Marcus Mecum - The Freedom of Freedom
Let’s look at John 19:30. One verse. «When Jesus had received the drink, he said, 'it is finished'». Everybody say, «'It is finished' with that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit». That phrase, «It is finished» is Jesus declaring the new covenant that was established by his death on the cross and the shedding of his blood. We would know that your Bible is broken up into two sections, the Old Testament, the New Testament or the old covenant and the new covenant. And, both the old and the new covenant are provided by blood. The word covenant actually means to cut, so there is no covenant without the shedding of blood. And so, when you hear Jesus say, «It is finished,» he is, of course, speaking about that he, on Calvary’s cross, was cut that was part of the covenant without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.
And so, he is declaring the new covenant to you and I. And, I wanna talk to you about that because the foundation of freedom is covenant. And that’s what we’re gonna look at, the foundation of freedom. I can say without any question that satan hates when the church preaches about the blood of Jesus, sings about the blood of Jesus, we pray that the blood of Jesus cover or protect our homes, our marriages, our families. Because every single time you proclaim or you apply, the old timers would say you plea the blood of Jesus over your life, over a situation, over your job, over your health, whenever you do that satan hates it because blood is a covenant word and satan is a covenant breaker.
So, when we remind the devil of we’re covenant people and we’re in covenant with God, and it is an unbreakable covenant, he hates when people understand covenant. And so, we’re going to look at this idea together. Everybody say, «Covenant». To this day, as Americans we say, when we want someone’s signature we ask for their John Handcock. «Give me your John Handcock». That term was coined at the signing of the declaration of independence when John Handcock, who was the president of the congress at that time, was the very first to sign the declaration. He wrote his name, I love this, in big, large, plain letters and said, «There, John bull can read my name without spectacles. Now let them double the price on my head for this defiance».
He then turned to the other members of the congress and said, «We must be unanimous, there must be no pulling in different directions, we must all hang together». And, Benjamin Franklin responded, «We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately». When they were signing their name it was more than a declaration, it was more than signing a document. They were signing a covenant. Covenant is the most sacred thing of all human agreements. And, I love that phrase, «Hang together». You wanna understand covenant? It’s that idea, we’re in this together. This is not a light thing. This is not a flighty thing. This isn’t one day you feel it and the next day you don’t. This isn’t my taste changed, my preference has changed.
Covenant is a, «We are in this together,» type of word. Those fifty-six men that signed that covenant, five were captured by the British and tortured to death. 12 had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the revolutionary war. Two had their sons captured. Nine fought and died, eight lost their property, one had his wife jailed and she died in captivity, three more faced relentless loss and harassment. So, when we talk about the freedoms we enjoy as a country it’s impossible to discuss it without remembering the covenant that was made to lay the foundation for our freedom. Without covenant there is no America, without covenant there is no future. Greatness without covenant, there is no freedom.
And, we have to remember the concept, the idea, the dream, that we get to live in today as Americans it’s real to us, we’ve enjoyed it, our lives have been blessed by it. But when they initially came up with the idea, it was out there. It was so farfetched, it was so beyond anything anybody could ever really imagine as a possibility. «I mean, all men created equal? What are you talk, you mean that my bloodline doesn’t determine what I can be and not be in my life? My blood, like, so, the way I’m born doesn’t determine, you know, if I’m born royalty then I’m royalty.
So, this idea of democracy where your choices influence your future, that you at any point right now, even today, no matter what your choices have been up to this point, you can choose to change your direction today, you have the freedom to do that. You have the freedom to work hard, you have the freedom to dream, you have the freedom to be innovative, you have the freedom to go after what’s in your heart or you have the freedom to do nothing». In your pursuit of happiness that freedom, the whole idea of capitalism, the whole idea of freedom, you can go after the life you want. Had never been seen before and the foundation of that was a covenant.
Psalms 25:14 says, «The secret of the Lord is revealed to those that fear him. He will show them his covenant». Another translation says, «The secret to a victorious life is covenant». And, our problem is we live in a nation of covenant breakers and so we are at risk of certain freedoms being taken away. As we speak these freedoms are at risk, they are being threatened and if we’re not careful not only are we looking at those freedoms as you look at our nation being put at risk because of our inability to understand the importance of covenant. We also have to remember in the church there are certain freedoms that we enjoy because of covenant and we are not to allow the world and the spirit towards covenant in the world to get inside the church.
What’s the attitude? No commitment, no sense of keeping your word, even to your own hurt. You break your word easily. You don’t carry your weight. You despise words like sacrifice. «Don’t tell me to sacrifice». You’re living for nothing but self and your own advantage. You want opinion, but you don’t want any responsibility. You wanna have a voice, but you don’t wanna have any consequence to the voice. Then you, «We live in a free country». You can do it, but that’s not covenant. And, eventually, if you want all the privileges without a sense of weight and responsibility in covenant ultimately that will cost future generations. You have to have a understanding of covenant.
People without that understanding quickly discard relationships and if there is no covenant, eventually there is no freedom. And, for God’s people there are two ideas that we have to consider when it comes to covenant. So, number one, God is a covenant God. We’ll look at that. And number two, we are to be a covenant people. So, God is a covenant God, which means he is the Creator of covenant. When God could swear by no one greater he chose to swear by himself and he acknowledged that he’s not a man that he should lie. And so, here we see Jesus, he’s hanging on the cross, he’s bleeding, he’s dying, and his final words are, «It is finished». And, there he is establishing, once and for all, what we know is the new covenant.
Now, a covenant always requires four things, a spoken and a written word, witnesses present, your signature, and then it has to be sealed, authorized, or notarized. Now, because a covenant is only as good as the two people making it, God understood for the covenant to be unbreakable he would have to swear by himself. He’s not going to just deliver a document, he had tried that in the Ten Commandments. He’s not going to just speak it, he had tried that in the Old Testament major in minor prophets. This times it’s a new covenant and it’s going to be fleshed out in many practical steps. He’s going to be born of a virgin, he’s not gonna stay up in heaven and have somebody else do it and send an angel. He himself is going to come down and he is gonna be born of a virgin, he’s gonna live a sinless life, he is going to die on a horrible cross, he’ll be buried, and he’ll be raised again from the dead.
This is where we see it was spoken and it was written with his life. «The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the only son of the begotten full of grace and truth». Secondly, the new covenant had witnesses to it, that’s the nation of Israel. Number three, the pen would be the cross, the ink would be his blood and his signature would be his death and resurrection. And, finally, it would be sealed in the upper room when God would send the Holy Spirit to authorize and notarize the promise and the covenant of the father. God is the Creator of covenant, he is the establisher of covenant, and he is the enforcer of the benefits to those who understand covenant. Does covenant cut? Does covenant hurt? Do you bleed sometimes to maintain covenant? Yes. It’s not an easy thing, necessarily, but understand, God led the way and was our example. Which brings us to number two, we’re to be a covenant people. We’re to be like him. Christian means, what? Means to be like Christ.
And, you’re never more like Christ than when you are a person who appreciates and values covenant. Much like we read about in America it wasn’t just a signature that they put down it was their life that they gave. So it was with Jesus and so it was with those who are closest to him. Those who birthed the New Testament church understood without covenant there will be no freedom. Without covenant there will be no greatness. So, five of them would be crucified, one would be crucified upside down, three would be stoned to death, two would be speared to death, one would be beheaded, one would die of natural causes, John the beloved, of course they would throw him in a pot of boiling oil. He would survive and be banished to the island of Patmos. These men were men that understood covenant.
Psalms 15:4 says, «You keep your word even to your own hurt and you don’t change it for your own benefit or your advantage». We don’t keep our word to our own hurt anymore, we change that verse, «I’ll keep my word until it hurts. I’ll keep my word until I don’t like it. I’ll keep my word until things aren’t going my way». But, that’s not what the Bible teaches. Covenant means when it cuts, when it hurts, when it causes some blood from my life to occur, that is when covenant is actually happening. So, covenant by nature costs you something. This is why the Bible says you are to count the cost before you do something, so you don’t get halfway into it and quit along the way.
Right, you have, the builder, the Bible says, has the ability to look at what something’s gonna cost, create a budget for it, that way the building doesn’t get halfway done and you have a shell of what was intended. You have to upfront count the cost behind the cost of covenant. So, there’s three areas that Christians are called to be in covenant. Of course, you have your marriage and your family but outside of that. Now, remember, it has to be spoken and written, there has to be witnesses present, there has to be a pen and a signature, and it has to be sealed and authorized.
Number one area of covenant is to Christ himself. Romans 10 says it has to be spoken. You confess with your mouth, and you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is God’s only son and that he raised him from the dead. You say, «Was it important that I speak it»? Yes. «Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess». There is a part of our relationship with God that requires words. We speak it. The thing that wasn’t before we spoke it happens as we speak it. There is a miracle that happens when you simply begin to speak, «Jesus is God’s only son. He is Lord. He is king. He is master. He is ruler. He is Savior. I’m sinner. He’s God, I’m not. He’s Creator, I’m creation». Speak it. «I need you in my life. I can’t do this without you. I need to have you as the Lord of my life». It has to be spoken.
Number two, you have to tell people. This is your testimony. This is you talking about what God’s done in your life. This is you being water baptized, you invite people to come and see publicly what you said in your words, and you believe in your heart. You give your story. You talk to them about my life has changed. I was blind, now I see. I was deaf, now I hear. I was dead, now I’m alive. Something happened, my life has changed. «Old things passed away behold all things have become new». There’s a part of your life where you are saying I’m in covenant with God now, which means he is the most important relationship in your life. There is no relationship that matters more than him. You never let any relationship, no matter what, come in between you and your covenant with him. He isn’t gonna let nothing come in between his covenant with you.
Our job is to maintain that with him. Our names are written in the lamb’s book of life, and it is authorized by his spirit. The Holy Spirit comes in and he guarantees us that what the Bible says is the deposit, is the guarantee of the Holy Spirit that he gives us. That our inheritance is guaranteed as his sons, as his daughters to the praise of his glory. What am I saying? You can’t come to the father unless you’re drawn by the father. You can’t say Jesus Christ is Lord apart from the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit is who tells you that Jesus, that’s what the Bible says that that’s what the spirit of Ruth does in the earth. What does it do? It testifies that Jesus is God’s son. And when the Holy Spirit reveals that to you, all the sudden, your life begins to change because you realize the price that God’s paid to find you, to love you, to forgive you, and to show his mercy in your life.
So, it has to be authorized by the Holy Spirit. The second area of covenant is to his bride. To his bride. Now, you have the big 'c' church, that’s the universal church, and all of it’s just different expressions. If they believe that Jesus Christ is God’s only son they believe the Bible is the inherent Word of God and the basic tenants of the faith are there. There might be some differences outside of that, but that is your covenant is to the bride, universally, but it’s to be fleshed out and played out to the small 'c' church which is the local church that you’re a part of. It can be a home church, it can be a small church, it can be a denominational church, it can be a mid-sized church, it can be a large, that’s between you and God. But it’s fleshed out in the small 'c' churches.
If that was not important then Jesus would have not made sure that the New Testament was written to small 'c' churches. Ephesus, the church of Ephesus. Colossians, the church of Colossae. Philippians, the church of Philippi. When you get to the Book of Revelation and God wanted to talk to John about the churches, he talked about the church of Smyrna, the church of Philadelphia, the church of Pergamos. All of these were written to small 'c' churches in communities and in cities and he’s letting us know that it’s very difficult to get the message of God in your life with just abandoning the idea that you have to be a part of a local church. I’m not telling you have to be a part of a local church, you don’t have to enjoy the benefits of being a part of the local church, but most people don’t do it.
Why? 'Cause it cuts, it hurts, it’s not always easy, there’s ups and there’s down. There’s dry times and there’s good times, there’s times when you feel like it and there’s times when you don’t. But, aren’t you grateful that Jesus himself didn’t just have a Philosophical view of what he thought he could do in your life? He didn’t just have some abstract view. He came down and in the flesh he was willing to be cut. And God needs people to realize it’s his bride. It’s not a girlfriend. And there’s nothing wrong with getting to know a local church and spending your time trying to figure out, who is this? What’s going on? Is there red flags?
There’s nothing wrong with taking some steps. But if you’re still dating the church and you’ve been hanging out with her for the last 15 years and you want the benefits, but you don’t want the sense of commitment, I’m telling you, you’re missing the idea of covenant. I told you it’s gonna get rough. Aye, I get no, I know you’re like, «Oh well, you get some benefits from this». I really don’t. I wish you could know my passion is for your sake. I just wanna take a second here, I’ve done this for almost 30 years of my life, and I have watched people, you know, one of the number one conversations I’ll have with someone that I meet in the lobby, and they say, «Oh, I just left such and such church, I’m here».
If I get that conversation and I don’t get it as much as I would like, but I can never remember not telling them, «Hey, I really am not sure you should leave that church. Did God tell you to»? Because, the Bible says, «Those who are planted flourish». So, why would I want somebody that’s hurt and offended or upset, they didn’t like something, leaving there and coming here? 'cause I know they’re gonna be disappointed here too. So, I have to think pastorally long term for their soul and their children and their family. If they showed just a kind of sense of flimsiness about the bride of Christ it’s gonna be passed down.
And my responsibility is to build the kingdom, and my job is to say, «Hey, listen, you have to make sure that you’ve heard from God when you do those kind of things. It shouldn’t be a light thing. I’m not saying you have to act like this. You act however you want, we’re talking about freedom. There are people that died so you can act however you want. However there are consequences to not understanding covenant and there are benefits to understanding covenant, and you just have to understand that you have to speak it. You have to say, 'that’s my church. That’s not their church, or the church, or someone else’s church, that’s my church. It’s not my wife’s church, it’s not my husband’s church, it’s not my kids' church, it’s not my momma’s church it’s not my daddy’s church, that’s my church. I belong to that church, I’m building that church. That’s where God’s called me».