Martyn Lawrence – Paradox of Liberty – Class 1 – You May Freely Eat

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Our first speaker this morning
is Brother Martin Lawrence from

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the Collect Heaton UK Ecclesia.
The theme for Brother Martin’s

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classes this week is Paradox of
Liberty.

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Today’s class is entitled You
may Freely eat, Brother Martin.

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Brothers and sisters, 249 years
And about a week ago, Thomas

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Jefferson sent a letter to
Benjamin Franklin asking him to

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edit your Declaration of
Independence.

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And the letter basically said,
we’ve reached the penultimate

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draft.
We’re going to meet again

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tomorrow.
If you want to make any changes,

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please let us know at your
earliest convenience.

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And the draft as it stood, read
something like this.

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We hold these truths to be
you’re finishing it in your

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head.
I can hear We hold these truths

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to be sacred and undeniable,
that all men are created equal,

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that they’re endowed by their
creator with certain inalienable

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rights, that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit

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of happiness.
And Franklin made very few

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changes.
But one change he did make was

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cataclysmic.
And you know what it was Because

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it’s changed on the screen.
We hold these truths not to be

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sacred and undeniable, but to be
self-evident.

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And in making that change, there
emerged A remarkable parable for

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the post Christian world in
which you and I work out our

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discipleship in trembling and in
fear.

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Because what Franklin was saying
was, I don’t think these things

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are theological issues.
I don’t think they’re sacred.

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I don’t think you need God to
tell you about life and in

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particular liberty and
everything else.

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Instead, we can begin to just
simply work it out through the

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prevailing culture of our day.
These issues are just, am I

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allowed to put it like this,
ingredients in the American

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dream, free to be changed and
worked through based on what’s

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happening at any one particular
time.

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So much so brothers and sisters.
And this is the point for

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starting like this.
So much so that when we think in

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the West of freedom, we tend to
think about structural freedom.

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We tend to think about that and
everything that we talk about

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when it comes to liberty is
framed around that particular

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idea, your right to live or to
worship or to speak freely

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without hindrance.
And, and in case it goes without

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saying it, are we not deeply
fortunate to live in a world

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where where such things are
generally fortunate, generally

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able to happen?
An individual is free, so the

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line goes, when the government
is out of the way.

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That’s the conversation that
runs beneath the surface, I

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think.
And we think less of gospel

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freedom, Christian freedom, my
freedom to make certain choices

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that might limit me and lift up
God.

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And it’s one of the great things
of Scripture, so much so that

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you know about freedom, you know
about being a servant to God,

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you know about being slaves.
And yet, because it’s such a big

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theme, it’s almost impossible to
wrap our arms around it.

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And yet that’s our task over the
course of the next 6 sessions.

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So I hope we’re going to have
some fun doing it together, and

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I hope we’ll get some great
benefit from it.

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What does it mean, brothers and
sisters, to be free?

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What does it mean to be free?
Free, Free to do things, perhaps

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free to worship in the way you
want.

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Free to bear arms, free in the
UK now, to have blue passports

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instead of the old purple ones,
and to have wine in pint glass

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measures, which was apparently a
big part of the Brexit process a

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few years ago.
I’d never met anybody who wants

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to drink wine in a pint glass
measure, but apparently it was

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what the vote was all about.
Free to have a vaccine or not.

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Free to wear a mask or not.
Free to choose your own future.

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Free to choose your own gender
very concept of bodily freedom

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has become something completely
different now than it was 10 or

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20 years ago.
Suggests to you that if you

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lived in Jamaica or or West
Africa or some of the southern

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states of the USA couple of 100
years ago you would have had a

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very different understanding of
liberty.

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And in fact, the Apostle Paul’s
words, you are not your own, for

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you are bought at a price.
Well, they mean something wholly

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reasonable and wholesome on the
lips of a disciple in 2025.

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They mean something really quite
distasteful on the lips of a

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plantation owner in 1725.
Liberties changing, freedoms

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changing.
What we think about freedom

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needs working out.
Importantly, what about freedom

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from things?
Not just freedom to do certain

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stuff, but what about freedom
from things you might think of?

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Freedom from addiction, freedom
from guilt, freedom from fear.

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Some of your Iranian brothers
and sisters in other parts of

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the world hold on to that one
very tightly indeed.

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Freedom from compulsive
behaviour, freedom from an

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abusive relationship or a
traumatic memory.

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Freedom, I suppose, from an
autocratic government, Which was

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where we started a few minutes
ago.

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And I need to be careful what I
say about that.

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Liberty is hard wired into our
language.

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That’s the point I’m trying to
get across.

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Companies in the UK at least,
sign up to the Modern Slavery

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Act Nations sign constitutional
amendments on free speech.

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You might remember the Freedom
Convoy where the truckers

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blocked the vaccine getting
across the border a few a few

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years ago.
And of course, if you limit

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somebody’s freedom of
expression, well, then there are

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legal consequences.
This was the Supreme Court in

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1992.
At the heart of liberty is the

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right to define one’s own
concept of existence, of

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meaning, of the universe, of the
mystery of human life.

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That’s now how we think in a
Western world about liberty.

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And without getting too deep
into the weeds on that, I can

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make you a pretty good case that
that’s a direct air of the

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change that Franklin made in in
the draft of the declaration,

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that now we can make it up as we
go along because we’re free to

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do what we want.
It’s countercultural to deny

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yourself.
It’s countercultural to pick up

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your cross and follow Christ.
It’s on trend to do what feels

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good and what feels right,
because if something feels

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wrong, then it can’t be right.
And we get our answers not from

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looking outside, but from
looking within ourselves and

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then checking the Internet to
see if it agrees with us.

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And I don’t know about you, but
I think that in the West, the

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very idea of liberty is rooted
in the idea that you cannot be

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human without it.
That’s why we talk about it so

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much.
That’s why the Statue of Liberty

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is so significant, not just
because of its of its location

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and where people travelled in
from, but because of what it

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stands for.
And yet the language of slavery

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and servanthood and freedom runs
through our scriptures.

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And so it behooves us just to
try to understand a little more

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about it.
Here’s the paradox, of course,

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Psalm 116 and verse 16.
Truly, O Lord, I am your

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servant.
I am your servant, the son of

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your maidservant.
You’ve loosed my bones.

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I’ve just dropped that verse on
you.

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You didn’t know it was coming,
so you have another chance just

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to reflect upon it.
But whatever we understand of

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liberty, whatever the psalmist
understands of liberty, it’s not

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just being free, is it?
It’s not just an unfettered

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opportunity to do whatever I
like with whoever I want,

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however I want, because this
psalmist is a servant, and he’s

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descended from servants, and
he’s free from his bonds, and

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yet he’s still a servant,
apparently willingly.

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It almost explains our own age,
in which we have all of this

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freedom, all of these
opportunities, and yet all of

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these ways in which we are not
free.

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Like Franklin declaring all men
free while stoning slaves.

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Like a government saying love is
love because it couldn’t impinge

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on anybody’s freedom of
expression without realising

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that the gospel impinges on
everybody’s freedom of

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expression.
Like the British once a year on

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the last Night of the Proms
concert in London, singing

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Britain’s Never Never Shall Be
Slaves, which was written when

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we had an empire and we had
slaves.

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There was a paradox within the
very where we talk about this

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sort of stuff.
Western society is at a cultural

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crisis point of what it means to
be human.

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That’s why this subject is so
difficult to get our arms around

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because the very notion of being
free is almost requires us to

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have a different vocabulary to
make sense of it when we talk to

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other people.
And, and I suggest to you that

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post, well, I suppose post
COVID, the world is, is just

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discovering that we are not
quite as omnipotent as the post

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war generation told us we were.
So we need to begin to rework

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things from the ground up.
This is where we’re going in our

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sessions.
Brothers and sisters, that was a

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very long preamble, but I think
it was an important one.

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We’ve got 6 sessions and we’re
going to work our way through

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session #1 is about principles.
We’re going to think about what

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some key principles of liberty
are that emerge from the

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beginning of the Scriptures.
We’re going to move through the

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book of Genesis and in
particular into the great

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liberate, the, I was going to
say the great liberation

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movement, the escape from Egypt,
the release from bondage.

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What does that look like in this
particular frame of liberty?

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Well, think about what liberty
means in action.

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How does God talk to his nation
when they come out of Egypt?

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How does he ask them to treat
those who work for them?

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What was it like to be a servant
in Israel at the time of the

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wilderness journey and
afterwards?

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Then we’ll move into the
monarchy and think about what

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it’s like when life as God’s
people, as God’s servant Israel,

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starts to go wrong.
How does God offer solutions for

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that?
How did the people begin to

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understand what comes next?
We’ll move into the New

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Testament and think about what
the Lord means about liberty and

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what the apostle Paul speaks
about in Galatians chapters 3

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and four.
And then finally finish up with

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Roman society.
Because by Saturday morning,

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when you’ve had hours and hours
of study and you’ve had your

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kids haven’t slept for about
four days, and they don’t

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recognize you anymore, the one
thing you’re going to need is a

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Roman history lesson.
So I’m saving that for last.

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So you look forward to it most
of all.

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Anyway, let’s get going.
Genesis chapter 2, please.

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Genesis chapter 2.
And these are words that you

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know, and yet I just want to
hang them on a different peg.

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Let’s come into Genesis 2.
Let’s go in at verse 16, no

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verse, verse 15 for connection.
The Lord God took the man and he

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put him in the Garden of Eden to
dress it and to keep it.

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And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying of every tree of the

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garden.
You may freely eat.

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Your translation may not say
freely.

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Some versions say surely that
the new English translation’s

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got a margin that says you may
eat to your heart’s content,

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which in some ways is the is the
right way of talking about

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liberty, isn’t it?
You can do whatever you choose

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to your heart’s content of every
tree.

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You may freely or surely or
certainly eat, but if the tree

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of the knowledge of good and
evil, you shall not eat of it,

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for in the day that you eat of
it, you will surely die.

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Think about what God’s telling
them, brothers and sisters, in

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that, that short series of words
that you that you know so well.

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They could, they could eat from
one particular tree of the

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things that God had offered for
them.

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They could pick and choose
different fruits.

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They could wait until they were
hungry, or they could have 18

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meals a day if that’s what they
chose.

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There’s no specific parameters
for what they’re allowed to do

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with the food.
They can bake it and cook it and

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turn it into cherry pie or
whatever else they chose to do

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with it.
There’s no specific parameters.

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There is an inherent freedom
within the commandment that God

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is giving them to do broadly
whatever they choose with the

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creation that He’s given to
them, because God is the Creator

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00:12:21,200 –> 00:12:23,840
of all things.
The heavens are the Lords, but

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00:12:23,840 –> 00:12:25,480
the earth has He given to the
children of men.

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00:12:25,480 –> 00:12:28,320
This is the free gift that God
is offering to us.

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00:12:28,520 –> 00:12:30,960
You have the freedom, the Lord
says, to benefit from my

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00:12:30,960 –> 00:12:33,400
creation and to eat as you
choose.

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00:12:35,440 –> 00:12:42,200
Save only one parameter 1
boundary 1 limitation.

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You cannot eat from the tree
that will cause you harm.

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00:12:47,320 –> 00:12:51,560
There is immediate freedom with
very broad guardrails.

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00:12:52,960 –> 00:12:54,680
And of course Eve doesn’t see it
that way, does it?

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00:12:54,680 –> 00:12:57,040
Because does she?
Because Eve is going to tell us

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00:12:57,040 –> 00:13:00,320
a slightly different account
coming to chapter 3.

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And and verse one, when the
serpent says, has God not said

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00:13:10,920 –> 00:13:12,720
you shall not eat of every tree
of the garden?

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00:13:12,720 –> 00:13:16,320
And the woman said to the
serpent, we may eat of the fruit

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00:13:16,400 –> 00:13:19,800
of the trees of the garden, but
if the fruit of the tree in the

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00:13:19,800 –> 00:13:21,920
middle of the garden, God has
said you shall not eat of it,

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00:13:21,920 –> 00:13:24,600
neither shall you touch it lest
you die.

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00:13:24,600 –> 00:13:27,720
Just look at the comparisons
there with what Eve has said and

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00:13:27,720 –> 00:13:30,560
what God has said.
She’s dropped a fundamental word

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00:13:32,240 –> 00:13:37,280
because she doesn’t say freely.
That was the command in chapter

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00:13:37,280 –> 00:13:41,440
2, wasn’t it?
You may freely eat, and suddenly

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00:13:41,440 –> 00:13:46,160
God sounds arbitrary.
There’s only one word, and yet

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00:13:46,160 –> 00:13:47,600
it carries a multitude of
weight.

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00:13:48,480 –> 00:13:57,320
And she doesn’t say every tree.
So now God sounds limiting, the

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00:13:57,320 –> 00:14:00,200
God who was abundant in his
provision and his liberty and

243
00:14:00,200 –> 00:14:03,960
his liberation for his people.
Suddenly God sounds arbitrary

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00:14:03,960 –> 00:14:06,640
and God sounds limiting.
And if you just contrast the

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00:14:06,640 –> 00:14:10,400
words that God says with the
words that Eve says, you may

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00:14:10,440 –> 00:14:12,520
freely eat of every tree of the
garden.

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00:14:12,520 –> 00:14:16,160
What does Eve say?
Well, we can eat of the fruit of

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00:14:16,160 –> 00:14:19,880
the tree.
God sounds generous and his his

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00:14:19,920 –> 00:14:22,840
language is rich and abundant
and powerful.

250
00:14:23,120 –> 00:14:25,960
And Eve sounds sulky and
grudging.

251
00:14:25,960 –> 00:14:28,840
And well, if you OK, if you, if
we have to, we’ll do it.

252
00:14:29,920 –> 00:14:33,280
And even the tone of the voice
has shifted just in setting up

253
00:14:33,280 –> 00:14:35,680
those two different things.
Don’t forget, it’s not just this

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00:14:35,880 –> 00:14:37,840
that they’re able to eat because
God has given them dominion over

255
00:14:37,840 –> 00:14:39,640
everything else at the end of
Chapter 1 as well.

256
00:14:41,040 –> 00:14:43,720
So this broad provision that the
Father is making for his

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00:14:43,720 –> 00:14:49,160
creation is being recast,
reshaped as we can eat of the

258
00:14:49,160 –> 00:14:53,200
fruit of the trees.
It’s like you turning up at the

259
00:14:53,200 –> 00:14:55,880
hall for lunch and there’s like
only one line and one option and

260
00:14:57,040 –> 00:14:58,760
it’s still amazing.
That’s all we’ve got.

261
00:14:59,480 –> 00:15:01,000
Suddenly things look a little
bit differently.

262
00:15:01,000 –> 00:15:03,960
God’s freedom is rich and
generous and alive.

263
00:15:04,280 –> 00:15:07,280
Think about the words from from
John chapter 15 where the Lord

264
00:15:07,320 –> 00:15:11,120
speaks to his disciples.
You are my friends if you do

265
00:15:11,120 –> 00:15:16,120
whatsoever I command you not.
I’ll tolerate your existence if

266
00:15:16,120 –> 00:15:18,400
you don’t bother me and just sit
in the corner and stay quiet.

267
00:15:18,400 –> 00:15:22,800
You are my friends if you do
whatsoever I command you, God’s

268
00:15:22,960 –> 00:15:24,960
abundant provision for his
creation.

269
00:15:24,960 –> 00:15:26,800
What else is different in Eve’s
words?

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00:15:26,800 –> 00:15:29,880
She’s added to it, hasn’t she?
Chapter 3 and verse three.

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00:15:30,080 –> 00:15:34,520
You shan’t eat of it nor shall
you touch it or God didn’t say

272
00:15:34,520 –> 00:15:36,520
that.
So we again, we’ve just recast

273
00:15:36,520 –> 00:15:39,120
God’s liberty.
We’ve recast the freedom that

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00:15:39,120 –> 00:15:42,720
God’s given to his creation and
she’s changed in case you die,

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00:15:42,960 –> 00:15:47,320
Oh sorry, she’s in changed.
You will surely die to in case

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00:15:47,320 –> 00:15:53,040
you die end of verse 3 and she’s
even changed the name of the

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00:15:53,040 –> 00:15:58,600
tree or at least she’s dropped
the name of the tree, the fruit

278
00:15:58,600 –> 00:16:00,400
of the tree in the middle of the
garden.

279
00:16:00,400 –> 00:16:02,280
Chapter 3 and verse 3.
She can’t even do God the

280
00:16:02,280 –> 00:16:04,080
courtesy of remembering his name
anymore.

281
00:16:05,080 –> 00:16:07,840
Everything is different in just
a few pages or just a few verses

282
00:16:07,840 –> 00:16:10,480
things have moved on.
Even the way God speaks has

283
00:16:10,480 –> 00:16:13,200
changed.
Chapter 2 and verse 16, the Lord

284
00:16:13,200 –> 00:16:20,680
God commanded the man and it’s
now God said, this is what you

285
00:16:20,720 –> 00:16:23,240
and I think about freedom
compared with what God thinks

286
00:16:23,240 –> 00:16:26,160
about freedom.
The order is different as well.

287
00:16:26,160 –> 00:16:27,440
I don’t know whether you’ve seen
that.

288
00:16:28,400 –> 00:16:31,720
It’s up to three.
And verse 2, we may eat of the

289
00:16:31,720 –> 00:16:34,560
fruit of the trees, but we can’t
eat of the other one.

290
00:16:35,040 –> 00:16:37,400
In other words, it’s our
prerogative, not the other way

291
00:16:37,400 –> 00:16:38,720
around.
You can have all of this stuff,

292
00:16:38,720 –> 00:16:42,000
but just not that one.
We can eat of anything, but God

293
00:16:42,000 –> 00:16:44,760
says we can’t do that.
We are.

294
00:16:44,760 –> 00:16:47,720
We are reworking freedom in our
own image.

295
00:16:47,880 –> 00:16:49,880
We are making it into what we
choose to be.

296
00:16:50,120 –> 00:16:52,200
Freedom principle number one,
brothers and sisters, if my

297
00:16:52,600 –> 00:16:56,800
slide works there, it does.
God’s freedom is wide, but it

298
00:16:56,800 –> 00:17:03,440
has guardrails for our benefit.
Because think for a moment about

299
00:17:03,440 –> 00:17:07,599
the consequences of freedom on
human terms.

300
00:17:08,720 –> 00:17:09,880
They have to kill for
recovering.

301
00:17:11,040 –> 00:17:15,520
They begin to die themselves.
And Adam doesn’t blame his wife,

302
00:17:15,520 –> 00:17:18,680
he blames his God.
You set the boundaries in the

303
00:17:18,680 –> 00:17:19,280
wrong place.
Lord.

304
00:17:19,280 –> 00:17:21,359
The woman you gave me, she told
me to eat it.

305
00:17:21,359 –> 00:17:25,400
It’s your fault.
Your freedom’s wrong.

306
00:17:25,400 –> 00:17:30,200
Lord, You set it all up wrong.
God’s freedom is wide, but it

307
00:17:30,200 –> 00:17:34,400
has guardrails for our benefit.
Freedom principle #2 We don’t

308
00:17:34,400 –> 00:17:37,640
like God’s freedom and we don’t
like guardrails.

309
00:17:39,240 –> 00:17:41,160
We want to push them as far as
we can.

310
00:17:41,160 –> 00:17:42,560
We want to build our own
identities.

311
00:17:42,560 –> 00:17:44,320
We don’t want to be given one by
somebody else.

312
00:17:44,520 –> 00:17:47,560
Genesis says we’re created for a
purpose, to fill the earth and

313
00:17:47,560 –> 00:17:49,400
subdue it.
We don’t have to invent our

314
00:17:49,400 –> 00:17:51,120
identity.
We don’t have to find it from

315
00:17:51,120 –> 00:17:55,880
somewhere else.
God’s already given it to us to

316
00:17:55,880 –> 00:17:57,960
be the creation that He made for
us.

317
00:17:58,480 –> 00:18:00,920
We don’t have to get and acquire
and know everything.

318
00:18:00,920 –> 00:18:03,640
There is this great freedom in
not needing to have every single

319
00:18:03,640 –> 00:18:05,480
fact that the Internet will
offer you.

320
00:18:07,760 –> 00:18:10,160
Not suggesting that we start
chasing a line of ignorance, but

321
00:18:10,160 –> 00:18:13,680
just the very notion that God
has given us what we need and

322
00:18:13,680 –> 00:18:17,400
told us that we are our most
free, our most, can I use a

323
00:18:17,440 –> 00:18:22,360
loaded term, our most authentic
when we live in conformity with

324
00:18:22,360 –> 00:18:26,600
Christ.
Great lesson of Genesis 1-2 and

325
00:18:26,600 –> 00:18:33,440
three is that freedom comes
within God’s boundaries, that

326
00:18:33,440 –> 00:18:36,720
when the Potter makes the pot,
he gets to choose its shape.

327
00:18:38,360 –> 00:18:41,440
And our challenge in our studies
this week.

328
00:18:43,000 –> 00:18:46,160
There I say, our challenge in
our discipleship and in our

329
00:18:46,160 –> 00:18:50,680
Eccles is to undo the narrative
that says that limitless options

330
00:18:50,680 –> 00:18:57,440
make us more free to recapture
the goodness of constraints.

331
00:18:58,520 –> 00:19:00,160
Touched a little on it
yesterday, didn’t we?

332
00:19:00,160 –> 00:19:03,280
This idea that freedom is
associated with multiple choice

333
00:19:05,400 –> 00:19:08,720
toothpaste or mineral water or
gender identity or whatever else

334
00:19:08,720 –> 00:19:12,000
is available out there.
This was what Eden offered, and

335
00:19:12,000 –> 00:19:16,200
Adam and Eve wanted more.
This is a quote.

336
00:19:16,200 –> 00:19:18,240
It’s not a Christa Delphine
writer, but it just captured

337
00:19:18,880 –> 00:19:21,640
what I was trying to get to.
Our culture conditions us to

338
00:19:21,640 –> 00:19:24,960
resist the lines and boundaries
we’ve inherited from people in

339
00:19:24,960 –> 00:19:26,920
the past.
But Orthodoxy insists that

340
00:19:26,920 –> 00:19:29,600
certain limitations are
necessary for freedom.

341
00:19:30,480 –> 00:19:32,880
If we do away with lines and
limits, if we think every wall

342
00:19:32,880 –> 00:19:35,120
needs a sledgehammer, if we
crumple the blueprint and toss

343
00:19:35,120 –> 00:19:40,360
it aside, we may feel free, but
we’ll never build anything that

344
00:19:40,360 –> 00:19:45,080
lasts.
Ours is an age where everybody

345
00:19:45,080 –> 00:19:47,640
has a megaphone and nobody has a
filter.

346
00:19:48,360 –> 00:19:51,000
And we never talk about the
goodness of constraints or the

347
00:19:51,000 –> 00:19:53,040
goodness of limits or the
goodness of being finite,

348
00:19:53,040 –> 00:19:55,880
because everybody wants to live
longer and do more things and

349
00:19:55,880 –> 00:19:59,240
travel further.
And God is just saying, well,

350
00:19:59,240 –> 00:20:03,320
all of those things are there
within these broad boundaries.

351
00:20:03,920 –> 00:20:11,320
Freedom principle #3 unlimited
freedom surprisingly limits our

352
00:20:11,320 –> 00:20:16,360
options and increases our
isolation because the natural

353
00:20:16,360 –> 00:20:19,520
consequence of unlimited freedom
is loneliness.

354
00:20:20,920 –> 00:20:25,400
If you are the center of your
universe, at some point, at some

355
00:20:25,400 –> 00:20:27,120
point you are going to have to
let somebody down.

356
00:20:29,120 –> 00:20:32,800
Whether that’s your spouse or
your best friend or somebody at

357
00:20:32,800 –> 00:20:36,400
college, if you are the center
of your universe and everything

358
00:20:36,400 –> 00:20:38,960
revolves around you and nothing
else matters, at some point

359
00:20:38,960 –> 00:20:41,280
somebody else is going to have
to go by the wayside.

360
00:20:42,680 –> 00:20:44,520
Takes us back to our
conversations about marriages,

361
00:20:44,520 –> 00:20:46,880
doesn’t it?
If you want to follow your

362
00:20:46,880 –> 00:20:50,960
dreams and do you, you will be
the loneliest person on the

363
00:20:50,960 –> 00:20:52,480
planet.
And Adam and Eve are just about

364
00:20:52,480 –> 00:20:54,160
to discover that.
Genesis chapter 3 again.

365
00:20:54,440 –> 00:21:00,160
Come down with me to verse 17,
because freedom is now

366
00:21:01,000 –> 00:21:03,280
channelled in a particular
direction to Adam.

367
00:21:03,280 –> 00:21:05,120
God said, Because you’ve
hearkened to the voice of your

368
00:21:05,120 –> 00:21:07,680
wife, and eaten of the tree
which I commanded you, saying,

369
00:21:07,680 –> 00:21:10,520
You shall not eat of it.
Cursed is the ground for your

370
00:21:10,520 –> 00:21:12,160
sake.
In sorrow you shall eat of it

371
00:21:12,200 –> 00:21:15,720
all the days of your life.
Thorns and thistles shall it

372
00:21:15,720 –> 00:21:18,320
bring forth to you, and you
shall eat the herb of the field,

373
00:21:18,640 –> 00:21:21,760
and in the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread until you

374
00:21:21,760 –> 00:21:24,800
return to the ground, for out of
it you were taken.

375
00:21:25,320 –> 00:21:28,400
For dust you are, and to dust
you shall return.

376
00:21:28,640 –> 00:21:30,720
Freedom is restricted because of
sin.

377
00:21:30,720 –> 00:21:34,560
It’s still wide, it’s just not
quite as wide as before, and it

378
00:21:34,560 –> 00:21:36,800
involves work which it didn’t
before.

379
00:21:37,320 –> 00:21:39,360
In sorrow you’re going to eat
all the days of your life.

380
00:21:39,360 –> 00:21:41,080
Thorns and thistles will be with
your food.

381
00:21:41,080 –> 00:21:43,000
In sweat you will eat until the
day that you die.

382
00:21:44,080 –> 00:21:46,280
Sets a theme which will again
land up in the parable of the

383
00:21:46,280 –> 00:21:51,160
Prodigal, that only when he
realizes where the bread of life

384
00:21:51,160 –> 00:21:54,880
is to be found and comes back to
his father ready to make his

385
00:21:54,880 –> 00:21:59,360
confession of faith and say only
here can I find life, does the

386
00:21:59,360 –> 00:22:03,400
father come out running to him.
That’s why the father didn’t

387
00:22:03,400 –> 00:22:10,320
chase him off when the parable
starts And he says, give me the

388
00:22:10,320 –> 00:22:11,800
portion of goods that falls to
me.

389
00:22:11,800 –> 00:22:14,080
And he doesn’t say please.
And he doesn’t say Lord, father,

390
00:22:14,080 –> 00:22:16,160
if it’s OK.
And he doesn’t say if the farm

391
00:22:16,160 –> 00:22:18,840
is financially solvent.
He says give it to me now.

392
00:22:20,200 –> 00:22:26,080
And the father let’s him go
because the father represents

393
00:22:26,080 –> 00:22:29,640
the Lord who says if that’s the
freedom you want, then you need

394
00:22:29,640 –> 00:22:32,240
to go out and find how difficult
it is to live that particular

395
00:22:32,240 –> 00:22:33,480
life.
There is.

396
00:22:34,680 –> 00:22:36,040
This is a random historical
fact.

397
00:22:36,040 –> 00:22:38,560
We’re not going to spend along
with it, but the very first

398
00:22:38,880 –> 00:22:42,400
written reference to freedom is
about four and a half thousand

399
00:22:42,400 –> 00:22:44,600
years old.
And, and it’s a Sumerian word

400
00:22:44,600 –> 00:22:46,200
and it literally means return to
mother.

401
00:22:47,160 –> 00:22:49,440
The word idea of manumission,
the idea of coming back home,

402
00:22:50,000 –> 00:22:52,800
the idea of restoring somebody
to their original status.

403
00:22:53,440 –> 00:22:57,520
Find that really intriguing, you
know, because if that’s anywhere

404
00:22:57,520 –> 00:23:00,960
close to how Scripture is
talking about it, then there is

405
00:23:00,960 –> 00:23:04,720
within this idea of freedom,
this notion of restoration of

406
00:23:04,720 –> 00:23:08,200
being put back to where we were
before of the journey that

407
00:23:08,200 –> 00:23:10,000
Scripture takes us on of.
Well, we’ve come out from the

408
00:23:10,000 –> 00:23:12,760
garden now and everything that
the Scripture is going to run

409
00:23:12,760 –> 00:23:14,560
from here to the end of
Revelation is about how we get

410
00:23:14,560 –> 00:23:18,040
back through the tree because
God has made man upright and he

411
00:23:18,040 –> 00:23:23,080
has sought out many inventions.
Return to mother is a rather

412
00:23:23,080 –> 00:23:25,240
intriguing way of looking at how
this works.

413
00:23:25,240 –> 00:23:28,600
Chapter 3 and verse 24, He drove
out the man and placed at the

414
00:23:28,600 –> 00:23:31,280
east of the Garden of Eden
Kerubim and a flaming sword

415
00:23:31,280 –> 00:23:34,480
which turned every way to keep
the way to the tree of life.

416
00:23:35,160 –> 00:23:38,520
Freedom is flipped on its head
suddenly here at the end of

417
00:23:38,520 –> 00:23:40,680
Genesis chapter 3.
It’s the same in the law,

418
00:23:40,680 –> 00:23:44,640
actually.
People go outside the camp,

419
00:23:45,720 –> 00:23:50,920
don’t they?
For discipline, for uncleanness

420
00:23:51,560 –> 00:23:54,760
because of a particular sin.
And then there is a period of

421
00:23:54,760 –> 00:23:57,240
waiting and after that they come
back inside.

422
00:23:59,080 –> 00:24:02,280
You tell somebody who doesn’t
have a, a biblical background, a

423
00:24:02,280 –> 00:24:04,960
biblical training about the idea
of Adam and Eve going out of the

424
00:24:04,960 –> 00:24:06,240
garden.
You’d say, well, they’re free

425
00:24:06,240 –> 00:24:08,720
now.
They don’t have these boundaries

426
00:24:08,720 –> 00:24:10,520
where God is saying you can’t do
this.

427
00:24:11,560 –> 00:24:17,040
I mean, Genesis 3 and verse 24
is, is a tragedy, but the

428
00:24:17,040 –> 00:24:19,440
world’s going to look at it and
say, well, you’re, I can do what

429
00:24:19,440 –> 00:24:20,680
I want now.
There are no boundaries.

430
00:24:20,680 –> 00:24:24,760
I am free to deconstruct and do
whatever I choose.

431
00:24:25,680 –> 00:24:28,640
What the world calls unfettered
freedom, God calls exile and

432
00:24:28,640 –> 00:24:31,440
captivity.
We need to learn to look through

433
00:24:31,440 –> 00:24:32,960
an entirely different set of
lenses.

434
00:24:33,880 –> 00:24:38,520
Principle #4 freedom looks like
captivity and captivity looks

435
00:24:38,520 –> 00:24:42,240
like freedom.
Think about when Israel asked

436
00:24:42,240 –> 00:24:46,680
for a king.
Remember what Samuel warns them

437
00:24:46,760 –> 00:24:50,360
of.
If you have a king, he will take

438
00:24:50,360 –> 00:24:52,920
your men and women and he will
put them to his work.

439
00:24:54,160 –> 00:24:57,680
Things that start out looking
good will actually finish up

440
00:24:57,680 –> 00:25:01,160
looking bad.
And so whenever Scripture talks

441
00:25:01,200 –> 00:25:03,800
about freedom, in particular
whenever Genesis talks about

442
00:25:03,800 –> 00:25:07,040
freedom, it’s going to be hung
around these particular ideas.

443
00:25:09,360 –> 00:25:11,600
Liberty is about bringing us
back to how things were at the

444
00:25:11,600 –> 00:25:14,760
beginning.
God is looking for us to find,

445
00:25:16,440 –> 00:25:20,840
to find a restoration, a return
to what He’d offered his

446
00:25:20,840 –> 00:25:25,000
creation at the beginning
because in a very dark sense,

447
00:25:25,000 –> 00:25:28,880
creation is now in bondage and
is subject to futility.

448
00:25:30,360 –> 00:25:31,760
To borrow words of the apostle
Paul.

449
00:25:31,760 –> 00:25:33,560
Come on to Chapter 9 with me,
brothers and sisters.

450
00:25:34,200 –> 00:25:42,520
Genesis 9.
This is the covenant with Noah.

451
00:25:45,080 –> 00:25:47,440
Let’s just summarize the first
few verses.

452
00:25:47,440 –> 00:25:50,800
This is after the flood. 9 and
verse 1.

453
00:25:50,800 –> 00:25:53,720
Be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth.

454
00:25:53,720 –> 00:25:58,320
So we’ve got a little echo of
earlier on in Genesis verse 2,

455
00:25:58,320 –> 00:26:02,160
Noah’s going to have dominion
and, and God is generous with

456
00:26:02,160 –> 00:26:04,560
this, isn’t he?
Every beast of the air and of

457
00:26:04,560 –> 00:26:06,760
the earth and every fowl of the
air and all that moves on the

458
00:26:06,760 –> 00:26:08,760
earth and all the fishes of the
sea into your hand, they’re

459
00:26:08,760 –> 00:26:10,360
delivered.
This is God’s liberality.

460
00:26:10,360 –> 00:26:12,720
Again, this is God’s broad
freedom.

461
00:26:13,520 –> 00:26:15,680
Every moving thing that lives is
meat for you.

462
00:26:15,680 –> 00:26:18,480
Even as the green herb.
I’ve given you all things.

463
00:26:20,440 –> 00:26:24,560
It’s not 1000 miles away from
how we begun with God giving

464
00:26:24,560 –> 00:26:28,080
them so much, but now there is
just a a rider on it.

465
00:26:29,800 –> 00:26:33,560
Verses 4-5 and six, it’s all
yours.

466
00:26:34,320 –> 00:26:37,320
But here are the limits.
First of all, you’ve got to kill

467
00:26:37,320 –> 00:26:41,160
the animal before eating it.
Verses 5 and 6.

468
00:26:42,000 –> 00:26:45,760
Freedom to have dominion does
not mean the freedom to end

469
00:26:45,760 –> 00:26:50,240
human life at your blood, your
blood of your lives.

470
00:26:50,240 –> 00:26:55,320
I will require.
So it mirrors Genesis 1-2 and

471
00:26:55,320 –> 00:27:00,720
three, but it’s conditioned now
for sin being in the world

472
00:27:00,880 –> 00:27:03,320
because we’ve had the sacrifice
of Genesis 3 and we’ve had the

473
00:27:03,320 –> 00:27:08,320
murder of Genesis 4 and we’ve
had the rise of sin that has has

474
00:27:08,320 –> 00:27:10,120
culminated in God sending the
flood.

475
00:27:10,120 –> 00:27:12,840
It’s the same pattern as before.
Creation isn’t free.

476
00:27:13,040 –> 00:27:18,360
It’s free to do something.
It’s not just unfettered access

477
00:27:18,360 –> 00:27:20,280
to whatever you want.
God is painting brothers and

478
00:27:20,280 –> 00:27:24,240
sisters on a massive canvas.
This is the redemption story

479
00:27:24,240 –> 00:27:26,800
that God creates and man is
driven out and Eden is restored

480
00:27:26,800 –> 00:27:29,320
through this way back through
the sword that the Lord will

481
00:27:29,320 –> 00:27:33,080
take back to the tree of life to
go back to where we were at the

482
00:27:33,080 –> 00:27:36,040
beginning.
Creation is in bondage now and

483
00:27:36,480 –> 00:27:40,080
and God’s God’s open handedness
that we saw in those earlier

484
00:27:40,080 –> 00:27:43,520
chapters is just is just
reworked slightly.

485
00:27:45,440 –> 00:27:50,880
Freedom requires boundaries.
If you have children, you know

486
00:27:50,880 –> 00:27:53,280
that absolutely.
If you’ve ever driven a car at a

487
00:27:53,280 –> 00:27:55,120
speed limit, you know that
absolutely.

488
00:27:56,520 –> 00:27:59,920
We like to be free, but also we
know some way deep down there’s

489
00:27:59,920 –> 00:28:01,880
some values in having some kind
of boundaries.

490
00:28:02,600 –> 00:28:06,680
Now, Genesis Chapter 9 is the
second iteration, second,

491
00:28:06,680 –> 00:28:10,360
working out of a narrative that
has begun back in the beginning,

492
00:28:10,360 –> 00:28:13,200
because you will notice in
Chapter 9, there are some

493
00:28:13,200 –> 00:28:15,440
connections with those early
Genesis chapters.

494
00:28:15,800 –> 00:28:19,440
Verse 20, for example, there is
a vineyard, just like at the

495
00:28:19,440 –> 00:28:24,960
beginning there was a garden and
Noah is going to take the fruit

496
00:28:24,960 –> 00:28:27,560
of the vine just like Eve took
the fruit of the tree.

497
00:28:28,040 –> 00:28:29,280
And things are going to go
wrong.

498
00:28:29,280 –> 00:28:33,360
And suddenly we’ve got mention
of nakedness in verse 22 and

499
00:28:33,360 –> 00:28:38,160
there is shame and a covering
and there are curses, verse 25,

500
00:28:38,160 –> 00:28:42,520
and a blessing, verse 26, that
the language is it’s a different

501
00:28:42,520 –> 00:28:44,000
event.
Don’t don’t misunderstand me,

502
00:28:44,000 –> 00:28:46,480
but they’re just little threads
that come through from those

503
00:28:46,480 –> 00:28:50,080
early Genesis chapters.
Aren’t there God’s Providence

504
00:28:50,080 –> 00:28:53,400
and a garden and and fruit of a
tree and nakedness and curses.

505
00:28:53,680 –> 00:28:57,040
These these look like things
that we’ve seen before.

506
00:28:57,040 –> 00:29:01,600
It’s a repeat in some ways of
Genesis chapters 2 and three.

507
00:29:03,360 –> 00:29:06,600
And not only is this passage
looking back, but it’s also

508
00:29:06,600 –> 00:29:10,640
looking forward to the exodus
that will come when God leads

509
00:29:10,640 –> 00:29:12,360
his people from Egypt.
Because when you think about the

510
00:29:12,360 –> 00:29:17,160
fundamentals of the Noah
account, the screen jumped ahead

511
00:29:17,160 –> 00:29:18,840
of me, but it’s there.
You can perhaps see it.

512
00:29:18,840 –> 00:29:21,480
There is there is a judgement on
a wicked people.

513
00:29:22,840 –> 00:29:25,040
There are faithful family
passing through the water.

514
00:29:26,480 –> 00:29:31,960
They’re going to go from the
flood to a mountaintop and

515
00:29:31,960 –> 00:29:33,920
they’re on that mountain.
People and animals will be

516
00:29:33,920 –> 00:29:36,520
brought into covenant with God
at this mountain.

517
00:29:36,520 –> 00:29:40,640
It’s like Sinai.
Things that are happening in the

518
00:29:40,640 –> 00:29:43,720
Genesis accounts are just
whispering to us of things that

519
00:29:43,720 –> 00:29:48,440
God’s going to do later on a
bigger canvas, telling us about

520
00:29:48,440 –> 00:29:51,400
the things that God will do when
he leads his people from Egypt,

521
00:29:51,400 –> 00:29:55,200
when they are forged in the
fire, when they come out through

522
00:29:55,200 –> 00:30:01,320
the water, when they become his
people, the Kingdom of priests

523
00:30:01,320 –> 00:30:05,080
and the holy nation.
And we’re just getting whispers

524
00:30:05,080 –> 00:30:06,600
of what freedom actually looks
like.

525
00:30:06,600 –> 00:30:10,960
Nowhere is is living rather and
and his family are living a

526
00:30:10,960 –> 00:30:17,320
release from captivity, a
release from slavery long before

527
00:30:17,440 –> 00:30:21,400
that event actually takes place.
And they are part of a single

528
00:30:21,840 –> 00:30:24,640
thread that is running through
these passages.

529
00:30:25,040 –> 00:30:28,360
Freedom principle number,
whatever number it is five.

530
00:30:29,280 –> 00:30:34,520
I’m losing track already.
God has a plan to reverse our

531
00:30:34,520 –> 00:30:37,160
captivity.
That’s the critical part of

532
00:30:37,160 –> 00:30:39,400
this.
Not just that we’re going to be

533
00:30:39,400 –> 00:30:42,880
left on our own, not just that
we have to make it up as we go

534
00:30:42,880 –> 00:30:47,440
along, but that God has a plan
to return us back to where we

535
00:30:47,440 –> 00:30:53,960
were before Chapter 11.
And, and please take it in the

536
00:30:53,960 –> 00:30:55,440
right way.
When I say the reason that we’re

537
00:30:55,440 –> 00:30:57,880
just skipping over the surface
of these chapters is because

538
00:30:57,880 –> 00:31:00,280
I’m, I’m assuming you know
what’s going on in them.

539
00:31:01,160 –> 00:31:02,960
So that’s why we’re just
bouncing off the surface a

540
00:31:02,960 –> 00:31:04,680
little.
So this is Chapter 11.

541
00:31:04,680 –> 00:31:09,040
Well, if, if the events of Noah
looked a little bit like a

542
00:31:09,040 –> 00:31:14,160
reworking of, of the fall.
So to Genesis 11 looks a little

543
00:31:14,160 –> 00:31:17,080
bit like the reworking of the
four, because Genesis 11, of

544
00:31:17,080 –> 00:31:19,600
course, is the chapter about
the, the, the tower of Babel.

545
00:31:20,600 –> 00:31:22,240
And you can look at this in lots
of different ways.

546
00:31:22,240 –> 00:31:24,560
And people write about the tower
of Babel and, and say, whatever,

547
00:31:24,840 –> 00:31:27,720
there are things going on here.
It’s, you know, it’s a tragic

548
00:31:27,720 –> 00:31:30,120
scattering of people who had
been a community.

549
00:31:30,480 –> 00:31:33,720
That’s one way of looking at it,
that that things had been good

550
00:31:33,720 –> 00:31:37,080
and now they’re not.
There’s there’s some crazy

551
00:31:37,080 –> 00:31:39,280
theory going around that this is
what this is proof that God

552
00:31:39,280 –> 00:31:42,000
doesn’t like technology.
I don’t think that’s what’s

553
00:31:42,000 –> 00:31:44,200
going on in Genesis 11, but
there’s a theory out there that

554
00:31:44,200 –> 00:31:46,360
says that that’s the case.
But something is amiss, isn’t

555
00:31:46,360 –> 00:31:48,200
it?
In this narrative, Chapter 11

556
00:31:48,200 –> 00:31:50,960
and verse 1, the whole earth was
of one language and of one

557
00:31:50,960 –> 00:31:53,040
speech.
Well, actually that’s true in

558
00:31:53,040 –> 00:31:54,920
Chapter 11.
It’s not true if you go back to

559
00:31:54,920 –> 00:31:57,440
chapter 10, because there are
languages everywhere.

560
00:31:57,640 –> 00:32:00,600
In chapter 10, verse 5, for
example, the Isles of the

561
00:32:00,600 –> 00:32:03,720
Gentiles were divided, everyone
after his tongue, after their

562
00:32:03,720 –> 00:32:07,920
families in their nations.
So that idea that that there is

563
00:32:07,920 –> 00:32:11,720
just one language in the earth
is, is, is true of this place.

564
00:32:12,800 –> 00:32:15,960
I don’t think it’s true of of
all of creation at this time.

565
00:32:15,960 –> 00:32:18,920
I think it’s true of what’s
happening in this particular

566
00:32:18,920 –> 00:32:21,800
location.
And Genesis 11 is positioned as

567
00:32:21,800 –> 00:32:25,080
a rebellion against the Lord.
God has called them to be

568
00:32:25,080 –> 00:32:27,720
fruitful and multiply and fill
the earth and subdue it.

569
00:32:27,720 –> 00:32:31,400
And it’s the filling of the
earth which is being resisted

570
00:32:31,400 –> 00:32:33,320
here.
They’re trying to stay in one

571
00:32:33,320 –> 00:32:37,120
place and not be be be scattered
and not be moved further away.

572
00:32:37,760 –> 00:32:42,000
And so the first thing that they
do, well, I was going to say the

573
00:32:42,000 –> 00:32:45,480
first thing that they do is
build a tower to stay in one

574
00:32:45,480 –> 00:32:48,080
place.
Actually, it’s not first thing

575
00:32:48,080 –> 00:32:54,040
that they do is to fire bricks
and your Bible antenna will go

576
00:32:54,040 –> 00:32:58,960
up straight away because people
who make bricks tend to speak of

577
00:32:58,960 –> 00:33:01,000
us to us, the things that will
happen later on.

578
00:33:01,280 –> 00:33:03,360
It actually tells us the key
problem with Bible, the key

579
00:33:03,360 –> 00:33:06,680
motivation for what’s going on.
You know, is it the is it that

580
00:33:06,680 –> 00:33:08,840
they’re trying to build it high?
Or is it that it’s the very

581
00:33:08,840 –> 00:33:11,520
notion of trying to do something
that God has asked them not to

582
00:33:11,520 –> 00:33:13,800
do, which is lying underneath
this.

583
00:33:13,960 –> 00:33:16,960
And I think it’s the second one.
And I think this idea of the

584
00:33:16,960 –> 00:33:20,920
bricks tells us why verse three,
they said to one another, go to

585
00:33:21,080 –> 00:33:23,480
let us make brick and burn them
throughly.

586
00:33:23,600 –> 00:33:26,120
There is one other place where
that expression pops up.

587
00:33:26,280 –> 00:33:29,600
You probably know it.
It’s Exodus chapter 1 where

588
00:33:29,600 –> 00:33:32,480
where he where Pharaoh says,
come on, let’s go and do the

589
00:33:32,480 –> 00:33:36,720
same thing.
What’s happening in Genesis 11

590
00:33:36,720 –> 00:33:40,800
is again, just anticipating the
release from bondage, or at

591
00:33:40,800 –> 00:33:44,080
least the circumstances that
prompt the release from bondage.

592
00:33:45,920 –> 00:33:51,280
Brickmaking is is slave labour.
It’s something that’s going to

593
00:33:51,280 –> 00:33:54,040
get returned to when we get into
the book of Exodus and they’re

594
00:33:54,040 –> 00:33:57,880
going to secure their legacy by
building it up to heaven.

595
00:33:57,880 –> 00:34:00,880
Now, just, you know, for the
avoidance of all doubt, brothers

596
00:34:00,880 –> 00:34:04,960
and sisters, this is not about
saving everybody who’s around

597
00:34:04,960 –> 00:34:06,280
them.
You know, you think the slaves

598
00:34:06,280 –> 00:34:08,679
who are making the bricks are
going to get into the tower if a

599
00:34:08,679 –> 00:34:12,480
second flood comes, Not in a
million years.

600
00:34:14,199 –> 00:34:16,199
This is not a way of making sure
everybody is safe.

601
00:34:16,199 –> 00:34:19,280
This is a way of making sure
that those in power are safe and

602
00:34:19,280 –> 00:34:20,960
those who are doing the work are
not.

603
00:34:22,520 –> 00:34:24,679
And there are other connections
there and you can see them if

604
00:34:24,679 –> 00:34:29,920
you can see the screen with what
will happen later in the Exodus

605
00:34:29,920 –> 00:34:31,679
from Egypt.
They’re going to build a city

606
00:34:31,679 –> 00:34:35,199
that reaches up to heaven, which
is an an echo or which is echoed

607
00:34:35,480 –> 00:34:39,960
in Deuteronomy Chapter 9.
They are spoken of in verse 6 by

608
00:34:39,960 –> 00:34:45,600
the Lord as being one people and
one language, which is a phrase

609
00:34:45,600 –> 00:34:48,280
that only ever pops up once in
Genesis in in another place.

610
00:34:48,280 –> 00:34:50,400
And it’s to do with sexual
assault, which is not a great

611
00:34:50,400 –> 00:34:53,920
comparison.
What what Babel is, is, is being

612
00:34:53,920 –> 00:35:00,560
shown as is a city in, in light
of other awful places, Shechem

613
00:35:00,560 –> 00:35:03,560
and and Egypt, and that the
cities of Canaan.

614
00:35:05,240 –> 00:35:07,160
What’s going on in Babel is not
good news.

615
00:35:07,160 –> 00:35:11,800
It’s narrating the birth of
empire where I get to control

616
00:35:11,800 –> 00:35:15,920
somebody else by making the work
for me and exploiting them.

617
00:35:17,040 –> 00:35:19,840
And I think it explains that the
transition between Genesis

618
00:35:19,840 –> 00:35:22,480
chapter 10 and Genesis Chapter
11 as well.

619
00:35:23,680 –> 00:35:27,200
It’s not a golden age of
understanding where there is one

620
00:35:27,200 –> 00:35:31,440
language and everything is a
utopia and it only goes wrong

621
00:35:31,440 –> 00:35:34,640
from here.
We know that that’s not the case

622
00:35:34,640 –> 00:35:36,400
because we’ve seen it go wrong
twice already.

623
00:35:37,920 –> 00:35:41,800
We’re actually regressing from
God’s command to fill the earth

624
00:35:41,800 –> 00:35:44,920
and subdue it and go out and
explore what’s there to

625
00:35:44,920 –> 00:35:48,880
something enforced.
You will speak only like this.

626
00:35:48,880 –> 00:35:51,960
When the English colonized
island they banned the use of

627
00:35:51,960 –> 00:35:54,960
the Irish languages.
It was designed that only

628
00:35:55,480 –> 00:35:59,280
English was spoken when slaves
came across on the Middle

629
00:35:59,280 –> 00:36:02,960
passage W African languages were
banned to avoid rebellion, so

630
00:36:02,960 –> 00:36:08,240
that only English was spoken
when Franco’s Spain was at it’s

631
00:36:08,240 –> 00:36:10,520
height.
Catalan and Basque languages

632
00:36:10,520 –> 00:36:14,160
were banned to avoid rebellion.
It’s the same principle as

633
00:36:14,160 –> 00:36:17,800
empires all across history.
We stop people talking in other

634
00:36:17,800 –> 00:36:19,760
languages because we don’t know
what they’re saying and we can’t

635
00:36:19,760 –> 00:36:22,720
control them.
And that’s what’s going on in

636
00:36:22,720 –> 00:36:25,240
Genesis Chapter 11.
Freedom has turned in upon

637
00:36:25,240 –> 00:36:30,200
itself.
God has has commanded Noah to

638
00:36:30,200 –> 00:36:33,680
have dominion over a post Eden,
post flood world.

639
00:36:33,920 –> 00:36:36,880
And one of the ways that that
was going to be worked out was

640
00:36:36,880 –> 00:36:38,560
that people would spread across
the world.

641
00:36:38,760 –> 00:36:41,160
They would speak in different
languages and they would glorify

642
00:36:41,160 –> 00:36:42,600
God in the way that it was going
to happen.

643
00:36:44,880 –> 00:36:51,560
And it’s a story of how we can
miss apply freedom at the

644
00:36:51,560 –> 00:36:56,280
expense of other people,
particularly, I suppose, at the

645
00:36:56,440 –> 00:37:01,400
in the pursuit of power.
I suppose it’s a comment on on

646
00:37:01,400 –> 00:37:04,320
what happens when you undervalue
other people when you don’t see

647
00:37:04,320 –> 00:37:05,920
them as made being made in the
image of God.

648
00:37:05,920 –> 00:37:09,520
Peter talks about this idea.
You might remember, in fact,

649
00:37:09,520 –> 00:37:10,840
maybe just come over if we’ve
got time.

650
00:37:10,840 –> 00:37:12,520
Yes, we have first Peter chapter
2.

651
00:37:12,720 –> 00:37:15,960
It’s only a single verse, but
it’s good to good to look at it

652
00:37:19,640 –> 00:37:25,920
one Peter chapter 2 and I want
to bring you to verse 16, but

653
00:37:25,920 –> 00:37:28,200
let’s get the context from verse
15 as well.

654
00:37:31,000 –> 00:37:33,320
So is the will of God that in
well doing you may put to

655
00:37:33,320 –> 00:37:38,440
silence the ignorance of foolish
men as free and not using your

656
00:37:38,440 –> 00:37:42,320
liberty for a cloak of
maliciousness, but as the

657
00:37:42,320 –> 00:37:46,640
servants of gods, don’t use your
freedom to cover up evil.

658
00:37:47,920 –> 00:37:53,000
So freedom can lead to evil.
Just in case we thought that

659
00:37:53,000 –> 00:37:55,000
that wasn’t the case.
I think we figured it out now.

660
00:37:55,000 –> 00:37:57,920
But just in case we weren’t
sure, freedom can lead to evil

661
00:37:58,640 –> 00:38:02,200
and liberty is good because
God’s already cast his creation

662
00:38:02,200 –> 00:38:04,600
in that particular way.
But there is something about

663
00:38:04,600 –> 00:38:09,160
being in that place that can
lead us astray, which is why the

664
00:38:09,200 –> 00:38:12,680
end of verse 16 says you’re
free.

665
00:38:14,080 –> 00:38:16,680
But living as free men and women
requires service.

666
00:38:20,200 –> 00:38:23,040
And I just bring before you the
example of the man who comes

667
00:38:23,240 –> 00:38:29,280
after the building of the Tower
of Babel, a man whose entire

668
00:38:29,640 –> 00:38:35,040
life was to run counter to the
principles that lay behind

669
00:38:35,040 –> 00:38:37,000
building that tower.
Just come back to Genesis.

670
00:38:37,000 –> 00:38:39,000
I should have asked you to to
keep a finger.

671
00:38:39,000 –> 00:38:40,720
But it’s not tricky to find, is
it?

672
00:38:43,160 –> 00:38:47,760
Genesis Chapter 11 and chapter
12, Abraham’s call against the

673
00:38:47,760 –> 00:38:51,880
backdrop of the failure to build
this tower and the promises that

674
00:38:51,880 –> 00:38:55,880
God is going to make to Abraham.
Abraham, as he’s called at the

675
00:38:55,920 –> 00:38:59,760
beginning, is everything the
builders of the tower wanted to

676
00:38:59,760 –> 00:39:04,360
get for themselves.
Abraham’s going to give up his

677
00:39:04,360 –> 00:39:05,800
freedom.
It’s the wrong slide.

678
00:39:05,800 –> 00:39:08,040
There we are.
He’s going to voluntarily give

679
00:39:08,040 –> 00:39:11,800
himself up.
Just remind yourself about what

680
00:39:11,800 –> 00:39:16,200
happens in his, well, in the
broad span of his life, he’s

681
00:39:16,200 –> 00:39:18,840
going to leave his father’s
house and move away.

682
00:39:18,920 –> 00:39:23,400
The very opposite of the Babel
idea of let’s stay here and make

683
00:39:23,400 –> 00:39:27,160
sure that we are OK.
So chapter 12.

684
00:39:27,920 –> 00:39:31,120
Leave your home, your country,
and your father’s house.

685
00:39:32,600 –> 00:39:35,840
Turn your back on your past.
Give up everything that anchors

686
00:39:35,840 –> 00:39:41,240
you and makes you who you are.
Genesis chapter 20.

687
00:39:41,280 –> 00:39:45,800
Genesis chapter 17, the covenant
of circumcision, that the way in

688
00:39:45,800 –> 00:39:50,960
which you you show through this
thoroughly unpleasant process

689
00:39:52,920 –> 00:39:54,840
that you are not in control of
yourself.

690
00:39:56,000 –> 00:39:59,520
This vote of no confidence in
the flesh, where the way in

691
00:39:59,520 –> 00:40:02,120
which God was to show that the
son of promise was to be born

692
00:40:02,120 –> 00:40:04,480
was not through anything that
Abraham could do.

693
00:40:06,480 –> 00:40:10,240
So he gives up his past in
chapter 12 when he comes out of

694
00:40:10,240 –> 00:40:14,000
her of the Colbies.
He physically gives up his

695
00:40:14,000 –> 00:40:19,240
present in chapter 17 and then
on Moriah, where there is little

696
00:40:19,240 –> 00:40:24,160
echo of Chapter 12.
Leave your home and your country

697
00:40:24,160 –> 00:40:27,040
and your father’s house.
Take your son, your only son,

698
00:40:27,040 –> 00:40:30,040
Isaac, whom you love.
These threefold repetitions just

699
00:40:30,040 –> 00:40:35,160
to tie up the passages.
He’s going to go to Moriah and

700
00:40:35,160 –> 00:40:39,000
we’ll offer his son.
And the whole test of of gods

701
00:40:39,120 –> 00:40:42,320
and Abraham and Isaac on the
mountain is for him to realize

702
00:40:42,320 –> 00:40:48,600
whose son Isaac really is.
And so he will give up his past

703
00:40:48,880 –> 00:40:52,040
and he will give up his present.
And in picture language on

704
00:40:52,040 –> 00:40:54,120
Moriah, he will give up his
future as well.

705
00:40:54,560 –> 00:40:58,440
That’s how God is going to
reverse our captivity, by us

706
00:40:58,560 –> 00:41:04,080
doing as Abraham did, by
realizing that we can do nothing

707
00:41:04,080 –> 00:41:09,920
of ourselves, but we can only
place our discipleship, our

708
00:41:10,120 –> 00:41:14,320
future, our hopes, our children,
our ecclesias in the hands of

709
00:41:14,320 –> 00:41:19,000
Almighty God.
And so the story of Abraham and

710
00:41:19,000 –> 00:41:23,240
of the people that follow from
him in goodness and truth and in

711
00:41:23,240 –> 00:41:30,920
faith is that the place that we
find our our identity trying to

712
00:41:30,920 –> 00:41:33,400
use as many loaded terms as
possible in the first session.

713
00:41:33,400 –> 00:41:35,120
So you get used to them coming
down the track.

714
00:41:36,040 –> 00:41:38,520
A place that we make our
legacies completely different

715
00:41:38,520 –> 00:41:43,440
from the Babel project,
completely different from a view

716
00:41:43,440 –> 00:41:45,760
that says, well, it’s your
fault, Lord, you put the

717
00:41:45,760 –> 00:41:49,920
boundaries in the wrong place.
What will happen with Abraham,

718
00:41:49,920 –> 00:41:51,560
Isaac and Jacob?
What will happen with Moses,

719
00:41:51,560 –> 00:41:54,920
What will happen, at least in
principle, with the nation of

720
00:41:54,920 –> 00:41:58,120
Israel is that people who choose
to leave their place and be

721
00:41:58,120 –> 00:42:00,640
scattered can have faith in
Almighty God.

722
00:42:01,440 –> 00:42:04,920
That, brothers and sisters, is
how true liberty can be seen.