by Pastor Matthew Trewhella
America has lost her way. Her laws, policies, and court opinions spit in the face of Christ and impugn God’s law and Word. Americans are sold license disguised as liberty and think they are free. But most Americans know nothing of true liberty.
Most Americans have redefined liberty to mean license – license to sin. You have the liberty to imbibe upon whatever sexual sin you so desire – and I have the liberty to imbibe upon whatever sexual sin I so desire. That is the thinking of most Americans regarding liberty.
Most Americans are slaves to sin – and this makes them easily enslaved to the state.
Most Americans – and American Christians – have no idea what true liberty means to a nation or the goodness it brings to a nation.
Culture is religion externalized. And atheistic cultures most always turn into statist cultures. They make the state god. Atheistic cultures end up as statist totalitarian hells or hedonistic sewers – or both. America is both.
Christian men and Christianity produces something far different, however. Or at least should. Christian men understand and cherish liberty more than all other men. And why is that? It is because liberty is rooted in our religion – unlike the religion of the atheist.
Our desire to not be subjugated by men, not be subjugated by the state is rooted in our theology. In fact it is rooted in the most prized aspect of our Christian faith – namely, the finished work of Christ at Calvary. He has ransomed us – others shall not own us! No man, no state. We are His! We are free!
The Scripture plainly commands us in 1 Corinthians. 7:23 – “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” Why are we not to become the slaves of men? Because we have been ransomed by Christ – He has bought us!
And because of that – we cannot be subjugated by the state. Our love, our loyalty, our fealty is to another, namely, Christ!
And this is what brings us into conflict with the state – when it makes law contrary to His law and Word; when it assumes power beyond its limits – we refuse to obey man. We refuse to be subjugated. Our obedience is to Christ.
And this is why statists hate Christ and hate Christianity – because a true Christianity cannot be subjugated by the state.
In ancient Rome, conquered soldiers, stripped of their uniforms, were actually forced to pass under an ox yoke as a sign of submission to the Roman victors. But a truly Christian people will not do so. They will stay true to their Lord. They will not be owned or controlled by the state. They refuse to become the slaves of men.
This is why in the year 1773, the men of Marlborough, Massachusetts set forth a declaration in defiance of British tyranny which said in part – “Death is more eligible than slavery. A free-born people are not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny, but may make use of such power as God has given them to recover and support their laws and liberties.”
These men were wholly unlike the men of America in our day who cower and oblige the statist dogs that control all aspects of their lives. The statist dogs that have invaded family government, and self-government, and church government.
We have learned from all what went on over the last two years that Americans are a weak people. A babied people. Full grown men cowering like schoolchildren dutifully putting on their masks. They blithely obey the state and are controlled and subjugated to its whims regardless of how ridiculous or evil its actions are.
In truth – we learned that an apostate people and an atheistic people are a weak pathetic people – and such are the vast majority of Americans in our day; apostate and atheistic. And an apostate and atheistic people will gladly give up their liberty for even pretend safety.
So important was the law and Word of God to the Christian men who founded this nation and who understood that God’s law is the perfect law of liberty which brings true freedom to men and causes a nation to prosper – that in 1777 when there was a Bible shortage in America due to the War – Congress convened and conferred and then purchased 20,000 bibles to put into the hands of Americans.
These were men who understood that Christ and Christianity is good for a nation. These were Christian men who understood and cherished liberty.
While in their darkest hour there in 1777 – the men in civil government looked to God’s Word for the good of the nation. Now we see our government busy impugning God’s law and Word through law, policy, and court opinion. We see them with their sandblasters removing every vestige of Him and His Word from every statue and monument they can find.
If you do not understand how you are accepted of God – if you do not understand true liberty – you can be manipulated and abused by churchmen and politicians. You can be tyrannized and abused by both.
The Apostle Paul states in Romans 6 that as Christians we are set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness. Hence –we understand true liberty more than all other men.
And therefore we should want to preserve it in all areas of life – including the area of civil government. May we be Christ’s faithful ambassadors and bring His law, Word, and great salvation to men and to the governments of men.
To hear the sermon reached by Pastor Matt entitled
Why a Truly Christian People CANNOT be Subjugated by a Lawless State
go to SermonAudio.com. Here is the link:
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.as-p?SID=723211211261
Matthew Trewhella is the pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church (MercySeat.net). He and his wife, Clara, have eleven children and reside in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. You can obtain his book The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates: A Proper Response to Tyranny and A Repudiation of Unlimited Obedience to Civil Government at Amazon.com or by going to the websites www.DefyTyrants.com.
