Freedom in Christ part 3.

Oregon Bible Conference. Freedom in Christ lesson 3, part 1.

 

Satan's attack on the DOI and Constitution:

Cause division - lust for wealth through the slavery issue.

Soften the documents - Progressivism.

 

Has not Satan gone after the Church in the same way? He has worked to cause division while simultaneously attacking the word of God, not to remove it, but to soften its rigidity of truth through liberal theology, existentialism, false criticism, etc.

 

In 1820 two ideas came together in order to bring trouble. Those who believed that slavery was a good thing began to increase. The impetus for this came with the new territories to the west. In order to make slavery work you have to have a large set of laws for slavery, which include laws the behavior of slaves, for owners, and for patrols who enforce those laws. The great question of the time was if there were going to be laws in the new territories to the west that protected slavery or not? All of the founders, even slave owners, condemned the institution of slavery and hoped for a peaceful abolishment of it while maintaining the unity of the country.

 

NW Ordinance map

 

The NW Ordinance, which was adopted by the Congress in 1787, was set forth as a model for the expansion of the American republic. It provided a governing structure for the territory that would later become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It prohibited slavery, protected religious liberty, and encouraged education. However, the slave owner who wanted to expand west would not be able to use his slaves in these territories and so they reasoned that the rights of the Declaration of Independence did not apply to the African man. They reasoned that at some time long ago the African may have been equal with the European, but man is a product of time and conditions and thast time and conditions shape us [progressivism] and some became inferior. So it is only right that the inferior be ruled by the superior, which of course was them.

 

The slavery issue really boils down to wealth at the expense of another man's freedom and not so much the color of a man's skin or his country of origin.

 

The great cash crops of cotton and tobacco were labor intensive and they wear out the soil and so much land and cheap labor is needed to continue to grow it. The industries in the north were not near as labor intensive since the growing season is much shorter than in the south.

 

And so the lust for wealth became a place of division and eventually a civil war. Satan has succeeded to use the lust for wealth and power to divide the church as well.

 

We are not free when we serve earthly masters above our Lord and Savior. 

 

We can only be free when we submit to our true Master. One can't have two masters. To serve mammon is to be a slave to the world system and its ruler.

 

1TI 6:3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,

 

1TI 6:4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions,

 

1TI 6:5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

 

1TI 6:6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.

 

1TI 6:7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.

 

1TI 6:8 And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

 

1TI 6:9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare [trap - loss of freedom] and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge [drown, plunge into the deep] men into ruin and destruction [loss of well being].

 

1TI 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang [sorrows or pains].

 

HEB 13:5 Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,"

 

HEB 13:6 so that we confidently say,

"The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.

What shall man do to me?"

 

LUK 16:13

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."