Celebrating Freedom

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” ~John 8:36

We are mere moments away from celebrating 250 years of independence here in these United States. One quarter of a millennium of freedom, and while it’s not perfect — indeed, such a vision can never be fully realized this side of heaven — it is pretty great. Whether you were born here or you arrived from some distant shores, we can all give thanks to God for the blessing of life in this great land. Living in America is a great privilege, and by God’s common grace and divine providence, we enjoy a level of freedom not known in the world today, and hardly ever throughout human history. We also ought to pause and thank God for those who have fought for the freedom of this country over the duration of its existence. 

Did you know that there is a freedom far more beneficial — far more comprehensive and far more abundant — than that which our founding fathers envisioned or pursued? There is a freedom greater than the ability to speak openly, assemble for worship, and own land. There is a liberty found only through salvation in Christ Jesus, which gets for us freedom from the condemnation of sin and the threat of God’s righteous wrath.

In 1776 (the very year America declared its independence), Augustus Montague Toplady penned his famous hymn, “Rock of Ages.” In it he lists for us the double freedom that we receive through salvation in Christ Jesus: “Be of sin the double cure; cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r.” It is both the guilt and the power of sin from which we’ve been freed. This means, Christian, that the guilt of sin — the condemning, wrath-deserving, fear-inducing guilt of your every sin — is done away with by the blood of Jesus Christ. It means you are free from God’s wrath, the threat of hell forever, and the fear of standing before God Almighty as a righteous Judge. Rather, you will only ever experience God as a loving Father. What freedom!

But second, we have been freed from sin’s power. We need to hear this daily. In Christ Jesus we are made able not to sin, or, as our Catechism says, we are “enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness” (WSC 35). This echoes the words of Ezekiel when God says, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezek. 36:26-27). Because of the work of Christ, those who put their faith in Him are, by grace, freed from slavery to sin (Rom. 6:16) and made free to obey God by the power of the Spirit! We are only fully free by faith in Jesus Christ. 

I am very much looking forward to celebrating 250 years of this great nation’s freedom, as I hope you are. But I pray even more that we will daily celebrate our truest and greatest freedom, which is found in Christ alone: freedom from sin. Freedom to obey. Freedom to worship God in spirit and in truth. Freedom to call Him Father. And one day, freedom from sin’s very presence, and that forever! This is true freedom, indeed.

Rev. Kyle W. A. Lockhart, Pastor