

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You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

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You shall write them on the doorpost of your house, and on your gates." Unquote. Liberty is learnt,

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dear listener. For example, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the

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Constitution ostensibly freed the slaves of their bondage to the white plantation owner. It took a

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long, bloody, and divisive civil war to decide the question. But afterwards, did not the black race

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slaves in America practiced black race slavery? But that slave, when he heard of his newfound freedom,

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did he simply walk away and go and enroll in his local college, or run for Congress, or start his own

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business now that he was free? Oh, that's the simplistic understanding of freedom from slavery. But our

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founding fathers made a distinction between freedom and liberty. Oh, there is a difference, and we're

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unpacking that now. Historians know better, though. And I want to quote from author Mark Oliver. In his

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work, After Slavery and Before Freedom, that's a significant title, After Slavery and Before Freedom,

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in other words, released from the bondage of slavery, did not necessarily bring freedom. And I quote him,

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many slaves knew nothing but their lives of servitude on the master's plantation, and,

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with their newfound freedom, couldn't find new opportunities. As the Reconstruction era began,

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many slaves just stayed right where they were, working on the same plantations for the same

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white overseers. Despite grand proclamations of freedom, little had actually changed. And I quote now

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from one of those slaves, Freedman Charles Anderson of Arkansas, who told the Works Progress Administration,

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in the 1930s, when they were trying to explain why he was still at the same plantation he had been

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liberated as a slave. Well, that slave, Charles Anderson said, I don't know when freedom came on.

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I never did know. Master Stone never forced any of us to leave. Unquote. Oh, Anderson never did leave.

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No, because he may have been free, but he did not yet know liberty. Freedom and liberty is not the

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natural state of man. From the beginning of history, that's a naive assumption extrapolated from the

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false premise that since I have known what liberty is since childhood, everyone else knows what liberty is

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from childhood. No, I learned it. I was taught it. I didn't have it deep within my soul. Men do not

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naturally desire it and long for it, as President George W. Bush tried to tell us. Do you remember

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what he said before those purple thumb elections in Iraq back in 2005? George W. Bush said this naively.

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He said, the desire for freedom resides in every human heart, and that desire cannot be contained forever

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by prison walls or martial laws or secret police. Over time and across the earth, freedom will find a way.

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Unquote. That is sentimental claptrap that gets us into wars, and it got us into war in Iraq. How has that desire

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worked out in Iraq? No. Instead, what we know from history is that slavery is the rule of history,

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and liberty is the exception. It's not that liberty doesn't exist. It is rather the exception rather than

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the rule. Liberty is not an intuitive impulse of the human soul. Liberty must be learnt. Melton Melzer

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in his magnum opus, Slavery, a world history. He's written a book, a comprehensive book. It's a

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little tedious, but it is comprehensive. It is called Slavery, a world history. Melter documents slavery

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from the earliest days of our species, he does. And he, in particular, since we transition from a

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nomadic shepherd existence to a domestic agrarian existence, we find the seeds for true liberty learnt

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rather than in the heart of the human soul, we find the seeds for true liberty learnt in the pages of

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Scripture. So let me unpack for you this text that I read for you, and I want to make two points from

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it. First of all, from verses 4 through 6, remember verses 4 through 6, Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God,

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the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all

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your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. The content of liberty

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learnt is the love of the Trinitarian God of the Bible and his covenant law. Yes. Here in Deuteronomy,

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those texts I just read for you, Israel stands poised to enter the promised land with their king,

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Yahweh Elohim, at the head of the army. He tells Israel, I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of

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the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And it was no historical anomaly that Israel had

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sunk into slavery. No, the first generation of Israelites had been purged, their corpses littering

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the wilderness because of their manifest unfaithfulness. Yeah. They said back in Numbers,

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we're not able to go up against the people of Canaan for they're stronger than we are.

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You remember that? They said, let's elect a captain back for Egypt. We remember the fish we ate in

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Egypt that cost nothing, nothing but your, except your freedom, right? And your liberty that costs

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nothing. The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and their garlic, their stomach dictated

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where they wanted to be. A true slave mentality consisting in a manifest faithlessness, a complete

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failure to remember the saving acts of God in the past and the promise of salvation in the future.

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This was Israel. Oh, liberty is learned, dear listener. It doesn't spring up naturally in the

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human soul. And that faithlessness, that's what springs up naturally in the human soul,

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slavery and faithlessness. And it was consistently manifest in disobedience and lapses into idolatry

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in Israel. But now a second generation has begun to learn liberty in Israel here in Deuteronomy,

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led by the two men from that first generation who did manifest faith. And that was Joshua and Caleb,

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Joshua and Caleb. Well, in what does their liberty consist? Well, it consists in nothing less than love

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of the Trinitarian God of the Bible and his covenant law. True liberty begins here. Our verses

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today serve as a kind of summary. It is the majestic, profound Shema, as it's known, which is Hebrew

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for here. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Verse 4 states positively the negative commands of

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the first of the second Ten Commandments. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. That was a revolutionary

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declaration in the ancient world because it flew in the face of polytheism. And the word one or alone

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implies monotheism, even if it doesn't state it with all the subtleties of theological formulation.

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Nevertheless, it is a declaration of monotheism. Christianity is a monotheistic religion.

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And this is now revealed. This now revealed being was to be loved. He was to be loved with unreserved

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devotion. That's the sense of heart and soul. Love him with your heart and soul. The word love has

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great import. Our Lord himself, Jesus Christ, employs this as a summary of the law and the prophets.

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Teacher, which is the great commandment of the law, he was asked? You shall love the Lord your God

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with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first

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commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments

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depend all the law and the prophets. Unquote. Ah, love for the Trinitarian God of the Bible is the first

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principle then of true liberty. Liberty is different from freedom. Freedom, you can be released from

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chains. But what you do once you are released from those chains, excuse me, is dependent on liberty.

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And liberty, it must be taught. Well, this Shema, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God.

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This Shema now belongs to the church and should be on our hearts as much as it was commanded to be on the

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hearts of that second generation of Israelites. And the words of that law consist not only of these brief

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verses, but rather the whole of the second reading of the law that consists of the book of Deuteronomy.

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And consequently, the content of Israel's liberty is our liberty. Now, that's nothing less than the

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Trinitarian God of the Bible. And the second person of the Godhead tells us of what true liberty consists

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now, right? Jesus Christ says this in John chapter eight, if you abide in my word, you are truly my

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disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Ah, true liberty, dear listener.

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Spiritual liberty is the first liberty. All others depend firstly upon it, spiritual liberty.

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But once one is set free in Christ, that freedom begins to impact all of life. Life, liberty, and the

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pursuit of happiness, as Jefferson said, right? The gospel is the starting place for true liberty. And that

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must be our founding premise. The gospel is the starting place for true liberty. All other sources and forms

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of freedom so-called things like Marxism or Islam or Americanism. These are just corollaries of slavery

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at the end of the day. A slavery, which begins as a slavery to sin, overseen by that first slave master,

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Satan. Ah, precisely because slavery is the default setting of the human soul that dwells in impenetrable

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darkness and ignorance. Well, this liberty must be learnt. Liberty must be learnt, dear listener. It does not arise

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in the human mind and soul apart from it being specially revealed and particularly taught. Liberty must be

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learnt. Consequently, we come to point two. Liberty is learnt. This encompasses verses seven through nine. And that is

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the mode of liberty learnt. The mode of liberty learnt is the consistent inculcation, the teaching of God's

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liberating truths. True liberty. Dear listener, I submit to you that true liberty becomes generational

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when it is thoroughly inculcated and taught by faithful parents to their children. George Washington said,

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and I quote him, a primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic,

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what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those

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who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country? Ah, liberty must be learnt. And it begins then in

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scriptural inculcation and education by faithful parents to their children. That's a sense of teaching

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diligently. So abysmally ignorant and prone to wickedness is the human spirit that it will not be

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free unless and until it is continuously, consistently, and in a disciplined fashion taught the gospel and

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its object, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, for the saint about to enter the promised land,

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and this was the application and teaching of God's covenant law. In order to love, one must obey. And in order

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to obey, one must acquire a working knowledge of the Father's will for all things. This is why liberty must

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be learnt. Taught, preached, illustrated, inculcated at every opportunity, the things of liberty and freedom,

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every opportunity made known to the child. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, the Bible

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says. Talk with them when you sit in your house, right? These are the things in our own context. It

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would be things like talk about the covenant law and God's will for your kids at the dinner table when

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you're playing Uno, maybe. In our modern context, you talk about the law and God's will when you're

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walking in the park or driving to the grocery store. In our context, we talk about the law and God's will for our

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kids when they get up and brush their teeth in the morning and recite your prayers. Or at the end of the day, you

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talk about the law and God's will for your kids when you're putting on your PJs and saying your evening

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prayers. Oh, so ever-present should God's covenant law and his ways be to your senses and the senses of your

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children, that they should guide all of your deeds. That is, they should be signs on your hands, right?

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As the text tells us, bind them on your hands as a sign. Those were the phylacteries, those little

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boxes with scriptures in them that the Hebrews would put on their hands and then over their foreheads

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as frontlets between your eyes, as the text tells us. So ever-present should be the gospel, that it should

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guide all of your thoughts and all of your actions, right? They should be on billboards on the highway,

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carved into the doors of your very house. Everywhere your eyes gaze or your hand touches or your foot

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sets is a potential opportunity for the gospel to be taught, dear listener. Liberty is learnt. It does

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not spring naturally from the human soul. The fallen human soul has slavery spring up naturally from within

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it. It must be a heart renewed in Jesus Christ, a life dedicated to God that has true liberty springing from

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it, and thus liberty is learnt. And when the fathers and leaders of the church began to formulate principles of

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political liberty, they brought to bear the things that we've been talking about, dear listener. All true liberty

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begins in the gospel. Ah, no king but Christ was the rallying cry of the revolutionary era. No king but

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Christ, and they learned true liberty from the gospel. Liberty is learnt, dear listener. Slavery is native to

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our nature, not freedom. Natural God-given rights like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not

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naturally springing from the heart and mind. They must be revealed and taught. We are created for

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liberty. We are, dear listener. We are created for liberty, but we are created for liberty in Christ.

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And the principles of liberty must be consequently revealed and taught. Liberty is learnt. Whether we're

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talking about freedom of speech and religion or freedom to defend one's person and family with arms or the

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right to live in a just society where real criminals are punished and everyone has a right to a speedy

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trial or jury of one's peers or security in one's persons and property, these are principles that must be

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learnt. They do not spring naturally from the human soul. When it's not taught, we sink back to our default

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setting, and that is slavery. And that's happening today. For example, are our fellow citizens wrong

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in being passionately aggrieved at the school boards that surreptitiously bring in critical race theory

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into our classrooms? No, we're not wrong for feeling aggrieved. Or are we wrong to be adamant in opposing

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the gender confusion being deliberately sown in the hearts and minds of impressionable children? We're not

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wrong. No. Instead of George Washington, we have men in makeup and dresses held up as models for

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behavior. Drag queens instead of kings of liberty, right? Oh, liberty is learnt, dear listener, when it

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is taught. Liberty is learnt when it is taught. James Madison tells us a well-instructed people alone

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can be permanently a free people. He understood this, James Madison. He said it succinctly, right?

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A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people. Liberty is learnt. Ben Franklin puts

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it this way. He says, a nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights

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which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny

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begins, unquote. Oh, Franklin has encapsulated it so well, and we see it transpiring in our own day,

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do we not? The religion of ignorance prevails in America today, and tyranny has begun. Tyranny is now

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here in our nation. It has not only begun, but it is growing and taking over because of the religion

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of ignorance that has prevailed in our public schools, in our public media, and in the streets

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of America, even our government leaders are cynically, consciously inculcating the religion

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of ignorance on America so they can captivate us as tyrants and we as slaves. But a nation of

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well-informed men, we are not well-informed to stay. Biden can't even cite the Declaration of

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Independence without getting confused and losing his way. A nation of well-informed men who have been

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taught, once again, there's the idea that liberty is learnt. Franklin says, a nation of well-informed men

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who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. I will

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not be enslaved. I have been taught. The inculcation of my rights that God has given me will not

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enslave those who know them, and I will not be enslaved because I have been taught. Liberty must

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be learnt. I have learnt liberty over the course of my life, and I will not be made a slave.

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The New Testament does reveal to us what the Old Testament pointed to. That is, that the one God

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of the Bible consists in the three persons of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And

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the first liberty is spiritual liberty. Just because a man is set free, as we saw back with Mr. Anderson

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in Alabama, just because a man is set free does not mean he has liberty. And our founding fathers

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understood this. Just because a man is released from his chains, it doesn't mean he knows what

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to do, how to behave, how to behave and exercise his liberties if he doesn't know what they are,

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if he's not been educated in how to exercise and defend them, even as the freed slaves who followed

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Sherman in his march to the sea. Sherman set free thousands and thousands of slaves, but who knew not

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what to do? They couldn't provide for themselves. They didn't know what it meant to speak freely.

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They hadn't been taught to speak freely or to form a jury in a trial for their peers or how to defend

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themselves with arms. In fact, the National Rifle Association was first formed to teach the freed

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slaves how to defend themselves and use weapons to defend themselves. But all of that did not happen

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overnight. Liberty must be learned, dear listener. Just because a man is set free does not mean he has

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liberty. And our founding fathers knew this and inculcated it with everybody. And I want to also

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then close by quoting one of the founding fathers, Mr. Abraham Baldwin. Now, we don't all know who

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Abraham Baldwin was, but he was a signer to the constitution. And he says this then about liberty

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and its inculcation in teaching. He says, and I quote, when the minds of the people in general are

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viciously disposed and unprincipled and their conduct disorderly, sounds like the generation today,

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right? When the minds of the people in general are viciously disposed and unprincipled and their

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conduct disorderly, a free government will be attended with greater confusions and evils more

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horrid than the wild, uncultivated state of nature. It can only be happy when the public principles and

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opinions are properly directed and their manners regulated. This is an influence beyond the reach

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of laws and punishments and can be claimed only by religion and education. True civilization and

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liberty, Baldwin says, can only be claimed by religion and education. Liberty must be learnt, dear listener.

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Baldwin goes on to say, it should therefore be among the first objects of those who wish well to the

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national prosperity to encourage and support the principles of religion and morality and early to place

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the youth under the forming hand of society that by instruction they may be molded to the love of virtue

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and good order. Unquote. Abraham Baldwin, signer of the Constitution, did indeed understand how important

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instruction is to inculcating liberty. Liberty must be learnt that by instruction youth may be molded to the love

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of virtue and good order. Liberty is learnt, dear listener. And as you contemplate, then liberty, our freedom, our

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Constitution, during this weekend, 4th of July weekend and 4th of July week, really, I hope you take all week to

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consider these things, then understand how important education is and why the enemies of liberty, the friends of

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tyranny realize the importance of tyranny realize the importance of education, why they've worked so hard to take

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over the schools, and they now teach gender rather than generation. Yes, they teach tyranny rather than liberty, the

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tyranny of sexual identity rather than the liberty of biblical and constitutional principles, and that must be

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turned around. Liberty is learnt, dear listener, and we must get about back to inculcating the basics, educating the

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basics of liberty into the hearts and minds of our children, the next generation, and we must always

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understand that it is the love of the living God of the Bible that begins freedom, that turns the key

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to liberty in the hearts and minds of our children. Love of God, love of His Word, love of the principles of

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liberty that we find there in the gospel. Liberty from sin and death, first and foremost in Christ, and then

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liberty flows out like water over the land. Subsequently, when we have, first of all, the

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spiritual liberty. Spiritual liberty is the first liberty after all, and then we can teach liberty in

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every other sphere of life. We must teach it, though. We must bring education to bear, and we must

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understand that liberty is learnt. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian

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Church, and we do teach. We understand that liberty is learnt, and we inculcate liberty, first and

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foremost, spiritual liberty at New Geneva, and subsequently, liberty in every other sphere of

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life. And we encourage you to cross our threshold. Perhaps come and visit us. You've been meaning to,

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perhaps, but come and visit us at New Geneva. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m.

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at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more feedback or

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more information, perhaps, at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.