Theword

?THE GRASS WITHERS, THE FLOWER FADES, BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD STANDS FOREVER.? (ISAIAH 40:8)

Pastor Ernest Martinez

The Community Church of Devore

During the Fourth of July holiday many churches around the country give patriotic and heart stirring stories or messages of restoration of our country?s heritage and previous glory. No matter how bad our country has gotten, or even if continues on a path to destruction, my Independence Day can be celebrated each and every day.

However, my liberty didn?t come from a cannon?s fire, but the Spirit?s fire. My freedom didn?t come from a declaration written in ink, but with the precious blood of Jesus. My independence wasn?t from tyrannical governments but from the empire of Lucifer, the god of this world. My liberty came from the King of the Universe who delivered me from the corruption of this present world: ?because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21).?

There were no shots fired on Calvary?s Hill. Jesus lifted His voice to the father and said of me and you: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.'' His blood was the precious ink of our ?Declaration of Independence? called the New Covenant. Paul describes the night Jesus shared His last Passover with His disciples, ?In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ?This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me? (1 Corinthians 11:25).?

The Declaration of Independence from the slavery of sin is celebrated each and every day for Christians. We have been set free! The Declaration of our Risen Lord is our standard and flag. We carry it each day. We serve a Risen Lord. Paul said: ?But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:7 ? 11).?

Jesus said of the bread and wine He shared with His disciples: "?Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.? In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ?This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me (1 Cor. 11:24 ? 25).??

??do this in remembrance of Me?

As Charles Haddon Spurgeon has taught:

?IT seems, then, that Christians may forget Christ. The text implies the possibility of forgetfulness concerning him whom gratitude and affection should constrain them to remember. There could be no need for this loving exhortation, if there were not a fearful supposition that our memories might prove treacherous, and our remembrance superficial in its character, or changing in its nature. Nor is this a bare supposition: it is, alas, too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable fact. It seems at first sight too gross a crime to lay at the door of converted men. It appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb should ever forget their Ransomer; that those who have been loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God, should ever forget that Son; but if startling to the ear, it is alas, too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the fact. Forget him who ne?er forgot us! Forget him who poured his blood forth for but sins! Forget him who loved us even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault of all of us, that we can remember anything except Christ. The object which we should make the monarch of our hearts, is the very thing we are most inclined to forget. Where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness would be an unknown intruder, that is the spot which is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness, and that the place where memory too seldom looks.?

Let us never forget the true Independence Day that we celebrate on account of Jesus? great love toward us. Our Savior and Lord bought us by laying down His life for us.

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Published on: 2005-07-07 (1817 reads)