Ashcroft, Merritt Opening Song: #343 I Will Sing of My Redeemer
Scripture: Galatians 5:1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Title: Remember Freedom
An elderly couple were having problems remembering. After checking the couple out, doctor told them they were physically okay but should start writing notes to help them remember. The couple thanked the doctor and left. Later that evening they were watching TV. The husband stood up to go to the kitchen.
The wife asked, "Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?"
"Oh sure."
His wife asked, "Don't you think you should write it down so you remember?"
"No, I can remember that."
"Well, I would also like some strawberries on top. You better write that down cause I know you'll forget that," his wife said.
"I can remember that you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries."
She replied, "Well, I would also like whipped cream on top. I know you will forget that. You better write it down."
With irritation in his voice, he said, "I don't need to write that down; I can remember that." He went into the kitchen. The wife waited about 20 minutes. The husband finally returned and handed her a plate of hash browns and eggs. She stared at the plate for a moment then she said, "You forgot my toast."
We all need help remembering, and it’s fitting we remember how Jesus gave His life so we can be free to enjoy eternity. An atheist says there is no God. Agnostic doubts the existence of God. Research shows 7% or about 14 million people who attend church worldwide are atheists or agnostics! But they believe heaven exists and they get there based on their own good deeds. North America has more atheists and agnostics than Mormons or Muslims. A survey showed 4% believe everyone is God. 67% believe God is all-powerful, all knowing, the perfect Creator Who rules the world. 7% believe God is total realization of personal human potential. 3% believe there are many gods with different powers and authority. 11% believe God is a state of higher consciousness that a person may reach. 3% in America believe there is no such thing as God. And 5% are waiting for proof He exists.
Though we may not remember God, He remembers us. John 17:20, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who SHALL believe on Me through their word. Before Jesus went to the cross, He prayed for all who would believe on Him, including you! Hebrews 12:2, Looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith Who for joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. The reason Jesus endured shame of the cross is He remembers you. Hebrews 7:25, Therefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them. Jesus remembers you today.
Many experts say we appeal to a God we believe can help us through life’s troubles. Since we can’t face problems on our own, we appeal to Someone more powerful than we are. Do we believe because we want freedom from problems? I heard TV evangelists say Jesus sets us free from hang-ups, psychological hang-ups, free from prejudice, low self-esteem, free from debt, judgment, our sinful nature, and free to become anything in Christ we want to be. But I saw personal hang-ups by the truck load even in churches. I began to realize people are drawn to Jesus because of their hang-ups, not in spite of them.
Since I was young, society had a sex revolution, drug revolution, peace not war revolution all in name of freedom. Only in North America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance. Only in America do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke. Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and pile junk in the garage. People thought free love with everyone would end war. And getting high would open subconscious to explore deeper things. But is that true freedom? Drugs and alcohol that was supposed to help consciousness produced addiction that controlled lives and hurt loved ones. To someone who’s been released from jail, freedom is wonderful, but also for those who get free of addiction. How do we get free spiritually? Many people try to climb closer to God by their own efforts. I did for many years!
SONG: Collide
Some people view all those laws as a ladder that’s just too high and they don’t even bother to try. Experiments show if you put five monkeys in a room and hang a banana at the top of a ladder, before long a monkey will go up the steps to the banana. But as soon as he touches the ladder, experts spray all the monkeys with COLD water. When another monkey will try, all monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Keep this up several days. You don’t need cold water anymore. If another monkey tries to climb the ladder, other monkeys prevent it though NO water sprays them. Remove one monkey and replace it with a new one. New monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the ladder! All other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows not to climb.
Remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. New one goes to climb and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in attack. Replace the 3rd original monkey with a new one. The new one goes to the ladder and is attacked. Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they’re not permitted to climb, or why they’re beating the newest monkey. After replacing all monkeys which were sprayed with cold water, experts found NO monkey climbs the ladder again! When we just follow rules, we become like those monkeys, not understanding it’s REALationship with Jesus.
When we accept Jesus, we’re brought before God’s presence, clean and forgiven, and we don’t need to climb ladders to get to God! We’re free to obey out of Love for Him, not out of necessity, not to earn His favor or brownie points. Galatians 4:7, Through Jesus, we are no longer a slave but a son. Having a “son mindset” instead of a “slave mindset.” Jesus is God’s Son but He came as a servant, so we could be a son not a slave. As a son of God, you stake your claim to life in Christ.
No pleasure that sin offers is worth abandoning our inheritance. But what could make us feel we’re hopelessly sinful, or of little value? What keeps us from our true spiritual inheritance? Only deception that stands in the way of light is telling us a lie. We will be offered many things that promise freedom. Things seen in ads. Don’t buy into it. Real freedom comes only through Jesus. And it is God who will keep you gloriously free. He sets us free from myths of men, superstition, free to come to the throne of grace! Jesus rose from death to free us, so we could have freedom not only from harmful substances, but from enslavement of false beliefs. John 8:36, "If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." Spiritual freedom, spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear.
I was baptized when I was 11 after baptismal classes. But I didn’t give my heart to God until 19. When I was 39, I was agonizing in prayer during devotional. God spoke to my heart, “The god you serve is out to get you if you step out of line, out to punish you for any mistake, he is cold and you have to earn his love, angry because you’re not perfect, distant and you have to work to get close, and if you disagree or say what you really feel, he’ll throw a lightning bolt at you. That is not Me. That is Satan, not Jesus.” Since that day, I was set free to learn what God is really like.
Satan was on life’s road with a very large cage. The man coming towards him noticed it was crammed full of people. “How did you get these people?" the man asked. "Oh, I lure them with chemicals, lust, lies, love of money. I pretend I’m their friend, out to give them a good time, then I hook them into my cage.”
“And what are you going to do with them now?" asked the man.
Satan grinned. "I’m going to prod them, provoke them, get them to destroy each other; I’ll make people bored, dissatisfied, confused, restless. People listen to me and blame God for the outcome! They’ll destroy themselves; none escape."
The man stepped forward. "Can I buy these people from you?" he asked.
Satan snarled, "Yes, but it will cost you your life!"
So the Son of God paid for your release from Satan’s trap, with His own life. The door is now open, and anyone deceived and caged can go free.
On the right side ditch is legalism; in the left ditch there is license. But on God’s road there is liberty. Mark of every person who was touched by Jesus in any way is freedom and it’s not something that waits for the last day. It’s already here in Jesus. What else did the Messiah come for, but to set captives free? For a short while, the earth around us remains in bondage to decay, but there’s inner freedom each of us is meant to have now. Enter into freedom of knowing God for yourself.
SONG: Even in the Valley
People like free things. If you’re someone who enjoys free things, the Grace of God is pure and FREE! It comes unasked and undeserved. If it is ever deserved, it is not grace. "Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began," 2Timothy 1:9. There are no conditions required by God. If you had to meet some condition before God could give you grace, it would be a debt He owes you for meeting the condition, and then it would not be grace. Wage earners say, "You must confess and repent before you can be saved!" Scriptures teach repentance and faith are gifts from God, and gifts are free if you want to accept them.
In Manila, Philippines is the American military cemetery. A sea of white crosses as far as the eye can see. They continue along a road which makes a large circle and comes to the monument area. Thousands of crosses teach us cost of freedom. Men lying on the ground bleeding and dying in battle, some on beaches, some in countryside, some in cities. The scene of Jesus bleeding on the cross is a moment frozen in time that affects everything in the universe.
Ira Sankey was traveling on a River steamboat. His picture had been in the newspaper as song leader for the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody. People asked and Sankey sang, "Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us." When he finished, a man stepped from the shadows and asked, "Did you ever serve in the Union Army?"
"Yes," Mr. Sankey answered. “Can you remember if you were doing picket duty on a bright, moonlit night in 1862?" "Yes," Mr. Sankey answered, very much surprised. The stranger told him, “I was serving in the Confederate army. When I saw you standing at your post, I thought to myself, 'That fellow will never get away alive.' I raised my musket and took aim. I was standing in the shadow, completely concealed, while the full light of the moon was falling on you. At that instant, just as a moment ago, you raised your eyes to heaven and sang.
'Let him sing his song to the end,' I said to myself, 'I can shoot him afterwards. He's my victim, and my bullet cannot miss him.' But the song you sang then was the song you sang just now. I heard the words perfectly. 'We are Thine; do Thou befriend us. Be the Guardian of our way.' Those words stirred up many memories. I remembered my childhood and my Christian mother who had sung that song to me. When you finished your song, it was impossible for me to take aim again. I thought, 'The Lord Who is able to save that man from certain death must surely be great and mighty.' And my arm all by itself dropped limp at my side."
Apostle Paul taught, “Stand fast in freedom. Don’t let anyone bewitch you into thinking circumcision or any other outward act of obedience can be offered to God as benefit to Him, which He must then reward with some payment.” Obedience is wrong if we do it to bribe God for salvation. Paul says if you try to earn dividends from your own investment of circumcision, dietary rules or feast days, Christ will profit you NOTHING! Christ's profits are not yours if you try to earn them with your own investments. We exalt Christ when we admit we have NO assets to invest, that it was Jesus’ investment brought free dividends of righteousness and life for all who trust Him. That is son mentality. Jesus doesn’t want us to relate to Him as a banker who uses the Law to demand installment payments on a loan. That is slave mentality. Freedom is not a feeling that we must pay something back to God, or a free gift becomes business transaction.
What if Moses lived in our day? Moses came to the Egyptian ghetto. Things were terrible! Suddenly a voice spoke from above, "Moses, I have good news and bad news." Moses was shocked. The voice said, "Lead My people from bondage. If Pharaoh refuses, I will smite Egypt with a rain of frogs and turn water to blood. Take My people to freedom. If Pharaoh’s army pursues, I will part the Red Sea then drown them." Moses stammered, "That’s.... that’s fantastic. I can’t believe it! But what’s the bad news?"
"You, Moses, must PAY the environmental fee.” Thank God Jesus paid it all!
Freedom is a chain reaction. A man named Kimbell cared about a shoe salesman. This layman, Kimbell, went to the shoe store and talked to young Dwight L. Moody about salvation. Moody began Bible classes then later began preaching. He went to England to Dr. Meyer's big church. Meyer's life was touched by the Holy Spirit through Moody's preaching. Dr. Meyer came to the U.S. and preached in a college chapel about surrender, "Ask God to make you willing to be willing." Wilbur Chapman said to himself, "He is talking to me! I've been ready to quit, give up and get out of the ministry." Wilbur Chapman was touched by God.
Chapman looked for someone to help him in evangelistic work. He found a professional baseball player, a young man converted from a life of drunken binges in Chicago. His name was Billy Sunday and Billy preached a city-wide crusade in Charlotte, North Carolina. Out of that revival, a group of men prayed for another great revival. God sent an evangelist named Mordecai Hamm. Under the big tent were two young men, Grady Wilson and 15-year-old Billy Graham. Billy Graham was touched by God in that crusade. Grady Wilson became a preacher, and the two shared the gospel many years. Look at the chain reaction from Kimbell to Moody to Meyer to Billy Graham. Most of us never heard of the Bible teacher named Kimbell, only Billy Graham, but heaven remembers. Freely you have received, freely give.
This Remembrance Day you can remember your sins, or you can remember your righteousness is in Christ. You can remember what is wrong with you, or you can remember what is right with you because of what Jesus has done.
SONG: Nail it to the Cross