Freedom's Song
Notes
Transcript
Yesterday we celebrated Independence Day as a nation. We spent the weekend at my in-laws house on the lake. We have celebrated in different ways throughout the years. When I was younger, we held a big family celebration at my grandparents’ house. After my grandpa died, we began going to the lake and camping and being out on the boat for most of the day. Of course, we always have a fireworks show of some kind. One of my personal favorite things to do is to put together or find an Independence Day playlist to jam out to while out on the boat or grilling some burgers. There are many great songs about freedom and Independence Day. This morning, I want to show you a passage about the freedom that we find through God’s Word. God’s Word gives us liberty. As is often the case in God’s economy, we have a bit of a paradox. His Word is a law that gives freedom. Sin would have dominion over us, but His Word sets us free. True freedom comes in obeying God’s Will. His Word is the perfect law of liberty.
Psalm 119 is the longest of the Psalms, consisting of 176 verses. It is an acrostic poem, following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each Hebrew letter is granted eight verses. The focus of the whole is on the Psalmist’s love for the Word (or Law) of God. Interestingly, numbers has great significance for the Jews. The number eight is the number of abundance. God’s Word in not merely sufficient to meet our needs, but it goes beyond our needs to meet our desires.
The greatest need for all mankind is the need for freedom. The Psalmist makes it clear in this passage that God’s Word provides freedom to those who live in obedience to it. Due to time restrictions, we will not study all of Psalm 119, though I encourage you to read this great psalm. Rather, this morning we will examine a short passage within Psalm 119 and discuss how God’s Word provides freedom and how we should respond to it.
44 I will always obey your instruction, forever and ever. 45 I will walk freely in an open place because I study your precepts.
Living in Obedience to God’s Word Supplies Freedom
Living in Obedience to God’s Word Supplies Freedom
I realize that we are jumping into the middle of a stanza with our first verses of study this morning, but it is the focal point of the stanza. When you live according to God’s Word, His Law, His instruction, you can live in liberty. I like the way the NIV phrases this verse:
45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
God’s Word can grant you freedom, but notice it is only when you live (or walk) in obedience to it. When you live according to the Word of God, you are living in union with God. When you live in a relationship with Father God, He empowers you by His Spirit to live according to His Word. The only way to have that relationship with the Father is by faith in His Son, Jesus the Christ. Jesus said,
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
When you accept the Son as described in God’s Word, Scripture says that the Son and the Father send the Spirit to seal us as a promise for the coming day of the return of Christ. The Spirit is a Spirit of freedom.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
The Spirit reminds the believer of the witness of Jesus through the power of the Word. There is no other way to ensure our perseverance in holiness than by allowing the Word of Truth to abide within us by the power of the Spirit of Truth.
That word “holiness” frightens some people. Righteousness sounds like you have to live in bondage to some code of honor. We think of that as losing our freedom.
The truth is that freedom can be dangerous. I think we are seeing that right now in our country. We have been seeing it for years if we are honest with ourselves. Let me illustrate it this way:
I grew up with my parents and grandparents raising cattle. So I spend many summers building fence with my dad. We had to put up the fence to restrain the cattle to certain areas. We couldn’t allow the cattle to be outside of the fenced area because it was dangerous outside of that area. If a cow gets into the road, it risks getting hit by a car. That is a danger to the cow. A cow is not likely to survive getting hit by a car speeding down the road at speeds of 45mph or higher. Further, the person driving the car is likely to be injured or killed in hitting a 1500-1600 pound cow. So for the safety of the cattle and the people in the area, we put up a barrier.
We need boundaries in our lives. Those boundaries are for our protection. There is no bondage in holiness. The Spirit of holiness is a free spirit. He sets men free and enable them to resist efforts of sin to imprison them. We can live in freedom within godly boundaries. Those cattle still had hundreds of acres on which they could roam freely. The child of God, obedience to the Word, has much room to roam freely. There is no need to restrain the searcher within the safety of the borders of God’s Word. Rather, he learns to obey God’s Word and to seeks to obey it.
God’s Word provides freedom for the believer in three specific ways, as seen in this passage.
41 Let your faithful love come to me, Lord, your salvation, as you promised.
We are Free in God’s Love
We are Free in God’s Love
We needed God’s love to come to us. While God created mankind to live in a relationship with Him, mankind has rejected God and sought to live on our own. We all live in open rebellion against God until He changes us. We are guilty in our sin, but God loves us and extends His mercy to us. God blesses both the righteous and the wicked with life, but our sin has brought the death penalty upon us all. Our sin against the Lord of all creation has brought us upon on charges of treason against Him.
Probably the most famous case of treason known to most Americans is that of Benedict Arnold. Arnold was a brigadier general during the American Revolution, fighting with the Americans for freedom from British rule. George Washington gave him command of West Point, but when the British offered him 20,000 pounds to surrender it to them, he decided to take their offer. The plot was revealed and he escaped.
America was not yet a nation, so treasonous as his actions were, it was not able to be acted upon. But the United States law was established that any citizen found acting against the United States is guilty of treason and subject to the death penalty.
All of human creation has acted treasonous against the Creator, and He justly has prescribed the death penalty upon us all. But, because of His great love for us, He does not want to see anyone die. So He has provided a substitution through His only begotten Son, Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth, the Incarnate Son of God, though He was innocent, died on a cruel Roman cross under the false charge of blasphemy against God. He died a penal substitutionary death. In other words, He died in my place and in your place. He took the penalty the Father had levied against us. He provided for our salvation by His death and secured it by His resurrection from the dead.
This salvation is wholly of the Lord. He did not have to die. It was because He chose to do so, out of love for mankind. Spurgeon said,
Salvation is an aggregate of mercies incalculable in number, priceless in value, incessant in application, eternal in endurance.
Salvation is promised in God’s Word. You find it from Genesis through Revelation. The way of salvation is described in God’s Word. By accepting and trusting the Christ described in the Old and New Testaments, salvation comes to you. So the Bible is a witness to salvation. Jesus Himself is described by John as the Word.
The Word of God provides freedom because God’s love provides for our salvation. You can live in freedom from the curse of sin.
42 Then I can answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
We are Free From Fear
We are Free From Fear
You can be prepared to answer the objections of the world when you trust God’s Word. You can trust the Bible about everything because the Bible is right about everything. There is no falsehood in the Bible. There is no error. It is true and can be wholly trusted. You can be prepared with an answer that appeals to the highest authority, the Creator Himself. To argue with the Bible is to argue with God. To truth in the Word is to trust in God.
You don’t have to live in fear about knowing what is true or what is not true. You don’t have to worry about speculating about life or the afterlife. All of the answers that you need are in the Word of God. You can test every book by the Book. You can test every human saying by what God says. If you trust the Word of God, then you trust God. You need not fear what men can do to you.
28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
You can live in the freedom found in God’s Word because you are free in His love and salvation and free from fear of the things of this world.
43 Never take the word of truth from my mouth, for I hope in your judgments.
We are Free in Hope
We are Free in Hope
We don’t live as those without hope. We don’t live wondering what is going to happen. We know that all of human history as we know it is leading to an ending point. There is coming a day when Christ shall return and the things of this world shall end. The day of God’s judgement will come. The devil and those that follow him will be cast into a lake of fire. God will create a new heaven and a new earth. The New Jerusalem will descend out of heaven. There will be peace for all who have place their faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. We look forward to that day with hope. We live in this time with that hope that is found in God’s Word.
The Word of Truth cannot be a joy in our mouths unless we have an experience of that hope. Jesus is the hope of our salvation. He is the hope that we have to live in this world. When we trust in the Word and have a witness to its truth, we can demonstrate the hope that we have in Christ Jesus and the Word of God. For instance, we don’t mourn as the pagans mourn. We know that if our loved one was a follower of Christ, we shall see them again on that glorious day.
God is the author of our hope. We trust in Him to fulfill our hope. But we have to keep that hope in our minds and on the tips of our tongues. The Psalmist expresses his hope that the Word is never taken out of his mouth. If we let the Word of truth become foreign in our mouths, we risk losing our hope. But if you keep it as a resident in your mouth, you can experience the freedom of living in obedience to it.
Living in obedience to God’s Word reminds that we are free in His love, that we are free from fear in this world, and that we are free to hope in Him. So,
How Should We Respond to Our Freedom?
How Should We Respond to Our Freedom?
It is clear, then, that Christ has set us free. How do we respond to our freedom?
13 For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.
Paul makes it clear that this freedom we have been granted is not merely freedom to do what we desire, but it is a freedom to do what is right. It is freedom to live a life marked by righteousness. The two ways the psalmist responded to this freedom was to proclaim the Word of God and to cherish it.
46 I will speak of your decrees before kings and not be ashamed.
We Should Speak God’s Word
We Should Speak God’s Word
Part of godly liberty is the freedom from fear of even the proudest and most tyrannical of men. David was not afraid to proclaim the King of Kings amongst the human kings. Paul was not afraid to share the gospel with the emperor’s imperial guard. Godly liberty is having the freedom to be bold in the world because of the hope we possess in the King of Kings.
Spurgeon said,
There is nothing to be ashamed of, and there is no excuse for being ashamed, and yet many are as quiet as the dead for fear some creature like themselves should be offended.
The freedom we have in Christ should dispel cowardice. It should provoke a boldness of testimony. Part of obedience to the Word is to share it and to tell others of what the Lord has done for us. We need to speak life into a dead world. If men reject the King, we should be ashamed of them, but not of ourselves, our message, our our Master.
47 I delight in your commands, which I love. 48 I will lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, and will meditate on your statutes.
We Should Love God’s Word
We Should Love God’s Word
Our liberty and courage should bring delight. We should find delight in doing our duty. Throughout the Scriptures, we are told to study them, to examine them, and to feed on the truths of God’s Word.
As a history major, one of my joys is to study the history of our country. I enjoy studying to learn more about my country. I am a patriotic person. I dedicated six years of my life to protecting our country.I took an oath to enlist
I, Joel McReynolds, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
I enjoy studying the Constitution to ensure that I can continue to fulfill my oath of fidelity to it, even though I am no longer in the military.
Yet while I love the United States, my citizenship is not ultimately American. I belong to a greater kingdom. Where your love is, there is your delight. The Psalmist says that he delights in the Word; therefore, he resolves to worship its author and meditate upon its meaning.
If you love the kingdom of God, you enjoy studying the Word of God. You enjoy meditating on it, feeding your soul on its truths.
If you have been set free from the kingdom of death and darkness, you should love the Word of God and you should speak it to those around you.
Conclusion
Conclusion
While we should be grateful of the freedom that we possess in the United States and it is right to joyfully celebrate our independence, it is much more important that you have freedom from slavery to sin through the liberty of Christ. The Bible tells us how we are free in God’s love, we are free from fear, and we are free in the hope of Christ. My prayer is that you have experienced that freedom in your life. If you have not, Scripture tells us that today can be the day of salvation. Won’t you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today?
If you have already found freedom in Christ, are you loving the Word of God? Are you living it? Are you sharing it with those around you?
