Elder Ron Gannon our Freedoms.

[0:00] This morning I do want to speak of freedom, the freedom that we have in this great country, and also the freedom that we have as Christians, this freedom that was paid for.

[0:14] Do I need this, Keith? Okay. But before we do that, let's have a word of prayer. Father, we just thank you today, Father, for this special day you've given us, this Fourth of July, this day of independence that our country celebrates.

[0:33] And we are so thankful for that, Father, that you've given us the opportunity to live in a country that's free, that we can do. And, Father, not to know that there's somebody watching, somebody that's ruling over us.

[0:48] And we thank you for the opportunity. And we also thank you, Father, for all those who served in the military and has helped us to maintain these freedoms over the years. We thank you for them, the awful things that they go through.

[1:03] But also today, Father, we thank you for this Christian freedom that we have. The freedom to know that you have done it all. It's all been done at the cross.

[1:16] And, Father, for us to come to you now, all we have to do is believe what you've said that is finished. The law has been done away with.

[1:30] We have this new liberty in Christ Jesus. Thank you for that liberty, Father. Father, this morning we want to lift up Barbara. Be with her family at this time with her passing to her father.

[1:46] Just guide her. Give them peace. And guide them through this week. We know it will be a tough time for them. So, Father, today we lift them up. We thank you for the things that you give to us.

[1:58] And we ask these things this morning, Father, in Christ's precious name. Amen. Today we celebrate Impendence Day. A day set aside to celebrate our freedoms as Americans.

[2:13] And to reflect upon what it means and what it costs for us to be free men and to be free women. Those of us who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ has even a greater freedom to celebrate.

[2:29] Freedom from bondage to sin. This domination and from the debt that we could not pay. As believers, we are called to walk in that freedom that is ours through the Spirit of God.

[2:41] And to remember the cost of that freedom. The price of freedom did not come cheap in our national freedom that we have or our spiritual freedom that we have.

[2:53] Over one half million soldiers have given their lives in the various wars and conquests that we've had since this country became a free nation.

[3:06] I, myself, am not a veteran, so I can't say thanks. All I can say is thanks to those who've been there. It has kept these freedoms safe for us. I found these words by H.T. Ross, which seems very fitting for today.

[3:20] The price of freedom concerning those who fought in distant lands defending our freedom. Some were ready and prepared. Others were so young and so naive.

[3:33] Some chose to serve our country. Others had no choice. But they were all called to serve. As they hugged and kissed our loved ones by, their hearts were heavy and their tears filled their eyes.

[3:46] Not knowing if they would be coming back or if they would die, it was all so unknown. As they prepared to fight for our freedom, we prayed to God for their safety.

[3:56] They all left their loved ones and their lives that they had known. They departed to unfamiliar land, risking their lives and making so many sacrifices. Being away from family and friends.

[4:09] Giving up what most can't even comprehend. The horrors and atrocities that our veterans faced and endured. You may never know or totally understand.

[4:21] They protected our rights, our freedom, and the rights of others. So that we could have and enjoy freedom in our land. Some came home to heroes welcome.

[4:33] Others didn't come home at all. They made their ultimate sacrifice. Some came home and were disgracefully shunned. Others have been shamefully forgotten. All of our veterans served our country with great pride and true honor.

[4:48] There is a price for freedom. And they also graciously paid that prices. They are greatly deserved to be remembered and honored this day. As we celebrate Fourth of July.

[4:59] They are truly America's heroes. And we want to thank you. For all men and for all men. Or women and men in this congregation have served our country. And all we can do is just give you our thanks.

[5:13] For the freedoms that we do have. And that you are willing to go and defend those freedoms. So thank you. Our spiritual freedom also did not come cheap.

[5:25] When sin entered, God required a payment for that sin. The payment or penalty was death. In Genesis 3, 17-19, God tells Adam, Because you ate from the tree of life.

[5:41] Cursed is the ground. And toy you shall eat of it. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow. By the sweat of your face you shall eat of it. Until you return to the ground.

[5:55] Because from it you were taken. For you are dust. And to dust you shall return. Here the death sentence is placed into effect. Romans 6, 23 says, For the wages of sin is death.

[6:10] Romans 3, 26 says, For all have sinned. And fall short of the glory of God. None of us are acceptable to God in our human nature. And we all deserve death.

[6:22] We all had a debt of bondage. That we could not pay upon ourselves. However, at the right time, God and his only begotten son into the world did die in our place.

[6:40] Romans 5, chapter 6 says, For while we were still helpless, still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man, someone would dare to even die.

[6:56] And we all try to be good, don't we? But God demonstrates in his own love towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

[7:09] Over 2,000 years ago, Christ died on the cross. And when he was on that cross, he said, It is finished. It is finished.

[7:19] Christ proclaiming the believer's declaration of independence. He died for our sins, having satisfied God's righteous demands.

[7:30] That is our freedom. Those things have all been paid for. It's done. It's complete. And all we have to do is believe.

[7:41] Some say, Well, why would God allow men to go to hell? All the people that's out there who have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, and they're bound for hell.

[7:57] I think if you go through the scriptures, we can only come up with one solid foundation. And this is something I read from Les Feldwick in one of his books. And that is, there's only one reason that men are going to go to hell.

[8:11] It's not all the things that they've done. It's not that they're morally corrupt. It's not that they're drunkards. It's not that they're this or that. It's only for one reason.

[8:23] And that one reason is unbelief. Jesus said, I've finished. It is finished. It is over. I have paid the debt of sin.

[8:36] So you don't have to ask to be forgiven of that sin. It's already been done. All we have to do is believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15.

[8:50] Christ died. He rose again. That is the gospel that we need to believe. with his death, he set us free from sin. Romans 8, chapter 8, verses 1 through 3.

[9:06] And there it says, Therefore, is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.

[9:22] And now we turn to our text this morning. Galatians 5.1. Which is a text I want to take off on this morning. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing.

[9:34] Keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of bondage. Jesus Christ died in your place and his purpose in dying for you is that you might be set free from sin and from death.

[9:48] We were slaves but did not understand our slavery at that time. Often there was no chains on our hands. But sin is slavery to the soul.

[10:01] And that's where we were. More subtle but very real. Nonetheless, we were slaves to sin. To be a slave to a human master is awful.

[10:15] And we have many, many accounts of that through the history. But it is only temporary. For death sets us free from that kind of enslavement. But the slavery of sin is much worse.

[10:29] For it continues forever if we have not taken that step about the freedom that Jesus Christ has done for us. So that freedom is dead except that Jesus has broken the chains around our hearts and he has set us free.

[10:47] And he's done that through belief. All we need to say is yes to him. Abraham Lincoln said when I ever hear of anyone arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see a tide on him personally.

[11:05] The Galatians had been slaves to sin like everybody else. Paul had seen them set free in Christ Jesus when he went there on his first missionary journey. He preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[11:17] These Galatians accepted that. They believed in that. That the only thing that was required of them is belief upon what he said about Jesus Christ dying and suffering on the cross and then raised him again from the ground.

[11:35] Paul had seen them set free in Christ but after he continued his missionary journeys others came in to the Galatians and told them you need more. You need rules and regulations of behavior or you can't be saved.

[11:51] Paul was shouting here in Galatians chapter 5 keep standing in your freedom. Give into you in Christ Jesus and don't become slaves again to sin.

[12:04] The fact is that Jesus made us free. If we live in bondage to legal relationship with God it isn't because God wills it.

[12:15] That is not God's will. God pleads with us to take his strength and walk in that freedom. He wants us to walk in freedom. We don't make ourselves free. So we got to get over that. We're not the ones that did this.

[12:27] God is the one that did this through Christ Jesus. So we don't make ourselves free. Freedom is a gift of Jesus given to us and received by faith and by nothing else.

[12:40] Faith and nothing else. When we struggle to free ourselves we just become more entangled with that yoke of bondage. We just can't get over it. So what does Paul say here?

[12:51] He says keep standing. Be steadfast. Not careless. Be watchful. Hold fast to liberty wherein Christ hath made you free. It takes effort to stay in this place of liberty.

[13:04] You have to work at it. However, some who is legally made free in Christ Jesus still want to go back to the bondage and they will stay in that.

[13:15] And there's always somebody there to get you there and that's somebody deceiving you about the truth of the gospel. And of course that someone is Satan. Satan is always there. Satan hates the light of the gospel.

[13:28] He hates the light. When it brings to shine a light he fights against it with all he's got. Satan will not stand for the gospel to go forth. And we're seeing that today.

[13:41] We see more and more where the gospel is hindered because of Satan. We can blame all kinds of things for it but when you really get down to it it's Satan with his hand and stopping this gospel to go forth.

[13:58] Stopping this light to go forth. If he can keep us in darkness then he is satisfied. So don't go back to slavery fight for all you've got.

[14:10] Dr. D.L. Moody illustrated his point by quoting an old former slave woman in the south following the civil war. Being a former slave she was confused about her status and asked now is I free or am I not?

[14:27] When I got to my old master he says I ain't free and when I go to my own people they say I is and I don't know whether I'm free or not. Some people told me that Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation but master says he didn't.

[14:49] He didn't have the right to sign that proclamation. Many Christians today are confused on the same point. Jesus Christ has given us an emancipation proclamation and with that but our old master is still there isn't he?

[15:09] tells them that they are still slaves to a legal relationship with God. If you want to have that relationship you got to do this you have to do that you have to do this.

[15:21] That just keeps coming back. They live in bondage because their old master has deceived them just like he deceived this old slave to think that the bondage did not stop when they were free.

[15:35] So Paul here in chapter 5 is admonishing the Galatians to hold their ground hold your ground resist the Judaizers and reject the persuasions of those who would entangle them in such things as the Sabbath days feast days circumcision and all the other Jewish regulations that they were trying to put back on these Galatians after Paul left.

[15:59] And this just wasn't Galatians as we read in the other epistles well really the book of Acts where he followed Paul's journeys everywhere he went he would preach the gospel they would believe the gospel and as soon as he left there was always a string of Judaizers coming right behind him right behind him telling him hey this guy Paul what he told you don't believe it you've got to do this you have to do that to be saved so there was always that Paul here is not some rebel inciting the Galatians to rebellion he was urging the believers there to enjoy the liberty that Christ had brought for them at an extreme price here in Galatians as Paul was doing this why did he need to say these things and we've got to go back to the book of Acts to see what was going on here at Galatia when he was saying these things so let's turn back to Acts chapter 15 and read verses 1 and 3 and it says some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved and when

[17:30] Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of these should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and to the elders concerning this issue as we turn and we see what's going on here in Acts I don't know if Peter was one of these men that came down here at this point or not but these men came from other areas and they came down here to talk to these people and what they told him was what Paul was teaching is incorrect you need to do this and you need to do that you need to be circumcised so I don't know if Peter was here or not he may have came later but we do know that here Paul rebooted Peter that Peter was actually there in the congregation and we see that in Galatians chapter 2 let's turn to that Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 21 and get a picture of what was going on here in

[18:32] Galatia I shouldn't be saying Galatia because we're talking about the Galatians but when they came down to Caesarea that's what this thing was going on they were confronting them talking about the Galatians that they went to and talked to and the converts they had there in Galatia chapter 2 verses 11 through 21 chapter 2 chapter 2 but when Cephas came to Antioch I posed him to his face because he stood condemned for prior to the coming of certain men from James he used to eat with the Gentiles and when they came he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof fearing at the party of the circumcision the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy and result that even Barnas was carried away by their hypocrisy but when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel I said to Cephas in the presence of all if you being a

[19:34] Jew live like the Gentiles and do not like the Jews how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews we are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Christ Jesus even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified but if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found sinners as Christ then a minister of sin may it never be for if I rebuild what I have once destroyed I prove myself to be a transgressor for through the law I died to the law so that I might have might live to God I have been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which

[20:35] I now live in the flesh I have faith I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me I do not modify the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law then Christ died needlessly we see what Paul was doing here he was standing up he was standing up he wasn't going to let Peter get away with this and he was telling Peter and he was telling these men that came down there that these Gentiles do not have to go along with the Jewish customs and we're going to see later that Paul and Barnum do go to Jerusalem because after this confrontation they told him that things are askew here we need to get up to the church where is the church in Jerusalem we need to straighten these things out so Paul and Barnum did go to Jerusalem and we read that story in Acts 15 also when they arrived at

[21:36] Jerusalem they were received by the church they were received by the elders and then they had the controversy of what was required for these Gentiles and I don't know evidently Peter at this time from the rebuke of Paul he stood up and spoke didn't he he said how can we require these men these Gentiles to go to have to go along with the rules of the Jews I was there I witnessed it they received the spirit just like we did these men believed Jesus Christ died on the cross and he rose again the same way that we believed it here in the church of Jerusalem do not put the shackles upon them do not put these things on their shoulder that they cannot stand up against these Gentiles what did they have to even reference them to these things the

[22:37] Jews had nothing at all they had no idea what these Jews had to go through to stay in their faith and their love of God through all the years that these things have come upon them all the laws that have been satisfied over the years the Gentiles didn't know what these were and they were not going to keep them and so Peter stood up and after much debate James the leader of the church at that point stood up and says gentlemen we cannot hold these Gentiles to the same standard that we do the Jewish population and at that point Paul and Barnum was satisfied and they left and they started their second missionary journey and then we see what went with the second missionary journey all the other churches that they went to and they accepted Jesus Christ through the grace that Paul was preaching Paul didn't preach anything except the grace of

[23:37] God be you saved all you have to do is believe upon what Jesus Christ did at the cross again Jesus said it is finished at the cross there's nothing required so as they went off on the missionary journeys that's what they was preaching and as we continue through the book of Acts when Paul finally gets to Rome and they conspire against him and he gets thrown in jail and he goes before the leaders there and eventually gets sent to Rome what was happening at that point it was the Judaizers saying these people have to be doing what the Jewish law says this freedom cannot be there this freedom well they're setting themselves up to do nothing but sin if they have these freedoms and we can't have it we need the law so Paul says it was from freedom that Christ set us free therefore keep standing firm and do not subject yourself again to the yoke of bondage our conscience is now free and quiet because it no longer has to fear the wrath of

[24:51] God this is real liberty to not to have to fear the wrath of God who can actually express a blessing that comes to a person when he has his heart assurance that God will never be angry with him again but he will forever be merciful to him for Christ's sake not for our sake but for Christ's sake this this indeed a marvelous liberty to have the sovereign God for our friend for our fonder and he will defend maintain and save us in this life and the life to come what an amazing amazing thing as an outgrowth of this liberty we are at the same times free from the law sin death and the power that the devil has which is in hell since Christ has alleviated the wrath of God no law sin or death may now cause us or condemn us the value of our Christian liberty cannot be overstated it cannot be overstated what a blessing we have some will say that you believe that you who believe that your justification is by faith alone without works and that you can't lose your salvation then this is just a license to sin as I said before but what does

[26:14] Paul do with this statement he puts this idea to rest when he states in Romans 6 let's turn to Romans 6 chapter 6 verses 15 15 15 18 and what does Paul say there what then shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace may it never be do you not know that when you present yourself to someone as slaves for obedience you are slaves of the one whom you obey either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness but thanks be to God that through you were slaves of sin you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed and having been freed from sin you become slaves of righteousness also go to

[27:18] Galatians chapter 5 verses 13 and here in chapter Galatians again he's speaking of the freedoms that we do have 13 to 26 for you were called to freedom brother only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another for the whole law is fulfilled in one word and in the statement you shall love your neighbor as yourself but if you bite and devour one another take care that you are not consumed by one another but I say walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh for the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another so that they may not do the things that you please if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law now the deeds of the flesh are evident and he lists those in verses 20 verse 20 says but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self control against us things there is no law now those who belong to christ jesus have circumcified the flesh and his passions and desires if we live by the spirit let us also walk by the spirit let us not become boastful challenging one another envying one another these are the things paul told these believers you have freedom use these freedoms enjoy these freedoms but don't take these freedoms too far don't take them when you hurt your brother all the commands of the old testament over 600 of them down to one love thy neighbor as thyself and if we have that in our hearts then we're not going to use this license that we have to sin it's not a license if we know jesus christ is our personal savior he has come into our life he has made us new we are new creature we can read god's word and understand what it says because he enlightens us after we receive him into our life he gives us the words and we know how to take these words and we know how to take them and put them into our life how do we bring this all down to today how do we take these freedoms to today what is freedom or liberty according to the

[30:06] American ideal philosophy we have this great philosophy in this country freedom of speech freedom of the press freedom of religion and the freedom to bear arms of some of the rights and the freedom to bear arms and these are just some of the rights outlined in the bill of rights all these freedoms are good things and are valued greatly by most of the Americans we love these bill of rights and freedoms to do but it must be remembered that our founding documents were written at a time when the geochristian ethic was accepted as the underlining principle which our freedoms rested in this country was established go back to the beginning of this morning when I talked about the statesman and their statements they made about freedom and the statements they made about our Christian Christianity and how it's got to be ingrained into this government that we have for example the freedoms of speech and the press were granted to a people who understood when they had these freedoms they understood that lying and deceiving for personal or for political gain was wrong there was no question they knew the scriptures they knew the scriptures and what

[31:29] God had instructed so they knew that lying to gain prosperity or to gain political advantage or to gain whatever it was not right and the basis of that judgment about right and wrong all that came from the Bible these men knew the Bible that founded this country today however Americans have the for the most part rejected the Bible as the standard of right and wrong and now liberty has an additional meaning what's it mean today it means that we are ultimately free to do whatever we want that's a direct violation of what Paul just said there in Romans and there in Galatians about our freedoms we are not to take it and use it against God's word and nobody can tell another person what is right or that they should should value that is a theme today the overriding theme today that you see in the newspaper and all the news you can't tell us you can't tell us what to do take

[32:38] God out of it we don't want God everything is subjective in fact choice has become the only thing that we truly value choice we have the freedom to choose so what you want is fine and what I want is fine just leave me alone and let me go up on my way choice has become the only thing that we truly value we are tolerant above all we are tolerant people today aren't we and this this has just been a growing what I want to call it just a growing disease of this country for years and through radio well it probably started with papers through papers and then radio television and now the internet it's just been a progressive revelation that hey we in this country can do what we want to do let's take God out of the picture we are sophisticated people we are people of technology don't tell us how to live our life so everything is subjective the dilemma that rises here is when the question of good and evil comes up what if one feels to what he is doing is right and what he feels that you are doing is wrong well who's right and who's wrong well today it's just hey if you think you're right then you must be right hey but

[34:11] I think that I'm right so I must be right also and I'm going to go ahead and do whatever I want to do and they think that the right answer is that both we are both right and they'll take it to the Bible to God's word where he describes what is right and wrong so that's the American ideal philosophy that we have today now we have the freedom of liberty according to the biblical Christianity philosophy the Bible agrees that freedom and liberty are good and right we have no question about that from the passages that we've read this morning God provided us these freedoms and he wants us to enjoy them the apostle Paul encourages us to be free and not to be tied down to legalistic behavior and that will make our lives difficult he tells us we have freedoms as Christ followers because we trust in his righteousness instead of our own righteousness he says you my brothers were called to be free but do not use our freedom to indulge that sinful nature rather serve one another in love back to

[35:21] Galatians chapter 5 so God wants his children to be free he wants us to be free but not to be free of him or his principles he does not want us to be to use our freedoms to pursue selfishness but to love him and to love our neighbors right back to that one command the American way is to do what the Bible says not to do to use your freedom to indulge in a sinful nature which means to use it to just justify any sin that you want to do the Christian is not to blur the lines between good and evil in the name of freedom do not blur this line the Bible makes many clear distinctions as to what is good and what is evil and we ought to believe in reading the Bible and understanding what these are but someone who follows the philosophy of the modern idea of the American ideal says that whatever feels good is good and they give no thought to what the

[36:24] Bible and God's standards say so in practice what is Christian liberty what is Christian freedom Christian freedoms are simply those areas of life faith and practice which are not explicitly commanded or given to us as a clear model from scripture we have freedom to make decisions about matters that are not revealed about without fearing of the sinning against God God has been silent about some things that's going to come into our life and we have the freedom to take those things that come into our life and use that freedom on how we're going to do it that celebrity is accentuated by the knowledge that whatever he chooses within these parameters is pleasing to God you get that whatever these freedoms are they have to be within God's standards and we have God's standards we can measure them against God's standards just because he doesn't speak about this one thing what does it talk about something else these areas are of course are bound to and guided by the direct clear and explicit commands and models given in the scripture and they are never to be violated

[37:40] God has set his standards so don't violate those standards should one of these areas or others like it violate such a command then it ceases to be freedom it's no longer freedom and it becomes sin some things God commands in his word but he gives us freedom to do them as we choose and some of these examples would be 2 Thessalonians 3 10 and there it talks about you know men you need to go to work get out there and find a job work if anyone is not willing to work then what does he say then you shall not eat that's a specific command but he doesn't tell us what job what field we ought to be in or anything else does he he gives us a freedom of choice on how we are to go out and do that and become a man who is there to provide for his family another one the Bible tells us to fellowship we see that in

[38:41] Hebrews 10 25 but he does not tell us which church to attend he doesn't tell us which church to attend he also does not tell us who we are to fellowship with what Christians we are to fellowship with or anybody that we should fellowship with of course in that fellowship we need to keep in mind are the ones we keep in fellowship are they also following God's standards so we got to weigh that the Bible tells us to pray Romans 12 12 but does not tell us how long to pray or where or when he tells us to pray and there's some that's going to tell you that if you're going to be a Christian you need to pray so many minutes a day you need to go there and you need to go out to some pristine place christine place that's very spiritual like christ did when he went out in the morning and he prayed a lot of people use this christ did this we should do this god has given us freedoms god has given us freedoms and he's given us grace so sometimes just because

[40:09] Jesus did this back in the gospels this is not a command for us to do these things so the bible tells us to pray in james 127 it says show kindness to widows and to orphans now how can you go wrong there show kindness to widows and orphans but does not tell us when and where we're to do that he doesn't instruct us on when and how we're to do that to show kindness so many times even the bible when it commands us we still have liberty in how we obey these commands god has given us the wisdom he's given us this new light that we can take and use to do this the bible tells us also we have freedom in the things that god does not enlighten us about and there's some just many many things in our life that we go through that god has not given us a command about we don't know what they are but he's instructed us on how to live our life and that we should not go against his moral standards or his other standards so we got to take this light and take these to taking these other things that we're going to talk about here are just a few simple examples of some of the things god has given us freedom with and they're not there some of those may be dress our appearance our appearance some of them may be entertainment and that's probably one of the most questionable things in the

[41:47] Christian community probably is and how you describe entertainment and what Christians should be doing for entertainment it talks about television movies music dancing alcohol all these simple things that Christians have struggled with for years and are we going back into bondage when we start talking about these things these are things that God has put in the Bible that he has not instructed us completely on if we take the example of alcohol God has instructed us not to be drunk with wine which means we are out of control we are no longer in control of our self that alcohol is in control but what did he tell Timothy he said Timothy you got something wrong you got some kind of stomach problem or something he said take drink it will so

[42:53] God has given us freedom there wow does it cause dissension among many church members today and it always has and I'm sure it's going to continue so that's just some of the things when God is silent about how we should behave we can use five simple guidelines five guidelines into what we should be doing if they become questionable to you does it violate the clear teaching of scripture if what you're planning on doing today does it violate scripture does it cause others to stumble does it distort the biblical views of right and wrong is it done in faith are are are we being legalistic about this whole thing these are the five things so let's start with the first point does it violate the clear teaching of scripture this may be one of the easiest to determine for instance with secular music if we want to talk about secular music there is indeed freedom to enjoy secular music there's a lot of music out there that we can enjoy however this music promotes that which is satanic or sexually sexual content then is never acceptable if this song promotes sex without marriage or anything like that then this thing is not permissible it's no longer became a freedom but it's tying you down to bondage the bondage in the same way maybe movies contain clear but violent violations of

[44:33] God's word so we're free to watch movies again we just got to consider what is God's standards when we watch these movies and today it's very difficult isn't it you can go to a movie and it seems like wow this is going to be a great movie you see the experts on television wow this looks like it's going to be a great movie let's gather up the kids and let's go to a movie when you get to the movie and the very first line that comes out of there is my goodness what am I doing here and a lot of times you just get up and walk out of the movie theater so you've wasted your money so you've wasted your time because movies out there today there's far and few in between that are good ones that you can take your family to so God's commands are already laid out in the Bible and if the things that we want to do violates his commands then this is not freedom then this is not the freedom that we're talking about that's the freedom that some people are talking about because they said hey if God did all this for me and I'm set free then hey let the fun begin

[45:40] I'm willing to go out there and do anything let the fun begin but that's not what God said and we've seen that in scripture therefore when doing these things we do if it ever violates the clear teaching of scripture then there is absolutely no freedom there and the blatant rejection of God's commands is never never acceptable does it cause others to stumble for this point I would like everyone to turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 8 which is a good chapter on this we'll see verses 1 through 13 now concerning these things sanctifies to idols we know that we all have knowledge knowledge makes arrogant but love edifies if anyone supposes that he knows something anything he has not yet known as he ought to know but if anyone loves God he is known by him therefore considering the eating of things sacrificed to idols we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world and that there is no God but one for even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth as indeed there are many gods and many lords yet for those for us there is but one God the Father from whom all things and we exist for him and one Lord

[47:13] Jesus Christ by whom all things and we exist through him however not all men have this knowledge but some being accustomed to it to the idol until now eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol who are these people these are the Gentiles that he's talking about these are the people that didn't have these Jewish customs these Jewish laws to go back on so they're the ones that eat this and their conscience being weak is defiled but food will not condemn us to God we are neither the worse for it if we do eat nor the better if we do not eat but take care that this liberty of ours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak for if someone sees you who have knowledge dining in an idol's temple will not his conscience if he is weak be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to an idol and so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak you sin against God therefore if food causes my brother to stumble

[48:16] I will never eat meat again so that I will not cause my brother to stumble again what are we going back to we're going back to Galatians chapter 5 do all things with love with love so therefore we don't do anything that causes people to stumble does it distort the biblical views of right and wrong exactly what does this mean well very simply it is anything that takes what the Bible has said is true and distorts it and if you read Proverbs 24 24 it talks about those who call somebody good and those who call somebody good the good call the well let's just turn to it Proverbs 24 24 he who says to the wicked you are righteous peoples will curse him nations will adore him but to those who rebuke the wicked will be in delight and a good blessing will come upon them he who says to the wicked you are righteous it's a contradiction it's a contradiction

[49:40] God doesn't want us to go out there and do things that would be a contradiction to his word so does it distort the biblical view of right and wrong there are some good movies out there I talked about that before there are well written movies and they end with the good overcoming evil just the way we like to see a movie end but again sometimes these movies have a distorted view of right and wrong as we're watching the movie all of a sudden we see that they used a distorted view of God's right and wrong to get to the end of this movie that shows good overcoming bad and there we set through that and it just it ends badly doesn't it and sometimes you get it right off the bat and that's that's good when that happens because then you just get up and shut the thing off and walk out so does it distort right and wrong is it done in faith is it done in faith now we're talking about our conscience if we have a clear conscience that we've accepted the Lord Jesus Christ that is done through faith we can also have this faith in us that way the things that we need to do the things that are questionable we have freedom to do that we can do these things through faith also are we being legalistic legalism is a direct obstacle of liberty liberty allows us to enjoy so many of the things

[51:12] God has created legalism on the other hand takes these things that are not described in scripture as wrong and right and makes them a necessity for righteousness is there anybody giving us things today that says we have to do this if you want the righteousness of God if you do run from it that's all we have to do a good example would be requiring people to read only one translation of the Bible there's a lot of people out there they say King James only and there's nothing rather than King James is a good version of the Bible but is there anything in scripture that says King James only I'm sure somebody will probably find something out there that may relate to that but again what is the context what is the context we always got to know that so King James only well he was in Missouri and a guy come in and he had it splattered all over this big Cadillac King James only

[52:13] King James only his advertisement is going down the whole road King James only also dress code women are to wear only dresses to church men are to wear suit and ties to church I don't think we have that much problem with that today do we like we used to but that is some of the things that church people fight about and they fight about the liberty that Christ has given us and it should not be this way the last thing we want to turn to is Timothy turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 but the spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience with a branding iron men who who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in those who believe and know the truth for everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer it's sanctified in other words it's set apart and it's set apart for us just like we're set apart too many Christians today fall towards legalizing because they create within themselves a false sense of right and wrong which they believe is righteousness not only is this unnecessary but there the Bible calls it sin and refers to it as the doctrine of demons please remember that our righteousness is not in ourselves but rather in Christ Jesus

[54:06] Jesus paid the debt and the cross he said it is finished we've been set free there now for what Christian know therefore what Christian liberty is the freedom to enjoy those things that God has chosen to remain silent on so today father we just want to thank you for this free country that we live in and for those who fought to keep it this way we also want to thank you for the spiritual freedom father that the gospel provides us and if we ever forget about the freedoms and want to go back to legalism help us just to think back to Calvary and what Christ did for us there and I'd like to close this morning by singing hymn number 310 lead me to Calvary belong to

[55:08] Genw 310 이런 sing out my life i call may ound thine shall the glory be Lest I forget Thy time from row Lead me to Calvary Lest I forget Thessalonians Lest I forget Thy enemy Lest I forget Thy love for me Lead me to Calvary Show me the still where I was laid Tenderly formed and wept

[56:12] Angels in rubs of light arrayed Brightened in wilds of spat Lest I forget Thy time from row Lest I forget Thy love for me Lead me to Calvary Let me like Mary, through my blue Come with Thy gift to Thee Show to me now the empty tomb Lead me to Calvary Lest I forget Thy time from row Lest I forget Thy love for me Lest I forget Thy love for me

[57:16] Lead me to Calvary May I be many Lord to bear Daily my cross for Thee 부분 of sparks from row Lest I safe with Toy Lest I forget the agony Lest I forget thy agony Lest I forget thy love for me Lead me to hell the ring