Good to be with you and to be able to rejoice together in the word of the Lord and to share in those blessings that he so abundantly pours out. Surely I can say this morning, as I sat and listened to my brethren, my heart was full to overflowing. Uh, it's always so lovely to look at the Lord Jesus and to rejoice in him and what he has accomplished for us, and then to see how we ought to reflect that in our lives. It is truly good and pleasant when brethren dwell together in unity. It's such a sweet savor. I couldn't help but think when our brother asked us, how do you smell? Of how we're going to smell in glory one day. What a sweet savor we'll have then, because we'll be totally like him. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, perfect, holy, and righteous. What a day that'll be. But as we walk here in this scene, we can truly enjoy fellowship when we walk in the place of Christian liberty. And I think I'd like to speak about that a little bit this afternoon, and perhaps we could begin with the book of Galatians, considering there for just a moment and taking a text from there and looking at some things re- that relate to our Christian liberty. We might look at chapter five first of all. Chapter five and verse one says, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. So many times in this world today, especially here in the United States, we're hearing people talking about wanting liberty. In the past decade, we've seen the young people kick over the restraints of the establishment. We've seen people rebel against government, thinking that this was a way to walk in liberty. Today we're seeing it in the women who want women's lib, women's liberty. But you know, when we consider it from the Christian viewpoint, every one of us who know the Lord Jesus as a savior can rejoice in the place that we have, that of liberty. I'd just like to run through what Galatians gives to us in a few thoughts quickly as to the liberty that we have that's already given. Chapter one and verse four, We read, who gave himself for our sin that he might deliver us through this present ev- from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. You see, we have already been delivered, and that word really means set free, a deliverance or a setting free. We've been set free from this present evil world, and we've been delivered through the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who loved us and gave himself for us. In other words, there's no possible way that any man can walk in liberty until he has been able to rejoice in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, until he comes to the point of seeing the Lord Jesus as the redeemer, as the one who pays the price to set us free. You see, here Paul gives me the idea I'm set free from the present evil world, and I was set free because Christ gave himself for our sin. Chapter three, he brings, or chapter four, he brings me to a further point of the liberty that I have. In chapter four, verse three, five and seven. For even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of this world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son and made of a woman made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God has sent forth his spirit of his son into your heart, crying, Abba Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Now Christ came that he might redeem me from the law. He gave himself that he might redeem me from it. In chapter three and verse thirteen, he gives me that idea. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And so the Lord Jesus, by going to Calvary's cross and by becoming a curse for us, delivered me from the curse of the law. He's delivered us from death, and he delivered us from that curse by being made that curse for us and entering into death. Paul puts it this way in Hebrews chapter two in verse fourteen, that through death he overcame him who had the power of death, that is the devil. It's a wonderful thing to see that the Lord Jesus entered into death, that he might deliver me from it, and he did that by overcoming the one who had the power of death. In other words, he entered in to the strong man's house. He spoiled him by taking away his armor. You see, that's what he did. And when he offended, certainly he spoiled all principalities and powers. He put them off as he ascended right through the devil's domain. He was the prince of the power of the air. How good it is to see that he's redeemed us from the curse of the law. We've been set free, and we have liberty from the law. Now, in chapter four and verse twenty six, he gives me a further freedom. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Verse thirty one. So then, brethren, we're not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Now I get an understanding that I'm free because I've been born free. I've been born from above. I've been born from Jerusalem, from above, which is free. That's the mother of us all. You remember that when Paul stood before the Roman centurion, and he asked him if he was a Roman, and he said, yes, I'm a Roman citizen. And the centurion said, well, I came at that by great price. And Paul said, yes, but I was born free. I get two ideas there, and I think they both fit into the life of a child of God. We've been made free with a great price. You're not your own, but you're bought with a price. And I could suggest it's not a price like our gold standard today that goes up and down with the market, but it's a price of unchanging value because it is the highest value. It is the greatest value, and so it's an unchanging value. It's the standard of God. We were purchased by the precious blood, and that blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. How wonderful to see that we were set free because there was a purchase price paid. He set us free. But now when I was born again, I was born from above. And because I was born from above, I'm born a free man. I'm born a son. He says, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Wonderful that we were brought into a relationship of sonship, and now we have the freedom in the house of God. We have liberty in the house of God. Liberty to sin? No. Liberty to walk in light. Liberty to walk in a true fellowship. Liter- liberty to walk in the favor of Christ. I believe there are six things that I'd like to look at this afternoon that would bring us to what he brings in this verse then. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Have you got the liberty of redemption? Bought back out of a slave market with the idea never to be sold again. Have you got the liberty of being freeborn? Born as a true son of God. Born from above. Born by the Spirit, quickened by the Spirit, for God teaches me in his word that it's the Spirit that quickeneth, and the Spirit giveth life. I'm so glad the life that I have in Christ isn't a life given by a man, or something that was stirred up by the motions of men, but it was the seed of the word of God, and Peter makes it so plain in First Peter one twenty three when he could say, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever, brought into the family of God through the Word of God, quickened by the Spirit of God, and made free in the family of God. Now he said, because of that, therefore, stand fast in that liberty. Oh, it seems like today there's so many things, so many ways that Satan's trying to bind our liberty. But I'd just like to take a look at what we have in it. I think, first of all, in the book of Leviticus chapter twenty five and verse nine, I have a thought there concerning the freedom that I have received. Book of Leviticus chapter twenty five. This is relating to the year of Jubilee. You know, that's the year when men were set free. That was the fiftieth year, and that's the year God gave to his people, that everything would go back to its own master, that everyone would be returned to their own possession, and every man to his own family. We read in verse nine, then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in a day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land, and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty unto all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man to his own possession, and you shall return every man to his own family. So one of the things that we ought to stand fast in is the jubilee of being set free. You know, the day that we were born from above, that's the day that we were returned to our own. We were delivered from the bondage of sin, and we were brought to the family of God. We were given the liberty of sonship in the Father's house, and with that liberty came joy. You know, there was a trumpet sound in that land in that day, on the fiftieth year, that proclaimed the Jubilee. It proclaimed a year of setting free. It proclaimed love or joy in the freedom. That's Jubilee, it's joy, and it's joy in liberty. I wonder so many times as we walk in the place of fellowship with one another in the assembly, do we walk in the liberty? Do we walk in joy in that liberty? You know, sometimes we don't, and the reason we don't is this. I think the Lord Jesus made it so plain when he said, if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. In other words, when we know what our walk ought to be in liberty. We ought to have that spirit of forgiveness even as we have been forgiven, and that forgiveness comes because I can forgive one another even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven me, and because I know I can rejoice in that place of liberty, I can have joy then and walk in the place of forgiving my brethren as we walk in liberty. I wonder, as we look into our hearts this afternoon, are we walking in the place of joy in liberty? Returning everyone to his own possession. You see, here in that day brings the first principle. Justice has been satisfied, and that's why they walked in liberty. You'll notice that that day, the trumpet sounded on the Day of Atonement. That was the day that they were set free. It's interesting that in the Old Testament, I believe atonement has the same, one of the thoughts behind it that propitiation does in the New Testament. In the New Testament, I read these words in John's first epistle to John, chapter four and verse ten. He said, herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave his son to be a propitiation for us. In other words, the Lord Jesus was given as a satisfaction for us. God's throne was holy. God's throne was just. I think David makes it so plain in the eighty ninth Psalm. He said, justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth go before thy face. Justice demanded judgment. Justice demanded that sin be punished. And when it comes to the judgment of sin, God sent his son in the fullness of time, and the Lord Jesus came. And now God judged our sin on his own son. God has made him to be sin for us, the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He judged our sin on his son, and when he did that, oh, he satisfied the just and the holy throne of God. And so now mercy and truth could come into play, and or that he could show mercy. Uh, truth demanded judgment, and that's what was brought forth on his son on the cross. So the first thing I see, in the place of liberty, justice has been satisfied, and so I can walk in that. I see it again, I believe, in the burnt offering, when the offerer brought the offering and he laid his hands on it. It said it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for it. We've been set free, and we have liberty because sin is judged. Then I believe the second thing that we could consider would be the fact that, uh, we have a standing in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We get an idea of what this standing is in the book of Romans, chapter six and verse seven. In Romans six and verse seven, he teaches us he that is dead is freed from sin. He that is dead is freed from sin. Now, Christ died, and I died with him in the true sense that gives me an idea that I have been delivered. But you know, in verse six he puts it in a very strong sense. He says, knowing this, at the old man is crucified with him, that this body of sin might be destroyed. That's the way the King James reads, but it could be read, be made inactive. In other words, when the Lord Jesus died and he satisfied the justice of the throne of God, he died to deliver me from the penalty of sin and sin's power as well, and so now, delivered from that power, he made this body of sin inactive. And he said, knowing this, that the old man is crucified with him. That brings us into the path of faith, doesn't it? Knowing this, that means to believe it with all my heart and with all my understanding, because he takes me to another point that I need to reckon myself dead with Christ, and then I need to yield my members as instruments of righteousness. You see, a child who is walking in liberty in the fellowship of the assembly of God is walking in a sense that knowing that he's been delivered because Christ bore the judgment for my sin. Knowing he's been delivered then from this body of sin, that this body of sin has been made inactive so that we indeed might be set free. We can't enjoy liberty until we're set free from this body of sin. We can't enjoy a complete fellowship with the believer until this quits grabbing hold of me, and I've been released from all the claims of the body of sin. Because when I've been released from this, oh, then I can enter in to what he has for me now. And I believe that the next point I'd like, like to look at is the sense of the liberty in the ministration of the Spirit. You see, before I can enter into the liberty of the ministration of the Spirit, I've had to have some understanding by what liberty I've been delivered, and by what liberty now I can be controlled, by what liberty I would desire to turn to. Let's look at the book of, uh, Second Corinthians chapter three. There's some interesting truths in this chapter concerning liberty. He says in verse seventeen, now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. What spirit is he talking about? Well, if you were to look at the previous verses, you'd know that the context here was the people beholding Moses when he came down off of the mount. And when Mo- Moses came down off of the mount, he had been into the, in the presence of God so that his face shone and radiated the glory of God. I think not only when we come into God's presence do we get a sweet favor, but we begin to radiate his glory. You know, I thought this morning, as we thought of the favor, there's an ant. Remember, God says, go to the ant. Thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. But there's one ant that the way it wins a victory over all the other ants is because it has such a savor to it. It can go into another anthill, and the ants will accept the queen ant of an enemy anthill because of her savor, that she smells so good that they take her into their own anthill. And when she's in the anthill and they've enjoyed her favor so that now they're all brought to serve her, she turns then at that point and calls her own ants in, and all the anthill is indeed made her slave. How wonderful it is when we've been with the Lord so much so that our face will show it, that our speech will radiate it, and the way that we walk will indicate that we have the truth within us. And so, you know, here when Moses came down from the mount, he had been with the Lord, and his face was shining in the glory. That glory of the Lord was so bright that it radiated onto Moses, and he couldn't hide it. And when he came down before the people, ah, the people wanted the Moses veil. And I read, not as Moses which put a veil over his face, in verse thirteen, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which was abolished, but their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil on taken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil was done away within Christ. You see, because fear was in their hearts and the law was before them, they couldn't with open face behold the glory. And the glory was covered as it was radiated through him. They couldn't see the end of the law, which one day was going to be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, and glory was going to be brought forth. They couldn't see the end of the law and that day when they would be set free, and they could totally behold his glory. And so I'd like to suggest to you that now, as he speaks, he says, nevertheless, in verse sixteen, when it shall be turned to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now, the Lord is that spirit, and so now I get the idea that in the Lord Jesus, the veil was taken away. You and I are given the ability to see, see clearly. We're given liberty now. Liberty to do what? According to the context here, liberty to do what? Liberty to see the glory. That's what it's a liberty to do. It's a liberty to see the glory. Don't you see, beloved, this is one thing that we need to see. It's the glory, and seeing the glory of the Lord Jesus and walking in the light of that glory, it's what's going to take us and change us. And we read, but we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed under the same im- same image from glory to glory. Where the spirit of the Lord, there's liberty. There's liberty to gaze on. Liberty to gaze on. The Old Testament saint didn't see that. They didn't see the glory of the Lord. And you and I are given the liberty to gaze on his glory. Could I show you in our assembly fellowship how we could gaze on that glory? There is a time when collectively we gather together to remember the Lord Jesus in his death for us. I've been shocked, I suppose, at things this I've heard this summer. Heard of a young man standing at a conference, he was on the panel, and saying, how could we take and change our breaking of bread meeting so it could be more attractive to the young people? Is the attraction to the young people to be our purpose in gathering? Is it to find some method that would bring us to face an interest, or to realize an interest in our own heart? Or is it to come, as our brother reminded us to this morning, to a person, to symbols that would symbolize his body broken and his blood shed. As a young man, I can say there hasn't been anything in my life that brought- brought to me as a young person a greater drawing to the person of the Lord Jesus than that remembrance meeting. And I would shudder to think that we would desire to look for something that would bind, and that's what a method would do, rather than to rejoice in the liberty to gaze on him. If we're looking just for an interesting thing, and we don't find it, we've missed something. Because the greatest interest in our life ought to be the Lord Jesus, and to be changed into his glory. That ought to be the greatest interest in our life. It ought to be the greatest when we gather together to be drawn close to him as we view again what he did for us at Calvary's cross. And I want to say that's the purpose of that meeting. It isn't to go and to get. It isn't to view my brethren. It isn't to rejoice in the local gifts, although praise God for that. It's that's what's used of the Spirit, sometimes to break the alabaster box of ointment to stir our hearts to pray. But he's brought us there that we might enjoy the liberty that he's given us to view the Lord Jesus and to view him in his death, the place of humiliation. And as I go, it reminds me of two things. It reminds me of what a miserable sinner I am, but it reminds me of what a merciful Savior I have. It reminds me that he's not dealt with me according to my iniquity, but according to his mercy and his grace. He enjoyed the liberty of the Spirit to gaze on him, as you've enjoyed the liberty of the Spirit to gather to him? We were reminded he- he's the center of the gathering, and now as we come to that center, it's by gazing on him and viewing his glory that we're changed from image to image, from glory to glory. Only as I view him. I viewed my brother Branhall for quite a few years, perhaps fifteen, sixteen years ago. I sat and rejoiced as I did this morning, and I'm glad for what Christ is in him, but viewing him won't change this image. Oh, I need to view the Christ. I'm glad I can see Christ in. Do we rejoice in gazing on him, in the glory, in the humility, and then as we view him in one another. Then I think that there's another point that we can have considering the precious place that we have of liberty. You know, as we gaze on him and we're changed from image to image, it opens up that thought of the free access that we have. I'd like to turn, uh, to the book of Hebrews, chapter ten and verse nineteen. He says, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of the Lord Jesus. You see, my boldness now is liberty. My boldness to enter in. Couldn't help but think here in the Old Testament day, we were reminded this morning of the glory that was in the midst of the people of God, and it was God's desire that he would dwell in their midst. He said he wanted his dwelling place in the midst of them, that it might be as a sanctuary and as a dwelling place, and as a meeting place. Oh, you see, in those three things, it's easy enough to see what he is to us, because in the meeting place I have Christ in death. He said, there I'll meet with you between the cherubim. That's where the blood was sprinkled. Oh, and the dwelling place, that's Christ in life. That's where we meet with him. My, how glad I am that I have a living Lord, that I me- can meet with him in the place of sacrifice, but I can dwell with him because he dwells with me in life. And then how I can rejoice in the fact that he's the sanctuary, that I can rejoice with him in that place of eternal security, safe with him forevermore. That's a resting place. He made it so plain in John's gospel. I've often been struck with the fact that Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes says a threefold cord is not easily broken. But here, when I look at what he gives me in John ten, he gives me a fourfold cord. He said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life. First cord. They shall never perish. Second cord. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Third cord. My Father that gave them all is greater than... My Father that gave them me is greater than all, and no man shall pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. You see, there's the place of security, so we have Christ in life, and we have Christ in life only because we had him in death, and Christ as that blessed sanctuary, a resting place. You see, he put his glory there in the Old Testament that he might dwell in the midst, and as he dwelled in the midst in a place of thick darkness, his glory was unapproachable. They did not have the liberty to approach it. They were not free to go within. Oh, once a year on that day of atonement, they could bring the blood of the lamb, and that priest could only go in when he had taken some of the precious incense, and he had taken the fire off the altar, and he went in through the veil, and he put the fire in the air, the incense in the fire, and the smoke of it covered the mercy seat that he died on. And then he took the blood of the offering, and he sprinkled that on and around about the altar seven times, a full number. But you see, he didn't have the liberty only once a year to do it. But my, what liberty he's given to us. Liberty he's given to us as individuals to enter into the holiest of all, and to enter in all boldness, in all liberty, in all freedom. We have the place that we can enter in the place of prayer, and we can come to him. I know that the early church continued steadfast. Oh, what did they continue steadfast in? In doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer. These were the things that the early church continued in, and they continued in them because they had liberty in them. You know, if we're wanting to change things of the word of God, it's perhaps because we haven't drawn ourselves to the place to know the truth, because the truth will set us free, but we'll get to that in a minute. You see, he gave us a liberty to enter in, that's the way of access. Why do I have that liberty? Oh, because verse fourteen tells me, for by one offering he has sanctified, or he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. It was through the one offering that he perfected us, that he brought us to the goal of maturity. It was through the one offering, and now he's made us fit for his presence, and in true liberty we can enter in. And in an entrance in, we can rejoice in the place he's given, and we can communicate with him. Now, once more, book of Romans, chapter eight. He's given me here in this precious book, I believe, the liberty to rejoice that one day I am going to enter into glory, and to know that I can have every right to hold this hope as a truth of the word of God. He says in Romans eight chapter ni- chapter eight and verse nineteen: for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. How good it is to know that he set us free from any claim that sin had onto this body as I walk here today. But I know that because of the effects of sin, death, physical death, might claim this body. But I have every hope of glory and every liberty in that hope, in a true sense of realizing that one day he's going to redeem the purchased possession, and totally it'll be set free. There'll be none of the marks of sin upon it. There will be none of the withholding of sin to keep me from walking in a total liberty. It will be a total place of given over to him in glory. What a thing to know that one day we're totally going to be set free. Today we've got thorns in the flesh, things that hinder us in the way, and we're not enjoying a free liberty. There's things that bring us down, things that hinder, but one day we're going to be like him. And in that day we'll be totally free. Free. Free to serve with no hindrance. He says eternally his servants shall serve him. I'm glad I don't have to look forward to an empty eternity. There's got a God, God's got something for us to do, and that we're going to praise him, and as we praise, we'll serve him. Serve him in wondrous ways in all his kingdom, ways that haven't hit our imagination, and we haven't seen the fullness of it. It'll be a grand day. But now I might say, well, how do I truly get set free and to enjoy all this liberty? I've been delivered. I know my sins forgiven. I was set free from the bondage and all that the law did to hinder me. Well, you know, in John's Gospel chapter eight, I believe there the Lord Jesus, when he was speaking, gave us a clue to all liberty. And I would like, at the close, to suggest to you that this is a liberty that we need to use in our, as we fellowship, in the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ today. In the local assembly today, there are many things that are coming forth. We're turning, and the woman's lib is hitting where we meet. And of course, there's some things that the ladies do that many would think hinder them in our liberty, and one of them would be the head covering, and they'd like to throw it away. And if they got rid of that, then there's another thing that hinders us in our liberty. Why can't we share in the ministry with the men? Why can't we have a part in public prayer and public prophesying as well? And so there are different things coming in today, and what are we going to do? Will they hinder our liberty? I think we've got an answer, and the answer's found here in John's Gospel, chapter eight. He says in verse thirty one, then said Jesus unto the Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. There is the truth in sense of knowing Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. There's the truth in the sense of walking with him, in the sweet fellowship with him as we walk in the light. Because you see, the Lord Jesus, when he thought of his own and he prayed for his own, he prayed this, sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth. And so if we're going to enjoy liberty, we're going to have to come to the place where we walk in truth. That was one thing that John could write about Gaius. He was a man who walked in truth, and he could write it about his beloved elder sister and those that they walked in truth. And you know, if we're going to willingly walk in truth, and we will sit down and look at what God's word truly has to say, we'll be able to discern and to walk in the light of it. Because our fellowship is only going to be as we walk in light. John could say if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. My, how quick it separates the fellowship when some in the assembly would take some of the doctrines that are moving about today and bring them in because maybe they appeal to us as a young person. And young people, I say to you, oh, sit down and look what the word of God has to say. And you say, oh, Ray, it says sometimes things that, uh, seem to contradict. Oh, I don't think it does. There are some things that are plainly stated, and one thing I think that we must learn, that we do not set aside a plain statement of truth for a vague one. And we do not go under assumptions of what it does not say when it has plainly made a statement. And it seems to me today that these are the areas that we're coming into difficulty, because we're taking statements that are made that we feel that suggest something, and using them over and against a statement that's plainly stated. Not in just one place, but in several. Beloved, if we go back to truth, truth sets us free, because that's our liberty. Oh, elders, could I say to you today, we were reminded this morning about the cry for the elders, the godly elders, the godly shepherds who will feed the sheep. Are you convinced in your own heart of the truth? And that that truth has made you free, and that that truth has given you liberty, and now in that liberty you can teach with liberty. It seems to me that when we're not walking in that liberty, and we've not enjoyed that liberty, that it brings us to a place of I am not sure, and because I'm not sure, I can't teach in liberty, and when I can't teach in liberty, then there isn't the assurance and the strength of liberty or the strength of being taught. Teaching truth and having men walk in it. Feed the flock of God. Feed them fodder. Feed them truth. Feed them that which they need, both milk and the strength of the word. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. We've been ma- been made free from the judgment of sin. We've been made free, yes, we have. We've been delivered from the power of sin, and we've been made free to walk as sons in all liberty in the family of God. Free to rejoice in that place. Free to have a heart of jubilee. Free to proclaim it because we walk in it. If you know these things, happy are ye if you do that. Praise God for the liberty that we find in our precious Lord Jesus. Liberty in him, and liberty as he called us to gather to him as we walk in truth, because the truth set us free.