Liberty Alert With Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz

The following program is sponsored by evangelical life ministries.

Welcome to Liberty alert with Gregory sell sponsored by our friends at the Lutheran center for religious Liberty here in Washington, DC, a program that cuts through the chaos and confusion in the culture today by talking two kingdom, citizenship, old biblical principles for a robust public Christian luck. And now your host, Dr. Gregory sell

Good day, good day, Washington DC. I'm Gregory sells welcome to our program. The Liberty alert

Where every week we try to

Of cut through the noise and take on the issues, especially the public issues that matter to people of faith. Today, we are still basking in the glow of Easter, and that's why we're gonna step back from our interviews and step back from politics and get to the heart of the matter. You know, because as Christians, this is what it's all about out. This is what Christmas is all about. You know, God enters the world to do what, to save it on his terms. And so the Bible does proclaim that this Jesus is God in the flesh come not only to save you and me, but the whole world. And that's what we mean by calling him the Messiah, the sacrificial lamb, the, and on Easter Sunday, the resurrected Lord. And, and so his life, his mercy, his forgiveness, his freedom, uh, which allows us to be faithful.

All that can be yours as a gift by grace, through faith. And so for Christians, that's the first Liberty. I mean, that's the freedom, that's the ultimate freedom. The freedom to live lives of grace lives of faith to God, and then lives that are faithful and loving service to our neighbors on God's terms. Faith in him makes all of this stuff meaningful, all of this, your life, my life per purposeful. And, and here's the other side of that life without him eventually amounts to or comes to nothing. So the first freedom that's, that's what it's all about. So people ask him all the time then, well then why do you at this Lutheran center for religious Liberty, why do you fight for this thing called the constitutional freedoms? You know, first amendment freedoms. I think that's a good question. And you have to ask the question, why do we think this is that important?

Well, simply answered is we want the freedom to share the good news of the ultimate freedom. And again, that's what it's all about. So whatever we're doing on the hill, all we're trying to do is if you're a Christian, we're just trying to protect your public voice. We're trying to protect your freedom to be a Christian in service to other people, without government coercion, to the contrary. That's why the LCR L exists. I mean, it exists to defend religious Liberty so that you can hear about this unique message of God and Jesus Christ period. So you can hear it freely so you can hear it. Uh, you can go worship, uh, without fearing from some kind of like retribution, uh, from the politics of the day. We wanna defend the sanctity of life so that you can hear, and hopefully believe that your life is sacred too, from him.

And the, the message that some lives aren't worth living. We we're fighting against that. We want defend the institution of marriage and God's ordering of the world. And, and we want to defend educational freedom here at LCR else so that our children, your children, anyone who wishes to know the God who makes worldly knowledge and, and guides us to put that knowledge to work wise wisely. Uh, we want to be able to give you the freedom to hear that if you so desire. So why is this thing that we do on the radio here called the Liberty alert? Why are we always talking about the first amendment of freedoms? Why is it so important? Well, it's because it protects your right and it also challenges your responsibility to live faithfully. The freedom that comes from faith, live faithfully and virtuously for the sake of your neighbor, your friends and your community.

So the first Liberty, the one that comes from God, the one that he earns, the one that he actually offers to the world by grace, through faith in Jesus, that is ultimate. But this other Liberty, this temporal Liberty is precious too. It's just that one is more precious than the other. Well, think about it this way. Easter is more important than July 4th. Let me say that again, Easter is more important than July 4th, but thank God for July 4th, freedom to proclaim. And even here the truth of Easter without fear of government coercion or punishment to the contrary. So we have a saying here at the LCR L that we, as two kingdom, Christians are to put our temporal liberties to work for the sake of the eternal liberties of God, you in Christ. So again, our work generally is, uh, fighting to maintain these temporal liberties, but also to realize that they're in service to a higher calling, there are some things that are worth fighting for freedom to live faithful lives to God, to others it's worth protecting, it's worth fighting for.

And that's what we do here on a daily basis. Now, if you listen to us at all, you know, that those freedoms are under attack and, and they're not just under attack around the world. I mean, we just talked about that on one of our programs where Bishop PO and minister, president PVE, Rossen, and in Finland were on trial for doing what for teaching the Bible's view of marriage and the Bible's view of, of sexuality. And they were, they were threatened with jail and fines and, and they won the, we'll see, there's an appeal. Now the government's appealing that, but can you imagine the government is suing them over this? Those freedoms are under attack, but those same freedoms, we, we would be in the same predicament here. If the equality act passed in Congress, because it's virtually the same kind of legislation, it criminalizes the basic teachings of Christianity, the moral teachings of the Bible, which, which call us to moral lives, even as they call us all to repentance and to holiness those limitations or directives on human behavior for the sake of greater righteousness, you know, they're under attack in, in our Liberty teen culture today.

And again, the even let live people. It's amazing that we're now the live and let live people we're caricatured as the sticks in the mud who tell everybody what to do. No, the people that are actually, uh, fighting us are the ones who are trying to criminalize the Bible's view of these things. I, I would caricature them as sticks in the mud. We have a different view on these things, and we actually believe in the authority of the scripture for those of you who think, well, we just gotta preach that. Jesus loves everybody. I, I hate to tell you this, but the Bible says that Jesus is the only savior of the world. And so if he's the only savior, even though he is the savior of all people, I'm telling you, um, you, you can, you can check me on this in the next several years, but eventually that will come under attack too, because to say that Jesus is the only savior, how hateful can you be today?

I, I think we're reminded that it is a worthy thing to celebrate, even fight for the protections of, uh, Liberty. Why that we can hear about the ultimate freedom that God has in store for us. If we put our faith and our trust in him, you know, I like what John Adams, one of our founding fathers said, he reminded us. We, we have no government. He said, he's talking about the uniqueness of the American experiment. We have no government armed with power CA capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution, he said, was made only for a moral and righteous people. It's wholly inadequate to the government of any other. What he's basically is saying is if, if we're not motivated by a higher calling by faith in God, which is higher than faith in ourselves, he said the constitutional freedoms that we have cannot exist either.

The first freedom, the ultimate freedom is knowing who you are and knowing who God is and knowing that he loves you, cares for you and directs you. And that is the kind of thing that a constitutional limitation of government, uh, that kind of policy can make a, a country where people live disciplined, religiously motivated lives in service to their neighbor. Again, two freedoms. That's what Easter reminds us. Uh, but the ultimate freedom Easter reminds us is the one that God made happen in the person and work of Jesus. So all these blessings are to be cherished because they allow us here, uh, especially, you know, the, the freedoms that we have in this country, they allow us here at the LCR to tell you about the good news of Jesus, the Messiah, the one who lived your life, died your death and offers you his eternal life.

As a gift of grace, you know, received by faith in him, all other freedoms of the world have purpose. If they come to rest in faith in God, in Christ today, then I, I just wanna revel in some of those things, because you know, all year long, I talk about the protection. I talk about fighting for the right to hear this good news. Well, today, just want to tell you what that good news is because that's why we exist. Um, the work that we do in Washington, DC is, is a secondary but important work. It's an important work to keep the voice of the church free. It's an important work to keep the voice of the scripture free in, in the churches in America. Why? Because there is no other message, like the one that you're gonna here in the Bible, there is no other morality.

There is no other message of grace and forgiveness and mercy. And, and all of those things are unique in the scripture. The notion that that God is still at work, but he, it works two different ways to preserve the world. And then also to save the world. These are unique messages to the Bible, that tension, and that truth are unique messages. So again, it's good to finally say, well then what is that message? And so that's what Easter weekend is all about. Today's the day to realize that there is a God in heaven and he cares about you. So today's the day to think about Christmas. God involves himself in the world because you need him to today's the day to think about good Friday, where he actually takes the punishments of this broken world upon himself. Otherwise they would crush you. And today's the day to think about Easter when God himself actually, uh, rose from the dead and from the pile of the ashes of our sinful inability so that we could have his life as a gift.

So Easter it's about Christ's death and resurrection for you. It's a message about real hope in a hopeless banal world. Politics cannot save us. Technology cannot save us. Economics cannot save us. We hear at the LCR L say that good politics can't save us, but bad politics can destroy us. So we're just fighting to make sure we don't do bad politics. Why? So we can hear the good news of God in Christ for you. So that's the Easter message. You know, there's a, there's a lot of people today trying to, to take this Christian message and make it political. I hear this all the time that, you know, liberation theology tries to do that. It says, you know, we're just gonna, we're gonna bring that freedom down to earth. Jesus is the one who said my kingdom is not of this world, but my kingdom is in this world for you.

So the Easter message, God, didn't just come to create, uh, and redeem this world merely so that, uh, we could live freely among its sinfulness and bro brokenness. He didn't just come to kind of give us a pass. He didn't engage the world through the person of Christ to merely make the sinful world a little better play. Uh, he ushered in a new and eternal kingdom, amidst all these temporal kingdoms of the world. And we're just thankful that we live in one of those kingdoms that then protects our freedom to tell you this. And so we're, we're willing to fight for that freedom for everybody. But I gotta tell you that we there's a message that we're fighting to proclaim. That is the U most unique message in all the world, but here's the, here's the point. Even the freedoms we have in this country, which are incredible.

It's amazing to me that kids are, are thinking of jetting. Those, those freedoms, you know, like, like having a socialist government that takes care of our, or takes care of, uh, all the, the big decisions in life. People think that's gonna be a better life to live. That's crazy. Uh, the tyranny of the last hundred years ought to sober us, but for whatever reason, uh, we still believe that we can, can kind of do this utopian thing without God. But, uh, the freedoms we enjoy here, they compel, they, they compel us, you know, to, to, to live better lives, but they cannot empower us. I mean, that's the one thing we've gotta get across to those of us who cherish these freedoms. Yeah. When you fight for these things, when you celebrate these things, that's great. But those freedoms, just the freedom to do what is right.

Still doesn't give us the power to do what is right. That's gotta come from something besides government, something bigger than government, something bigger than education, something bigger than economics, something bigger than technology and surely something bigger than government go. Government's the least important thing of all the things I just said. And that comes from our faith relationship to the God who gives us, uh, not only his grace, but then his power to live virtuous lives for the sake of our neighbor. When he's the resource, when he's the guide, when he's the power, there is real hope. You know, one of the words that people talk about or throw it around today a lot is hope. Um, people want hope. They wanna live in hope. Um, oftentimes people have kind of what I call a hope against hope law life. Um, when you think about that word, hope there's, there's really two, uh, it carries two meanings or two definitions.

For instance, if you say, uh, I hope it won't rain on Easter. Now, it might be something you wish for, but you have no assurance. You don't really even have any capacity that it will come true. And so when you think about that, it, it it's hope against hope. I mean, you're just, it's wishful thinking because it's hope on your terms alone, but it's also kinda like voting for the right candidate in politics. Uh, you, you hope that they'll do what's in the best interest of their constituents or the best interest of freedom for all the it more often than not, uh, politics, disappoints, all of us. And that's one of the reasons why the Bible says don't put your hope in politicians. Don't put your hope in princes. Now, on the other hand, though, when we say that we hope that tomorrow will be Monday.

So today's Sunday. We hope tomorrow will be Monday. We have the assurance that if there is a tomorrow, it will be Monday. Why? Because it has been that way for centuries promises have been made, promises have been fulfilled. That is a hope based on the assurance, the assurance that what has always been will always be, and, and of course you can start to plan your life. You can start to say, well, if there's a Monday, then there will be a Tuesday. And if there's a Tuesday, there will be a Wednesday. And on and on. And on that hope depends on, on things happening the way they always have been. Well, the hope that the Bible talks about is even greater than that. It's built on the assurance that what God's says he will do, he does. And if you read the Bible, that's one of the things about reading the Bible.

The Bible's a book of promises, but it's not just promises yet to come. There's a lot of promises fulfilled. And as you go through the promises of God, what he, God says he will do for a world that is sinful and broken. Um, and you see these promises come true and they finally come true in the per, in, they come to fruition in the person and work of Jesus Christ who lives and dies and rises again for you. When you see that it's not just hopeful thinking, it's hope built on promises, the veracity, the capacity, and the tenacity of the one who made those promises is, is what you can now put your hope in. You know, I was thinking, again, trying to illustrate the, the Bible's view of that, you know, veracity means it's true. Capacity means that whoever said it, do they have the capacity to bring it to true truth for you or bring it to fruition for you?

And then do they have the tenaciousness to, to see it through? And I was thinking about, you know, a story I told many, many times, uh, in devotions and in sermons, there was this, guy's a millionaire named Eugene Landy gave real hope to the lives of 61 students in sixth grade, uh, and a sixth grade school in east Harlem. And he was trying to inspire them to stay in school. Cuz he knew that education was the, the most important thing, a good education, a values based education, the most important thing for kids to, to rise up out of poverty and to become all that God had created and, and, and, uh, redeemed them to be. And, and so he wanted to give them hope. So what he, he, this is what he did nothing about this. He said, stay in school. And he, so he comes to this class and he says to these students in sixth grade, now he says, stay in school and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.

Now, can you imagine, can you imagine being in that classroom, can you imagine what those people, those kids thought, can you imagine what the parents of those children thought? Now here's a statistic for you? Nearly 90% of that at class went on to graduate high school and then go to college. Why? Because college was no longer wishful thinking. It was hope built on a promise from one who said he could make that promise come true. Now again, the Easter mess, which is the ultimate promise and the ultimate promise fulfilled says today, you have something even more important. You have a solid eternal hope available to you because the very savior of the world made this promise to you. He said, because I live, you will also live too. You know what I think about today, as I'm just privileged, uh, to be on the air, to tell you something that you know, that other countries have outlawed said, you can't say on radio stations, or you can't say on radio programs or TV programs today, I can tell you that there is a savior of the world.

His name is Jesus. He saved you. He loves you. He still loves you. And he wants you to trust in him above all things. And, and that's the Easter promise. That's Easter joy and Jesus to, to say it this way, he's got the veracity, the capacity and the tenacity to make that true for you. And true for me, you know, every week on the, this program, we engage issues. But ultimately all we're trying to do with those issues is trying to depoliticize them. So the Bible in cautions three says set your mind on these things, set your mind on things above and, and that's another great word to hear today. You know, amidst all the pandemics, the political strife, the social chaos, the, the growing sexual confusion, the cultural Vaga vulgarity, and, and EV even the Liberty emptiness. And, and that's something that I'm seeing every day.

Um, Libertine emptiness, and I'm gonna do whatever I want, but, but again, you become a hollow shell, uh, of what God wanted you to be. These are just symptoms or consequences of sinful humanities, wishful thinking that they can exist without God cuz human beings on our own terms, we don't have the veracity capacity or tenacity to make real life happen forever. This week. I just wanted to, to give you a glimpse O of the ultimate freedom that you, that you have, the ultimate freedom we fight for so that you can hear it for yourself. You know, he is risen. He is risen deed, and that is what makes life worth living. Now finally, the last thing I share with you, you know, that's just the power of being an Easter person in all circumstances. Even if we, uh, lose the right to freely, say this in America, uh, we, as God's people are still gonna try to say it, no matter what it costs, cuz we want you to know it.

We want you to receive it. We want you to have it, but that's the power that you can have right now if you put your faith, put your trust in him. And, and so I was just thinking of another illustration. Uh, it was several years ago, a super bowl, 37, uh, FedEx ran a commercial that, that spoofed the movie cast away. Remember that one where, or Tom Hanks goes down in a FedEx plane. He lives on that island by himself. So they had some guy who looked like a be dragged Hanks in the movie and, and a FedEx employee. And he goes up at the end of the movie. Remember he goes to that suburban home when Hanks is actually saved. He, he kind of, I don't know if this is supposed to tell us that this is the FedEx and model. He goes, he literally brings back a package <laugh> and he, after he finally gets rescued, he brings this package to a door and he, he, he gives this package back to the woman who sent it and she says, thank you.

Um, but the guy's curious about what's in the package. You know, he said, he's been protecting it for years. And she said, if I might ask what what's in package after all, while she opened the package and it, she said, well, oh, nothing really just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds. <laugh>, you know, if you would've just opened the package, he would've been saved well today. Uh, you've got a package to be wind. If you, if you will, it's a, today you have political cultural freedom to open the pack, open the package of Easter without fear, uh, in this package is not a, a sad phone, but an enduring powerful message from God, the Bible, uh, and not a global positioning system, but a moral compass, a moral positioning system. You can hear about his standards, his ordering of his beautiful world and where you stand before him.

And best of all, you won't merely have seeds for food for a life that passes away. You'll receive a message of forgiveness, mercy and grace that will grow up into your life, into life eternal. So that's what we want you to have. That's what we fight for here, uh, to share with you every week, because that's what we think is most important. And we're willing to put our money if you will, where our mouth is. Happy Easter. Thanks for tuning in today to get to know our LCR L DC work better. Check out our website@lclfreedom.org till next time, God bless you. Always I'm Gregory. Selz have a great week.

You've been listening to Liberty alert with Dr. Gregory Selz executive director of the Lutheran center for religious Liberty in Washington, DC. This has been brought to you by Lutheran center for religious Liberty.