The Creator and Human Liberty

Galatians 5:1 NKJV

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Galatians 5:13 NKJV

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Liberty Bell: “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” (Leviticus 25:10)

The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)

Introduction: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures’ God entitles them, a descent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which compel them to the separation.”

Two Higher Laws (than human law).

The Laws of Nature: The physical laws of creation.

The Laws of Nature’s God: The Divine laws revealed in Scripture.

Sir William Blackstone (English teacher of Common Law; 1732-1780): “Upon these two foundations, the law of Nature and the law of Revelation, depend all human law; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict them.”

Thomas Jefferson: “Can the liberties of a nation be sure when we remove their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people, that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?”

John Witherspoon [Signer of the Declaration of Independence]: “He is the best friend of American liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion and who sets Himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind...God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that the unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both.” [Spoken in a sermon on May 17, 1776 before the Declaration was signed]

John Quincy Adams (Signer of the Declaration of Independence, 2nd President, called “The Father of the American Revolution) “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. From the day of the Declaration...they were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct.”

Samuel Adams [Signer of the Declaration of Independence and American Revolutionist]: “I conceive we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world…that the confusions that are and have been among the nations may be overruled by the promoting and speedily bringing in the holy and happy period when the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be everywhere established.”

Self-Evident Truths

The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

These truths are self-evident.

All men are created:.

All men are created equal.

There are no special classes or exceptions.

All men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

No man, government, or authority has the right to dismiss the rights given to them by their Creator.

These unalienable rights include:

Life: The right to life.

Life is the fundamental right that only God who gives life has the right to take away.

Abortion and Murder: People who will take your life will take your liberties and properties too.

Liberty: The right to do what is right, i.e., freedom with responsibility.

False liberty: The “right” to do whatever I want, where I want, whenever I want.

2 Peter 2:19 NKJV

While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

Pursuit of happiness: Personal ownership of land and property.

Confiscating property through legislation.

Stealing through excessive taxation without representation.

Enslaving through debt.

Conclusion: “We therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America…appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are and of right ought to be Free and Independent States…Absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown.”

We Must Never Forget

Our liberties come from the Lord and not government.

When the God of the Bible is removed from our nation, our government will remove the liberties given by the God of the Bible.

Patrick Henry [original member of the Continental Congress]: “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

John Jay [Founding Father and first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court] “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. It is to be regretted, but so I believe the fact to be, that except the Bible there is not a true history in the world.”

Benjamin Franklin: “Have we now forgotten that powerful Friend?  Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?  I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?  We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House they labor in vain that builds it.’  I firmly believe this:  and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel. I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business…”

Response to the Word

Our liberties are given to us by our Creator.

Our liberties are made available through Christ.

It is time to return to the Lord

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.