Words from the Rising Republics

April 22, 2011

SOVEREIGN OR SLAVE?
SAVED OR LOST?
KING OR PEASANT?

“Who are you?” is a song that is used as a theme in CSI, the TV series.  Who you are is a statement of fact regarding your identity.  Most people identify themselves by name that also, in some measure, reflects their ancestry.

God usually applies two names to the same person in an effort to show the distinction between the two.  Saul became Paul and Simeon became Peter.  The old nature, Saul is transformed into the new creation, Paul.

The scripture that illustrates this distinction is Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”  Also 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

A Sovereign and a Christian are similar even though they are spelled differently.  The sovereign is on the earth as a Pilgrim and a Stranger among others who are Fugitives and Vagabonds.

A Sovereign is a stranger passing through a land headed for a permanent home which is in Heaven.  He abides by all the laws of the land through which he is passing.  He pays the taxes demanded and agrees with any adversary quickly in order that his travels are not interrupted.  He prays for the leaders in power even though they might be followers completely of the old nature where justice and mercy are rarely seen.   His identity requires his being law abiding.

Those non-sovereigns are identified as fugitives from the law and vagabonds because they have no continuing city to be called home to them. Since their sin debt remains unpaid, they are slaves to the world.  How does the world identify them and why?

The verse that communicates this adhesion contract is Isaiah 50:1, “Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.”

For example, the bankrupt UNITED STATES OF AMERICA created a number for every child in order for the generation of replacement funds. The mother signed the child over to the state for a legal entity identity as a slave per the fourteenth amendment. The non-sovereign slave has a similar name spelled in all capital letters.

There are many contracts that the slave voluntarily enters into with the state such as driver’s licenses, Zip code usage, and name acknowledgement in financial transactions of daily commerce.

The sovereign follows the rules of his master since he is also not his own but is instead bought with a price.  His separation is easily seen by the use of a box, [coffin] signifying that he is not under the world’s jurisdiction as its slave.  A sovereign is dead to the world and his coffin cannot be left in the world.  See Genesis 50:25, …”ye shall carry up my bones from hence.”  The Christian will be resurrected from the dead.

The sovereign is under a commandment.  Read 1 Peter 2:9-25.

A true Christian sovereign is declared a king and a priest.  Revelation 1:6 “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be the glory and dominion for ever and ever. A-men’. “

He who makes an order must also pay.  Jesus made the purchase with His own blood. Acts 20:28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”  Now there is a man, Christ Jesus at the right hand of the majesty on high, and there is God, the Holy Spirit, in man on earth.  For this reason the sovereign owes all his allegiance to Him.

Colossians 2:11 may say it better for our understanding.  “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”

Circumcision is the separation of the soul from the body that requires the shedding of blood that is connected with the seed for the unveiling of a woman [the bride of Christ].

Sins committed by a Christian in the body do not touch the soul.  The new creature cannot sin and cannot die, but the flesh is in a continuing state of sin because of his old nature.

Death is the limit of Satan's domain. The grave forms the boundary of his dominion. But the new creature begins at the other side of death. It opens upon our enraptured gaze at heaven's side of that tomb where the Prince of Life lay buried. It pours the brilliant beams of its glories around us in the midst of a scene where death can never enter, where sin and sorrow are unknown, where the hiss of the serpent can never be heard, nor his hateful trail be seen. “All things are of God.”

Our founding father, many of whom were true bible students, recognized that rights given to man by God are not to be the subject of any lien.

God already has completely made free each and every sovereign. When God makes you free you are free indeed. 1 Corinthians 7:22, “For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.”

2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

BORN OF GOD 1 Peter 1:23, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18

When a Christian dies and goes to heaven he is completely delivered from the power of sin. It is manifestly impossible that sin can have any power or authority over a dead man. But it is not so readily seen or admitted that the believer, even now, is as thoroughly delivered from the power of sin as though he were dead (reckon ye also yourselves to be  dead unto sin) and gone to heaven. Sin has no more dominion over a Christian than over a man who is actually dead and buried.

We speak of the power of sin, not of its presence. Carefully note this. Regarding the question of sin, there is this material difference between a Christian here and hereafter. Here, he is delivered only from the power of sin; hereafter he will be freed from its presence. In his present condition sin dwells in him, but it is not to reign. By-and-by, it will not even dwell. The reign of sin is over and gone. The reign of grace has begun. “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace.”

Carefully observe, the apostle is not speaking in Romans 6 of the forgiveness of sins, which he treats in Romans 3. Blessed be God, our sins are all forgiven — blotted out — eternally cancelled. But in chapter 6 the theme is not forgiveness of sins, but complete deliverance from sin as a ruling power or principle.

Death grants this immense favor. We have died to sin, died in the death of Christ. Is this true of every believer? Yes, of every believer beneath the canopy of heaven. Is it not a matter of attainment? By no means, it is a gift! It belongs to every child of God, every true believer. It is the common standing of all. Blessed, holy standing! All praise to Him who has earned it for us and brought us into it! We live under the glorious reign of grace, “grace which reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This liberating truth is little understood by the Lord's people. Very few get beyond the forgiveness of sins, if they even get that far. They do not see their full deliverance from the power of sin. They feel its pressure, and arguing from their painful feeling instead of reckoning themselves to be what God tells them they are, they are plunged into doubt and fear as to their conversion. They are occupied with their own inward self-consciousness instead of with Christ. They are looking at their state in order to get peace and comfort, and thus they are and must be miserable. We will never get peace if we seek it in our spiritual state or condition. The way to get peace is to believe that I've died with Christ, was buried with Him, was raised with Him, am justified in Him, accepted in Him. In short that, “As He is so are we in this world” (1 John 4: 17).

This is the solid basis of peace. And not only so, but it is the only divine secret of a holy life. We are dead to sin. We are not called to make ourselves dead. We are so in Christ. A monk, a lover of beauty, or an ardent striver after sinless perfection may try to put sin to death by various bodily exercises. What is the inevitable result? Misery! Yes, misery in proportion to the earnestness. How different is Christianity! We start with the blessed knowledge that we are dead to sin, and in the blessed faith of this we count as dead, not the body but its “deeds.”

“Deliverance” by faith.

Condemnation never convinces the condemned.  One must be convinced to accept the true standard.  He then can convict himself if he falls beneath the standard.

The new man in America (the made king or sovereign) should be the example for all the world. At least until the anti-Christ has arisen.

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