Freedom’s Price?

On this weekend as Americans honour those who paid the supreme price for their freedoms, it is appropriate to remember that freedom never comes cheaply. Perhaps we should remember some of the immortal words spoken by patriots on the subject.

One said, “Give me liberty, or give me death” Another said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Someone else stated. “It is better to die a free man on your feet, than to live as a slave on your knees.” Mann said, “No man escapes when freedom fails, the best men rot in filthy jails, and those who cried, ‘Appease! Appease!’ are killed by those they tried to please.”

I read a time back that over 200,000 Christian clergymen were killed for their faith in the former Soviet Union between 1917 and 1988. In addition, tens of millions of simple Christians died during this era as well. Let us never forget our forefathers who paid the ultimate price that we might be free of such religious repression and persecution. Let us also remember there is a continuing price to be paid in each generation if these precious freedoms purchased at such a high price are to be maintained and passed on.

But there is another sort of freedom that is even more precious and costly. It is the freedom our Savior spoke of when He said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free - If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.” The price of this freedom has already been paid. It was purchased by the Father and Son at the most terrible cost. The ultimate sacrifice  made by the Father and Son to procure our spiritual freedom is beyond the comprehension of the mortal mind. Yet, this incomprehensible freedom is offered to mankind absolutely free. Paul said: “For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The spiritual freedom God offers to those who will repent and believe upon His Son is more than momentary and historical. It is eternal. When we are born again of His Spirit and become new creatures in Christ Jesus, we are justified by faith.

We are saved from:

The penalty of sin

The power of sin

The presence of sin

We are given eternal freedom from sin. We are immediately saved from the penalty of sin. Daily we are being freed from the power of sin in our lives. When we are ushered into His presence eternally, we will be freed forever from the very presence of sin!

What does such spiritual liberty mean in a practical sense? God enjoined His Old Testament people to, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land.” Paul said to God’s New Testament people, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free...” And, “For brethren, ye have been called too liberty; only use not that liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

What has happened to our society? Why the great cry for conformity? We see the symptoms on every hand. We are caught up in a great rush for revolution, just for the sake of revolution. Change for the sake of change.  A time when political correctness is demanded of all who would participate in public discourse.  It sometimes reaches the proportions of the ridiculous.

It is reported that an old college grad. returned for a nostalgic visit to the Halls of Ivy. As he talked over old times with an old professor he noted a copy of an exam on the desk and was astonished to observe that it was the same final he had taken years before. He ventured to ask, "How could this be?" "How do you get by without changing the questions? It would seem that all the students would soon have the right answers from previous graduates." "Oh", replied the Professor, "We never change the questions." "We just change the answers!"

Today we are surrounded by a whole host of answer changers. But why not be a square? Why not defy the consensus if it is not a reflection of truth? Is the majority always right? A democracy (or mobocracy, the two are sometimes synonymous) crucified Jesus. The majority danced around the golden calf. The majority bowed down and worshipped the king in Daniel's day.  The majority also worshipped Baal in the days of Elijah.  Are we to assume that the so-called great religions of the world are valid just because of the masses who claim allegiance to them?

Oh, for those who dare to be a square on the issues and crises of our day! Contrary to popular ideas of our time, uniformity for sake of conformity is no more a desirable goal than multiformity for the sake of diversity. What suits one person doesn't necessarily suit another. The mountain and the squirrel need not quarrel. If the little rodent cannot carry a forest on its back, neither can the mountain crack a nut.  Who, but a certain group of liberal social engineers, would want all the shrubs and saplings of the earth suddenly to become towering Huon Pines? Multiformity is a law of nature and of nature's God.

But we are in an age when it costs to raise your head above the crowd. When the herd or its leaders may well turn and rend a dissenter with the horns of mob discipline. This is illustrated when a man in a Scandinavian country was deported from his homeland because he insisted on building his house just a little taller, two feet to be exact, than his neighbours. We have it in our country also. Have you ever noticed the "late risers" in informal business meetings? How many will look around to see how the question is going before taking their stand? Or have you ever noticed those who boast of voting the "winning ticket." When we all know the only winning ticket is the right ticket? -  Pastor John White

CAREFUL WHILE TREADING THE FINE LINE BETWEEN COMMENDABLE CAUTION AND COMPLETE COMMITTAL - THE COMMITTED MAY TAKE YOUR CAUTION FOR COWARDICE!

What Is Salvation?

It should seem simple enough to say salvation means to be saved. But sometimes it doesn't seem all that simple. In our day it seems that the most basic Biblical terms and concepts are considered archaic and unacceptable. It is out of fashion to talk about being lost, even in many so-called Christian circles. To speak of such vital Biblical concepts as being saved, converted or born again, is considered inappropriate and even offensive by many in our day of apostasy. One of the most well known television preachers of our era, virtually refuses to use the word sin and prefers to refer to man's sinful condition as a loss of self esteem. Instead of being saved, a man is said to need to discover his self-worth.  Such people speak of old-fashioned Christian jargon as negative and counter productive and advocate a complete revamp of the Christian vocabulary.

Those who believe that the Word of God is inspired and absolute authoritative on matters of the soul and spirit, view the situation from God's perspective and give no credence to such contemporary man made nonsense. Statements of Jesus, such as, "The Son of man has come to seek and save those who are lost," or, "Ye must be born again," carry much more weight than the sayings of those who are obviously pandering to the popular press and people with itching ears.

So what does the Bible say about our great salvation? Salvation is a real experience: an actual happening, occurrence and encounter, a sudden, specific, spontaneous, and often traumatic event that occurs in time and space. The simplicity and clarity of the word pictures used by Jesus is intentional. To illustrate the nature of salvation, He spoke of concrete items such as a lost sheep, coin or prodigal, being found, saved, and fully restored to a safe environment and relationship.

The same people who question the validity of such terms and concepts as spiritual salvation, seem to have no difficulty in comprehending what it means for a drowning man, carried out beyond his depth by a surging rip tide, to be saved and snatched from the jaws of death by a heroic life saver. When a frantic woman is plucked at the last moment from a burning roof by a brave fireman, no one seems question that her life was saved. When, against all odds, a little boy lost in the bush, is finally rescued by a brave and exhausted band of volunteers, everyone assumes his salvation is real.

The experience and encounter of salvation are inward but the expression is outward. The expression of our salvation is to be worked out with fear and trembling. Baptism is ordained as the first outward expression of an inward possession. When Paul says that after we are saved by grace through faith that God has ordained that we should walk in good works, I am sure he is referring to all the good and productive things a child of God should focus his life upon after salvation. These things express salvation to a sceptical and unbelieving world.