Pastor Dave Martin ~ Cross Creek Community Church ~ July 2, 2006

** New Series begins next week – “Growing to Serve” then Aug 6^th is Celebration Sunday w/ special offering, cookout, etc

“The High Cost of Freedom”

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Their conviction resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty.

At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson’s home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on the Nelson home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt.

John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year, he lived in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion.  ~ Kenneth L. Dodge, Resource, Sept./ Oct., 1992, p. 5

“Freedom” – the condition of being free of restraints, Liberty

I.  The High Cost for Americans...  To Live Free of Tyranny!

French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said,

“I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests—and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, 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 pulpits 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!”

Proverbs 21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has attributed the fall of the Empire to:

1. The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.

2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace.

3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.

4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people.

5. The decay of religion—faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people.

Quotes from the tape “Our Godly Heritage” by Wallbuilders, Inc., PO Box 397, Aledo, TX 76008 817-441-6044

·         Sadly, America has these very same sinful characteristics... Sign of the end times!

·         Churches in America = 85% declining, 10% plateaued, with only 5% growing

·         As individuals go... so goes the family... so goes the church... so goes the nation – there is HOPE!

(Present hurricanes, tornados, flooding rains, fires, mud slides, heat waves, terrorist attacks, etc.)

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

II.  The High Cost for Christ...  To Purchase our Redemption!

Acts 2:23-24 This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

·         God’s great plan to redeem fallen man... sending His Only Begotten Son... left heaven to earth.

·         Jesus Christ the Creator (Col 1:16) came into this world to brutally die for our sins at Calvary

·         The crucifixion was NO ACCIDENT... It was God’s determined will, plan... a Divine necessity!

Colossians 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

·         Jesus the conqueror death, sin & the grave, He disarmed the powers of hell & Satan himself!

Revelation 1:5b-6 “...to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”

·         When we come by faith through the blood of Christ we are saved from our sin... new destiny!

·         Listen carefully... it doesn’t stop there... every believer here has a price to pay...

III. The High Cost for Every Believer...  To Live Victoriously!

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

·         To identify completely with Christ’s message, even if it meant death.

·         People are willing to pay a high price for something they value. Is it any surprise that Jesus would demand this much commitment from his followers?  (Read Phil 2:12-13)

·         The Christian life is NOT on Autopilot. (Very familiar with in aviation)

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

·         Freedom or license to sin is no freedom at all, because it enslaves you to Satan, others, or your own sinful nature.

Psalms 18:35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

·         God gives us His shield of liberty, deliverance, salvation – God reaches down to ME!

Soberly Understand...

We are Engaged in an Invisible War.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

·         Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure and pays with pain; he promises profit and pays with loss; he promises life and pays with death.   - Thomas Brooks

·         His #1 tactic is deception & condemnation... he comes to steal, kill & destroy (John 10:10)

·         Has God really said... “You’re not saved... you call yourself a Christian... Try it, you’ll like it...

·         Time to wake up from our slumber... (Read Rom 13:11-14)

We Must Remain God Dependent.

Romans 6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

Missing the mark... Sin is an offense to a Holy God, it can master and destroy you.

·         Your body is the instrument of sin – the organ the sin uses to manifest & satisfy itself.

·         Every part of your body is to be given over as an instrument or tool to do righteousness.

·         Surrendered to His will... correct priorities... correct attitudes... totally dependent upon the Lord.

Creepers of Sin

Walking through a park, I passed a massive oak tree. A vine had grown up along its trunk. The vine started small—nothing to bother about. But over the years the vine had gotten taller and taller. By the time I passed, the entire lower half of the tree was covered by the vine’s creepers. The mass of tiny feelers was so thick that the tree looked as though it had innumerable birds’ nests in it.

Now the tree was in danger. This huge, solid oak was quite literally being taken over; the life was being squeezed from it.   But the gardeners in that park had seen the danger. They had taken a saw and severed the trunk of the vine—one neat cut across the middle. The tangled mass of the vine’s branches still clung to the oak, but the vine was now dead. That would gradually become plain as weeks passed and the creepers began to die and fall away from the tree.

How easy it is for sin, which begins so small and seemingly insignificant, to grow until it has a strangling grip on our lives.   And yet, Christ’s death has cut the power of sin. Yes, the “creepers” of sin still cling and have some effect. But sin’s power is severed by Christ, and gradually, sin’s grip dries up and falls away.    - J. Alistair Brown

Are You Experiencing Victory or Defeat?

Proverbs 2:7-8 ⁷ He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, ⁸ for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

·Victory is assured for God’s children – every born again believer!  A blameless walk in honesty/ integrity

·“Shield” – ‘magen’ – protector, armor; “Guards” – ‘natsar’ – watches over, observes in good way; “Protects” – ‘shamar’ – to hedge about

Real Freedom and Victory comes by...

ü        Knowing Truth!

John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

o        Get yourself around the Word... Bible study, Wed nites, SS classes, small groups, connected

ü        Obeying Truth!

James 1:22-25 ²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.

o        You only believe that which you obey!  Make disciples, faithfully attend, prayer, Word

ü        Living Truth!

1 Peter 2:16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

o        The more total we make our commitment to Christ the FREER we become!

The Rewards are Awesome!   Literally, “Out of this World”

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Have a Great July 4^th

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