The Freedom Dependence Paradox– Happy Independence Day – Purity 1085

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of the magnificence of the heavens just past sunset over the Washington, Washington County Fairgrounds in Greenwich, New York comes to us from yours truly as I decided to capture the last remnants of God's natural light show before some local men tried to celebrate our American independence and dazzle us with the use of the latest technology, drones. Drones, and pyrotechnic elements, fireworks. As much as we Americans may associate fireworks with our Independence Day, fireworks were originally used by the Chinese to celebrate New Year celebrations and to scare away evil spirits. Exploding firecrackers are said to be produced by a Chinese monk named Li Tian, who lived near the city of Liu Yang in Hunan Province during the Song Dynasty between 960 and 1279 AD, long before America was ever dreamed of. But, in the fullness of time, the settlement of North America by invading masses of settlers from England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands did come to pass, and eventually resulted in the formation of these United States of America. That our national anthem declares to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. But as many Americans would remind you, our freedom wasn't free. Our independence was fought for, established and maintained because people were willing to die for the privilege to rule themselves. So the freedom and independence we celebrate today is one that came at a great price of the sacrifice of many. So freedom isn't free, and we should appreciate it. Some of the freedoms that I particularly enjoy— speech, religion, and assembly freedoms regarding the practice of my Christian faith— are covered in our nation's Constitution's First Amendment that states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of— or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. As Americans, we have a country that has pledged to neither establish a state religion— sorry, Christian Nationalists— or to prohibit the free exercise of religion. A country that pledges to not abridge free speech I can speak about my faith, or press, I can write about my faith, or impede our right to peaceably assemble, we get to gather together to worship. And the reason why these freedoms were established in our First Amendment is because our other kingdoms of the earth had a history of limiting or dictating how its people could relate to God. And our founding fathers understood that if the nation we were creating wanted to be free, The ability to freely worship the Lord was important, but they also understood that we shouldn't force people to worship him or to do so in a mandatory way. Uh, they also understood that man was fallible and that we wouldn't always get things right. There would be different opinions, there would be disputes, no matter what noble intentions we had. The Constitution's First Amendment acknowledges that problems would arise And thus, our First Amendment gives us the right to petition the government to redress grievances. It gives us the right to go before a government body to ask them to solve problems. Of course, paradoxically, the biggest problems that man faces, faces, comes when we seek to free ourselves from the wisdom and authority of God and fail to see that man's biggest problem, death, can only be solved by coming under the Lordship of Christ. While we can live free or die in these United States, without bowing the knee to Jesus, we will perish. Jesus said of himself in John 3:13-16, "No one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. While we can choose to live however we want, we are not free of the consequences of our sins, and the only one that can give us eternal life and forgiveness and freedom from sin is Christ. God's word tells us in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." And Romans 8:2 tells us, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death." Just as our freedom as Americans has been paid for by the lives of those who are willing to pay the ultimate price of their lives, Jesus died so we could live. Romans 5:8 tells us, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Just how Americans died for our freedom, Christ came and died to set us free. So as we go forward to celebrate our freedom as Americans, let's share the joy of our freedom in Christ. True freedom over death and sin has been won by the Son. As Christ said in John 8:36, "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." In Christ, we are free indeed. Our independence from the tyrannical rule of foreign powers is nice, but freedom from sin and death, and the gift of eternal life, come from our dependence on Christ alone. It's another one of those paradoxes of our faith. But our freedom comes from surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus. So live free and live forever in Christ. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on adultery, and the verses today are Proverbs 6:20-35. And the Word of God says, my son, keep your father's commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching. Bind them on your heart always, tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you. When you lie down, they will watch over you. And when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the proofs of discipline are the way of life. To preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes. For the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. Can a man carry the fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes into his neighbor's wife. None who touches her will go unpunished. People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry, but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold. He will give all the goods of his house. He who commits adultery lacks sense. He who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. He will accept no compensation; he will refuse, though you multiply gifts. Today's verses fall under the fifth point of our resources section on adultery, number 5, shun adultery. Uh, yesterday our research shared verses 27 and 28 of Proverbs 6, warning how our sin would cause us to get burned. But when I saw that verses, um, 20 through 35, it was a whole discourse on the dangers of adultery. I wondered why our resource didn't share the whole passage, only to, only to discover that today it did. I just had to look ahead a little to see it, uh, teaching me that checking out the context of our resource as well as the context of scripture, uh, the scriptures it references, will be a good idea going forward. As I pointed out yesterday, today's verses warn, um, that the one who commits adultery will not go unpunished. If caught in the sin of adultery, one could experience loss of trust, of a marriage, of friendships, of a home, of personal property, as divorce causes dispersion, and possibly of life itself at the hands of an angry spouse seeking revenge. If undetected on earth, beyond God's punishment, the adulterer, adulterer faces the loss of honor and integrity as the sin changes how one views oneself, relationships, and the world in general. The adulterer looks at the world with an untrusting eye because they know what acts of betrayal and depravity people are capable of, and they look at the world with lust as once committed the adulterer, like the successful thief, looks for new opportunities to take what they want. So, follow today's verse's injunction to keep your Father's commandment to not commit adultery. As our resource recommends, shun adultery because it never goes unpunished and its effects are far-reaching and damaging. God doesn't forbid adultery to keep us from a good time. He forbid— he forbids it because it is wrong and it causes pain. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit, and today we start sharing from chapter 12. Which is the spirit enlightening. And but before he jumps into that part, portion of it, um, A.W. Pink writes a little bit about how darkness, you know, it's darkness by nature, that our nature of fallen man is darkness. And so if you want to see what A.W. Pink has to say about that, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. Well, it is Independence Day, and, um, I'm not sure what the weather— the weather looks a little cloudy or misty outside, but as far as I know, I am marching in a parade today to celebrate my American independence in support of my father-in-law's charitable foundation, Operation Adopts a Soldier, that supports servicemen who are abroad and at home. So it's a small act of service and a good way to— a good way to give back, I guess, to represent my father-in-law's charity and to, you know, to honor the people who serve our country. So I'm not sure what anyone else has planned, but I wish everyone a happy July 4th. And, um, as I tried to indicate, that even though we're free as Americans, we should celebrate our freedom in Christ first and foremost, as we have become members of the kingdom, the kingdom of God. So I encourage everyone to live out your freedom and exercise that freedom of speech and tell somebody about Jesus. Well, that's it for me. Uh, I'm gonna pray and enjoy the day off. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the freedom that you gave us, the freedom over sin and death, the freedom that only comes through faith in Jesus Christ. And we thank you for showing us the truth and leading us into repentance to live under your government and to experience the freedom that you have for us, the freedom to be the people you created us to be. Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening today. We pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith. Um, and Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today to protect and guide us and to lead us in the things we should do. Open our eyes to the things you want us to see and guide our steps as we go forth to celebrate our independence today. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.