Those who are liberated from sin will always seek to be liberated from not only sin, but the tyranny of evil men. Those who are ignorant of what true liberty is will always tolerate bondage with the chastening that is associated with it. This is the 63rd sermon in the series, Kingdom, Dynasty, and Glory and Exposition on the second book of Samuel. A Role Covenant reading coming from Lamentations 5, Lamentations 5, the entire text. Beloved of the Lord, This is the word of Jeremiah unto us by inspiration of God. Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us. Consider and behold our reproach. Our inheritances turn to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as widows. We are drunk in our water for money. Our wood is sold unto us. Our necks are under persecution. We labor and have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have ruled over us. There is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We get our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. They ravaged the women in Zion and the maids in the cities of Judah. Princes are hanged up by their hand. The faces of elders were not honored. They took the young men to grind and the children fell under the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. The joy of our heart is ceased. Our dance is turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from our head, whoa, unto us. Do we have sinned? For this our heart is faint, for these things our eyes are dim. They call us of the mountains of Zion, which is desolate. The foxes walk upon it. Thou, O Lord, remainest forever. Thy throne from generation to generation. Wherefore, thou forget us forever and forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. We knew our days as of old, but thou hast utterly rejected us. Thou art very wroth against us. Paul writing to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians, in chapter 2, by the same spirit the apostle writes the entire chapter. And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with enticing came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I have not seen or ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things, Yet he himself is judge of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Thus far as the meaning of God's most holy, inerrant, and finally authoritative word, the grass withers, the flower thereof fades away. But God's word stands forever. And by his holy word is the gospel preached unto us again this day. Now the consequences from the fall of Adam have far-reaching implications than just man's fall, his individual fall into darkness of sinful, rebellious posture toward God. The fall of Adam was systemic. It was comprehensive. It touched every aspect and element of human existence, including every institution known to man. In other words, it was total. Simply put, this means that nothing which exists in the realm of the universe is free from this darkness and this evil. It is only by the sheer mercy of God that man doesn't utterly destroy himself. He is totally depraved, not absolutely depraved, but it is only by the sheer mercy of God that man doesn't totally annihilate himself. Now even though there exists a remnant of good in the world, mainly because of the Christians that are in the world, There is also the specter of evil that lives right alongside each and every one of us. The specter of evil that lives right alongside that which is good. And this is why the Christian must always be on guard against the encroachment and ravages of evil, whether it is the evil that resides within the breast of individuals, in the heart of man, or the evil that men do within the realm of the physical universe. So we must always be on guard. There's never a time when the Christian can say, I can relax. I don't have to be on guard anymore. I don't have to have the sword of the spirit always girded upon my side. No, we have to be on guard always, both against the ravages of sin and the wickedness that men do. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, by no means a Christian man, in his political work, The Social Contract, once declared, quote, man is born free. but everywhere he is in chains." Now, at the outset, this statement seems correct. And yet, Rousseau missed the point. Man actually is not born free, at least not after Adam's fall. He is born naturally a slave to sin and the evil motions of his reprobate flesh. To make Rousseau's statement correct, he would have to say that man is naturally born enslaved to sin. And therefore, he willingly lives and moves and has his being everywhere in the chains of his own sinful nature. Many are confused and misunderstand Rousseau's statement as a promotion for liberty. They think that Jean-Jacques Rousseau is promoting liberty. But it's quite the contrary. Rousseau believed that those who fail to put society before the individual should be put to death. Think about what he's saying and how this is relating to our day-to-day. Rousseau believed that those who fail to put society before the individual should be put to death. And this is because Rousseau was interested in what he called the good of society. He believed that the needs and the desires of the individual often come into conflict with the general public. He also believed that the individual can only be truly free once he becomes a slave to society so that the needs of society as a whole are met. So it's the eradication of the individual for the whole of society. In other words, No one is free unless everyone is free. Think about what Rousseau is saying. No one is free unless everyone is free. But in order to free everyone, everyone must become a slave to society. My question is, who decides what the good of society looks like? What does social freedom look like? Who decides? The state? Those in power? Rousseau's doctrine advocated for a limitation to individual freedom by a forced compliance to the totalitarian state. He believed the state was God. So he believed and advocated for the individual to be limited, his freedom to be limited, so that they would then be swallowed up by the society, they would be forced into compliance to the whole of the totalitarian state. In other words, he said, everyone must be equal or no one can be free. And this is exactly what is happening in America today with the state's emphasis on equality, equity, and social justice. Rousseau used words like democracy. I mean, that's all he spoke about was democracy. And he believed that nature, not God, was the source of a society's structure. He advocated for what is known today as natural law. And he advocated natural law, and he said that this was the organizing principle of his social construct. And yet, as a result of the fall of man and his tendency toward evil, man is unable to naturally discern what is right, as opposed to what is wrong, by reason of his own idea of what is natural. So natural law is anti-God. Man's depraved reason, his understanding of natural law, becomes the standard of law and public policy. The priority of God's law word was then replaced in favor of nature and natural law. As R.J. Rushdie observes, he says, quote, law then was quickly located in the state and its sovereign will with grim results, end quote. a committed anti-Christian humanist, Rousseau also advocated, and you would of course conclude, the divinity of man. This makes perfect sense, since once man denies God the lawgiver, he becomes God the lawgiver. And therefore, he says, well, natural law is whatever I think is natural, and it becomes a law. And so instead of using Political terms such as republic, where law is the organizing structure of a civilization, freedom and justice, were so used words like democracy. We see this as well in the declarations given by our own American government today. The term democracy has been touted over and over and over. If you listen to your political pundits on the left, they're speaking about democracy. The term democracy has been touted over and over and over by evil totalitarian dictators throughout history as if it signals liberty and justice, when in fact it is simply another slogan for Rousseau's totalitarian ideology. So every time you hear from the halls of the totalitarian state that another candidate is a threat to democracy, you have to ask the question, is that a threat to Rousseau's democracy? Is it a threat to Rousseau's democratic ideology? If so, that's the candidate we want. The original intent of the American founding fathers was never to establish a democracy. The founders sought to establish the nation as a Republic within a representative structure, making it a democratic Republic, not a democracy, and certainly not Rousseau's idea of democracy. But to use the term democracy as a universal label and to make the people think that when you speak about democracy, you're speaking about everybody's going to be free and liberated and everything's going to be good, it's leading the people into slavery. So to use the term democracy as a universal label, as it is being used over and over again, especially by poets, is to misrepresent the true structure of the American system and it is undermining law and freedom. R.J. Rushdie again comments, notice what he says, quote, under the influence of such humanistic beliefs, law has been extensively eroded. It is no longer the act of the murderer, which is judged, but his feelings or mental state in the commission of the act. Like Rousseau, a murderer may not be guilty by virtue of his mental state. Now, the fundamental principle of authority, therefore, for Rousseau and other humanists, especially those of the 21st century, is emotion. It's all about feelings. Well, if the murderer's feelings were compromised some way, then he may not be guilty. And this is how the democratic humanists advanced their cause by appealing to feelings. And what is so astonishing about Rousseau, and what is so difficult for me even to wrap my head around, is Rousseau was originally from Geneva, which is the platform from where the Reformation heralded liberty under God. Now, in his work on the social contract, which was condemned by the Geneva fathers in 1762, ironically, Rousseau gave much credit, and think about this, Rousseau, who was so anti-God, so anti-law, so anti-Christ, in his social contract, in his work, he gives much credit to Calvin as the great cultural influencer. And yet, Rousseau posited the exact opposite of Calvin's theological and social ideas. In his excellent book, The Genevan Reformation and America's Founding, David Hall explains it this way. He says, in contrast to Rousseau, Calvinistic political theory did not agree with the progressive idea which asserted that the people may give themselves to the king as long as they voluntarily do so by a social contract. It posited instead that government is limited regardless of the will of the people because of Calvin's view of the nature of man. He viewed government as a divine creation but one that nevertheless must not assume all prerogatives to itself even if citizens wish to cede excessive authority to it. Whenever governors presumed authority over private realms, Calvinists and early Americans cried, tyranny. And so within the space of a mere 200 plus years, the cry for liberty by those of the Reformation was eviscerated by a single Frenchman, the reprobate Jean-Jacques Rousseau. And this is why Israel's judges were willing to give their lives for the cause of liberty under God. And this is also why David's men, Adeno and others fought so valiantly. Why? Why would they fight so valiantly for the cause of liberty? Because they understood that liberty was under God the only way to live in this world. They understood that if liberty under God was lost, the consequences were too horrible to contemplate. The point that I am trying to make here is that liberty is not only fragile, but if not maintained, slavery is only a generation or two away. Of a truth, freedom only prospers when the Christian religion is vibrant and the rule of God's law becomes the organizing principle of a nation. But what is happening today is exactly what happened to Israel just before they were carried off into captivity by the Babylonians. The law of God was disregarded, ill-regarded, perverted, and despised. In fact, many people had just forgotten the law of God. They thought it was no longer in effect. Israel had changed the truth of God's law for a lie. And once that happened, a moral collapse of the entire culture began. And that's where we are today. Now consider the response of God when the law is abandoned by a nation. First thing that happens is God brings that people into bondage. Both Habakkuk and Jeremiah gives us the details. Note the reason that Habakkuk gives in Habakkuk chapter one, beginning in verse two and following. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear, even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not say? Why dost thou Show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance for spoiling and violence are before me. And there are that rise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked and judgment does never go forth for the wicked does compass about the righteous. Therefore wrong judgment proceeded. Think about how this applies universally, but especially now in our day under the judgment and the chastisement of God, he continues in verse five. Behold, ye among the heathen, and regard and wonder marvelously. For I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far. They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence. Their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand." A terrible judgment upon God's people when they forgot the law of God. Jeremiah also in his Lamentation gives us a startling picture of what happens when a nation forgets God in Lamentations 5. Beginning in verse two, our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as widows. We have drunk in our water for money. Our wood is sold unto us. In other words, we are in economic bondage as well. Our necks are under persecution. We labor, have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Syrians. We're working for the man, in other words, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have borne their iniquities. In other words, there's no liberty anymore. But note the last line in verse 7. Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have borne their iniquities. Now, that's a strange sentence. So why would the present generation bear the consequences for the sins of a former generation? Surely the sins of the fathers cannot be blamed on the children unless the children continue in the sins of their fathers. If they perpetuate the sins of their fathers, then they would be held liable. Principally, there will always be consequences brought upon a present generation from the evil done by the previous generation. That's just the way it is. And this is why it's so important for our generation to fix what is broken so that our children do not have to bear the burden of evil. If we are lazy and lax, then our children will have to suffer the consequences. So the task is ours. It's not our children's task. It's not their children's task. It's our task because our fathers failed to promote Liberty as it should have been promoted under God. Now, one of the problems of this generation of Hebrews is that they were negligent. in understanding the history of their own people. If they would have carefully studied the history of their forefathers, really drilled down into what their forefathers were thinking and how they were building the society, they might have recognized some of the missteps and some of the sins that had been brought by them to this point, which is now bringing them into captivity. And this is the very same situation we face today in America. Americans, even within the Christian church, are historically ignorant. They have historical amnesia, especially those parents that are sending their children to government schools that are perpetuating that amnesia. So Americans by and large are historically ignorant of their own history and some of the missteps of the founders that have brought us to this point. Instead of idolizing Washington and Adams and Jefferson, we have to ask the question, where did they fail? Did they fail? And if they did fail, where did they fail and how do we fix it? Because they were proponents of natural law theory. So instead of going as far as Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, the American people need to go beyond. They need to go back to Calvin, and Beza, and Knox, and Veerae, and Bootsa, and Bullinger, and Poney, Rutherford, Mornay, Athusius, and Christopher Goodman. They need to go back to the true saints. Drill down into their ideology, into their theology, and the application of their ideology to the social construct. Now the highly respected scholar and noted historian, George Bancroft, not a Christian per se, however, he identified Calvin as a champion of liberty. He credited Calvin as being the, quote, foremost of modern Republican legislators, end quote. And was responsible, he said, for elevating the culture of Geneva into the impregnable fortress of popular liberty, the fertile seed pot of democracy. Citing Bancroft, David Hall observes this, quote, Bancroft esteemed Calvin as one of the premier Republican pioneers, at one point writing, the fanatic for Calvinism was a fanatic for liberty. Think about that. If you're a fanatical for Calvinism, you are a fanatic for liberty. Talk to the evangelical churches today. Talk to the modern churches today. They don't want to know Calvin. They think he's a heretic. But here, a fanatic for Calvinism was a fanatic for liberty and, quote, in the moral warfare for freedom, his creed was his most faithful counselor and his never failing support. The world renowned German historian Leopold von Ranke reached the similar conclusion that John Calvin was virtually the founder of America, end quote. It was the Puritan Calvinists, after Calvin and the giants of biblical liberty, who planted the underlying principles of democratic liberty for colonial America to follow. The sad reality is that the colonists, many of whom we are told we ought to worship, followed Rousseau. They followed Locke and Hume and other humanists rather than Calvin and those who sought for true liberty under God and abject defiance of tyranny. So to forget the roots of liberty, is to invite tyranny. Author, theologian, and historian Douglas Calley observed that throughout the 20th century, intellectuals remained ignorant of Calvin's impact. We cannot remain ignorant of Calvin's impact. Even some of our most powerful evangelical churches hold this disdain for Calvin. His theology, his political ideology. So where do you find in our modern history books, within the public schooling indoctrination system, a detailed account of the incredible work of Calvin, his theories of government, his theories of politics, education, trade, economics, and morality? You can't find it. You can't find it in a library. You can't find it in the schools. You know that. Can you find it in church libraries? Where can we learn more about that? You see, they've taken that away from the mind of the American people because for the most part, They don't want to teach us about what true liberty is. These, like the churches they represent are simply clearing houses for the entertainment and items of pleasure. You look at some of the Christian bookstores. What are they? They're clearing houses for items of pleasure rather than materials, which will move God's people to save God against God's destroying judgment. I was talking with a minister friend of mine and we agreed. that most pastors today are not academic thinkers. They're not thinking deeply, watching too much television, playing too many video games. Once you go down that road, you're unable to think deeply. It's no wonder why America is on the verge of total collapse. Jeremiah laments over the ignorance of God's people in not critiquing their own history. And as a result, he writes this in verse five of chapter five, Our necks are under persecution. We labor and have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians to be satisfied with bread. But this kind of judgment doesn't happen in a day, a month, or a year, or even 10 years. It happens over time. little by little through unchecked propaganda and lies. It happened as a result of professing Christians relinquishing the education of their children to the divinized status school system. They might as well have given their children to Moloch to pass through the fire as a sacrifice to Baal. So whenever God is separated from education, and this is important, Education cannot be separated from God. Whenever God is separated from education, the public square, politics, economics, and government, judgment is close at hand. And let me be so bold as to say, not only has God, the true God of the old and the new Testament been separated from all these social institutions. He has been also separated from the modern church. They worship another Jesus. They worship another God. They are not worshiping the God of scripture. The modern church has not only become inert in all and any cultural action for God and true liberty, but she has on many occasions become the enemy of God and the quest for liberty under God's law. It's no wonder why we're in such predicament as we are today under this lawless status and Stalinistic regime. Jeremiah makes this observation in verse 16 and following, the crown has fallen from our head. We were once the city on a hill. We were once the nation that everyone envied, where everyone wanted to come to secure liberty. Now they come to destroy us. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe unto us that we have sinned. For this our heart is faint. For these things our eyes are dim because of the mountain of Zion, which is now desolate. The foxes walk upon it." The little foxes, the little foxes, here a little, there a little, picking away at truth, even the truth that is left in every church. America was once the crown of human civilization among the nations of the world. It was the proponent of God. It was the place where you could find true liberty under God. America's crowning jewel was its Calvinistic Christian heritage. But once that heritage was removed, perverted, forgotten, the regal position of the nation then was removed. And our nation no longer is the head, but is now the tail. America's crowning jewel, its Calvinistic Christian heritage is no more. In 1831, after visiting America, and you think about 1776, and you've got many years after that, 1831, a lot of time for things to unravel. After visiting America, Alexis de Tocqueville, when studying the virtue and strength of the American economic and religious experience, said many things about it. Some good, some not so good. He did say this, quote, I saw it for the greatness of the United States and her harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields and boundless forests. And it was not there. I sought for it in her rich minds, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning. And it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless constitution. And it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her purpose flame with righteousness? Did I understand the secret of her genius and power? America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." That's perhaps one of his most famous quotes. But he said something else. Permit me to introduce you to some of the less famous but more powerful observations that he had about America. He said this, quote, Americans are so enamored of equality. They would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom. Society will develop a new kind of servitude, which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannize, but it compresses, extinguishes, and stupefies a people till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals of which the government is the shepherd. It's an endlessly expanding list of rights. The right to education, the right to health care, the right to food and housing. That's not freedom. That's dependency. Those aren't rights. Those are rations of slavery. Hay and barn. for human cattle. Society is endangered not by the great profligacy of a few, but by the laxity of morals among us all. Every nation that has ended in tyranny has come to that end by way of good order. It certainly does not follow from this that people should scorn public peace, but neither should they be satisfied with that and nothing more. A nation that asks nothing of government, but the maintenance of order is already a slave in the depths of its heart. It is a slave of its well-being, ready for the man who will put it in chains. Tyranny in democratic republics does not produce See, in the same way, however, it ignores the body and goes straight for the soul. The master no longer says, you will think as I do or die. He says, you are free not to think as I do. You may keep your life, your property and everything else. But from this day forth, you shall be as strangers among us. You will retain your civic privilege, but they will be of no use to you. For if you seek the votes of your fellow citizens, they will withhold them. And if you seek only their esteem, they will feign to refuse even that. You will remain among men, but you will forfeit your rights to humanity. When you approach your fellow creatures, they will shun you as one who is impure. And even those who believe in your innocence will abandon you, lest they too be shunned in turn. Go in peace. I will not take your life. But the life I leave you with is worse than death. Everybody feels the evil, but no one has the courage or energy enough to seek the cure." End quote. Israel brought their captivity upon themselves. America is following in their steps. Note Israel's self-condemnation. Woe unto us, we have sinned. So Israel, at least at this point, finally recognized that they had become lax in their duties to honor God and maintain His law as individuals at home, within the family, within the church, and within the community. But to their credit, they at least owned their sin of sloth. But they realized their predicament too late. Would to God it's not too late for us. We must follow their confession and own our slackness in seeking to maintain the heritage of the Lord in several areas of the human experience. Then we must cry out to God. We must cry out to God for strength and wisdom, courage, to regroup and meet the challenge head on. But notice Jeremiah's request. In verse 21, he says, turn thou unto us, O Lord, and we shall be turned. Renew our days as of old. So first, Israel requests for God to intervene. Turn unto us. Turn back to us, God. Now, this implies, at least at this point, that they had turned away from God. Now seeing their destruction, they realize they need God. We must realize we need God. And we can't say, well, it was those churches over there that were lax, that were slothful, that didn't do what they should do. And then pop ourselves up as if we've done so many wonderful things to save the community and the nation that we live in. No, no, no. Jeremiah is saying it's us. It's us. We have turned away from God. So turn to us. Secondly, he understood that if God desires to turn them back, it will be done. But he also understood that if God desires not to turn the back, he refused to turn the back. If he refuses to turn the back, they're doomed. We need to remember that. If God does not turn America back, we are finished. And this is a confession. Understanding that without God's intervention by the Holy Spirit, nothing can change. We are at the mercy of God. We should recognize we've always been at the mercy of God. And this testifies of a knowledge that God alone is sovereign. And without his hand upon the nation, man can do nothing. So Jeremiah is pleading for mercy. But he's pleading for mercy, knowing he does not deserve mercy. We do not deserve God turning us back. And once we can embrace that, maybe God will hear us. But if we go before God saying, here I am, Lord, look at how wonderful a creature I am, we're doomed. Jesus was very clear in his comprehensive universal statement when he said, I am the vine. Ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. And yet with him, and by him, and through him, as the apostle says, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And that's what we have to pray for. Third, note where they wanted to find the answers. Renew our days as of old. They knew. that they could find the right pathway to renewal if they once again sought for the old ways. Seek the old paths where the good way is and then walk faithfully and obedient in them. So what does that mean for us today? We who are on the threshold, on the precipice of unrestrained tyranny. And if you think I'm overstating the point, then you've been sleeping. Where do we begin? Where do we start? Well, first, and I say this with all love and compassion, we must stop playing games with our religion. We must stop taking our faith, the word of God, his church, the Lord's day, his commandments, and our freedoms for granted. The freedoms, at least the little that we have left, as if these things will always be there. because God can take these things from us in a moment. So we must stop playing games with our religion. Secondly, we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves today entirely. No more games. No more, well, I have these things I got to get done. We cannot wait for tomorrow because we may not be able to do it tomorrow. Paul tells us that our reasonable service is to sacrifice ourselves for the glory of God. Notice what he says in Romans 12, verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Notice what he's saying. I'm begging you, I'm begging you. I'm begging you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. You're not anything special by sacrificing your whole lives to God. That's what you should be doing because he did it for you. Third, next we must take an assessment of what we are able to do. Think about what are we able to do? What are our gifts? Can we teach? Can we write? Can we serve in the church, in the community, in ministry of some sort? You know, I hear it so often and I'm guilty of making the excuse for families, big families too. Because sometimes I hear the excuses, well, you know, we're raising our children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord, and that's good, that's good, that's what you should be doing. But you know, the pagans are raising their children too, and some of them are immoral. What makes your family different? What makes you different? What makes you different? What makes the Christian home unique? How is your home different? What makes your family, a Christian family, Working toward building the kingdom of God. You can't hide behind, well, you know, I'm raising a family, so I can't really. Bring your family into the work. Because if you don't, your family will fall into tyranny, just like we are falling into tyranny today. And finally, we must decide what we are willing to do for the cause of liberty. How far are you willing to go? How far are we willing to go to sacrifice for God's glory and the cause of liberty? But in order to do that, we must decide what comforts we are going to give up in order to serve. You can't have everything. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Actually, that's the wrong way about it. It used to be you can't eat your cake and have it too. That's the right way to say it. But you can't have it both. You can't say, I'm going to live in luxury and comfort and serve God and sacrifice for God. Something's got to give. You only have X amount of hours in a day. What are you doing with those hours? How far are you willing to go to sacrifice for liberty? The heroes of liberty were men and women who are able to communicate truth to others by example. The words are cheap. Sometimes we talk too much. We're debating, arguing, apologetics, you know, wit and parry. It's enough. What are we doing? Be ye not hearers, but doers. Words are cheap, but actions shout from the rooftops. If you have plans, don't tell people about your plans. Do them. Show them by doing what you intend to do. That's the key. You don't have to tell people what you're about to do. Just do it. And that'll shout from the rooftops. The heroes of liberty had a sacrificial spirit. They knew the dangers of sloth. And as a result, they took action. They assessed the situation. And instead of talking about it or complaining about it, they did something about it. We must rekindle the love of liberty by re-equating the modern world with the heroes of liberty. and the benefits of liberty with both words and deeds. Remember, liberty is not won through political or economic solutions. It is won by the introduction of the spirit of God into the areas of politics and economics, as well as every other aspect of human society. And this is why it's so important to remember that only with the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. We stand on the precipice of a great paradigm shift in this nation. And it's up to the true Christian to save the nation. Next, we shall explore how God's people throughout history have sought to rid themselves from the evil yoke of bondage by the cunning craftiness of men and the power of their oppressive might. Perhaps by their biblical example, we can navigate more effectively the path that has been placed before us. And this we shall do, God helping us, unto the praise of the glory of his grace. Amen.