Understanding National Freedom, Independence And Sovereignty by Dr. Myles Munroe: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Understanding national freedom, independence and sovereignty

We throw around words like freedom, independence, and sovereignty as if we know what

they mean. A nation is never finished, it is a continual process of building.

The foundation of nations

1. The foundation of all nations is law
2. Nations are built on law, and also sustained by law
3. The quality of life in a nation is determined by whether laws are noble and whether

   people keep them

4. National life is protected by law
5. All societies must adhere to law, because law manages our relationships with each

   other

6. Community is produced by law, because laws create the culture of a group.

   Community is a product of agreement, not uniformity

The priority of law

When a new nation is born, the first thing produced is a constitution, the embodiment

of the aspirations and principles by which a people will live.

• Law is the source of national cohesion, the fabric in which national life is woven
• Law is the mother of civil society, giving us agreed standards such as don't steal,

  don't bear false witness

• Civil society depends on trusting that legal commitments, like being paid for work

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  already done, will be honored

The key to building a nation is constitutional law. The constitution is the source of

law: it defines rights, and laws are created to protect those rights.

• Judges are created to protect the constitution and the laws that protect

  constitutional rights

• Lawyers are stewards of the law, representing citizens' legal rights
• Police and law enforcement are supposed to enforce the law, not create it
• Citizens are supposed to keep and obey the law

Reading the constitution

The preamble of the Bahamian constitution recognizes that the people's freedom will be

guaranteed by a national commitment to self-discipline, industry, loyalty, unity, and

abiding respect for Christian values and the rule of law.

Abiding means: don't touch it. Respect means you don't have to like a standard, but

you don't get to violate it.

The constitution then declares the supremacy of God. Any policy or resolution a

government considers must be checked against that supremacy. Rights and freedoms of the

individual are affirmed only after that declaration, meaning citizens are as free as

they want to be as long as they do not violate God's law.

The constitution also states that no man, woman, or child shall ever be a slave, have

their labor exploited, or have their lives frustrated by deprivation. If someone is

denied a promotion, a loan, or land because of their spiritual convictions, the

constitution makes that illegal and actionable in court.

The nation is established as an indivisible unity and creation under God.

Twelve national commitments in the constitutional preamble

1. Freedom
2. Abiding respect for Christian values
3. Rule of law
4. Supremacy of God
5. Fundamental rights and freedoms
6. Free and democratic activity
7. Being a sovereign nation
8. Being founded on spiritual values
9. No one shall ever be a slave
10. Labor shall not be exploited
11. Lives shall never be frustrated
12. Creation under God

We are not serious about the rule of law until we are willing to put a prime minister,

an MP, or a preacher on trial for violating the constitution. The prime minister does

not rule the nation, the law rules the nation.

Two key constitutional articles

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• The Commonwealth is a sovereign democratic state: no outside body can decide for us,

  we must check every external decision against our own constitutional standard

• This constitution is the supreme law, and any law inconsistent with it, from

  anywhere in the world, is void

No government is more powerful than the constitutional law. The government does not

law, that is national treason.

Law versus government

True civilized nations are not ruled by government, they are ruled by law. Government

governs, but law rules, which is why law is above the government and even above the

constitution that first produced it, because law then protects the constitution's

promises to the people. Law protects the nation from extinction: societies that abandon

their constitutional and moral foundations end up swallowed by the culture around them.

Freedom without law is anarchy

Every nation wants freedom, but freedom must have law, or it becomes anarchy. This is

the danger behind claims of an unqualified human right to do whatever one wants.

A United Nations resolution and constitutional sovereignty

A UN resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity was addressed as a case study

in constitutional sovereignty. The resolution passed narrowly, with nations divided

along unexpected lines, and the Holy See and an alliance of 57 nations opposed it,

arguing it fell within the domestic jurisdiction of sovereign states and could be used

to pressure nations into recognizing arrangements inconsistent with their own

constitutions and beliefs.

Leviticus 20

The passage was read as an example of biblical law addressing sexual sin, including

adultery and other prohibited relationships, under the Mosaic covenant.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

A list of behaviors, including sexual immorality, is named as inconsistent with

inheriting the kingdom of God, followed by the assurance that some believers were once

in that list but were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The concern raised was that if such a resolution became binding law, it could eventually

restrict what a preacher is permitted to read or teach publicly from scripture. Since

the constitution was established under the supremacy of God and Christian values, any

international resolution inconsistent with that foundation is void within the nation,

and the UN was formed to keep peace and encourage cooperation between nations, not to

dictate local moral policy.

The United Nations was founded in 1945 for four purposes: to keep the peace, to develop

friendly relations among nations, to help nations improve the lives of the poor, and to

harmonize the actions of nations toward those goals, not to govern the internal policy

of sovereign states.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.