Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text for the sermon is the Holy Gospel reading which has already been read.

"Give me liberty, or give me death!" So said Patrick Henry in a speech to the Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775 as he tried to convince the Virginia House of Burgesses to send troops to support the Revolutionary War. In the audience that day were none other than Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. After Henry delivered his rousing speech, all those in attendance began to shout his powerful phrase, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"

The sentiment Henry and his fellow Virginians were expressing was that they would rather suffer death rather than live in bondage to a political authority which they considered to be tyrannical. They were willing to die in order to achieve political and civil liberties. While we should be thankful for such liberties in this life, their importance pale in comparison with the liberty that Jesus is talking about in our Gospel reading when He says, "If you abide in My Word, then you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Political and civil liberties are all temporary and easily changed or overthrown; they guarantee certain freedoms while we are living in this world, but at death they are all taken away.

On the other hand, the liberty that Jesus speaks of in our Gospel reading is not temporary but eternal freedom from sin, death, and hell. We can see the everlasting nature of this liberty when Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." So the liberty Jesus is talking about delivering to His disciples is true freedom from sin; He wants to liberate us from slavery to sin and have us dwell freely in God the Father's house forever.

But when Jesus says, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin," it could lead you to conclude that you aren't a disciple of Jesus, couldn't it? Do you sin? Well, then you're a slave to sin, and therefore it seems that you aren't free. Now in case you're not sure whether or not you are a sinner, take a quick glance at the 10 commandments and you'll know for sure that you not only are a sinner but that you commit sins of thought, word, and deed every day. Do you fear, love, and trust in God above all things or do you fear the loss of possessions, love worldly luxury more than God's will, and place confidence in your possessions, abilities, or health? Do you use the name of God rightly in worship and prayer or do you seldom call upon God's name? (Introit: Psalm 34:1, "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth"). Do you gladly hear and learn God's Word every chance you get, or do you choose to avoid worship sometimes or when you come would you rather be elsewhere than in the pew or at the Lord's Supper?

I could go on exposing our sins through commandments 4-10, but I don't have to since we're all proved to be sinners by commands 1-3. And since we sin, this proves that we are all slaves to sin. We have been in bondage to this enemy since we were conceived in the womb. So even if we live in a "free country" and enjoy all sorts of freedoms, that is irrelevant as we stand before God's judgment throne, where we are clearly slaves of sin, captive to its power and subject to its consequences. And as St. Paul says, "The wages of sin is death." We are all on the way to the grave because of our sin, and so we are not only slaves to sin but also slaves to the fear of death, which looms large before us, even as we try to shove it to the back of our minds. But the death of our bodies is just chicken feed compared to the prospect of eternal death, and the true wages of sin, what our sins really deserve, is not just the death of our bodies but eternal punishment under God's wrath in hell.

Slaves to sin deserve all that, but the Good News is that Jesus doesn't want to leave you in your sins and under condemnation. Even before Jesus was born, the angel Gabriel told Joseph that the Son of Mary would grow up and "save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21), that is, He would liberate them from bondage to sin. In our Gospel reading the reason Jesus first shows us that we are slaves to sin is so that we realize that we can in no way set ourselves free and that we need a Redeemer. But then He comes to us with liberating Gospel when He says, "The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." In the ancient world, a slave was the property of the master of the house, but the slave wasn't a free and permanent member of the household. Instead he could be sold to someone else, he could be dismissed from his post, or perhaps he could buy his freedom and go out to establish his own household. But in any case, the slave doesn't remain in the master's house forever. On the other hand, the son of the father is a permanent member of the family.

But notice that Jesus uses the word "forever." That is infinitely longer than "permanent." I am permanently the son of Homer Roth as long as I live, but someday both he and I will be dead and our households will be no more; we'll just be part of history. Yet Jesus says in our text that the Son remains forever, eternally. He is not just talking about any old Son, but about Himself, the only-begotten Son of God the Father. And Jesus is not just talking about any old household, but He is talking about the Kingdom of God, the eternal home of God in heaven. And Jesus is delivering to us the Good News that we slaves to sin can be set free from eternal death if the Son sets us free and makes us permanent children in God's household.

So in response to this promise of Jesus, we don't say, "Give me liberty or give me death!" but rather, "Jesus, give me liberty by death—by Your death!" It is noble that men are willing to sacrifice their lives to achieve or preserve temporary earthly liberties for their neighbors, but consider how much more wonderful it is that Jesus would lay down His life to set us free from the guilt of our sin and in exchange give us His righteousness and everlasting life. Jesus willingly said to His Father, "Give Me death for the sins of those slaves so that I can give them liberty!" And this is the great truth that the Lutheran Reformation rediscovered: that we shouldn't consider Jesus a terrifying judge who wants to enslave us to fear and condemn us to hell, but instead a loving Savior who wants to rescue us from bondage to sin, death, and fear.

Early on in the ministry of Jesus, John the Baptist pointed to Him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" Jesus came to the Jordan River to fulfill all righteousness, to accomplish the righteousness of God that liberates sinners from their guilt. At the Jordan Jesus was baptized with a baptism intended for sinners, yet He Himself had no sins to confess or be forgiven of; by taking that Baptism for us sinners He was loading the guilt of the sins of the world upon Himself, taking the bondage off of us and putting it upon Himself. By taking our sins He places Himself into slavery to the punishment of sins, death. Yet He Himself was perfectly innocent so that He could be the blameless and spotless Lamb of God, dying in the place of sinners to that we can be set free from the guilt of our sins. On the cross Jesus pays to His Father the ransom price of His holy, precious blood and innocent sufferings and death in order to redeem us out of slavery to sin, death, and hell.

And Christ's resurrection on the third day is proof that the Father was pleased with the Son's sacrifice for sins. The grave could not hold Jesus down, but He broke the bonds of death and burst forth from the tomb, never to be captive to the weight of sin or death ever again. And then Jesus gave to His Church the proclamation of the Gospel as the means for the Holy Spirit to create saving faith in the hearts of sinners. He gave Holy Baptism as the concrete place where sinners receive liberty from slavery to sin and adoption as free sons in God's eternal household. There at the font your guilt was washed away by the blood of the Lamb of God. You were united with Christ's death for sin and His resurrection, and as St. Paul says, if we have been united with Christ in a death like His, we will surely also be united with His resurrection on the Last Day. In Holy Baptism, you are set at liberty from the guilt of your sins and are given a new life to live as free sons of God in his Kingdom.

But still the sad and frustrating reality that the baptized soon realize is that even as we have begun the new life in Christ, we still fall into sin. We are tempted and attacked by the devil, who baits and lures us into sin and misbelief. And so baptized believers are not only saints made holy by the blood of Jesus, but as long as we live here in this world, we are, "Slaves to sin," even though God has made us free sons by Christ's death and by our Baptism into Him. Of course, God doesn't want us to be slaves to sin. He knows how harmful sin is toward us, which is why He has warned us against every manner of sin and admonishes us to flee from sin. We must not ever think that it is good to make peace with our captor; a sure way of running away from God's home and renouncing the birthright He has given us in Baptism is to willfully enslave ourselves again to sin.

But God is merciful. He knows how weak our sinful flesh is, how much the enslaving power of sin tempts and prods us. He knows that the battle between our old sinful flesh and the liberated new creature in us will go on until the day we die. So He has not left us powerless or defenseless, but gives us the strength for the reformation and renewal of our lives. God still sends His Son, the Valiant One, Jesus Christ to be with us always, to defend us from our enemies with His almighty power and to strengthen us by feeding us with His true body and blood. And He has given us the Holy Spirit in Baptism not only to comfort us with the assurance of everlasting life, but also to daily and richly forgive our sins, and to give us the power of sanctification, to slay our sinful flesh and beat down the Old Evil Foe. As St. Paul says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

So in response to this promise we pray not "Give me liberty or give me death!" but rather "Lord, give me liberty by death—give me freedom from the power of sin by the death of my sinful flesh!" And if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. So in Holy Baptism the Lord has given you not only forgiveness for all of your past sins but also the power to overcome sin. He wants you to find strength in your Baptism for the struggle against sin. For in Baptism you have died to sin and have been united with Christ, as St. Paul says in Galatians, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." And in Romans 6, He says, "We know that our old self was crucified with [Christ] in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:6-11).

When God looks at you, His baptized child, He doesn't see someone who is dead in sin but someone who has been made alive to Him in Christ Jesus. You are a free son of the Father, and He loves you. Now He wants you to enjoy the freedom from sin that Christ has won for you, so in response we pray not "Give me liberty or give me death," but rather "Lord, give me liberty from sin by considering myself dead to it." Dead to sin; that's a peculiar expression. What does it mean to be dead to sin? Consider this analogy: you have power to control a living horse with bit, bridle, reins, and maybe even spurs, but when that horse dies, you have no power over it anymore—spur it all you want, and it's not going anywhere. Similarly, sin has power to control and compel us as long as we are alive to it, but if we are dead to sin, then it can't. So the Lord says that because of your Baptism into Christ, you may consider yourself dead to sin, no longer under its power and sway. When sin pokes and prods you, then you should consider yourself dead to it, not moved by it. And then instead of falling back into slavery to sin, you have been set free from selfishness so that you may live selfless lives of service toward God and neighbor. You are free from the condemnation of God's Law so that you can gladly and willingly live the way God wants you to, according to His good and holy commandments, living a life full of good works for others.

Of course, you know how hard this struggle is, and how often you fail, so Christ graciously invites you back here each week to receive His liberating forgiveness in Holy Absolution and Holy Communion. And then finally, when your last your comes, your heavenly Father will graciously take you from this sinful vale of tears to Himself in heaven. And there, your death to sin will be complete, as St. Paul says, "One who has died has been set free from sin." This is one of the reasons believers in Christ don't fear death and can go to death cheerfully: because we will be completely liberated from sin and enjoy eternal sonship. But an even more desirable way of getting to heaven would be if Christ would return to judge the living and the dead, for that would hasten us on to the complete, unfettered liberty as God's free children, enjoying perfect happiness in His house forever. Since all of our sufferings and sins will be removed in heaven, perhaps we shouldn't even pray, "Give me liberty by death!" but rather, "Lord, give me liberty by resurrection!" Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly! In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.