Liberty.—Jesus Christ came to give liberty. He is the only one who can make men truly free.
Liberty in this World is a relative term. It is commonly used to denote freedom from outward restraint. Its highest type, politically, has been presented to the world in this our country.
Only in Part.—But the most that any government can do is to grant liberty only in part. Civil government may secure to men equal political and religious privileges so far as outward restraint is concerned. This is good; and blessed is the nation where these principles exist. But civil government can do no more. It may secure these human rights to its citizens, yet at the same time its citizens may be slaves of the worst tyrant that earth ever knew.
That tyrant is Satan. That slavery is the bondage of sin. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Rom. 6:16. And this bondage includes the whole human race; for "whosoever committeth sin is the servant [slave] of sin;" and "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." John 8:34; Rom. 3:23. And there is no difference. The form of service may vary, but the tyrant is the same.
Man can not free himself.—He is "without strength." "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him." Ps. 49:7. Listen to a free-born one of earth, yet bound in this bondage of sin. "That which I do, I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. . . . For the good I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do." And further on he tells us that he is in "captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." And he cries aloud in his anguish: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7:15-24. And this has been and is the experience of countless millions.
EMANCIPATION MONUMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.
The Terrible Curse.—But some may say: "I do not feel that. I am in the world and happy." This may be true. There are persons who die from poison at ease and quiet. That which causes death benumbs their sensibility. We have read of men who had spent so many years in prison for crime that, when their term was ended, and they were released, begged to be taken back. They had been in bondage so long that they could not appreciate liberty. They had looked upon prison walls so long they could not appreciate God's mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, sunshine, and sky. So men who love sin are blinded by sin to its evil till they reap its full harvest in this life or that to come. This is the worst phase of its curse; Satan deceives his victims till they love the slavery of sin.
The Pleading.—But there come times in the experience of every slave of sin when he longs to be free; he longs to break the bonds of habits of evil. He longs to be patient instead of impatient, to be reverent instead of profane, to be sober instead of drunken, to make a happy home instead of a hell, to love and not hate, to have peace and rest instead of strife and tossing to and fro. All the evil is the fruit of sin. All the longings for the better are from God. It is the pleading of God for your soul. It is His wooing to win you from strife to rest, from sin to righteousness, from death to life.
Who can bestow all this?—Jesus Christ, the Friend, the Redeemer, the mighty Saviour of men. Said he from whom we before quoted as one in bondage, in answer to "Who shall deliver me?" "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 7:25. Yes, Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is the mighty, eternal Saviour of all who will come unto Him; for He saves such "to the uttermost." Heb. 7:25.
That is Christ's mission— to deliver. Hear Him: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18, 19. And "behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. He is a present Saviour; He saves, and saves now, if you desire it. He will not force your freedom. America, doubtless, released slaves that did not want to be released; but Jesus sets those free who long for His freedom; who will simply ask for it in faith. Nay, more, He has purchased all; your freedom is already bought, without money or price on your part, at infinite sacrifice on His part. Will you accept it? Will you not, sinner, accept the great, glad boundless freedom of God in Christ Jesus? "Forgive my sins?"—Yes, He will. "Break their shackles which have bound me?"—Yes, He will do that. "He delighteth in mercy." "He will subdue our iniquities." O, let Him do it for you!2
And, O, the blessedness of this freedom! "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Men may arrest you, defame you, shut you up in prison, put you in stocks or chain-gang; they may behead you or burn you at the stake; they can not destroy your liberty in Christ. In bondage of iron you have more liberty than your persecutors. At the most they suspend it but a little while. He is Lord of life and death. The grave could not hold Him. It can not hold one child of His upon whom is His righteousness when He calls. And He will call every soul who is His to glorious immortality, to an eternal land of the free, forever free. "Brethren, ye are called unto liberty."
