UNTIL THE SON SETS THEM FREE
"So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word--hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them--you are truly My disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered Him, We are Abraham's offspring (descendants) and have never been in bondage to anybody. What do You mean by saying, You will be set free? Jesus answered them, I assure you most solemnly I tell you, whoever commits and practices sin is the slave of sin" (John 8:31-34 AMP).
Although the U.S.A. was an attempt to set up a government founded on Christian principles, its citizens would not continue to humble themselves under God in their hearts. And so, the citizens doomed the nation to failure from the beginning. Man was so sure he could, by his own ingenuity, make a godly kingdom out of this world system. But Jesus, the Son of God, was clear, "My kingdom is not of this world [not comprised of the world's moral blindness, forbidden cravings, disobedient intentions and slavery to deception]." (See John 18: 36,37; 1 John 2:16.) The world hungers for freedom, wars for freedom, connives for freedom but its lovers hate God, the Author of freedom, and so will never find freedom without repentance. Think about it.
"So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word--hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them--you are truly My disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered Him, We are Abraham's offspring (descendants) and have never been in bondage to anybody. What do You mean by saying, You will be set free? Jesus answered them, I assure you most solemnly I tell you, whoever commits and practices sin is the slave of sin" (John 8:31-34 AMP).
The United States of America has been publicized as the "land of the free." For all of the founding fathers' work at trying to set up our government on Christian principles, there was still slavery! For every one of these men were sinners. Like any other sinner, those who trusted in and relied upon the Son of God Jesus Christ, and held fast to His teachings, living in accordance with them, came to genuine freedom. Those who did not, remained enslaved, no matter what their station or circumstances were.
Over the years, millions have striven to come to America in order to have freedom. Yet they brought their bondage with them if they still practiced sin. They strove for wealth, thinking it would free them, yet their wealth could not save them from death and cannot save them from judgment. They tried the other gods of prestige and power and found themselves still subject to sin. As always, it is not the outward circumstances that enslave a person but the inward attitude of the heart towards God and His kingdom.
© S.M. Hudson, Hidden Treasure Ministries, December 2003. All rights reserved.
Categories: forgiveness
