The Choice-Bondage or Freedom?

The main ideas from this information are: - The importance of freedom of choice given by God - The history of Israel's bondage in Egypt and their deliverance by God - Examples of individuals making choices, both right and wrong, and the consequences of those choices - The spiritual significance of being freed from bondage through Christ - The need to continue in God's Word and live a life pleasing to Him to remain free. So, brethren around the world, it's good morning in Australia, and it's good evening in the United States and Canada, and we do wish you all a happy Sabbath. Now, the title of this message that I have, as it's getting close, as it is close to Passover, I believe it's something that is relevant, the title is relevant to all of us, and it's something for us to think about. And one of the greatest blessings that we have, that God has given us, is the freedom of choice. We have the freedom to be able to live the way that we choose to live, the freedom to worship God, the freedom to do what God wants us to do. But all too often in this world, freedom has been taken away by oppressive governments. And we think of, that we can think of very easily, is the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt. And in Exodus 1, verse 8, it says that a new king, there came along a new king in Egypt that did not know the children of Israel, did not know Joseph, did not recognize what he did for them, because Joseph was the national hero, and he saved Egypt and the surrounding districts of starvation. But this king did not recognize that. And for some 250 years, the children of Israel were, they were put in bondage, where they had to serve the Egyptians in hard labor. So the first scripture I come to here, we come to is Exodus 2, and verse 23, where it says, And it came to pass, after many days, the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. And God does not like people being in bondage, in hard labor, and he wants a certain amount of freedom to choose. In verse 24, And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Going down further to chapter 6, verse 5, where it says, And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, those whom the Egyptians are keeping in bondage. And I have remembered my covenant, so God doesn't forget his people. And so many generations, they lost identity with God, so God wanted them to know who he was. Okay, in 6th therefore, Say to the children of Israel, God's saying to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. So God was going to do great judgments on Egypt. And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land concerning which I did swear to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and will give it to you for a heritage. I am the Lord. So he's revealing himself to Israel. I am. Exodus 13, verse 3, And Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for the Lord brought you out from this place by the strength of his hand. Not by Moses, but it's by the hand of God. And he says, There shall be no leavened bread eaten. So that's referring to unleavened bread. And further down in Exodus 20, Exodus 20 and verse 2, where he says, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. This is when they were before the mount, when God was speaking to them, loud thunderings and a loud trumpet, and this was on that day of Pentecost. So this was God speaking to them personally, and he was making himself known to them. And at this stage I'm just going to give you a definition of what bondage is. A couple of definitions I have is, The tenure or service of a villain, or serf, or an enslaved person. That's one definition. And another one is a state of being bound, usually by compulsion, as of moral mastery, such as captivity, serfdom, servitude, subjugation to a controlling person or force. And this is what God brought Israel out from. As a result of that, they choose, he gave them the opportunity to choose to live God's ways, God's laws, as a way of life, as a free nation. But in doing so, there were conditions for them to do that. A choice is always available. A choice is always available to either choose to be free, or if you don't choose that, you choose bondage, one or the other. And we just come to Romans, what Paul says about this. Romans 6, and verse 16 to start off with. Don't you realize that for whom you yield yourself as servants to obey, you are servants of the one you obey, whether it is of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. Okay. But thanks be to God that you were servants of sin, that you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. And having been delivered from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. So in the church, God has called us out of bondage, bondage of sin, to the freedom of choosing his way, and of knowing of his plan, knowing his plan. Okay, and continuing in Galatians, chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and do not be held again in the yoke of bondage. So we were, before we were called into the church, we were spiritually in bondage under Satan the devil. Okay, and at this stage I'm going to provide a definition of what freedom is. Okay, now one definition is the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. That's quite simple. Another definition I have is the powerful right to act, speak, or think as one wants. The freedom of choice. Now for Israel, the first definition I mentioned was simple enough. They came out of bondage in Egypt. The second one constantly got them into trouble. Because when you think of the freedom to choose, they chose the wrong way. All too often they chose the wrong way. We can go into, go through Psalm 78 for instance. It constantly got them into trouble, and they partially repented. Time and again, when they sinned, it got them into trouble. So I just want to, at this stage, go into two examples of choice that we have in Scripture. One happened to be the right choice, and one happened to be the wrong choice. And one happened to be the wrong choice. And the first one is in 1 Kings 11. In 1 Kings 11, we have the example of Jeroboam. Jeroboam. And in 1 Kings 11, beginning with verse 35, where it says, this is instruction given by Ahijah, the prophet. But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, this is Solomon, son's hand, and will give it to you, Jeroboam, ten tribes. And to his son, which is Rehoboam, I will give one tribe, so that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for me to put my name there. And I will take you, Jeroboam, and you will reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel. And if, well, there is this famous word, if you will hearken to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, then I will be with you, and build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. And the reason why Ahijah was telling him this was because of the sins of Solomon, who did not do what God instructed him. So Ahijah, and Jeroboam had this opportunity, this great opportunity, to, he was given the instruction by Ahijah, but what did he do? Because once he became king over the ten tribes of Israel, he made his choice. And he made this in the next chapter. And you pick it up in verse 25. And Jeroboam built Shechem on Mount Ephraim, and lived on it, and went from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom may well return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, in other words, keep the Passover, days of unleavened bread and other feast days, then shall the heart of this people turn again to their Lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and return again to Rehoboam king of Judah. So, would the people go back to Rehoboam and pay the high taxes that he demanded of them? Well, maybe he didn't think about that. In verse 28, Then the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And here we are, the golden calf again. And he set the one in Bethel, and put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. And, okay, so he put people in authority who didn't know any better. Didn't know any better, and they wouldn't ask questions like, Is this the right thing to do? What would God say if we did this? And doesn't that remind you of political leaders today, political parties, where they put people in the party who wouldn't ask questions, and they just did what the party wanted them to do. Okay, so he made the wrong choice. And in verse 31, He made houses of worship on the high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordered a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah. Like it, but it's certainly not God's feast. And he offered upon the altar, and he offered upon the altar, not the people, not the priests, he did it himself. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. He placed in Bethel the priests of the high places, which he had made. And it was close to Halloween, as Fred has mentioned. So, Jeroboam made the wrong choice. And even knowing the blessings of, he was given the blessings of what he would do if, what would happen if he made the right choice. But he made the wrong choice. And there are consequences for that. Consequences to himself, consequences to his family, and for Israel. And that led to bondage, bondage of not knowing God's way. And ultimately, eventually, it led to the bondage, physical bondage, of exile. He's a Syrian. And another example I want to give is one who made the right choice. Now, this was a husband and wife team that made the right choice. And may I just give you a bit of background of this. Jehoshaphat was a righteous king. But unfortunately, he did make mistakes. And he made the mistake of having Ahab as an ally or as a friend. Ahab, who was wicked. He had Jezebel, an evil queen, as his wife. And what happened was, Jehoshaphat's son was Jehoram, who married the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, married at Goliath. Now, we pick it up in 2 Chronicles, first of all, in 2 Chronicles 21, verse 6. 2 Chronicles 21, verse 6. And this is referring to Jehoram, who was a daughter, who was the son, he was the son of Jehoshaphat. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like the house of Ahab. Or he had the daughter of Ahab for a wife and did that which was evil in the eyes of the law. Go to 2 Kings 11, verse 1. And you read about it. Naphili was the mother of Ahaziah. Ahaziah was the, he was the son of Jehoram. Jehoram was evil and his son was Ahaziah. And he only reigned for a year. And this is the result of Bathaliah, who was the wife of Jehoram. Now, when she saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed of the kingdom. Now, this is the house of David we're talking about here. Naphiliah, what she wanted to do was take the throne for herself. And the house of David was without a king. Well, without anyone on that dynasty for a period of six years. And what happened was, in that period of time, there were three times in history when the house of David did not have anyone on the throne for a short duration of time. The last time was during the time of Oliver Conwell. This time of Athaliah was the first of those times. The first of those occasions. Okay, now. In, go down. In verse two. Jehoshabah, the daughter of King Jehoram, sister of Ahaziah, took away Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons before they were killed. And they hid him from Athaliah in the bedroom, him and his nurse, so that he was not killed. So, Joash was only one year old when this was done. He was hidden with her in the house of the Lord for six years, and Athaliah reigned over the land. This is what happened. They hid him for six years. And we come to a corresponding scripture here in 2 Chronicles 22, verse 10. 2 Chronicles 22, verse 10. Then Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, and she arose and destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah. But Jehoshabah, now, it's a different name here, but it's the same person. The daughter of the king took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons who were killed. And she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. And Jehoshabeth, the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so that she did not kill him. And he was with them six years, hidden in the house of God. Athaliah reigned over the land. Okay, so this is the same person. And here is the... Okay, up here. Okay, in verse 11, we're repeating in verse 11, just pick it up here. She was the sister of the king that was killed, daughter of Jehoram, and she was the granddaughter of Jehoshabeth. But she was also a wife of Jehoiada the priest. So this is unique because, as far as I know, in Scripture, there was nobody else who was ever in both royalty and the priesthood at the same time. Jesus Christ is our high priest. He's also king of kings. He's going to be king of kings during the millennium. And we, during the millennium, we're going to be both kings and priests. So that's just something. But anyway, what Jehoshabeth or Jehoshabah did was courageous. Because she was of royalty, so she was in the line to be killed as well. But she went into the palace and captured Jehosh. Her life was in danger all this time to do that. It was a courageous effort. But she did. And to hide him for six years in the house of the Lord. Now, because Athaliah was a pagan and worshipping Baal, she wasn't likely to go into the house of the Lord. So they were able to bring him up Joash for that time. And no doubt she would have had a fair amount of influence in his upbringing and learning of God's way. We go to 2 Kings 11 verse 4. The plan was put into place here. The plan was put into place here. Here they gave them instructions. And eventually what happened, the plan was put into place in verse 12. And they anointed him and clapped their hands and said, long live the king. In verse 17. Now all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and demolished it. They broke his altars and images completely in pieces. And they killed Matan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest Jehoiada appointed officers over the house of the Lord. And he took the rules over hundreds of the commanders of the guard and the people of the land. And they brought the king down from the house of the Lord. He came by the way of the gate of the guards of the king's house and he sat upon the throne of kings. And all the people of the land rejoiced. The city was quiet and they killed Athaliah with the sword beside the king's house. So this is a result of making a right choice. Both Jehoiada and his wife, Zahasheba. And in the next chapter, 12 verse 2. And Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. And we have a note in 2 Chronicles 24 verse 15. Jehoiada lived a long life. He lived to the age of 135. All the days which Jehoiada lived, the priest instructed him, Joash did what was right. And what he did after Jehoiada died is a different story which we won't go into. And also, another example, we won't turn there, but Josiah was another king. He was a king that made a right choice. And what he did, the reforms he did in the temple, the reforms he did and he instituted, he made a right choice. And what he did, the reforms he did in the temple, the reforms he did and he instituted, reinstituted the Passover and they did a Passover service that was not done like it since the days of the judges. And we won't turn there, but we're looking at it spiritually now. On a spiritual level, let's turn to Luke. Luke chapter 4. Beginning with verse 17. And there was given him the book of the prophet Isaiah. When he had unrolled the scroll, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. For this reason he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Poor in spirit. He has sent me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to proclaim pardon to the captives. And in Isaiah 61, verse 1, it says, proclaim liberty to the captives. And recovery of sight to the blind to send forth in deliverance those who have been crushed, those who have been put in bondage. In verse 19, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And in John chapter 8. John chapter 8. John chapter 8. Beginning with verse 29. And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not, this is Christ talking. And the Father has not left me alone because I always do the things that please him. That is part of conversion. Doing what pleases God is conversion. Abraham pleased God. Because he obeyed his voice. As he spoke these things many believed on him. Now he was talking to scribes and pharisees here. Believed on him that it was really a superficial belief. Not really from the heart. Therefore Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall set you free. Now what truth was he referring to? The truth of human nature. The truth of repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sin, conversion, grace and love. And they, the scribes and pharisees answered him, We are Abraham's seed and we have never been in bondage to anyone. What do you mean by saying you shall become free? Well, never been in bondage? Who controlled you there at the time? They were under Roman rule. And there was a Roman garrison right near the temple. That could spy on them everything that was going on in the temple area. Okay, verse 33. And they answered him, We are Abraham's seed and have never been in bondage to anyone. Okay, I'll admit that. And Jesus answered them in verse 34, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a servant of sin. Practicing sin is sin as a way of life. The scribes and pharisees had a way of life which was a servant of sin. Okay. And the servant does not live in the house forever, but the son lives forever and is free of sin. Going down to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. This shows what we have come out of. Beginning with verse 1. Now you are dead in trespasses and sin, in which you walk in times past according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working within the children of disobedience. So if we walk in sin, we're under the control of the prince of the power of the air. Okay, and continuing down. Among whom also we once had our conduct in the lust of our flesh, doing things willed by the flesh and by the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest of this world. A God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. You have been saved by grace. He raised us up together and has caused us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the ages that are coming he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. By grace you have been saved, through grace or through faith, and this especially is not of your own self. We have nothing to do with it ourselves. It is the gift of God. So what did he mean here? What did he mean by this? We come to Revelations chapter 5, further explanation of this in verse 13. For you have been called unto freedom brethren, only do not use this freedom as an occasion to the flesh, but rather serve one another with love. So we don't take advantage of this freedom to do what we want in the flesh. In Galatians 1, verse 6, it says, I am astonished that you are so quickly being turned away from him who called you into the grace of Christ, to a different gospel. In other words, changing the word of God to your own agenda. But if we, or even an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel to you that is contrary to what we have preached, let him be a curse. This was so serious. He repeated it. As I've said before, verse 9, I do say again, if anyone who is preaching a gospel contrary to what you have received, let him be a curse. So freedom is not to be taken lightly. Time after time, Israel wanted to turn back from worshipping God his way. An example of this is in Numbers. Chapter 11, beginning with verse 1. And the people complained about their distress, speaking evil in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled. And this was human nature, human nature being what it is. Human nature being what it is, people are likely to complain, and complain until they get their own way. And the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outermost parts of the town. And the people cried to Moses. Well, they don't cry to God, they cry to Moses. And when Moses prayed to the Lord, who was seated for them, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taborah, because of the fire of the Lord burned among them. And the troublemakers in their midst lusted with great lust. I just think it wasn't a case of seeing their situation in reality of where they were. It wasn't a case of just asking the question, Oh, wouldn't it be nice, wouldn't it be nice to just have some good food? No, they turned with a great lust. And the children of Israel also turned and wept and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? So they continued on. We remember the fish that we freely ate in Egypt. We ate freely in Egypt. The cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. And all that's good food, certainly, it's good food. But they conveniently forgot that they were in bondage to Egypt. They did not know God. They only knew the gods of Egypt. Okay. In verse 6, But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes. Well, manna was all they needed. All they needed to stay alive. It was what God provided for them. All their journeys through the wilderness, they had manna every day. They had water there. But they craved flesh. They craved flesh so much, their bad attitude, that God provided them with quail for a month. Quail so much that it made them sick. Because of their bad attitude. I'm just coming back to Galatians. In chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. Verse 7. Where it says, So then you are no longer a servant, but a son. And as a son, you are also an heir of God through Christ. So, something that we should think about. Now on the one hand, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to those who are not gods by nature. Israel and Egypt. But on the other hand, having known God, rather after having been known by God, how is it that you are turning again to the weak and infidel elements to which you again desire to be in bondage? So, if we turn from God's way, we would be going back into spiritual bondage. You now come to Titus chapter 3. Chapter 3 of Titus. And beginning with verse 3. For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceitful, serving all kinds of hosts of lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Well, before we were called by God, what was on our minds? And we think of the way the world operates. Verse 4. But when the graciousness and the love of God and Saviour towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we practice, but according to mercy he saved us through the washing and regeneration of baptism, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, also the renewed covenant that we made with God the Father and Jesus Christ, which he richly poured out through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that having been justified by his grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. See what freedom from sin this world gives us. The hope of eternal life and blessing, rewards, so the choice of freedom through the blood of Christ. Living God's way and being all of the other alternatives, being in bondage to this world and the sentiment of it. In 2 Peter, chapter 2, and beginning at verse 12. But these, as irrational brute beasts, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheme those things which they are ignorant and shall be utterly destroyed in their own corruption, unless they repent. They are bringing upon themselves the reward of unrighteousness, while finding pleasure in satisfying their lustful desires day by day. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their own deceptions while feasting together with you, having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin. They are engaging in seducing unstable souls, having a heart trained in lustful cravings, cursed children. So, that's the consequences. They're the consequences. And it's so bad in today's world. The world is heading towards Genesis 6, verse 5, where it says the imaginations, every imagination of anyone is towards evil continually. Well, you think of the world, people in the world, and they wake up. What do they think of? What are they thinking in today's world? If it's the stage of Genesis 6, verse 5, it can't be anything good. What can I get today? How can I use someone today? What's in it for me? And with us who are being called into the Church, it's the exact opposite of that. You go to Romans, chapter 8. Romans, chapter 8, and beginning in verse 2. Because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has delivered me from the law of sin and death. Okay, so that's the operation of God's Spirit. And coming down to verse 14. For as many are led by the Spirit of God, For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Now, you have not received the Spirit of bondage, again, under fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship, whereby we call out our Father. It is a term of endearment, which is very precious to us, that we have this special relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ. The Spirit itself bears conjointly with our own spirit, which is the spirit in man, testifying that we are the children of God. Now, if we are children, we are heirs. We are heirs towards something here. Heirs, truly heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, so we have to go through trials, and go through trials, but make the right choice with each trial, so that we may also be glorified together with him. Okay, let's see how far we go here. The glory of the children of God. The destiny of this world does depend on us, does depend on what we do, what our choice is in life, our calling. Okay, so this is real freedom. Freedom. This is a transfer from the bondage of sin, and of Satan the devil, to the destiny, to freedom. Freedom in Christ, through his shed blood. In Hebrews 2, they're talking about the transfer of, transfer from bondage to freedom here. In verse 14, Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14. Therefore, since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, in like manner, he also took part in the same, in order that through death, he might annul him who has the power of the death, the power of death, that is, the devil. And that he might deliver those who are subject to bondage, all through their lives, by their fear of death. Okay. Satan has this world in bondage. We have the choice. We have the choice in our lives, bondage unto Satan the devil, or freedom, freedom in Jesus Christ by his shed blood. This is tremendous when you think of it, and what's ahead of us, our destiny. And there's two more scriptures that I have, both in Deuteronomy, regarding choice, bondage or freedom. In Deuteronomy chapter 6. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 12. So we have a warning. We have this great life, great opportunity before us, into eternity. But we do have a warning in verse 12. Then beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to the house of bondage. And we think of this in the church. We think spiritually, spiritual Egypt, this world. And the last scripture we have is Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19. In verse 19, where it says, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life so that both you and your seed may live. And we apply this spiritually in our case. Spiritual life is for eternity, into the ages of eternity. So this is the subject, the choice, bondage or freedom. And in our case, being blessed to be given this opportunity in the church of the firstborn. Freedom is for eternity.