Well, turn with me to our text,
which is Romans 8.21, or at least that's where our text is found
this morning. And I want to concentrate just
on one phrase of it in particular. It says, because the creature
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. In the context,
Paul is talking about how this whole creation is going to be
made new. how the creation that is cursed because of the sin
of man is going to be made new and it talks about it being in
a state of corruption, the bondage of corruption that will be transformed,
delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God. In the
context it's about the whole creation but obviously in the
life of each individual believer there is such a transformation.
A transformation from the bondage of corruption in which we live
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. That's the
theme I want us to think about this morning. We've been looking
in recent weeks at redemption. what redemption means, redeemer,
people talk about redeemer and they don't know what they mean
it means buying back, it means buying out of, it means buying
liberty buying freedom, you know the slave was freed in the slave
market, he was redeemed in the slave market his freedom was
bought he who had been a slave and subject to everybody else,
his freedom was purchased and he was set free and we saw what
it meant because you see the election which accomplished redemption,
election is unto salvation and last week we saw Zacchaeus, that
familiar story of that tax collector, that sinful greedy hated tax
collector being called by the Lord Jesus Christ, Zacchaeus
come down today is salvation this day is salvation come to
this house salvation now what state did that leave Zacchaeus
in that salvation what state did it leave him in what was
the result of salvation well the answer to that is multitudes
of things but here's one aspect of it one aspect is certainly
this liberty liberty, the glorious liberty of the children of God.
What is this glorious liberty of the children of God? The creature
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Redemption's
price, what's the price that needs to be paid to redeem a
soul? Redemption's price is the price
of their liberty. It's the price of liberty from
the law's condemnation. That's what I want us to think
about, the state that we're in now, the liberty that we're in,
the glorious liberty of the children of God. Is there anyone listening
to this message who knows that they don't have true liberty? Perhaps you think you're a Christian
but you're riddled with guilt I've known many down many, many
years. They're convinced that they're
Christians, they're convinced that they're in good, solid,
reformed churches who have all the right doctrine, but they're
living under a weight and a cloud of guilt and uncertainty, burdened
with obligations and they don't understand. They don't, they're
not free. They're not free at all. They
talk about being free in their minds. You know, have you heard
this, that there's this teaching that's about, especially in this
country in reformed churches, you know, the ones that seem
to make out that they have a monopoly of the truth and it's this that
in your mind you know that you are free but how you live your
life live it as if you're still under the bondage of the law,
I've heard people say that as clear as anything Know in your
mind that you are free but live your life as if you are under
the bondage of the law and under obligation to the law. I'm not
making it up, that's what they say. Well, there are people all
around us who are riddled with a burden of guilt and obligation. Perhaps you just need to be reminded
of the liberty that you have, that we have as true believers.
Perhaps you need to know that you're assumed liberty, perhaps
you've been assuming that you have liberty from religious constraint,
but in fact you're still in that position of the bondage of corruption. So let's think about what is
the bondage of corruption, just to set the scene, and then I
want to think about liberty, doctrinal liberty but also practical
liberty as a counter to that idea that you think in your mind
you're free but you live your life as if you're under the rule
and obligation of the law. So what is the bondage of corruption
that's being spoken about here? Well it's the corrupting nature
of sin to which we're all subject in the flesh. It's that corrupting,
you know, in our flesh, it's the corrupting nature of sin
and it ties us up, that's what bondage is, it's being tied up,
it's being imprisoned. it's not being free to do what
you want to do you know just like have you seen how iron filings
stick to a magnet you know zoom they're gone they can't do anything
else they must stick to the magnet and in the same way sin is part
and parcel of our flesh And often what appears to be freedom is
in fact bondage. Think of the drug addict who
thinks that he's living completely without restraint. He's living
in complete freedom. Nobody has the right to tell
him what to do. And so he goes and gets the high of a trip on
heroin or whatever it is. and then they soon discover little
bit by little bit but normally very very quickly that that apparent
freedom to enjoy a high soon becomes a tyrant that's got them
in bondage that freedom that they thought they had is tyranny
that they can't get out of because they're trapped in the bondage
of their drug addiction and so it is with the flesh it's very
much like that it's like a bondage of corruption in the flesh this
tendency to sin and by nature we're all in the bondage of corruption
in our flesh even now those of us that are believers this morning
in the flesh The flesh is in the bondage of corruption. It's
only the Spirit of God's work to bring us into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. We're in the bondage of corruption.
We're in bondage. We're in bondage to Satan. Satan,
first of all. Oh, the world doesn't believe
that this is Satan. Just look around at the work that goes
on. Just look around at the one who is the instrument of all
of this. Satan, he was the first transgressor. He is the father
of lies. He is the prince of the power
of darkness. And he is the one who has usurped
the authority of Christ in the heart of man. He's taken it over. he's assumed that position that
only God should have, have you read Bunyan's Holy War where
there in that allegory he pictures a person like a city where the
rightful ruler has been removed and a false prince has come in
and has taken over and he's ruling and he's governing Satan is like
that, we're in the bondage of corruption by nature to Satan
we're in the bondage of corruption to the world the world around
us, it's enticements the enticements of the world, they trap people
in bondage, it's so appealing is the bondage of corruption
of the world. It's enticements, it's pleasures,
it's wickedness, it's deceit. It deceives you that you're really
free, you know, the world deceives you that you really are free.
It makes you think, if only I have all of these things then I'll
be free to enjoy my life as I want to. It's the bondage of corruption.
and then the law of God, say you start to know something about
the law of God and the law of God holds you in the bondage
of corruption for the law of God is good and right and holy
but it holds you in the bondage of corruption because it says
this, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. Cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all of those things written in the
book of the law to do them. And here's another one, death.
Death itself. You know, we through all our
lifetimes, are subject to bondage. Through what? The fear of death.
You know, I told you, we've been to two funerals. My two older
male cousins, both one nearly 64 and one 64 and a bit, thinking
that they might go on for many, many more years and enjoy retirement,
and just within days of one another, were taken. One in a tragic car
accident, one as a result of an illness. Death. The fear of
death. Those who were little boys when
I was a little boy, my heroes, just three or four years older
than me, here we are now, 50 odd years later, from when I
regarded them as just such fit, healthy young men, they've gone.
They've gone. The fear of death. The fear of
death. From the moment you're born,
that sweet little baby that's growing and full of life but
from the moment you're born the truth is that you're on the road
to death and we're in bondage to that, the fear of death you
see Paul says this about the flesh, I know that in me that
is in my flesh, this is Romans 7.18 in me that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing for to will even when I want to for
to will is present with me is not for lack of wanting to do
that which is right but how to perform that which is good I
find not I just don't know how to do it I don't find how to
do it I can't please God I can't please others I can't even please
myself because when I think I'm pleasing myself like the drug
addict I'm bringing myself into bondage Moses lived as the son
of Pharaoh's daughter as he was growing up from a baby he was
brought up as the son of Pharaoh's daughter and it tells us in Hebrews
11 that there he could have enjoyed all the pleasures of sin don't
be under any delusion the scriptures are clear sin is pleasurable
to the flesh sin is pleasurable the pleasures of sin but he knew
it was only for a season the pleasures of sin for a season
just for a little while not for long the drug addict's high is
pleasurable just for a very very short season pleasures of sin but just for
a season, the bondage of corruption that's the state in which we
live now we shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God so let's
think about this first of all a doctrinal liberty the fact
that you know in your mind that you are free that you truly have
freedom as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ a doctrinal
liberty the first step to liberty is a realization that you're
truly in bondage that's the first step, do you remember the prodigal
son who said father give me that which is due to me and selfishly
off he went and he thought he'd got his, whoa I'm free from all
that constraint of home life, I'm free from that situation,
I've got all this money, I've got my inheritance, I can go
and do and live exactly as I want and enjoy myself. and he had
all of those fair weather friends that helped him to waste his
substance until a 2007 economic downturn came along and all of
a sudden that which seemed like endless riches suddenly turned
in a moment to enormous debts and he couldn't pay his debts
and his friends deserted him and he went to work for that
farmer which is a picture of legalistic religion. Oh he went
to try and put himself right and he went to work there and
where did he find himself in the end? So hungry that he was
eating the pig swill that he was feeding to the pigs and when
Jesus speaks his parables he paints very very graphic pictures. If you've ever seen a modern
pig farmer putting the pig swill in the trough for the pigs to
eat You wouldn't fancy eating it, but they love it. And that
young man in the parable, he had to eat the husks, it says,
that he fed to the pigs because he was so hungry. And it was
then that he realized you see it was his first step to true
liberty back in his father's house the liberty that he'd forsaken
the first step to it was realizing that he was actually in the bondage
of corruption of realizing where he was, even the servants in
my father's house have got more than enough food to eat even
the servants I'll go back and ask him father I'm not fit to
be called your son can I just be one of your servants and not
have to eat this pig swill for I'm in the bondage of corruption
I thought I was free I thought I was at liberty but I wasn't
I was in the bondage of corruption the first step is realizing it
and who makes you realize it? God the Holy Spirit God the Holy
Spirit makes his people realize that they're in the bondage of
corruption. The apostles said when the gospel went to the Gentiles,
what was the sign? What was the mark that the gospel
had gone to the Gentiles? For God has granted unto the
Gentiles repentance. Made them know the bondage of
corruption that they were in. Granted to them repentance. Pilgrim. you know he was conscious
of his bondage, he was conscious of a heavy burden that he couldn't
bear on his back and where it was released was at the cross
but going to the cross was as a result of realizing that there
was a burden there God gives this burden, a realization of
the bondage of corruption so the hymn writer writes this,
foul I to the fountain fly foul, I've got to go to the fountain
I'm conscious that I'm foul in the bondage of corruption. Foul
I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Saviour. Nobody else
can. Else I die. Wash me, Saviour. Else I die. Christ liberates
his people. Christ liberates his people.
And it's God's word alone that is our rule. I'm going to give
you lots of scripture references and I don't expect you to keep
up with this but you can maybe look at them afterwards. but
John chapter 8 says this, John 8, 32 you shall know the truth
right, he says to his people you shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free, just keep your finger in that
passage for a little while don't lose it, we'll come back to it
later you shall know the truth and the truth, you know you shall
know certain doctrinal facts in your mind and that knowledge
will make you free. That's what Jesus is saying there.
Listen to God's truth. The word of God is our rule.
Listen to God's truth. Don't listen to your opinions,
or what people tell you, or your feelings. Listen to what God
says in his word. You know, it's not a case of
this morning I feel that I have the liberty of the children.
Know what God's Word says. Base it on that. Base it on what
God's Word says. And that knowledge of the truth
shall make you truly free. Don't trust your opinions. So
keep your finger in that passage in Romans 8, 32. 8, 32 to 36. Sorry, sorry, John. John chapter
8. I've got so many references I'm
tripping over them this morning. John chapter 8 verse 32, and
you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
They answered him, we be Abraham's seed and were never in bondage
to any man. You see that? In their religion
they thought they were free when they really weren't. How sayest
thou ye shall be made free? Oh there are so many in the bondage
of corruption in their religion, in their reformed religion. and
yet they're actually in the bondage of corruption. They say, we're
Abraham's seed, we were never in bondage to any man. Verse
34, Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever
commiteth sin, oh, you do that, don't you, is the servant of
sin. Ah, I think you're in bondage
to sin, you're not so free. And the servant abideth not in
the house forever, but the son abideth ever. If the son therefore
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed Christ liberates
his people there was a custom in these days that the slaves
of a household and let's be in no doubt slavery is an appalling
thing but at various times in human history it has been part
of the social order but slavery is an appalling thing to do to
another human being to take their liberty off them and use them
as nothing other than a machine of profit is absolutely appalling. But this was the custom that
a household would have slaves and when the father died and
left the inheritance to his son the slaves would be part of that
inheritance. If the son who had inherited the slaves said to
those slaves Out of compassion, I'm going to set you free. They
were free indeed and could never again be made another man's slave.
That was the custom. And that's why Jesus said here,
if the Son, meaning himself, therefore, shall make you free,
you shall be truly free. Nobody will again enslave you.
he set his slaves free from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. Now look at Romans chapter
8 verse 15. Romans chapter 8 verse 15, the
passage we read earlier on. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. You see, the picture
is of being the children of the household, not the slaves or
the servants of the household. The spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children,
then heirs. heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God. for the creature was made
subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath
subjected the same in hope because the creature itself also shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God this is the word of God telling
you the truth of God telling you you are free if you're a
child of God you have the glorious liberty of the children of God
now turn over a few more pages to the epistle to the Galatians
Galatians chapter 4 and the first few verses Galatians
chapter 4 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child,
differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but
is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the
father. even so we when we were children were in bondage under
the elements of the world you know when we were just in the
flesh we were in bondage under the elements of the world but
when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son
made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and because
ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your
hearts crying Abba Father wherefore wherefore this is the verse you
know doctrinal liberty wherefore thou art no more a servant but
a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ this is
your position if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you
have liberty in him and chapter five and verse one stand fast
therefore in the liberty Stand fast. Don't be moved from it.
Hold your ground. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. The yoke of bondage he's talking
about in Galatians is the yoke of bondage of law works from
which we've been made free. stand fast in that liberty Christ
has purchased that freedom he's redeemed his people he's purchased
it Galatians 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is
everyone that hangs on a tree that the blessing of Abraham
the blessing of justification might come upon those who believe
him Isaiah 61 verses 1 to 3 The spirit of the Lord God is upon
me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty, that liberty of the jubilee,
the fiftieth year, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound. You know
Jesus quoted that text when he stood up to speak in the synagogue
in Nazareth. They handed him the scroll of
the book of Isaiah and he turned to Isaiah 61 and he read those
verses and he said, this day is this scripture accomplished
in your hearing because he was the one who was sent to declare
liberty, the freedom for the captives. The hymn writer again
says, He, Christ, breaks the power of cancelled sin. He sets
the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest
clean. His blood avails for me. Our Lord Jesus Christ has purchased
the freedom of his people. And so he's purchased liberty
from sin. Romans 6.14 says sin shall not
have dominion over you. You're not under the law, but
under grace. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Christ has
purchased your freedom. It doesn't rule you anymore.
Paul says, I am crucified with Christ, yet not I, but Christ,
sorry, where is it, verse 20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. liberty from it Romans
8 verse 1 he's delivered us he's freed us from the condemnation
of sin there is therefore you know who shall release me says
Romans from this body of death who shall free me from this body
of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord chapter
8 verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ you're free from it the glorious liberty of the
children of God who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit the glorious liberty of the children of God Romans 8
33 not only does he free from the condemnation of it but from
the charge of it the charge of sin you're free from the charge
of sin if you've ever had a brush with the law For example, the
sort of one that gets us most, those of us who are law-abiding
people by social desire, the one that gets you more often
than not is the motoring conviction, where inadvertently you didn't
realize that you were going a little bit over the speed limit or whatever
else it might be, you know, and you end up the wrong side, or
somebody claims that you've hit their car in a parking place
and there's a big legal argument about whether it was you that
did it, And as long as it's going on, it's a worry and a concern
and an aggravation. But it's great when you hear
the news that the charge has been lifted, removed from you.
You're not going to be charged with it. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? He's freed us. We have freedom,
liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's justified because Christ
has borne that sin. There's no charge. Why is there
no charge? Well, God's already said it.
Through Balaam, the false prophet even, Numbers 23, 21. He has
not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Oh, we know that, Jacob, that
the people of God sinned again and again and again in the flesh.
But God says when he looks at them judicially in the Lord Jesus
Christ, he has not beheld iniquity in them. Oh yes, there's sin
there, but they're free from the bondage of it. We may not
be free from the being of sin, if we say we have no sin we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. We may not be free from
the acts of sin, for we know that in thought, word and deed
we sin every single day. But we're free from the bondage
of it, from the bondage of it. We also have liberty from Satan.
Christ has purchased that liberty. He's bound the strongman in his
house. Didn't he say that? He said in
Matthew 12, he says he's going to come and take over the strongman's
house, which is the believer, as he is in the flesh, and bind
the strongman. And it says at the cross he made
an open show of his enemies and bound them and led captivity
captive. He's freed us from the law. There's
people up and down this country in religious circles will be
horrified at that statement that we're free from the law. I don't
know why they're so horrified when the scriptures so clearly
state it. You are not under law but under grace. I remember 25
years ago nearly, Bill saying at that conference to preachers
in this country, set your people free. And what there was an absolute
uproar about that, that it would be a license to sin, that it
would just open the door for blatant sin. Of course not. Of course not. No. Liberty from
the law. You're not under law, but under
grace. You're free from the law. Romans 7 and verse 4. wherefore
my brethren ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is
raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto
God by his death on the cross we are crucified with Christ
therefore the marriage bond that we have with the law by nature
in the flesh has ended by the death of Christ we don't have
any covenant with the law anymore Galatians says exactly the same
he's redeemed us from the curse of the law we don't have any
covenant with it we're not justified by the law we're not even sanctified
by the law there's no curse from it because there can't be because
Christ has paid its curse, he's borne its curse there's no condemnation
by the law we have no obligation to the law that it will stand
over us as a severe taskmaster We're crucified with Christ.
Death has ended our marriage to it. Don't get me wrong, the
law is good. The scripture says the law is
good, the commandment is good. But we only fulfill it, do you
know how we fulfill it? Not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified in his
sight. It's only by faith. Paul says in Romans 3.31, he
says, do we make the law void through faith? Because he's argued
that justification, righteousness, comes by faith. He says, so do
we make the law void through faith? He says, no, rather, rather
than making it void, we establish it. It's the only way we truly
keep it, is by faith. We don't go and grow in grace
or sanctify ourselves by the law in any means whatsoever. In Galatians 3 verse 1, Paul
says, Are ye now made perfect in the
flesh? This is what he's saying to those who would bring us under
the bondage of the law. He's saying, you started by faith,
are you now made perfect by the bondage of the law, the works
of the flesh? Of course not. And also I mentioned
earlier the fear of death being part of the bondage in which
we're kept. Look at Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two. and verse 14. for as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood this is the children whom God
is going to save he also himself, this is Christ, likewise took
part of the same flesh and blood that through death, his death
he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the
devil, the devil has the power of death because he was the accuser
of the brethren who would always bring an accusation which God
had to punish with death And he says, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage,
because he's removed the fear of death. O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Christ has conquered it. the glorious liberty of the children
of God and it's a liberty that's anticipated because although
we have liberty now yet we still have the being and the acts of
sin in the flesh to contend with that tell us that we're not there
yet but there's the glorious hope of a glorious liberty in
heaven, in eternity, a glorious liberty, a liberty anticipated,
a freedom from the experience and the presence of sin. Read
Revelation 21 in those early verses. No more death, no more
pain, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more tears. God will
wipe away all the tears from their eyes. Nothing foul will
enter in there. this is anticipated liberty this
is true liberty this is liberty that we can only hope at we can
only we can't even envisage it we can just hear the words and
believe them what this liberty is truly going to be like so
the clear message of doctrine is this that in Christ believers
are free from the law if the son therefore shall make you
free shall be free indeed. Has he made you free? You shall
be free indeed. How do I know it? God's word
says it. Don't listen to your feelings.
Don't listen to church leaders who would, they're really modern
day Pharisees. They would bring you back in
bondage. Don't listen to them. You're not free in your mind
in the justice of God but you must live your life under the
bondage of the law? Absolutely not. That's a total
denial of what the scriptures say. No. God's word tells you. You're free. You have liberty,
the glorious liberty of the children of God. But just in the few minutes
we have left practical liberty because you see as I've said
many professing Christians live in bondage to local rules and
regulations and you know these established churches they're
so good at setting up church discipline and they have their
committees of elders who act like the pastor's henchmen you
know disciplining and policing the church and regulating members'
lives and sticking their noses into members' business and making
them live this way and order their families that way and do
this and how they manage their finances and what they do with
their leisure time and when they're meant to have a good time and
when they're not meant to have a good time and what they're
meant to dress like and what they're not meant to dress like
all within limits of course and Sabbath observance particularly
Oh, the local rules that there are on Sabbath observance. What
television you can and can't watch, what walks you can and
can't go on, how you must order your day so that you do things
in a particular way, in a particular order. They love to set rules
and regulations. But what does God's words say?
Jesus said this in Matthew 15. to the disciples. Read the first
six verses when you have time. But he says in summary that the
Pharisees, the religious leaders, had made the commandment of God,
the true commandment of God, of none effect by your tradition.
They'd replaced the commandments of God with their tradition.
And what's the commandment of God? What's the commandment of
God for you as a believer today? I'll tell you what it is. First
John, chapter three. verse 23 this is his commandment
this is the commandment to you today that we should believe
on the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another as
he gave us commandment that's it it's the law of Christ it's
that glorious law of Christ that liberating free law of the Lord
Jesus Christ not men's traditions. You know, they come up with their
traditions and they invent all sorts of silly interpretations
to get round them. For want of a better example,
the one that Bill told us about when he was in
India and the plane was going to take off and it would be Sunday
and one man wasn't going to get on the plane because he couldn't
break the Sabbath. But then he suddenly thought, ah, hold on,
when the plane takes off it will still be Saturday back in England,
so I'm English, so I'm not breaking the Sabbath, I'll get on. All
sorts of silly things. Now, as we close, turn to Colossians.
Let me remind you of this. Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, verse 6. as ye have received the Lord
Jesus Christ, as Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk ye in him,
rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as
ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware,
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. Verse 16 let no man therefore judge you
in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new
moon or of the sabbath, note days is in italics, it just says
of the sabbath which are a shadow of things to come but the body
is of Christ, let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary
humility oh you know the Jews used to fast to make themselves
look ill to show that they were depriving themselves of certain
things and therefore making themselves more holy and worshipping of
angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen,
vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. Down to verse twenty, wherefore
if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why,
as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances?
You're free, is what he's saying. These are the ordinances, they
say to you, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all that
are to perish would be using after the commandments and doctrines
of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom, oh don't they
look religious and right in will-worship and humility and the neglecting
of the body but not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh,
they don't do anything for you, they're just external things.
God says don't call that unclean, all the Old Testament Levitical
laws of food cleanliness, you know the meat that was clean
and that which was unclean, is all swept away in Christ. Peter
was taught this. Don't call anything unclean which
God has declared clean. Now all meats are available for
us, all things are available for us. Romans 14 verse 14 Paul
says I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean
of itself in verse 17 of the same chapter he says for the
kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost you see we don't only have a doctrinal
liberty if you shall know the truth and the truth shall make
you free and if the sun makes you free you shall be free and
I know that in my mind but it's practical these rules and regulations
don't apply to us anymore But bear in mind these principles.
First of all, four principles. First of all, don't judge one
another. you know we might do things differently
from one another that's your opinion but don't judge one another
don't judge one another secondly moderation in all things is an
extremely good principle for your health if nothing else but
moderation in all things you're free to enjoy wine but drunkenness
is absolutely out of the question You're free to do all sorts of
things, but excess, you know, you're free to enjoy all food,
but gluttony is absolutely wrong. You're free to dress how you
want, but don't dress provocatively. Don't go over the top with it. Don't offend tender consciences.
You might enjoy your glass of wine, but there might be somebody
there who really has a struggle with it and really is offended. really has a conscience which
hasn't learned the liberty they have in Christ. Don't try and
beat them into submission. Just hold back from exercising
your liberty so you don't offend. Above all, everything that you
do, what does God say? What does Paul say to people?
Do all for the glory of God. Do all for the benefit of the
gospel and for the welfare of the church. And here's a note
of caution. Don't be fooled by false liberty.
because there are those who think they have it when they really
haven't self-righteousness is not righteousness that counts
for anything with God absolutely not it's just outward moral reformation
and it's empty and it's shallow and by the same token antinomianism
is wrong utterly wrong our liberty that we have in Christ is not
a license to sin with impunity antinomianism is an evil wicked
thing that which says By grace we're saved, there's nothing
that we can do, Christ has paid for the sins of his people, therefore
we can enjoy sin and sin however much we want without any consequences
whatsoever because he's paid for it. That's utterly, utterly
alien to the gospel and grace of God. No, our liberty is not
licensed to sin with impunity. True freedom is in Christ and
in him alone. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed.