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Liberation
“In Him we have deliverance through His blood — liberation from trespasses — according to the riches of His grace, which abounds to us in all wisdom and understanding,”
(Ephesians 1:7-8)
Do we really think of our deliverance from sins as “liberation”? Sadly, I fear that we do not. In America today, we don’t have much personal experience with slavery in a formal sense and we are accustomed to having freedoms to move and go where we wish. During my years in seminary, I worked with homeless men, many of whom were drug addicts and former drug addicts. Particularly amongst the latter group, I got a taste for the gratitude that comes along with being delivered from this horrible addiction. Today, there are many that are addicted to other sorts of sins — pornography, for example, and gambling. Therein, we can also get a sense of what it means to be delivered from something oppressive. And the most basic response to real deliverance is gratitude.
Genuine gratitude is easy to see. It shows in the way people live and in their change of thinking. It shows in their desire to please the one who has delivered them. Think of how people often respond (and rightly so) to first responders who deliver them from the jaws of death, whether it be from a fire or an accident somewhere. People go to great lengths to honor those first responders as a demonstration of their gratitude. And again, it is right and proper to do so. Yet, what does our gratitude toward God look like with respect to this great salvation that is offered in Jesus Christ? How do we show our gratitude for His delivering us? Sadly, we often don’t.
Our gratitude or ingratitude toward God for this deliverance is proportional to how seriously we take our sin and its consequences. If we really recognize that our sins (even the “little” ones) are outward rebellion against God and are worthy of the fires of eternal hell, then we will show much gratitude. But, if we look at our sins as nothing more than bad habits that need to be addressed and corrected through therapy or will-power, then our lives will hardly be marked by the gratitude we are called to give. They will be marked by an obedience to God that is pragmatic (this seems to work for me) and that is is not fundamental to one’s very existence. We will never see this deliverance as something that truly comes from the “riches” of God’s grace until we really come to terms with this notion of being delivered from our bondage to sin and death.
Repentance and Revival
“And all of Midian and the Amalekites and the Sons of the East gathered together. And they passed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of Yahweh covered Gideon and he blew the shophar and the Fathers of the Ezrites were called out to him. And messengers were sent to all of Manasseh and they were also called out to him. And messengers were sent through Asher and through Zebulon and through Naphtali and they went up to meet him.”
(Judges 6:33-35)
Prior to the call of Gideon, prior to the tearing down of the pagan altar and image, prior to the sacrifice offered by Gideon on the altar to God, prior to the establishment of right worship, when the Midianites rushed into the land, they met no resistance and everyone fled. Now we see a different picture emerging. And it emerges not because of the boldness of Gideon, but because the Holy Spirit has rushed upon Gideon and God is about to do a wonderful thing. Yet, it is a thing that God does not do so long as the people are committed to their idols. He does not do this lest the idol be given credit for the deliverance.
How we so often wonder, why God is not moving in our land. The answer is that it all stems back to worship. In America, it seems like most anything is considered acceptable as a form of worship to God. How often do we see chaos and unrestrained foolishness masquerading as worship in the assemblies of God’s people. How often even in more sober-minded forums, we see humanism sung from the songbooks and preached from the pulpits. And how often do we see ritualism replacing a commitment of the heart to Christ. And then we wonder, why do we not see God’s hand delivering us from our enemies.
Loved ones, there is an answer to our problem. But that answer begins with repentance — repenting of the humanistic foolishness that we have embraced and getting back to right worship — worship as is described in the scriptures. Worship that is governed by the Word of God not the inventions of men. Then, when we repent of our idolatry, then we may indeed see the hand of God bringing deliverance and revival once again.
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