I mentioned to Kathy late last night that yesterday I decided to take a different route in today's message. She said, but Dale, last week you told everybody how excited you were to be in Genesis and what a great thing it was to be back in Genesis. Are you sure you're doing the right thing? Well, we trust God that I'm doing the right thing. And as the message goes on this morning, I'll explain to you more about why I have taken this different direction this morning. But I want to begin this morning, we have many verses to look at. And as things go this morning, I have a fairly long introduction. After singing about the ancient words, I wish I didn't have such a long introduction because the introduction won't focus as much on the word as I like to focus, but I do believe the long introduction is necessary to really support and to prepare our hearts for a message that I want to bring this morning. But I would like to begin our time in God's Word by looking at 2 Corinthians 3, verses 14-18. 2 Corinthians 3, verses 14-18. It was someone bringing verse 17 to my mind yesterday that has led to it, I hope, and trust is God's leading of us this morning. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 14, But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But whenever a person 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 an emir the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The title of the message this morning is simply, The Ultimate Liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is the ultimate liberty. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Almighty God, we quietly, humbly, respectfully enter into your presence and would pray that Your Spirit would continue to reveal to our minds the truths that we need to have to live in liberty. For those of us, Father, who have received the ultimate liberty, we give You unceasing thanks. And we would pray that You would continue to reveal to us the greatness, the richness, the blessedness of this ultimate liberty, and that by further work of your spirit you would enable us to live lives in accordance with the ultimate liberty that you in your grace have granted to us such undeserving people. Father, for those this morning who think they are free in Christ, but they are not, will you reveal that reality to their heart? Please, Almighty God, reveal to us this morning where we really stand with you. Father, for those who know they are not right with you and could not care to be right with you, Father, would you please reveal your holiness to them? This morning, would you reveal to them the wretchedness of their sin? Would you reveal to them, Lord, the judgment that they righteously and justly deserve? Would you cause them, Father, to come to the end of themselves and cry out to you for forgiveness of their sins? We are so dependent upon the Spirit, Lord, when it comes to the Word of God. We, like the Israelites, have hard hearts when it comes to the truth, until the Spirit liberates us from our hardness, to the Spirit renews our minds, to the Spirit regenerates us. We give you all the praise, all the glory and the honor because we realize that you are sovereign over the work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit works according to your sovereignty. We trust that. We know that. We gladly submit to that reality this morning. In Christ's name, Amen. July 4th is a time when Americans celebrate the liberty that was fought for and obtained by the American Revolution. This is a time when we as Americans celebrate the liberty that was fought for and gained during the American Revolution. I want to give us just a classic definition of the word liberty. Kathy asked me just a moment ago what words can Paisley be listening to, to mark down. And so I said liberty. Paisley goes, what's liberty mean? Kathy goes, well hopefully Grandpa will explain that. And so we'll give a classic definition of liberty and then maybe I can give a definition that will help even the children to understand what it means to have liberty. The classic definition of liberty, the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by an authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. That's the classic dictionary definition of liberty. For the children, if I go out and catch a toad, as my grandson Waylon loves to do, and I catch that toad and I put that toad in an aquarium, I encage that aquarium. I am taking away that toad's liberty. He is not at liberty to do what he wants. He is not at freedom to do what he wants. But the moment that I take that toad and I let that toad go, so the toad can go find something to eat, so the toad can live its life the way it needs to live its life, I've given that toad liberty. Liberty is the loss of your freedom to live life the way that you want to live your life. And the American Revolution was fought to give the citizens of the colonies liberty from an oppressive government. The colonists had two basic grievances. They were being taxed without representation and they didn't like the way that the military was allowed to come in and just take over their lives. I found out yesterday, and I'll be honest, my understanding of the Revolutionary War, my understanding of American history is very limited. But I found out yesterday from, I believe, a trustworthy source, that the liberties that the British military took in people's houses was far more drastic and far more horrific than we understand. And so we need to understand it wasn't just because they didn't like the British military ruling in the colonies. The British military were doing far other grievous things to the colonists. And so this was their grievances. They wanted liberty from these oppressions. And so the skirmishes that kind of make up the revolutionary period between the patriots of the colonies and the British government actually began in the early 1770s. In 1770, there was the Boston Massacre. This was a time when the British soldiers opened fire on a mob of colonists, killing five. In 1773, there was the Boston Tea Party. The Bostonians dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. In September of 1774, the leaders of the colonies convened the First Continental Congress for the purpose of officially voicing the colonists' grievances with the British government. Again, those grievances were taxation without representation and unwanted occupation of the counties by the British military. There was a declaration that they made. It was the Declaration of the Right of Life, Liberty, Property, Assembly, and Trial by Jury Due Every Citizen. This group of citizens, leading citizens in the counties, convened for the First Continental Congress, and this is what they declared. The right of life, liberty, property, assembly, and trial by jury do every citizen. And they agreed to meet again May 1775. But before they met in April 1775, hundreds of troops from Boston marched on Congord to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and others sounded the alarm and the local militia clashed with the British soldiers. This skirmish became known as the shot that was heard around the world. Few months later, June 17, 1775, the Battle of Bunker Hill took place and the British experienced heavy casualties. That next fall and winter was difficult for the militia of the colonies, but they did endure it and they had a fair amount, some victories. But then on July 4, 1776, was the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was signed whereby the colonists declared their independence from Britain. And so this is a truth that I do remember from my education about US history, that the celebration of the Declaration of Independence was not the winning of independence. It was only the declaration that people concerned or considered themselves to be liberated from the British government. Now that liberation Now that freedom had to be fought for and had to be won. So for the next several years, much battles, many wars went on until October of 1881 when the Battle of Yorktown took place. Here, the British Lord Charles Cornwallis was forced to surrender his entire army to George Washington. Certainly, not all went well for the Patriots. There were times when they experienced great defeat, but for all intents and purposes, the colonists achieved ultimate victory at the Battle of Yorktown. Their liberty was won, their freedom was won, pretty much at the Battle of Yorktown. But it wasn't until a couple years later, September 3rd, 1783, that a peace treaty between the British and the colonists was signed in Paris. During the period of the American Revolution, there was a vital liberty that was fought for and won by the colonists' patriots of that time. Today I would like to present to you a liberty that is available to you. This liberty is the liberty that I refer to as the ultimate liberty. What I mean by the ultimate liberty is that without this liberty, one does not have the liberty that is the most essential liberty. There was a great liberty that was fought for and won through the American Revolution, but it is not the ultimate liberty. Until you obtain the ultimate liberty, you really do not have true liberty. We should be extremely grateful for the liberty that was accomplished during the American Revolution. In light of the sacrifices that were made for this liberty, any expression of hatred towards this country is not only absurd and ludicrous, I believe it is downright wrong and evil. Do we live in a perfect country? Absolutely not. Do we live in a country where everyone is treated fairly? Absolutely not. Do we live in a country that needs to make changes? Certainly, we live in a country that needs to make changes. But none of the above can be corrected unless we maintain the liberty that was fought for and gained during the American Revolution. Is the liberty gained during the American Revolution something that we should be grateful and upheld? Yes. But unless we maintain this liberty, any changes that need to be made will never take place. Unless we remain grateful for this liberty, we will lose this liberty. This is where I'd like to begin to shift my introduction from the American Revolution to the America that I grew up in. The America I grew up in understood the importance of the liberties that were gained at the American Revolution. The America I grew up in loved America, appreciated America. And this brings me to how it is I kind of got on this message this morning. Yesterday, I don't know if it was 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock in the morning, I received a text message from a high school friend, Randy Beiersdorf. Randy Beiersdorf was one of my dear high school friends. He and another guy, Dean Ballman, we were very, very close. And I'm entering into this discussion because I want to lay out before you the America that I grew up in. And I want to try to explain to you why it is I believe we've gone from the America that I grew up in to the America that we live in today. So bear with me. This is leading to show the importance of the ultimate liberty. Randy Beiersdorf was someone that we referred to as Beef. He was a very strong young man. He grew up on a farm. His parents were very hard workers. Recognize that theme, hard workers. I grew up in a great America where hard work was cherished and respected. and honored. His mom and dad certainly were not wealthy. They lived a very meager life and Randy Beierstorff would get up every morning and help his dad milk the cows. His father couldn't afford the nicer milk equipment and so there was no way to transfer the milk from the cows to the cooler where it would be neatly cooled down unless someone carried it there. And so it was Randy's job from a very young boy to take these five-gallon pails of milk and carry them over and dump them into the cooler. Randy got to the point where he could take these five-gallon pails of milk, pick them up just like that and just tip them right over. He had the strongest forearms that I ever saw and very beneficial on our football team. Dean Bauman was another man whose parents were hard workers, very hard workers. I grew up amongst people who understood the sacredness of hard work. And I don't use that word sacred flippantly. Hard work is something that God has ordained. Hard work is something that God has ordained. My parents were hard workers. We were hard workers. I grew up in a time when hard work was highly appreciated and prized and respected and sought after. I grew up at a time where young people had integrity. I remember in the eighth grade My eighth grade teacher, it was a law in the class period, he had a very important envelope that needed to be mailed to the post office. It contained a lot of money in it and it needed to be put in the post office. The very fact that he was mailing cash kind of tells you how that America was different than the America today. He asked me, an eighth grader, to take the four block walk to the post office during class time to mail a letter. How many school teachers would do that today? I lived in a time when there was great respect for young people that had integrity. I lived in a time when there were rules, but the rules did not need to be restrictly enforced. When I grew up, we were allowed so many excused absences. And I remember my senior year, the last month of my senior year, I really only went to class about one quarter of the time. It was known that I wasn't going on to college. It was known that I was going to stay on the farm. I had two agriculture classes. I had a biology 2 class that was taught by a farmer who had 600 acres. They all knew I wasn't going on to college. And as long as I could keep my B average, they let me skip school to go home and work on the farm. Again, that's not something that we would do today. I remember a time when Beef and I, on his 18th birthday, we skipped school. We skipped school to go bowling. We broke the rules. Everybody knew we broke the rules. We didn't hide that we broke the rules. But there was no coming down hard on us because the authorities in charge recognized our hearts. See, when when you have a culture where, for the most part, people have integrity, for the most part, people are honest, for the most part, they are upright, moral people, and I'm talking about external morality now, you realize that, I understand that. There are rules and there are regulations, but they don't need to be strongly enforced, because there's not this evil that you need to strongly suppress. I grew up in an America where all of my classmates understood the meaning of Christmas. They knew that Christmas was about the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They knew about the incarnation. They knew about the virgin birth. We all knew about it. I grew up in a time when all my classmates knew what Easter was all about. It was all about the crucifixion. It was all about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. We knew that Jesus Christ died for our sins. We knew about the resurrection. We knew what Easter was about. I grew up in a time where on Good Friday, the Friday that Jesus Christ was crucified, all the businesses would close down from noon to three. Because they understood that was the time that was most important on the cross. Did they understand the perpetuatory work that was going on at that time? No, they didn't. But they knew something important was going on. I grew up in a time where every school closed on Good Friday. I grew up in a time where most businesses closed on Sunday. I grew up in a time when people understood that there was a God that was the Creator, understood that there were miracles that were talked about in the Bible, understood the Incarnation, understood the Crucifixion, understood the Resurrection. I grew up in a time when they understood these truths. Did they have a saving knowledge of these truths? Absolutely not. But they had a knowledge of these truths that affected the way they lived. And as I thought about this this morning, it is my conclusion this morning that the culture of the world has been living on the fruit of the 15th century Reformation for at least the last 150 years. We have been living on the fruit of the Reformation that brought us, again, an understanding of the doctrines of grace, that brought us, again, an understanding of the five solas. We've been living on the fruit of that without reproducing the fruit of it. I grew up in a church that knew nothing about the doctrines of grace. I grew up in a church that knew nothing about the Solas. In fact, when we had our Bible conference two years ago, emphasizing the five Solas, I had to study the five Solas so that I could completely understand them. I grew up in a church culture that didn't understand the most essential parts about doctrine. It was a church culture that certainly affected outside morality. But if you don't truly teach the doctrines so that it changes the inside of a person, eventually that external morality will disappear. That is why the America that I live in today, I believe, is different from the America that I grew up in. It's because the America that I grew up in had a church that did not preach the true doctrines of scripture, did not preach and teach theology. Did we talk superficially about Jesus Christ? Yes. We talked superficially about Jesus Christ just enough to make a person think they were going to heaven, but all the while still going to hell. And eventually, that affects your culture. Truly, there is really only one thing that we need to get back to. We need to get back to the foundation of the Reformation where men of God, who are called of God, preach the Word of God in all its authority, in all of its entirety. And when we do that, we begin to preach what the ultimate liberty is. As soon as my friend Randy Beierstorff, as soon as Beef texted me, verse 17, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Immediately, my mind began to list off the different liberties that I have because of the Spirit of God. I didn't know one of these liberties as a high school student. I didn't know one of these liberties even before I went to Bible college. I didn't completely begin to understand these liberties until I began to preach and to teach them. I'm still growing in my understanding of the importance of these liberties. And this is why I believe a message on the ultimate liberties is so important. The ultimate liberty. The first point that I would like to make about the ultimate liberty is that the ultimate liberty is a liberty that stems from truth. We're going to look at ten aspects of the ultimate liberty that will help provide a proper appreciation for all things, including the liberty achieved by the American Revolution. Because you cannot appreciate liberty that was achieved by the American Revolution unless you understand the ultimate liberty. You will never really appreciate the liberty that was gained by the American Revolution. You will never really appreciate any of your blessings in life until you understand and experience the ultimate liberty. And I would even go so far as you cannot defend the liberties that were won during the American Revolution. You cannot defend your blessings unless you understand the ultimate liberty that the Holy Spirit gives you. This is one of the problems in our culture. This is what we see going on in our culture today. We see people who do not have any appreciation for America, any appreciation for the liberties that were fought for, because they have no comprehension of the ultimate liberty. And we have people that are trying to defend this great liberty that we have gained because of the American Revolution, who also don't have any comprehension of the ultimate liberty. Until we come to understand the ultimate liberty, this nation is doomed to fail. This nation is doomed to suffer. Now I want to point out, I meant to point this out to begin with, this is a quote that I think comes from John MacArthur, not sure, but something I heard decades ago. I want you to know that with all my heart I believe that the church is not a social change agency. My goal is not to bring about social change. The church is not a social change agency. And I believe it was John MacArthur who said, the church is an agent of spiritual transformation. This is what I'm saying this morning. Let me make it perfectly clear. What this culture needs is a spiritual transformation that can only come when this culture experiences the ultimate liberty. It is the ultimate liberty that will bring the spiritual transformation that our culture needs. Without that spiritual transformation, we'll just go back to the great America that I grew up in, where there was external morality, but no real internal relationship with God the Father through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. So again, the first aspect of the ultimate liberty is the ultimate liberty is a liberty that stems from truth. It stems from truth. Part of the problem of our culture in the world in the last couple hundred years is the rise of the Renaissance man. What is the Renaissance man? The Renaissance man is a man who has been educated in many different fields of education. Now that in itself is not a bad thing, but when all that education comes from human thinking apart from absolute truth, that is a bad thing. It is okay to be educated in many different forms of knowledge. As long as you take all of that knowledge and run it through the grid of holy scriptures. Unless you be sure that everything you learn fits holy scriptures, then what you're learning will become more harmful to you than good. What doesn't fit holy scriptures, you dismiss. You don't believe. Somewhere in our culture, we went from being basically theistic in our understanding, believing that there is some ultimate God, that He's all-powerful, that He's creator, to having a more modern thinking, to where if you can't scientifically prove it, then it's not true. There are no miracles. Since I can't prove God, He doesn't exist. Since the virgin birth is ridiculous, I don't believe in it. Since resurrection from the death is ridiculous, I don't believe in it. We've gone from a culture that had a theistic mindset, even if it didn't lead to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and a theistic mindset where I believed that there was a God, and that miracles were possible, to a world that believed that the only thing that's true is what I can feel and touch. The only thing that is true is what I can scientifically reduplicate. And the man who is educated by man's wisdom that is controlled by that thought was the Renaissance man that I believe brought about many of the problems that we have today. So when we come to talk about the ultimate liberty, the ultimate liberty, we want to go to truth. And listen to what Jesus teaches us in John chapter 8. John chapter 8 verse 31. John chapter 8 verse 31. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who believed in Him, if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. You see, if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is the truth that will make you free. Where is the truth found? It's found in the words of Jesus Christ. Where are the words of Jesus Christ found? It is found in the pages of Holy Scripture, where His apostles meant that He sent out to speak with the authority of Jesus Christ. To speak, and when they spoke, it is as if Jesus Christ Himself is speaking. It is those words. That's where we find truth that will set us free. We find it in the pages of Scripture. Until our culture begins to turn to Scripture to find out what absolute freedom is, what ultimate liberty is. Our culture will continue to flounder. What the culture needs is to hear truth. Hear truth. You cannot appreciate truth unless you hear truth. The first thing that must be done is truth must be spoken. And it must be preached. Because preaching is the ultimate means by which God communicates. The ultimate means by which God communicates is through preaching. Why is that so? Because preaching to the natural man is foolishness. And God wants to be sure that when someone turns to the truth, it is the power of God. that people begin to respect. Not the voice of the preacher, but the power of God. The Holy Spirit will cause people to hear the preaching of God's Word and cause them to understand that this is a word from God. It is not the word of man. It is not the words of that preacher. It is the words of God. I speak of something that is miraculously done by the Holy Spirit. That leads me to my second aspect about the ultimate liberty. It is extended through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's go back again to that passage that we began with in 2 Corinthians 3. But their minds were hardened. I'm talking about the minds of the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness. Their minds were hardened. They couldn't understand truth. For until this very day, the reading of the Old Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted because it is removed in Christ." As if they had a veil over their minds. They would hear the truth, but they couldn't perceive it, they couldn't understand it, they couldn't comprehend it. They may have known what the words were, but they didn't understand the significance of what they're hearing. They didn't understand the absolute truth of what they're hearing. Someone can read the Bible and say, yeah, I understand what that says, but have no understanding, have no clue as to how that should affect their lives. That's because their minds are hardened. But to this day, verse 15, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. You turn to the Lord and that veil is removed. That thing which separates you from having a true understanding from Scripture is removed. Verse 16, now the Lord is the Spirit. Side note, the Lord is the Spirit. Here we see the deity of the Holy Spirit. That's a clear teaching on the deity of the Holy Spirit. The Lord is the Spirit. The Spirit is the Lord. The Spirit is God. He's the third person in the Trinity. God, the Spirit. But the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is liberty because of the work of the Spirit of the Lord. We see this work in Titus chapter 3 verse 5. He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. See, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. He regenerates the one whose mind is hardened. He renews the one whose mind is hardened. He gives new birth to the one whose mind is hardened. Why must the Holy Spirit regenerate? Let's go back to a passage that we often turn to. It's in Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2 verse number 1. Here again is a truth that in my great America I never heard growing up. Clueless! clueless about the total depravity, clueless about spiritual death, clueless about my helpless state, truly didn't really come to understand it until even after seminary. Not that the seminary part wasn't teaching, but it just didn't really begin to grip me and to register with me until I began to preach the truths of the doctrines of grace. Total depravity, spiritual death, Ephesians chapter 2 verse number 1, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too, Paul puts himself right among this group, among we too formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Paul one time was dead in his trespasses and sins. And as a dead man in his trespasses and sins, he walked according to the course of the squirrel, according to the prince of the power of the air. He walked according to the power of Satan. The Apostle Paul was spiritually dead, walking according to the power of Satan. And not only that, the spirit that is now walking in the sons of disobedience, he walked just like all the rest of the spiritual dead zombies in humanity. He was dead in his sin. He lived formerly lived in the lust of his flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind." He lived completely according to his desires. And nothing he desired had anything to do with God. He had no comprehension of the thoughts of God, could not think the thoughts of God after God. His desires were completely controlled by Satan and by the evil in the world. Why? Because he was spiritually dead. When we understand the ultimate liberty, you must understand that you come into this world completely spiritually dead, incapable of thinking any thought after God's thinking. Look with me in 2 Corinthians, rather 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11. Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. In this verse number 11, Paul is talking about a law, a law that exists between the spirit of a man and the thoughts of a man. And when I'm talking about a law, I'm talking about a principle of operation. a principle of operation. There is a law, there is a principle of operation between the spirit of man and the thoughts of the man. This law, this principle of operation is simply no one truly knows a man's thoughts except his spirit. You will never know what I am truly thinking unless I clearly tell you. Kathy could never know what I'm truly thinking. I shouldn't say that. There are probably a lot of times she does know. but she will not know 100% of what I'm truly thinking unless I tell her. There's only one power, there's only one identity that truly knows what I'm thinking, and that's my spirit, that's me. That is a law, that is a principle of operation. You cannot know the thoughts of another person unless you know the spirit of that person. Let's go on now to verse 12. Now we are to receive not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us, which things we also speak not in words taught by human wisdom, but those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words." How is it that we know the things of God? How is it that we know the truths of God? in a deep, intimate way, not just an external, superficial way. How is it that we can truly know that God is holy, and that I am a sinner, and that I deserve punishment, I deserve damnation? How is it that I can truly know that there's nothing I can do to make myself right with God? How is it that I can truly know that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for my sins? And Jesus Christ died on the cross, and if I trust His death on the cross, my sins can be forgiven. And now my sins can be forgiven, I can obtain the righteousness of Christ and therefore be right with Him. How can I truly know those things? The Spirit of God, who only knows the mind of God, must reveal those truths to me. He does that through regeneration. I meant to go to Ephesians 4, verse 23, where we see that our minds are being renewed by the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit renews my mind. He regenerates me. He changes the way that my mind operates. And He causes me to see God's holiness. He causes me to see my sin in the light of God's holiness. And He continues to reveal the wretched nature of my sin in the light of God's holiness. And He causes me to see that I deserve death. I deserve punishment. He causes me to think God's thoughts after himself and to understand that God is so righteous and so perfect that there's no way I can measure up to his righteous standard. There's no way I can make myself right with him. He begins to cause me to think thoughts after God's thoughts and I understand my hopeless state in this life the way that God does. You see, the Holy Spirit is renewing my mind to understand those truths. And what is He doing as He does that? He's changing my desires. You see, my desires before were all coerced and controlled and under the oppression of Satan. You see, He's beginning to set me free. He's beginning to give me liberty from Satan's coercion over my desires. He's beginning to give me desires that God wants me to have. And how do I operate? How does the law of the will operate? The law of the will always follows the strongest desire. Every single one of us is wearing what we're wearing today because it was the strongest desire at the moment that we got dressed. We may have regretted it when we walked out the door, but at the moment we got dressed, it was the strongest desire we have. That is the law of the operation between desires and the will. You see, Our wills are not completely enslaved. There is freedom of the will. We have freedom of the will to follow our desires. Our problem is we come into this world spiritually dead and we do not desire true salvation. We do not desire to truly know God. We do not desire the thoughts of God. But God so lovingly wants us to experience those thoughts that He sovereignly decides to send His Holy Spirit and regenerate us to give us the thoughts of God to the point where we begin to desire. what God wants us to desire. And we put our faith in Jesus Christ because there is no greater desire that we could ever have than to know that my sins can be forgiven and to know that I can be made right with God, to know that amends can be made for my sinful offense against God's holiness. And I desire that that is true liberty. I'm being set free from my spiritual deadness. I'm being set free from Satan. I'm being set free from sin. I'm moving on in my outline now. But this is liberty. We come into this world. We are enslaved. We are encaged. We are trapped by our own spiritual deadness. And we are enslaved and we are encaged by Satan himself. Look at verse 14, "...but the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritual praise." Here's another law. Here's another principle of operation. As long as you remain a natural man, you will never accept the things of the Spirit of God. No matter how clearly they are taught to you, no matter how many times you hear them, You will continue to repudiate them. You will continue to mock them. You will continue to scorn them. You will continue to make fun of them. You will not accept them as long as you remain a natural man, a natural man who is spiritually dead. You must be regenerated and become a spiritual man. You must experience the liberating power of the Holy Spirit to regenerate you and liberate you from spiritual death so you quit thinking like a natural man and begin thinking like a spiritual man. And as the Holy Spirit is liberating you from spiritual death, He is also liberating you from Satan. We've already talked about being enslaved by Satan from Ephesians 2. But let's also go to 2 Corinthians 2. Paul begins here by explaining to us that you cannot win someone to Christ by coercion. Your strong words of persuasion will not win someone to Christ. You may be able to persuade someone to do all sorts of other things. You may be the greatest orator that ever lived. But oration in itself will never win someone to Christ. Your fancy arguments will never win someone to Christ. He says here in verse 24, But the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition. You see what I mean by the vast majority of those who want to protect the liberties of America needing to understand the ultimate liberty? There's no gentleness when they're arguing, when they're discussing their differences with other people. There's no gentleness. There's just hatred and strong and harsh words people do not know how to speak kindly to one another because people, if they've experienced the ultimate liberty, they don't understand. They don't understand it. They don't understand the effects it should have on the way they talk, the way they respond, the way they relate, even to those that they view as their enemies. With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, Our main goal is to see people have a repentance that leads to the knowledge of truth. This ultimate truth about spiritual liberation. Everything needs to be focused on that. All of our defenses of our American liberties All of our anger about the movement to change America and hatred of America, all of it needs to be refocused to wanting to present our side in such a way that the ultimate goal is that someone be granted a repentance that leads to the knowledge of the truth. What is going on? Verse 16, "...and they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." That is the problem. with Antifa. They're held captive by the devil to do his will. That is the problem. with a police officer who abuses his authority. He's being held captive by Satan to do his will. This is the problem with our culture. It is being held captive by Satan to do his will. And what is the will of Satan? The ultimate will of Satan is to hold that person captive to the point where they don't put faith in Jesus Christ. We need to pray that God would grant them a repentance that leads to the knowledge of the truth. That God would grant them the repentance that leads to the knowledge of the truth through the Holy Spirit renewing their mind, regenerating them, causing them to become a spiritual person, enabling them to think God's thoughts after themselves and to come to a knowledge of the truth and come to understand the absolute holiness of God, to come to understand that their sin offends a holy God, to come to understand that this holy God is a just God and a righteous God, and in His justice and in His righteousness, He demands that that sin receive a just and righteous payment, which is an eternity in the lake of fire. We need to understand. Man needs to understand that they're separated from God. Their sin is separated from God. They have a relational problem with God. They have a judicial problem with God. They have a problem with God. The problem is not the way we use our liberties in this culture. The problem is not all the things that we see blasted on the media. The problem is man is a sinner and his sin causes him to have a relational problem with God. He is separated from God and his sin causes him to have a judicial problem. He's under the judgment of God. These are the truths that only God can grant. He must grant a repentance that leads to the knowledge of the truth. And once a person comes to understand that knowledge, he is set free from the chains of Satan. And Satan can't hold him in a state of unbelief anymore. He is free because God has created a desire within him and he will put his faith in Christ Jesus because that becomes the strongest desire. And you are set free from Satan. This is the ultimate liberty. And it is an ultimate liberty that I had no clue of in the great America that I lived in. No clue of. And I would dare say that none of my class understood this truth. I would dare say that there were very few in my county, very few in the state of Michigan that really understood this truth. These truths that we're talking about just have not been taught. What the ultimate liberty is, has not been taught. And because we have not taught it, we have now a culture that is no longer externally morally upright. We have a culture that has become completely corrupt. And that's why we are in the state that we are in. The ultimate liberty liberates one from the law as a means to be made right with God. Oh, what a glorious freedom this is, a liberty to be liberated from the law as a means to be made right with God. Either the culture cares nothing about being made right with God, or a culture thinks that it can do something in itself to become right with God. Either way, the culture is lost. The ultimate liberty will liberate you from the law as being a means to be made right with God. Oh, do you want to be right with God? Do you understand your sin causes you to be enmity with God? Your sin puts you under a curse. Your sin puts you under the judgment of God. Do you really want to be right with God? Do you want to be right with God? You need to understand the law is not the way to be right with God. You need to understand how difficult it is in and of yourself, how impossible It is in and of yourself to be right with God. You can never truly experience the blessedness of being right with God until you understand the hopelessness of being right with God by your own strength, by your own abilities, by your own uprightness. Look with me in Romans chapter 3. What then, Paul writes, are we better than they, referring to the Jewish people? Because the Jewish people thought they were better than everybody else. They're quite arrogant, quite prideful, which is one of the reasons we see expressed throughout the Gospels and throughout the Epistles so much that God came to save the world. The meaning there is God didn't just come to save the Jews, He came to save the Gentiles too. That's the point. Paul and John, they had to fight that. They had to fight this prejudice amongst the Jewish people who thought that they were better than everyone else and God loved them more than He loved everyone else. The Gospel says no. God loves the Jew and the Gentile alike. Why does God love the Jew and the Gentile alike? Because the Jew and the Gentile alike are desperately in need of God's love. And that's what Paul is emphasizing here. He's emphasizing that the Jew and the Gentile alike are both spiritually dead and are both equally in great spiritual need. He says, "...not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, as it is written. There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one." Everyone is useless in doing good. Everyone is useless in doing anything to make themselves right with God. Everyone is under the power of sin. They are powerless. to do anything to make them right with God. Verse 13, Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of Asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Everything they say, doesn't matter how sweet it is, It doesn't matter how externally right it is. It is nothing but poison. It is nothing but an extension of the grave. It is nothing but the stench of a spiritually dead person. Everything they do is just leading to destruction. Everything they are, everything they say, everything they do is under the power of sin. None of it. None of it. can be used to make themselves right with God. Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. All the law can do is keep telling you what a sinner you are. No one by anything that they've said or done or think, none of that is going to be of any value. You will stand before God and it will be as if you have no tongue. God will say, why should I let you into my heaven? What have you done to make yourself right with me? Nothing to say. Your mouths will be completely shut. Look with me in Galatians 2, verse 16. We could go right on to the next few verses in Romans, but let's go to Galatians 2. Galatians 2, verse 16. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified, justified, made right with God, made right with God, declared to be justified by God, Declared to be not guilty by God to stand before the judge and not be guilty to stand before the judge and to be justified This is what we want We want to stand justified before God We want to stand right before God Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. That truth needs to be revealed to the heart of man by the power of the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit needs to regenerate you to where you begin to think about that truth not as a natural man but as a spiritual man and you come to understand that there is nothing I can do or ever will do to make myself right with God. The only way to be right with God is by putting faith in Jesus Christ. When I put my faith in Jesus Christ, I stand before God justified, I stand before God not guilty. Wait a minute. Not guilty? I thought I sinned. I stand before God not guilty. Here's where we should have kept on reading in Romans chapter 3. In Romans chapter 3, as we kept on reading, we talked about the righteousness of God that God requires of us. There's a righteous standard that God requires of us, and we can't obtain it. We cannot obtain this righteous standard that God requires of us. And then Paul starts to talk about a righteousness requirement that God requires of himself. He has a righteous standard that He requires of Himself. And that righteous standard that He requires of Himself is that before He forgives sin, sin must be justly dealt with. And that's where Paul tells us that Jesus Christ became a propitiation for our sins. He endured the wrath of God that was being stored up from the time of Adam. And he endured the wrath of God that was being stored up from the time of the cross forward. That wrath of God that was being poured out upon all the redeemed. God poured all that wrath out on His Son until His Son satisfied all that wrath. And this is the truth that was never taught to me. that on Friday afternoon, when all the stores closed from noon to three, it was to commemorate the perpetuatory death of Jesus Christ. It was to commemorate the fact that at that moment, in those three hours, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, endured all the wrath that every single one of my sins deserved. I had no comprehension of that truth. None whatsoever. And I cannot truly comprehend my ultimate liberty until I realize that truth. You put your faith in Jesus Christ as the forgiveness of your sins, and you're putting your faith in the fact that when Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, my man, was on that cross, God the Father was pouring out His wrath upon God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit was enabling God the man, Jesus Christ, to stay on that cross and do it. The whole Trinity was involved. It was all involved in making sure there was a satisfactory payment for your sin, so that when you ask God to forgive your sins through faith in Jesus Christ, God is justified to forgive you of your sins. And not only that, just as God took my sins and put them on Jesus and treated Jesus like a sinner and punished Him for my sins, so God will take the righteousness of Christ and put it on me and treat me as if I am the Son and He will declare me to be righteous and justified before God. That is what it means to be liberated from the law, to understand I stand right before God by grace alone, in Christ alone, in His death, in His righteousness. I do not put any faith in my righteousness. My faith is completely in the righteousness of God, and I am made right before Him. That is the way of salvation, and here is the truth that you need to understand if you're truly liberated from the law. That is the way of sanctification. That is how you become more like Jesus Christ. Are you striving to be more like Jesus Christ by following a list of do's and don'ts? You can no more become more like Jesus Christ by following the law than you can become right in God's sight by following the law. How did you become right in God's sight? You heard the truth, you believed the truth, and you were declared to be right. How do you become more like Jesus Christ? You hear more of the truth, you believe more of the truth and you begin to just follow Christ's ways. Look with me in Galatians chapter 2 verse 17. But while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are also found to be sinners. Is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be. For if I rebuild what I once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor." Here I believe Paul is talking about rebuilding that system that he once followed, that system of following the law. He's going to rebuild it now in order to be right with God. And listen to what he says. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me." His whole life is lived by faith in the Son of God. He doesn't trust even his righteousness to make himself more right with God. He has died to the law. He is now living in Christ. He depends solely upon Christ's righteousness to make himself right with God, and he depends solely upon Christ's righteousness to make himself become more like Christ. He says in verse 21, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if the righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. As soon as he starts to say that I can become more like Christ by following the law, He's stating that Christ died needlessly. Think of the horrors of saying that Christ died needlessly. Think of the horrors of saying the Son of God became the Son of Man and He didn't need to. The Son of Man became the Son of God and He went on the cross and bore the wrath of God, but He didn't need to. See, this is what it means to be liberated from the law. You not only trust in Christ's righteousness to be made right with God, you trust in His righteousness to grow in Christ's likeness. Everything pertaining to life and godliness is given to us through the power of the Holy Spirit and the true knowledge of God who called us. Let's close with that passage. 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Listen again to this truth. I realize that I repeat it again and again and again. I realize that maybe I sound like a broken record, but listen to it again. Listen to it again. Let the Holy Spirit, once again, renew your mind to the impact of these verses. 2 Peter 1, verse 1, Simon Peter, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ. He speaks for Jesus Christ. He's an ambassador for Jesus Christ. When he speaks, it is Jesus Christ speaking. Listen now, Jesus Christ is going to speak to you, and the power of His Spirit wants to reveal to you, renew your minds, once again, cause you to understand what Jesus Christ wants you to know. He's writing to those who received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. He's writing to people that have the same faith that he has. He's writing to spiritually mature people, not just to people that are new in the faith. He's writing to spiritually mature people. This is for spiritually mature people. This is for everyone in this church. He says, grace and peace be multiplied to you. The grace that you received at the time of salvation is not enough. The peace that you receive at the time of salvation is not enough. You are in a constant need for more grace and more peace in this life. You can never get enough of God's grace. You can never get enough of his peace. You must have it multiplied to you again and again and again. And where does it come from? Be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This is the problem with America that I grew up in. There is no multiplication of the knowledge of God in Jesus our Lord. Therefore, I did not really understand grace and I didn't even have peace. Not only was I void of saving faith, I had no comprehension. I wasn't just not growing in Christ, I didn't even know Christ in that great America that I grew up in. Because there is such a void of the true knowledge of God. and the Lord Jesus Christ. How does he know that this grace and peace comes from the knowledge of God and of Jesus Lord? He tells us in verse 3, seeing that his divine powers granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Experiences told him that through the divine power of God, the Holy Spirit, everything you need for life and godliness, every non-organic problem you have, every non-organic problem, when it's an organic problem again, it's a broken leg, it's cancer, it's COVID, it's diseases, but every non-organic problem is solved by the true knowledge of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Everything pertaining to life in godliness, everything you need to have peace in this life, everything you need to have joy in this life, everything you need to get rid of your vengefulness and your anger and your depression, everything you need in life, everything you need to live a godly life comes from the divine power, the power of God and the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. He called us out of the dark domain of Jesus Christ. He called us out of the kingdom of darkness. How did He do that? He did that when He sent His Holy Spirit to regenerate us. This is the true knowledge that we need to understand. We need to grow in this understanding. And as we grow in this understanding, we'll have everything we need for life and godliness. We'll have everything we need to have more grace and peace in this life. Verse four, for by these, by what? Divine knowledge. in the true knowledge of God by these two precious gifts. By these, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises. All the promises of God are yours. All the promises and magnificent blessings of God are yours through the power of the Holy Spirit in the true knowledge of God. Why does He give us these precious and magnificent promises? So that by them we might become partakers of the divine nature. That's how you grow in Christlikeness. You listen to the truth, you trust the Holy Spirit to transform your thinking according to that truth, and you become more like Jesus Christ, because you're receiving the precious and magnificent promises, and you're becoming a partaker. of the divine nature of God, having escaped the corruption that is in this world by lust. Is this not what the world needs? To be liberated from trusting in itself to be made right with God. To be liberated from trusting in itself to become more like Christ. To be liberated from the law. The ultimate liberty is only according to absolute ultimate truth that we find in the pages of Scripture. The ultimate liberty is only ours by the power of the Holy Spirit. A power that God sovereignly decides where it will work. The ultimate liberty frees us from spiritual death. The ultimate liberty sets us free from Satan. The ultimate liberty sets us free from the law. This is the ultimate liberty that I trust we all have experienced. It doesn't matter whether we continue to experience liberties in America if we don't have the ultimate liberty. It doesn't matter if we don't experience liberties in America as long as we have the ultimate liberty. The ultimate liberty is what we truly need and truly need to experience. And the more we can live according to these truths, we pray that God would be pleased to cause more to experience that ultimate liberty. Until that happens, the culture is going to continue to struggle. But it need not affect us. It need not trouble us. It need not bother us. We need not get all worked up about it. We have the ultimate liberty. Let me pray. Almighty God, I trust we close our morning out with grateful hearts. God, You require so little of us to honor You and to give You thanks. That's clear from Romans chapter 1. All You want of Your creation is to honor You and to give You thanks. We honor You and we give You thanks when we put our faith solely in Your Word. and trust in Your Word alone. We ask for more grace. We ask for more peace. We ask for more truth. We ask for more of the illuminating power of Your Spirit. Help us, O God, we pray. In Christ's name, amen.