And now, friends, you who are called into this glorious liberty of the sons of God [Rom 8:21], stand fast in it [Gal 5:1]. And as the apostle saith, ‘Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use it not for an occasion to the flesh; but in love serve one another [Gal 5:13].’ Gal. v. 13.
‘As free, not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God [1 Pet 2:16].’ 1 Pet. ii.
For there were some, who while they promised themselves liberty, they themselves were servants of corruption [2 Pet 2:19]. Such were like the dog and the sow, biting, and rending, and vomiting, and wallowing in the mire [2 Pet 2:22/Mat 7:6]; and as bad as the synagogue of the libertines that turned against Stephen [Acts 6:9]. 2 Pet. ii. and Acts vi. 9.
And therefore the apostle was careful of the churches' liberty in Christ, when he said, ‘But take heed, lest this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak [1 Cor 8:9],’ &c. 1 Cor. viii.
For the apostle was so careful and tender, that he would not have his true liberty judged of another man's conscience [1 Cor 10:29], &c. as you may see more at large in Cor. x.
And the apostle said, ‘False brethren came unawares privily, to spy out their liberty, which they had in Christ Jesus, that they might bring them into bondage; to whom we gave place by subjection, no not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you [Gal 2:4f],’ to wit, the Galatians. Gal. ii. 4.
And therefore he exhorts them to stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ Jesus hath made them free [Gal 5:1], &c. which is the duty of all true christians now, to stand fast in that heavenly glorious liberty, which Christ the heavenly and spiritual man, the second Adam [1 Cor 15:47], makes them free in; and in this they will have salt in themselves [Mark 9:50], to discern between the true liberty and freedom and the false, and know how to use their holy and spiritual liberty and freedom in Christ Jesus, to the praise and glory of God. <188>
So, friends, the Lord God Almighty preserve you all, in the heavenly order of Christ Jesus, in his holy seed, life, power, and spirit, that all may live and walk in it, to the praise, and glory, and honour of God and Christ. Amen.
G. F.
Be the first to react on this!
George Fox (1624 - 1691)
Was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. This was a group the Lord started through the ministry of George Fox. God called him apart from all other forms of Christendom in his day because of the lack of Biblical obedience and holiness.The emphasis in George Fox's ministry was firstly prophetic. He called out the people of God to show them that they had the Holy Spirit of God and could be taught of Him and not to solely rely on the teachings of ecclesiastical leaders. Secondly, he spoke directly to many ministers in his day to show them they were hirelings and did not have a true shepherds heart for the people of God rather they were seeking after financial gain.
Founder of the Society of Friends (Quakers). George Fox was born in Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leicestershire, England, the son of Puritan parents. Little is known of his early life, apart from what he wrote in his journal: "In my very young years, I had a gravity and stayedness of mind and spirit not usual in young children. Insomuch that, when I saw old men behave lightly and wantonly toward each other, I had a dislike thereof raise in my heart, and I said within myself, `If ever I come to be a man, surely I shall not do so, nor be so wanton.'"
At the age of 19, he gained deep, personal assurance of his salvation and began to travel as an itinerant preacher, seeking a return to the simple practices of the New Testament. He abhorred technical theology, and preached a faith borne of experience, freshly fed and guided by the immediate presence of the Holy Spirit.
Fox was persecuted almost daily, yet his power of endurance was phenomenal. He was beaten with dogwhips, knocked down with fists and stones, brutally struck with pikestaves, hard beset by mobs, incarcerated eight times in the pestilential jails, prisons, castles and dungeons--yet he went straightforward with his mission as though he had discovered some fresh courage which made him impervious to man's inhumanity.
He undertook as far as possible to let the new life in Christ take its own free course of development in his ministry. He shunned rigid forms and static systems, and for that reason he refused to head a new sect or to start a new denomination, or to begin a new church. He would not build an organization of any kind. His followers at first called themselves "Children of the Light," and later adopted the name "The Society (or Fellowship) of Friends."
Fox preached and traveled for 40 years throughout England, Scotland, Holland, and America. His life demonstrated the truth of his famous saying, "One man raised by God's power to stand and live in the same spirit the apostle and prophets were in, can shake the country for ten miles around."