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Libertate!
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Flags snapped and fluttered in the icy wind. Footsteps pounded
out a march on the frozen ground. Libertate! Libertate! Libertate!
Shouts for freedom thundered through the streets, echoing
between the buildings. Shouts for freedom like the shouts
from the city of Timisoara that we heard over the radio, interrupted
suddenly by a long, merciless rattle of machine gun fire.
The shouts stopped. The guns stopped. Then there was silence.
Freedom. People lost their lives for freedom. The passion
for freedom swept across the entire East European and Soviet-controlled
world like a hot wind. The wind brought change, but who has
been set free? The alcoholic still drinks; the angry man still
rages in his anger; thieves are still compelled to steal;
and depression still weighs like a heavy gloom over the hearts
of those whose lives seem without hope. Who has been set free?1
Two thousand years ago, one Man died for the freedom of all
mankind.2 Not for political freedom, but for the
freedom of the heart: freedom from the invisible prison of
sin.3 Jesus Christ was the perfect Son of God who
took our punishment by dying on a wooden cross for our sins
and for the sins of the whole world.4 When we understand
our helplessness to save ourselves, we can accept Him as our
Savior.5 He washes away sin and guilt.6
He opens the gates of the prison in our hearts and sets us
free. He rose from the dead to give us new life so that we
can be alive forever with Him in heaven.7 For the
first time, we can stand clean and pure before a holy God.8
Democracy offers limited freedom. Only Jesus can give eternal
freedom. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to come into
your heart and life.9 Ask Him now in prayer.10
Eternal life and freedom are His gifts to you.11
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Rosemarie Oehler Adcock
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1) Galatians 5:19-21; The
acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity
and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred discord, jealousy,
fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy;
drunkeness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before,
that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of
God.
2) John 3:16; For God so loved the world, that He gave His one
and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish
but have eternal life.
3) John 8:34-36: Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone
who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place
in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son
sets you free, you will be free indeed."
4) John 1:29: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him
and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world!" 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: For what I received I passed
onto you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was
raised on the third day according to the Scripture."
5) Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
6) Isaiah 1:18: "Come now, let us reason together," says the
Lord. "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like
wool."
7) John 14: 2-3: In my Father's house are many rooms; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may
be where I am." Acts 10:39-40: We are witnesses of everything
He did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed
Him by hanging Him on a tree, but God raised Him from the dead
on the third day and caused Him to be seen.
8) Romans 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.
9) Romans 3:22-24: This righteousness from God comes through
faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and
are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that
came by Christ Jesus.
10) Romans 10:9-10 If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is
Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you
believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you
confess and are saved.
11) Ephesians 2:8-9: For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God-not by works, so that no one can boast. |
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