THE LAW AND FREEDOM

Introduction

We have been told that this is a free country and we can do whatever we want. This sounds nice in theory, but in reality, it does not work. Whether we like it or not, there are laws that restrict our freedom. Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines "freedom" as, "A state of exemption from the power or control of another; liberty; exemption from slavery, servitude or confinement." Freedom can only be enjoyed when one does not infringe upon the freedom of others. Freedom has consideration for the rights of others. Freedom is not being able to do whatever what someone wants to do. This is licentiousness. Freedom has the idea of restraint. A synonym of freedom is liberty. There are different kinds of liberty. These concepts of freedom and liberty are not unlimited, but there are constraints upon both by the law.

Application

To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.

Exodus 21:16 reads, "And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." This is what we call kidnapping. Webster’s renders "kidnapping" as, "The act of stealing, or forcible abduction of a human being from his own country or state. This crime was capital by the Jewish law, and in modern times is highly penal." Notice that the punishment for this act is the death penalty. In our modern day, this seems an extreme punishment. But this is viewing it from the criminal side not from the victim. No one is to be forced against their will to be deprived of life or liberty if they have done nothing wrong. Kidnapping is the imposition of one’s will upon another by force. We are talking about at the individual level, not the civil government.

Another reference to this civil crime is found in Deuteronomy 24:7, "If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you." Here an individual has stolen a man and seeks to make money off of him. He has stolen his liberty without the benefit of a trial. In other words, the victim is not deserving of the actions of the perpetrator. God has only given the civil government the power of constraint by force. He has not granted any single individual this authority. This is why vigilantism is forbidden for the individual. We are not to take the law into our own hands, but to use what God has provided.

Paul wrote in Romans 13:1-4, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." God has established civil government to take care of evildoers. He has given the civil government the power of death for capital crimes. It is their responsibility as ministers of God. They execute His wrath in the earth and then He executes His wrath on the guilty for all of eternity. If we do, what is right, rulers are not a terror to us. It is when we step outside the bounds that we become fearful of the governing authorities.

Have you ever stop to consider that criminals usually make sure that they are well armed? They know what they are doing is wrong and they seek to protect themselves because they know that they are fighting against the police force who is armed. In one other place in the Bible kidnapping is mentioned. In 1 Timothy 1:8-10 we read, "But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 9Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." The civil law was not designed for the righteous because they are obedient citizens. However, because of the sin nature, not every one is going to obey the law. Thus, the necessity of the civil law is to protect the righteous from the unrighteous. Here one of the crimes listed is man stealing or kiddnapping. We are not steal another’s freedom and to do so can bring the death penalty.

Conclusion

A free society is one characterized by being able to go places without losing one’s freedom. This is why there is a prohibition against kidnapping. It breaks the sixth and eighth commandments specifically. If you break one, however, you end up breaking them all. We are to allow others their freedom of motion. We are not to try to force them against their will. If someone does, they set themselves up as sovereign. They try to take the place of God.

GOD'S LAW PROTECTS THE LESS FORTUNATE

Introduction

God intends for us to act civilly to all that we come into contact with. Paul expressed this principle in 1 Corinthians 12:23-26, "And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." Here there is given special attention to that which is lacking. God wants us to look out for those do not have the same advantage as we do. The Lord Jesus represented as such in Luke 12:48 which reads in part, "...For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." Those who have been given much by the Master will have greater accounting on the day of judgment. We need to realize the solemness of this fact.

Application

To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.

Leviticus 19:14 describes some that are less fortunate than we and how we are not to take advantage of them, "Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD." This law is not enforceable by the civil government. It can only be administered by God Himself. This limits the size of the civil government. This is an issue of self-government. Each Christian is to make sure that he does not behave with cruelty toward the deaf and the blind. Cursing the deaf and causing a blind person to fall are the height of cruelty.

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines "cruel" as, "Disposed to give pain to others, in body or mind; willing or pleased to torment, vex or afflict; inhuman; destitute of pity, compassion or kindness; fierce; ferocious; savage; barbarous; hardhearted..." It certainly sounds like anyone associated with abortion. Proverbs 12:10 depicts the attitude of the cruel, "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." In other words, the heartless have no regard for anyone or anything but themselves. They take pleasure in tormenting animals. They love to torment. If these individuals will curse the deaf and cause the blind to stumble, there is nothing that they would not do to demonstrate their fierceness.
The children of Israel pronounced blessing and cursing in Deuteronomy 27 with one of the cursing being found in Deuteronomy 27:18, "Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen." This is the height of cruelty to purposely cause a blind person to wander not knowing where they are going. It shows a definite lack of compassion for a condition in which the person themselves cannot help. A godly society will pray and seek the cursing of God on such individuals. Children can be among the cruelest people especially those in the government schools to those who have physical deformities.

Deuteronomy 32:32-33 speaks symbolically regarding these individuals, "For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: 33Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps." The symbolism here is that the poisonous bite of the asp is cruel. The venom must torment its victim and the bite must be extremely painful. Poisonous snakes here are implied to take pleasure in causing harm to their victims.

The cruel are representative of their father the devil. Lamentations 4:3-4 gives us an example how just cruel can become, "Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 4The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them." They do not look out for the less fortunate, but rather delight in causing pain to the weak. Rather than die from starvation in God’s judgment, these individuals will become cannibals, as Deuteronomy 28:53 says, "And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee." This is the ultimate in taking advantage of the weak. This is clear violation of God’s law.

Conclusion

The remedy is found in Philippians 2:1-5, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." The Christian is considerate of others, especially those who are less fortunate than themselves. They realize that they have what they do only by the grace of God.

FORBIDDEN PRACTICES AND POSTITIVE DESTRUCTION

Introduction

God has given us boundaries. Boundaries are designed to protect against harm. To go beyond a boundary is to trespass or transgress. Sin is transgression. 1 John 3:4 reads, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." The Amplified once again does justice to the meaning of this verse. "Every one who commits (practices) sin is guilty of lawlessness; for (that is what) sin is, lawlessness (the breaking, violating of God’s law by transgression or neglect; being unrestrained and unregulated by His commands and His will)." God sets the law and if man violates it by commission or omission, it is sin. Sin does not like restraint or standards. It abhors authority and is in rebellion against it.

Application

To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines the verb "transgress" as, "1. To pass over or beyond any limit; to surpass. 2. In a moral sense, to overpass any rule prescribed as the limit of duty; to break or violate a law, civil or moral. To transgress a divine law, is sin..." God’s law contains either boundaries in negative connotations or enjoins us positively as a duty or requirement.

Exodus 23:23-24 says, "For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. 24Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images." The children of Israel were going to be coming into the Promised Land. God was warning them about the peoples of the land. He had said this about these people in Leviticus 18:24-25, "Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 25And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." Reading Leviticus 18:1-23 will tell you of some of the wickedness of the "Ites of the land."

Exodus 23:24 is a repeat of the second commandment which says in Exodus 20:4-5, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5Thou 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." It is forbidden to make an idol and then prostrate oneself before them and give them homage due only to the Creator. Paul said that if man did not worship God as Creator, he would worship the creation in Roman 1:21-23, "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." Man without God will make idols of something because he is religious to the core being made in God’s image.

In Exodus 23:24, there are three things that are prohibited. To go over these limits is to transgress God’s revealed law. They were not to bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works. These are clear prohibitions. These are negative commands. These are things forbidden to the child of God. The main reason for this is because idols are dead and false gods. Isaiah 2:8-9 reads, "Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not." Idols are man made and not God made. They are not living because only God can give life. This is why it is vain to serve the works of man’s hands.

God believes in positive destruction. In the chosen text, He enjoins a positive duty. The children of Israel were to destroy these images and the works of men’s hands. Deuteronomy 7:5 restates this case law with more detail, "But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire." The negative commands limit in our actions and the positive puts us into action. Fire was to be used upon these graven images, to burn them into ashes. This is what happened to the magic books in Acts 19:19, "Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." Here is an example of positive destruction in action.

Conclusion

God forbids transgressing in certain actions. He puts limits on our freedom. This is for our good and not hurt. Those who go beyond the established limits suffer harm. They would not listen to sound wisdom. God also wants us to positively destroy wickedness. His law says in Deuteronomy 7:25, "The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God." We are not to desire what the world has but are to destroy their works of wickedness.