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The
love which casts out fear and sets us free is not human love, inherent in
man, lying dormant within, and only waiting to be weakened and brought
forth. “The air only weighs heavily on such bodies as are void of air: so
God’s law, and so far God Himself, who reveals Himself by means of the Law,
rests like a heavy, oppressive burden on souls who have not God
within them”
(Martensen).
In the very beginning the Lord God created mankind and set him free to live, to do, to eat, to go freely what did he want but his freedom was concerned with obeying his creator. He was free to go everywhere in the garden in which he was kept. He was free to eat from every tree of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is written in the Holy Bible, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”.
(Genesis 2:16-17)
Freedom does not mean nudity or naked liberty:
There are some moral and spiritual values and limitations to enjoy the real
liberty in human society. Naked liberty always produces evil like as sexual
immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft: hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like so
many other destructions and abominations. After that, we see, Adam and Eve
both disobeyed the Lord God and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree and
thus they lost their freedom in the Garden of Eden and they were driven out
from the garden. It is written in the Holy Bible, “Therefore the Lord God
sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he
was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden
of Eden Cherubim's, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the
way of the tree of life”.
(Genesis 3:23-24)
How Cain rejected the warning of God and lost his liberty? In the word of God it stated thus, "And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou doest not well, sin lieth
at the door. And thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him".
(Genesis
4:5-7)
And then we read how Cain slew his brother Abel and God said to Cain, "What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strenghth; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth".
(Genesis 4:10-11)
Then again we see in the age of Noah, when men began to increase in number on the earth, men again rebel against their creator the Lord God and it is written, “And God saw that that wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The earth was also corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt;
for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah, “The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
(Genesis 6:5, 11- 13)
And then we see according to His word the Lord God destroyed all the flesh which was upon the face of the earth. We read in the Holy Bible, how the world that then was, being overflowed with
water, and was perished, So we see naked liberty always produces evil and destruction.
There is another example of naked liberty of Israel while they were brought out of Egypt, out of land of slavery. The Lord God commanded them, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shall have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments”.
(Exodus 20:1-6)
But when Moses went up the Mountain of Sinai to receive the tablets of stone, with the Law and commands written by the Lord Himself for their instruction, how they made an idol in the shape of a calf to worship. And Aaron the high priest was also agreed with them.
And thus Aaron, the high Priest of Israel had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies.
And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord wax hot; thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, “Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot
not what is become of him”. And I said unto them, “Whosoever have any gold, let them break it off, so they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. And when Moses saw that the people were naked;
for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:
then
Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and their fell of the people that day about three thousand men. For Moses had said,
" Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I
blot out of my book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee; behold, mine Angle shall go before thee: Nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made”.
(Exodus 32:21-35)
In the
above passage from the word of God, we see how Aaron had made Israel naked
unto their shame among their enemies? Then the Lord God said to Moses,
“Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come in the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of jephunneh, and Joshua the son of nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in the wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty
years, and bear your woredoms, until your carcases
be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye
searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear
your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of
promise. I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil
congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness
they shall be consumed, and there they shall die”. (Number 14:28)
Now-a-days we see the Secularism is destroying the human society and its values throughout the word. The secular nations and societies are cause of breaking moral and spiritual laws and values of the Church (the Christ's Body). The secular system provides a liberty to humankind like as a wild donkey of a man. Like the Noah's ages, man's wickedness on the earth has become great. It is written in the word of God, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
(Genesis 6:5-8)
Abdominally and heretical practices like as homo- sexuality, same sex- marriages, idolatry, sexually immorality, adultery, male and female prostitution are due to this naked liberty that are forbidden in the word of God.
Therefore it is written in the word of God, “As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God”.
(1-Peter 2:16)
According to the word of God believers are made free from sin but not from God. As it is said, “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the Law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of
righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of
your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to righteousness
unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from
righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now
ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from
sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the
end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
(Romans 6:15-23)
There can no real peace or liberty for a soul in that condition. We can conceive of a case in which the will is strong, and the passions are held well under control. And what have you? You have a life of outward abstinence from the evil and of conformity to the good, but not of life of joy and liberty. You have a man who walks conscientiously, it is true, but he knows nothing of real delight and freedom in the service of God. The force of conscience and the power of will may be sufficient in many instances to keep the passions under restraint, so that in the main there is an absence of outward transgression, and, it may be a good deal of zeal and activity in working of God. But, oh, what a sense of strain and perpetual bondage within! Christ's yoke is felt to be constantly pressing. It is not found to be easy, not His burden to be light.
Now let us suppose such a one is brought under the power of a fuller and deeper work of the Holy Ghost. Let us suppose that Divine love sanctifies his desires to the same degree that Divine truth has emancipated his mind and divine peace his conscience –what then? A complete change takes place in his whole life. Because he begins to love, and delights in, the right, as well as recognizes its excellence, he now finds it easy to do it. He begins to like what God commands; and it never hard to do what ones like. Then he finds the truth, in his own experience, of those words, “His commandments are not grievous.”
Here, then lies the secret of liberty and delight in the service of the Lord and in total obedience of the Lord..
Seek to grasp the glorious fact that you may have Christ as Divine love filling your soul. Just as the alabaster box was in the house, and its presence may not have been known, so Christ has been a long time with many of his disciples, and they have not known Him; that is, they have been comparatively ignorant of His glorious fullness. But no sooner was the box broken, and the ointment shed abroad, than the odour filled the house. So when the love of God is poured forth by the Holy Ghost- when the infinite treasures of divine love stored up in Christ are disclosed, revealed in us, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost-their subduing, liberating, and transforming influences begin at once to be seen and felt. Their cleansing and purifying effect on our thoughts and desires are realized. We begin to learn then what our blessed Lord meant when he said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”.
(Matthew 5:8)
It is not by straining and struggling that this blessed condition is brought about; it comes by a very real dedication of ourselves to God for this very purpose, and with this as the special end and aim in view. Just lie quietly before Him. Open all the avenues of your being, and Him come in and take possession of every chamber. Especially give Him your heart-the very seat of your desires, the throne of your affections.
Yield all up to Him, and the Lord will enter, bringing with Him all the
riches of His grace and glory, turning your life of duty into a life of
Liberty and Love.
A bond servant of Christ Jesus,
Pastor G. M. Tebassum
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