Cost of Freedom

Cost Of Freedom

2/20/21

It is no secret that the cost of freedom is one that could actually cost your life, or come to the point where you will have to make decisions hard enough that other lives may be endangered.  For the most part, western societies have forgotten exactly what it means to fight for your freedom, both spiritually and physically a task that a great deal of us could not endure.  Let's face it, our comfortability in demonstrating our voices while sitting on a park bench or church pew has drowned out those who have witnessed what it means to suffer at the hands of suppressors.  This inclusion consists of the Church as well and with things that are currently unfolding it is going to be a rude awakening for many who do not believe that the Church is going to fall upon hard times.  It is spiritually and eternally vital that we understand what the cost of our spiritual freedom is and what it shall take in order for us to be free due to God moving those mountains before us.  It is time we stick our hearts back into the Bible and learn what God says about what it takes to be free from the world through Him and His Ways, no more believing we are on spiritual easy street folks.  It is time for war.

When we look back at the human revolutions that have occurred in the name "for freedom" we can see evidence that many sacrifices were made in order for the outcomes to be revealed.  In every setting, many things were ravaged by those opposing such moves and many of the inhabitants involved directly or indirectly were taken into custody or even killed due to their enthusiasm to separate from the powers to be.  Many toils and spoils were decided and handed over during these struggles, sometimes both sides claiming God as their leader and proclaimer of victory.  However, during these conflicts can we honestly admit that they were more God-given and God-driven than the human desire to make a name for themselves and to take what they believe to be theirs in the first place?  This is quite the debating issue, especially when one takes the information given and looks at, plans upon it, and then executes that plan according to a humanistic view.  In any case, the cost of such desired freedom is high and until one experiences this cost of freedom personally, it remains a distant hope and dreams for many, yet still a wonderful example of what to do or what not to do in such circumstances.

How many times have you heard the argument from nonbelievers or devil's advocates asking the question of how could you serve a God who sends His Son to die for no apparent reason?  Or why should they serve a God who killed animals on a routine basis just for symbolistic ideas?  Have any of you ever been asked these questions or ones similar to them before?  It is difficult sometimes to adequately respond when caught off guard but if we have truly grounded ourselves in the Word of God these types of situations should easily be handled with biblical and authoritative answers that are 100% accurate.  Take, for instance, the cost of freedom that the Children of Israel witnessed while God was dealing with Egypt, it was a tense time and many things occurred behind the scenes before the physical eyes saw the results of such spiritual warfare.  As stated above, freedom is never easy and the cost of your freedom from this world is even higher, it is eternally higher in fact.  How high is this cost you ask?  Let us take the scenes in Egypt when Moses was told to go to Pharaoh and to tell him that God said for him to let His people leave Egypt.

The entire passage of these scenes and events will not be used here, just the highlights of what happened each time God told Pharaoh to let His people go and he refused.  But do not believe for one minute that each one of these events was non-important or less of the importance of another, for all of them were supernatural events that God allowed in order to grab the attention of those in rebellious charge over Israel.  Our passage comes from Exodus and the time frame that God battled Satan for the hearts of not only Israel but of Pharaoh and Egypt as well.  Exodus Chapters 7-12 describe this battle between two kingdoms and we shall see that through this battle many lives were turned needlessly upsidedown because of stubborn pride and belief in false gods that only brought trouble and anger to an entire kingdom.  See, when people or nations worship false or defeated gods, the only thing that they can bring to people is more hunger, wanting more, and needing more of a supply line that can be offered.  This god-like worship is a superficial fulfillment that denies the inner being (heart and spirit) true communication that they need.  What a waste of time to be honest, but for some reason, we decide it is easier to adjust to differences in our surroundings by such worship.

Worship is a cleansing and a refreshing of our spirit, and it can only be fulfilled in one way, and that is by serving and worshiping God.  Remember the verse where it says we must worship in spirit and in truth?  There is a reason for this, for only God can represent Truth to our lives and in our lives; therefore, any other type of worship cannot reach the inner core of our lives and clean out and open up that worship communication line as the worship to God can and does.  Sin is not a superficial manifestation, if it was then none of us would have habits and feelings that potentially end our eternal lives, they could be shed on and off easily without any thought process or healing from God.  You know, I believe that this belief is exactly what the world teaches and that countless people believe and fall for.  The roots of sin run ever so deep within our lives and it is this Truth about our lives that the Bible says we need to crucify our sinful lives every day.

The plagues that were delivered to Egypt were phenomenal and considered unheard of before.  Yes, certain times created specific events of locusts, frogs, storms, etc. but never to the extent of what God unleashed against Egypt.  Humans love to believe that when one sign comes that their will can endure that period of time and then move on when that situation or condition is finished, they actually thrive in such behavioral conditions.  However, when the second issue arrives soon after the completion of the first one, maybe something is not right and we should think about changing some things about our lives might be in order.  But not in this case, all faith was projected onto the leader and magicians of Egypt and supreme confidence was taken from the people, so, God had to continue to show Himself to Egypt in a not-so-great manner.

God has always followed a pattern when He must deal with humans and their stubbornness towards His Ways and His people.  God will not just end a person's life, or group of peoples' lives, or even destroy an entire kingdom without first giving them warnings about their behavior.  Many times these warnings from God are severe enough that people should get the hint, but once again we see that human stubbornness aided and rooted in worldly traditions remain intact and force God to enhance these warnings, sometimes even coming to a head with the destruction of kingdoms.  It is this pattern that God must take that shows us how not to act and for us to realize that it should not take frogs, hail, locusts, and even deaths of our firstborn children to see just how deep our sinful roots are.  In deep truth, our acts of life are dictated by who we worship for it is through worship that our communication lines are opened to; and just a reminder again, if one communication-lined direction is open the other is automatically closed.

Egypt turned to its prideful gods to help them win the day, but as each day passed their gods were silent and worthless because none of them had lived, even to defend themselves, much less the millions of people in Egypt.  Pharaoh never recognized the legitimacy of God or His authority over his kingdom, so that when God changed His requests into demands Pharaoh would not even understand what hit him; each response from Pharaoh demonstrated this fact.  Deepening yourself into a false or dead god will not comfort you or give you true direction when things are tough, it only brings expanded difficulties and plages to your heart's doorstep.  Ever heard of this statement from friends or others "no one is going to defeat me or tell me what to do"?  It was this residential belief in Pharaoh's heart that cost him many lives around Egypt including his own son.  Now, ask yourself once again, how deep does sin run in my life.  

After each plague was completed, the consequences grew and affected more people.  By the time every plague was completed, another primary life-giving source was taken away, and when the tenth plague was over, human life was taken the source of all living.  Did it really have to go that far?  These acts by Pharaoh and God, it serves as aforethought of why God had no choice to allow His Son to die for eternal life and freedom.  It was necessary for Jesus to come to this earth after Adam failed in his position as the leader against eternal tyranny.  Not even physical death could deter humanity from a sinful existence, we still continue to willfully sin against our existence and make no bones about the fortifications we build around our lives to defend this death presence inside our hearts.  We are no different than what Pharaoh believed and lived but as of this moment, we still have the opportunity to change things so drastically that our land will be miraculously healed.  Here is the tough part of this story to comprehend and that is this, it took Israel forty years to reach the Promised Land after the day they stepped foot from Egypt.  Forty years!  It was not that big of a place of wandering, folks!  Here is the deal, we do not have to recreate Exodus Chapters 7-12 again, we have the opportunity to bypass this and move on down the spiritual road.  We do not have to endure these issues or ones similar or worse than these.  This is lightening the burden of sin in our lives through God, we do not have to go through such turmoil.

Israel was thankful that God delivered them physically from Egypt, but their problem was that they failed to recognize that God still had work to do within their inner hearts.  It was this portion of freedom that was the most costly to the Children of Israel.  Many people who were of adult age never stepped foot into the Promised Land due to the exact same rebellious spirit that Pharaoh demonstrated while they were in captivity.  This means that due to this same behavior, neither Egypt nor Israel were free both were still in bondage.  Both nations displayed selfish pride after Israel left and it continued to cost both nations valuable human resources during this process.  A useless process with devastating results all due to stubborn, selfish, and worldly pride deeply rooted enough to influence people to ignore what God says for everyone to do.  Battles are tough and costly enough, do not deliberately add to this cost of freedom, just allow God to intervene completely.  God challenges you today to go and study in-depth these chapters in Exodus and realize exactly how much it cost Egypt to live in defiance and rebellion when told by God what to do.

Why die in the wilderness when there is the perfect solution staring at you just inches away?  The cost of your freedom from this world is high enough, you do not need to add to its value.  The warnings of God are true and correct, but they are merciful in comparison to life being taken away.  God warns both physically and spiritually, just as He has done all throughout His Word and beyond.  God loves His children, ALL of them and it is not His desire to see anyone die in rebellion and live eternally away from Him.  Church, we have lost our drive to dig deep into our lives and to allow God to uproot sin from within, only God can perform such a miracle and it is far beyond time that we allow this to occur.  Our wilderness is about to be upon us, and it is imperative that we do not spend "decades" wandering around aimlessly and bury countless people who do not know God.  tough times are ahead and we need to lessen the cost of our freedom as much as possible, recognize the importance of life through the obedience of God, and return to His Ways accordingly.  This is war!

DLB