Practical Guidelines

The point: Consider the four major factors that will govern the exercise of your liberty: the prior claims of personal holiness, the powerful claims of the advance of the gospel, the practical demands of edification, and the practi…

Martin quotes John Brown's commentary on Galatians, which distinguishes between Christian liberty (internal) and the use of Christian liberty (external), arguing that while the essence should never be given up, the practical assertion of liberty often should be foregone.

And the classic statement of this principle of distinction that I have found anywhere in uninspired literature is in John Brown's commentary on the book of Galatians, in which, commenting, on that section which we're exhorted to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, John Brown says, quoting another and then using his own words, it is a very important observation of a judicious commentator that, quote, there is a great difference between Christian liberty and the use of Christian liberty. There John Brown ends his quote without telling us who he was quoting. But he does t...

9:23 - 10:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first guideline for exercising liberty is personal holiness. Martin explains that while believers are free in Christ, they are called to holiness and must willingly relinquish…

Using the imagery from Hebrews 12:1, Martin compares a runner preparing for a race to a believer pursuing holiness. Just as a runner sheds legitimate but impeding weights (hiking boots, backpack, parka), a believer must lay aside lawful liberties that hinder spiritual progress.

When we do not measure up to the thou shalt's we sin. When we leap over the boundaries of the thou shalt's not, thou shalt not's we sin. But, the writer to Hebrews says, the runner is not only troubled by sin that must be laid aside, but he said every weight, it's perfectly innocent and perfectly within the realm of an athlete's liberty, to come up to the starting blocks for the two-twenty with his hiking boots on. That's right.

16:57 - 17:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Know what is a 'live, burning spark' to the 'tinder of your own remaining corruption' and lay it aside, no matter how legitimate it may be in itself.

Martin uses the metaphor of 'dry tinder' (remaining corruption) in the believer's bosom and 'sparks' (lawful liberties) to warn against indulging liberties that might ignite sin, emphasizing that what is a spark to one may be water to another.

And now he utters a warning in verse 12. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Remember, remember, Christian, you are not indulging your lawful liberties as an unfallen man or as a perfected saint. You're carrying around in your bosom dry tinder.

21:01 - 21:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Know what is a 'live, burning spark' to the 'tinder of your own remaining corruption' and lay it aside, no matter how legitimate it may be in itself.

Expanding on the tinder metaphor, Martin describes a fool who, knowing he has dry tinder, walks brazenly in front of a raging bonfire, illustrating the danger of playing with legitimate liberties that could lead to spiritual downfall.

In itself. That's what Paul's saying. Let him that thinketh he standeth. The man that can have dry tinder strapped to his back and boldly and brazenly walk back and forth in front of a raging bonfire is a fool.

21:59 - 22:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Determine for yourself what lawful liberties you must relinquish in the pursuit of holiness; do not expect God or others to do it for you.

Martin references Pastor Chantry's sermon, quoting the Lord's command 'If thy hand offend thee, cut it off,' to emphasize that the decision to relinquish a liberty for holiness is a personal one, and no one can cut off another's 'hand'.

Only you can determine for yourself and judge for yourself what lawful liberties you must relinquish in the pursuit of holiness. As Pastor Chantry so eloquently stated several summers ago in those two masterful sermons on Christian liberty and self-denial, he said, Our Lord said, If thy hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee. He says, Look, there's only one hand that you can cut off in the pursuit of holiness. That's your own.

24:37 - 25:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Determine for yourself what lawful liberties you must relinquish in the pursuit of holiness; do not expect God or others to do it for you.

Martin recounts a story from a family conference where a man, having struggled with TV discipline, advocated for everyone to get rid of their TVs. Martin used this to illustrate the temptation to legislate personal relinquished liberties for others, affirming individual responsibility.

Now, let me descend to some specific illustrations. I was at a family conference last weekend, some of you know, down way out in the boondocks in the Everglades. No phones or nothing. Alligators in the canals.

25:15 - 25:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And oh, the cursed legalism that has inundated the evangelical church because two or three generations ago a group of Christians, by and large, found that a certain activity, that a certain form of food or beverage or en…

Martin shares an anecdote about a woman who found that a small glass of wine before bed helped her sleep, improving her disposition and aiding her personal holiness, contrasting this with others who must abstain due to their own 'tinder' for alcohol, illustrating the personal nature of 'weights'.

Here's the man that said I had all kinds of physical problems, couldn't sleep, was restless, and I met such people. I know someone, a dear woman, just recently, and she didn't want to get hurt. She was hooked on downers and uppers and all the rest. So she got bold enough, and it wasn't at my recommendation.

28:49 - 29:04 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds 1 Corinthians 9, highlighting Paul's willingness to forgo his rights (e.g., to marry, to be supported financially) and bring himself 'under bondage to all' in his…

Paul's analogy of a soldier serving at his own charges is used to argue that those who proclaim the gospel have a right to be supported, illustrating a lawful liberty Paul chose to forgo.

He said, of course not. And then he gives some illustrations. What soldier ever serves at his own charges? Whatever soldier was ever sent by his country to the front of the battle and then his commanding officer said, now go on out and get yourself some bullets and go make yourself a rifle.

37:50 - 38:02 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds 1 Corinthians 9, highlighting Paul's willingness to forgo his rights (e.g., to marry, to be supported financially) and bring himself 'under bondage to all' in his…

Paul's analogy of a vineyard planter eating its fruit is used to further argue that gospel laborers have a right to live from their work, another lawful liberty Paul chose to forgo.

Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit thereof? If a man goes out and plants his vineyard, no one accuses him of being selfish if he takes some of the grapes and eats them. He says, if I'm laboring the gospel, no one should accuse me if I live of the fruit of that labor and I receive the monetary support of God's people. Do I speak these things after the manner of man or saith not the law the same?

38:11 - 38:33 Read in full sermon

The point: As a congregation, be willing to relinquish many lawful liberties for the sake of advancing the gospel in your generation.

Martin uses the analogy of a child in a room full of new toys, with most labeled 'thou shalt not touch,' to illustrate the shriveled spirit of a legalist who views God's good gifts as mostly forbidden, contrasting it with the freedom to enjoy or relinquish them.

Like putting a child in a room full of brand new toys and put a sign over nine-tenths and thou shall not touch.

42:25 - 42:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for your pastor and leaders as they wrestle with relinquishing personal rights for the sake of ministry and the flock.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about his recent extensive travel and time away from his family and flock, relating it to Paul's experience of relinquishing personal rights for the sake of ministry and the gospel.

and your liberty and mine is limited by those claims and I think I know a little something of what that is in these very areas and I ask you to pray for me as in the past days we as a family have come through some real wrestlings you know how much I've been away this fall I mentioned a week ago Wednesday some of this was unavoidable commitments made when Pastor Blaze was still with us and when there was still valid pastoral oversight and I felt I could take these responsibilities but now having been involved in them and the days away from home and wife and flock and everything in me cries out ...

45:45 - 47:13 Read in full sermon