The Price of Freedom | Hebrews 9:11-22 | J. Allen Mashburn

The Freedom that we enjoy is never free.  There has always been and always will be a price of freedom.  We in America take for granted so often that even though we are born free, we never stop to think that somewhere someone paid a price so that you could exercise your “so-called” right to freedom!  The fact of the matter is that freedom is not a right as the secular humanistic world would have you be taught, rather freedom is a privilege given to everyone named an American; and that freedom was purchased with the toil, labor, sacrifice, and yes, blood of many men & women!  We as a people owe a debt of gratitude to all the men & women wearing a uniform who fight, protect, & defend our freedom, whether it be in the desert sands of Afghanistan & Iraq or the darkest street in the smallest town in America…thank God for our men & women who fight for us, protect us and yes die for us on the battlefield so that my children can run and play with freedom!   

Our nation was formed with the blood of those that wanted to be independent from England.  In 1776, our forefather drafted a document that is revered as one of our most precious national treasures, the Declaration of Independence.  You can read through it in about 8 minutes.  Many of these men were considered traitors and wanted for treason.  John Hancock, the largest signature of document had a bounty on his head of 500 English pounds.  These men endangered all they had to form a new nation, called the United States of America.  When John Hancock signed this document, he signed his name so big that the King would not have any trouble seeing his name!  These men were considered renegades, rebel-rousers!  God give us more like them!  They formed a new nation!  Many lives were given so that you and I can sit here this morning and enjoy what we have!  Blood had to be shed for the freedom we have in this land!  America was formed with and by the blood of those who fought for it and America remains free by the blood of those that fight for it!  

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

 

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

 

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. 

For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. 

 

These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British.

We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid. Remember: freedom is never free!

 

Some 2000 years ago on a hill outside of Jerusalem, freedom was purchased as well.  As our brave men and women lay everything they have on the line day after day to allow us to enjoy what we have, Jesus laid His life down so that our soul could be free eternally.  This freedom as with all freedom had a price; that price was the blood of the spotless life lived by the spotless Lamb of God!  Freedom has a price my friend…blood!  I want you to consider several items this morning about the price of freedom that you have and enjoy or the freedom you do not have, but can have before you leave this service this morning!  You can have true freedom, but first you must understand the price of true freedom.  

Freedom of your soul from your sin takes a spotless Lamb.  God had the only spotless Lamb available in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ.