This post is part 2 of a mini-series on ‘liberty’ based on Psalm 119:45.
At Bible Hub, in addition to Bible translations, commentaries, and dictionaries… there are sermons and homiletics on verses and passages of scripture. I pasted in some of those resources below for those who want a fuller understanding of the term.
From the Biblical Illustrator:
LIBERTY IS IN PROGRESSIVE ACTION. Few can truthfully say, “I will walk”; they are carried, they are driven on the way of life, they act not from themselves, but from others. They are mere spokes in the wheel of the social machine.
II. LIBERTY IS IN THE PURSUIT OF RIGHT.
(Homilist
| Liberty Only in the Truth |
| John Hall, D. D.
Psalm 119:45 Liberty is not so much a producing force as a product of other forces. It is not so much a power as it is open space within which other powers work. We want to walk at liberty. How can we do it? If we do not thus walk at liberty, there is only one alternative — stay in bondage. If the psalmist studied God’s will that he might walk at liberty, how much greater is the obligation upon us to do the same, and how much greater our facilities and our encouragement! 1. There is liberty from the world. Sometimes men are in bondage to the world in this sense, that the mainspring of their life is to stand well with it, to do what their set, their society, the world round about them, wishes them to do. Sometimes the bondage is aggravated by another feature, viz. the effort to rise higher, to get into another set; and, oh, how aggravated is the bondage under which many thus live and labour! Freedom from that is obtained when we walk according to God’s statutes. “Godliness with contentment is great gain;” and these things, the godliness with the contentment, will break these clanking chains of insane and stupid ambition and will prepare you to walk at liberty. 2. There is liberty from bad ways — love of the world, drunkenness, gambling, etc. We learn to walk circumspectly; we learn to keep the heart with all diligence; we learn to hate evil and to do good. We walk securely, for we have been taught of the Spirit to walk with God. 3. There is liberty from bad memories — bad, putrid memories. There may be compunction for the sin, there may be vows against it, there may be honest purposes to resist and overcome it, and these purposes to a good degree carried out; but the horrid, poisonous memories remain in the soul. There is liberty from these to those who walk in God’s statutes, liberty that can be had nowhere else. “A new heart will I give you,” etc. 4. There is liberty from fear and terror. With the dark cloud of impending wrath overhanging you, how can you walk at liberty? But take God’s precepts, know them, believe them, do them, and this terror is removed, this fear is taken away. (John Hall, D. D.) |