Sermon: Liberty Under the Law
#1740B
Mark Schindler
Given 23-Dec-23; 39 minutes
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transcript:
Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
One month ago today, November 23, 2023, the United States observed the National Day of Thanksgiving. Although in these days when the world is growing further away from our Great God, whose very nature is one of give, this day of giving thanks has become just a blip between two of the biggest days of get—Halloween and Christmas.
It has become another piece of evidence that Satan's mind of get is dominating the thinking of men, consumed by the carnal mind that is enmity against God and His way of life.
This past Thanksgiving may also have been of note because it was the 403rd anniversary of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock. Why should this be important to us? It is because what they did actually established the foundation of the freedom we have all had the privilege to enjoy all these years.
However, even more significantly we find a sterling example of God’s principle of liberty under the law within the document, which has been the foundation for all law that came after it in our republic.
The following is from the “Mayflower Society” web site, which is maintained by descendants of those pilgrims:
The document now referred to as the Mayflower Compact was written and signed by most of the male passengers on the ship in November 1620 as they landed at Cape Cod. In his history, William Bradford recounts the event as “a combination made by them before they came ashore; being the first foundation of their government in this place.”
In 1620, Virginia extended far beyond its current boundaries and the Mayflower was originally meant to land at its “northern Parts,” specifically the Hudson River. When the Mayflower attempted to sail around Cape Cod to reach the Hudson, contrary winds and dangerous shoals forced the ship to turn around and instead anchor in modern day Provincetown Harbor on November 11, 1620.
English colonies at the time required “patents”—documents granted by the king or authorized companies which gave permission to settle at a particular place. Since the Mayflower passengers had obtained a patent for Virginia, when they instead landed in New England this patent was no longer valid. Any sort of authority the group’s leaders could have derived from this patent was therefore also suspect, and some passengers threatened that “when they came ashore they would use their own liberty, for none had power to command them, the patent they had being for Virginia and not for New England” (Bradford).
These “mutinous speeches” from some of the passengers lead to the creation of the “association and agreement” to “combine together in one body” that we now call the Mayflower Compact (Bradford, Mourt’s Relation).
Published in 1622, Mourt’s Relation, which details the beginnings of Plymouth, continues on to say that under this agreement the colonists would “submit to such government and governors as we should by common consent agree to make and choose.” Likewise, William Bradford writes that in lieu of their original patent, the Mayflower Compact “might be as firm as any patent, and in some respects more sure.
Localized governments were not unheard of in England at the time, but the “civic body politic” created by the Mayflower Compact was called upon to do much more than a similar body would back in England. Due to the distance between the Pilgrims and the centralized English government, ordinary men found themselves in leadership positions they wouldn’t have otherwise held. John Robinson, the pastor of the Separatist congregation to which many of the Pilgrims belonged, advised them that since they were “not furnished with any persons of special eminency above the rest” they would need to make prudent decisions when choosing leaders. Robinson counselled the Pilgrims to choose as leaders those who “diligently promote the common good,” and not to begrudge “in them the ordinariness of their persons, but God’s ordinance for your good” (Mourt’s Relation).
Text of the Mayflower Compact:
IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, Etc. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.
IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.
One hundred three years ago, on November 23, 1920, at a commemoration ceremony, marking the 300th anniversary of the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, Calvin Coolidge, then the governor of Massachusetts, and soon to be the 30th President of the United States, said the following about the Mayflower Compact that was signed on board ship, a short time before their landing in November 1620:
The compact which they signed was an event of the greatest importance. It was the foundation of liberty based on law and order, and that tradition has been steadily upheld. They drew up a form of government which has been designated as the first real constitution of modern times. It was democratic, an acknowledgment of liberty under law and order and the giving to each person the right to participate in the government, while they promised to be obedient to the laws. But the really wonderful thing was that they had the power and strength of character to abide by it and live by it from that day to this. Some governments are better than others. But any form of government is better than anarchy, and any attempt to tear down government is an attempt to wreck civilization.
This then, brethren, will be the specific focus of this sermon: true liberty under law, and the discipline to live God’s law through Jesus Christ dwelling in each of us—the only way to peace within a society devoted to self-serving moral depravity and lawlessness that is wrecking the civilization around us.
I almost changed this sermon last week following David Maas’ fine “Law and Grace” sermon. But I think this is something God wants driven home to His people living in modern day Babylon—our sacred responsibility; to have the strength of character through Jesus Christ to abide by God’s law of liberty; to live as He lives in submission to the true law of liberty.
With this in mind as we continue to set the foundation for this sermon, please turn with me to Luke 1 and Zacharias’ prophecy, inspired by the Holy Spirt, after John’s circumcision. (By the way, John and his extraordinary place within God’s plan, was going to be the replacement sermon. But, God willing, that will be the subject of the sermon the next time in January.)
Let us begin in Luke 1, verse 65 and then the whole of this prophecy.
Luke 1:65-79 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, ‘What manner of child shall this be!’ And the hand of the Lord was with him.
Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
"And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
Jesus Christ is the Dayspring—the incredible light of truth—so that we can have peace with God’s law guiding our steps.
Brethren, this prophecy of redemption and salvation extends, even beyond Abraham, the Amorites, the Egyptians, and all the enemies of physical Israel; it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, and the hand of Satan who hates us all, who is driving the chaos around us.
Because of the light that has come in to guide our feet we can know and live the truth of verses 74 and 75, “Being delivered from the hand of our enemies [Satan and his demons], we might serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.”
Please turn forward with me to Luke 4 and the explosive beginning of Christ’s ministry following His titanic battle with Satan:
Luke 4:16-21 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
In a minute we will be turning to Isaiah 61:1 where we find the prophecy that Jesus Chris was fulfilling. But first I would like us to consider the word “liberty,” as it appears there twice in Luke 4:18. It is #859 in Strong’s Concordance: aphesis (af'-es-is); it is variously translated as: deliverance; forgiveness; liberty; remission. It is the process of setting free or liberating; release; liberty. “He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives.” This is the process of liberating that begins and ends with Jesus Christ.
Just as Zacharias’ prophecy stated, we are being delivered from the hand of our enemy, Satan, but we have our small part to do, with greater discipline than any in this world could ever do apart from Jesus Christ. We are to be living in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
With this in mind, we are going to look at the other word that is used for liberty here in the Greek, because it is the point of this sermon, our part in disciplining ourselves through the power of Christ with a circumcised heart.
Romans 8:1-9 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Romans 8:15-21 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Although a different word is used here for liberty, this too is a vital part of the process that we have been given, no longer living under the spirit of bondage—under the dominion of our enemy who hates us—but the glorious liberty of the children of God through Jesus Christ.
Liberty, as it appears in verse 21, is the direct antonym of the spirit of bondage in verse 15, and is Strong’s #1657: eleutheria; liberty: the state of being free.
The Louw & Nida Greek-English Lexicon elaborates on this by noting, “the concept of freedom is expressed as a negation of control or domination; for example, where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is no longer domination; or a person is not dominated; or a person does not feel under constraint.”
Brethren, we are to be no longer controlled or dominated by our enemy who hates us, but rather we are at liberty to live God’s way of peace!
Thayer’s Lexicon puts it this way: True liberty is living as we should, not as we please.
Using Herbert Armstrong’s terminology, we have liberty through Jesus Christ dwelling in us to live God’s way of give, not Satan’s way of get; where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom.
Let us see that for ourselves in II Corinthians 3.
II Corinthians 3:7-18 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Brethren, to physical Israel, the Ten Commandments and all the laws of God they represented, as God’s hedge around them, while under the administration of the physical priesthood, ultimately ended in death. But under the administration of our Great High Priest Jesus Christ and circumcision of the heart, those same covenantal laws exercised in the spirit become the hedge of liberty and life. They guarantee peace for Spirit-born descendants of Abraham, who can and must continue focused on our heavenly citizenship and not the self-serving anarchy around us.
This is our small part in faith to exercise the Spirit of Christ within us, to live the fullness of the letter and spirit of the law as the hedge of liberty God has established through Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:1 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 5:13-18 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. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
This takes us back to Thayer’s comment on this word, ‘liberty’: “True liberty is living as we should, not as we please.” This is our job now in this ugly world to carefully abide within God’s hedge of liberty under the law; to faithfully walk in the spirit of the law.
Just as Dave Maas suggested last week, I too, suggest you carefully study an article written by Earl Henn that I had been studying in the weeks leading up to this sermon, while I considered Galatians 5 and liberty under the law. In his 1995 article entitled, “What was the Law Added Because of Transgressions?” He wrote:
Abraham obeyed all of God's laws, commandments, statutes and ordinances (Genesis 26:5). He taught God's laws to Isaac, who taught them to Jacob. However, after Israel was in Egypt for many years, they forgot them and lived in ignorant transgression of them. Having absorbed so much Egyptian culture in their sojourn, they were even ignorant of the Sabbath day. Paul explains that God added the Old Covenant because Israel had gone so far into sin when they lived in Egypt.
Therefore, God had to call Israel out of Egypt and teach them His laws all over again to prepare them for the coming of Christ. He wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, and Moses wrote the statutes and judgments in a book so that Israel would have a permanent record of His laws and statutes throughout the centuries.
God gave them rituals of worship that made them different from other nations, and He forbade them to have anything to do with foreign, pagan customs. Circumcision identified them as a separate and distinct people.
These rules and regulations put a hedge around Israel to preserve them pure for the coming of Christ.
Hang on to that word “pure” because it is going to have an impact on this sermon in a bit.
Earl Henn continued:
Just prior to the scripture Paul quotes in Galatians 3:12, as cited from Leviticus 18:5, God says in Leviticus 18:3, “According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances.”
For years, people have wondered how anyone could have transgressed the laws before they were given? Simply put, Paul is talking about the laws of God which have been in full force since creation! When he writes that the Old Covenant was added "till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made," he means that the Old Covenant was temporary; Christ would replace it with the New Covenant. Rather than saying that any of God's laws had become obsolete, he is explaining how important it was to preserve the knowledge of God's laws in Israel to prepare them for the coming of Christ!
Brethren, how much more important do you think it is that we very consciously and conspicuously, through the indwelling of God’s Spirit, discipline ourselves to remain within God’s hedge of liberty under His law within the mutinous chaos around us? I am not talking about the foolish mutiny of men, but the ultimate mutiny of Satan that is the entangled yoke of bondage.
Before we turn back to Isaiah, let us look at one more scripture on this liberty in the book of James.
James 1:12-18 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
The blessings and freedoms of liberty from our enemy comes from living through Jesus Christ as we should, with outgoing concern, and not as we would selfishly please.
Let us turn to the prophecy our Savior said was fulfilled in our ears, right at the beginning of His earthly ministry.
Isaiah 61:1-2 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.
There is something I would like us to note here: Jesus Christ stopped short of finishing verse 2, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” It is by God’s law that all will be judged at the end, and most certainly judgment has begun with the household of God. But more importantly for us, God has given us through His Holy Spirit, the liberty under law to stay hedged in, moving freely and peacefully within all of His commandments that will continue to keep us free and at peace fulfilling all the law in the spirit with Jesus Christ—to be just like Him.
This same word we see translated liberty in Isaiah 61 appears seven other places in the Old Testament. The word in Strong’s is #1865 derowr, from an unused root that means: to move rapidly; freedom; hence, spontaneity of outflow; and so clear; KJV: liberty; pure.
Thayer’s Lexicon has: a flowing; a free run; liberty: a) flowing (used of myrrh), and b) liberty.
The Theological Word Book refers to it as: a release; freedom; and seven of the eight times it is translated as in Isaiah, liberty connected to the Year of Release in Leviticus 25, Jeremiah 34, and Ezekiel 46.
The one exception is in the KJV in Exodus 30:23, and that is in reference to the holy anointing oil which God commanded for the consecrating of all within the Tabernacle as holy unto Him, including the priests. In this particular instance it is translated: ‘A flowing myrrh’ in the NKJV, while it is ‘a pure myrrh’ in the KJV.
I am going to make a bit of a stretch here to illustrate the point of how important it is, and considering the perspective of the Father looking at the weak of this world that He has called to His Son to be just like Him. Remember I asked you to hold on to that word “pure” that Earl Henn used in the middle of the cited section from his article? Although I do not think he had this in mind, I do think it very much makes our point today, for those given the ability to live the liberty under all the law of God in these times of chaos, it is to those living in the spirit that God is sanctifying through His Agent—He is sanctifying to make us righteous through His Agent, to make us pure.
Earl wrote:
God gave them rituals of worship that made them different from other nations, and He forbade them to have anything to do with foreign, pagan customs. Circumcision identified them as a separate and distinct people. These rules and regulations put a hedge around Israel to preserve them pure for the coming of Christ.
Those liberated now by Christ are being preserved pure for the return of Christ, sanctified by living the liberty of God’s way of life under God’s law!
Do we really appreciate all of our Great God’s laws of liberty? Do we really appreciate the hedge He has placed around us to live the fullness of the liberty of all His law within this world of chaos? Do we really know why we are not having any part in the Christmas celebrations that are taking place all around us? Do we really appreciate the incredible privilege and ability He has given us to live the letter and the spirit of His law of liberty that keeps us focused on consciously and conspicuously worshipping our Great God in spirit and in truth?
Brethren, as Calvin Coolidge noted in that address 103 years ago, the Pilgrims of the Mayflower Compact promised to be obedient to the laws. But the really wonderful thing was that they had the power and strength of character to abide by it and live by it from that day to this.
They found liberty in law because they had the strength of character to abide by it. We have been given something much better through Jesus Christ: Real liberty under God’s law, and the Spirit of God to abide by it, while being sanctified by the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit on those who will be His at His coming.
As Jesus Christ said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Him to set us at liberty, and as it says in Deuteronomy 29:29, “To do all the words of this law.”
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