-
Tomorrow is Independence
Day for the USA! Two-hundred and twenty-nine years ago
tomorrow, the Continental Congress met to declare the
United States free from British rule. Thomas Jefferson had
prepared the Declaration of Independence for the occasion
and that magnificent document begins with these words:
“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.” The
document goes on to say, “And for the support of this
Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of
Divine
Providence, we mutually
pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our
sacred Honor.”
-
The United States of
America went on to be the greatest nation that has ever
existed. It is the nation that came to be synoptic with
freedom and truth. How many are appreciative for the USA?
Thank God for America! It is an anchor of FREEDOM
and TRUTH in a confused world.
-
The Declaration of
Independence says, “We hold these TRUTHS to be
self-evident… and among the rights given us by God are
Life,
LIBERTY,
and the pursuit
of Happiness.”
Allow me to point out something to us. The founding
fathers directly connected TRUTH(S) with
LIBERTY.
There is no real FREEDOM without TRUTH.
Jesus had a lot to say about truth. Interestingly, he too
connected truth with freedom.
-
[John 8:31-36]
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you
hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. THEN
YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH,
AND THE TRUTH WILL
SET YOU FREE."
They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and
have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that
we shall be set free?" Jesus replied, "I tell you the
TRUTH, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a
slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son
belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you
FREE,
you will be
FREE
INDEED.
-
Jesus told us the one
thing that will set us free from any bondage. That one
thing is TRUTH. In fact, without TRUTH, we
are only deceived into thinking that we are free and have
liberty. Jesus directly connected true
LIBERTY
(freedom indeed) with TRUTH.
-
Those Jews were very
deceived concerning liberty! They thought that because
they were descendents of Abraham (Israel) they were free.
In actuality, they were some of the most enslaved people
who have ever existed. Israel disobeyed God’s laws and
under the Assyrian Empire went into slavery in 721 B.C.
They remained in slavery under the Chaldean Empire,
Persian Empire, and Roman Empire to whom they were in
slavery at the time Jesus said this. A few short years
later in A.D. 70, the Romans laid desolate the nation and
it did not exist again until 1948. Other than a short time
called the Maccabaean period, these Jews experienced no
liberty for 700 years and the total time of their bondage
and slavery was about 2600 years. Yet, they thought and
said they were free. Did they have FREEDOM OR
DECEPTION?”
-
The point is that being an
American or a Christian does not make us free. We can say
we are free and shoot fireworks and wave flags, but not be
free indeed.
-
Jesus said that FREEDOM
is not connected to the nation in which you live or
the religion in which you believe. FREEDOM is
directly connected to TRUTH. In America alone,
there are millions of people in slavery to addictions,
pornography, and anger. How many people do you know that
are in slavery to finances? People are in bondage to bad
relationships. People are slaves to prejudice and bigotry.
People are slaves to gossip. People are slaves to
materialism. People are in bondage to religion even though
they are Christians. Amazingly, if you were to ask those
people who live in America if they were free, they would
say, “Yes! I am free. I am an American and I am a
Christian.” What about you? To what might you be in
bondage? Is it FREEDOM OR DECEPTION?” Jesus said…
-
YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH,
AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.
Again, notice
that Jesus directly connected TRUTH to
TRUE FREEDOM.
Do you agree with that
statement? Is it possible for a person be deceived and be
free? Of course not. Do you agree with Jesus? No one else
of whom I am aware ever said that before Jesus. Jesus said
in essence that “TRUTH = FREEDOM.” However, so many
today, as did Pilate long ago, ask, “WHAT IS TRUTH?” Is
truth relative? Is truth absolute? Is truth what I want to
believe for me and truth for you is what you want to
believe for you? Is truth what my friends say? Is truth
what my parents say? Is truth what the preacher says? Is
truth what politicians say or even what the President of
the U.S. says? If those are the ways that we determine
“WHAT IS TRUTH”, then no wonder so many people today are
in bondage, or as Jesus said slavery.
-
Today our children and
grandchildren are asking, “WHAT IS TRUTH?” They are
filtering through all the information – more readily
available information than ever in the history of
humankind. They are asking serious questions. Is there a
God? How do you know if God is real? If so, then why do
horrible things happen? If God is so good, then why is
there a hell? What is wrong with homosexuality if that is
what a person wants to do? What is wrong with my having
early sexual activity? Why do I have low self-esteem? What
am I going to do with my life? Why do you think you can
tell me what to do? Your child is trying to find the
answer to “WHAT IS TRUTH?” A parent’s answer of, “Because
I said so,” is not going to get it. Deception and bondage
awaits them unless you can connect TRUTH and
FREEDOM. Are you able to give them truth?
-
PEOPLE WANT TRUTH.
Your friends
want truth. Your loved ones want truth. The world is full
of options and illusions attempting to deceive. Are you
capable of giving them truth? People want truth. Why?
Jesus gave us the ANSWER. TRUTH IS LIBERATING. God
has created us to hunger for truth. Asking questions is
not wrong. It is when we reject truth that we have
problems. God created us to believe that there are truths
out there somewhere and when I find truth, it will fix my
problems. You hunger for truth and answers. Your children
hunger for truth and answers. Your friends and loved ones
hunger for truth and answers. All the while, Jesus answers
for us “WHAT IS TRUTH” and how to find it. Jesus said…
-
THEN YOU WILL KNOW THE
TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.
The emphasis is
on THEN.
-
[John 8:31-36] To
the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold
to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
THEN
you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…
. So if the Son sets you
FREE,
you will be
FREE
INDEED."
-
Jesus said that If you
hold to his teachings… THEN you will know truth. I
know that is not what people want to hear today, but it
remains the TRUTH. That is not what your children
want to hear. Nonetheless, it remains the TRUTH.
That is not what your friends and loved ones want to hear,
but it is still the TRUTH. The reason that no one
wants to accept the TRUTH is because we want to
hold onto our apple. What?
-
Some Americans were
stationed on a small island in the South Pacific during
WWII. Monkey meat was a real delicacy on that island, so
the natives showed the Americans how they captured
monkeys. They would put an apple in a jar. Tie one end of
a rope to the jar and the other end to a tree and then
wait. A monkey eventually found the apple and reaches into
the jar. Its hand will compress to fit into the jar, but
its fist holding the apple is too large to pull out. The
monkey is too stubborn to release the apple and so,
‘Monkey de Veau’. UMMMMMMMMMMM!
-
The point is what makes a
monkey out of you? To what apple do you hold? We all have
an apple that we could hold. Adam had one. Eve had one.
Remember Sampson? He had one that he would not release
named Delilah. He refused to let it go and…
-
[John 8:31-36] To
the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you HOLD
TO MY TEACHING, you are really my disciples. THEN
YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH,
AND THE TRUTH WILL
SET YOU FREE."
They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have
never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall
be set free?" Jesus replied, "I tell you the TRUTH,
EVERYONE who sins is a slave to sin. Now a
slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son
belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you
FREE,
you will be FREE INDEED.
-
Jesus said, the TRUTH is,
the only way to be
FREE
is to HOLD TO MY
TEACHING and not to your apple. Let your apple go and
you will be FREE
INDEED. If we
hold to the apple, we may think we are free; but actually,
our apple has deceived us and tied us to a tree. There, we
will be devoured by the devil – Monkey de Veau’. So, is it
FREEDOM or DECEPTION? By taking the
teachings of Jesus and giving truth, the Son will make us
free indeed.
|
