Christian Liberty #12

The point: Rear back on your hind legs and say, 'No way, Jose. We want our Bibles,' if there's an erosion of Bible saturation in services.

Martin notes that many evangelical churches today read very little Scripture, contrasting it with Trinity Baptist Church's practice of extensive Bible reading to emphasize the importance of soaking in God's Word.

And I make no apology for reading in your hearing the entire 14th chapter of Romans and the first seven verses of chapter 15. Many of you may not know this, but in many so-called evangelical churches today, one would be hard-pressed to find even five verses of the Bible read. You've had a call to worship that was Scripture. You've had the reading of a whole psalm, a whole chapter from the New Testament Gospels, and now a chapter and a third from an epistle.

0:25 - 0:59 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Therefore, whatever is found in this portion of the Word of God, page 14 and a bit of page 15 of Paul's letter, must be understood in a way that is consistent with everything that has gone before.

He likens Paul's letter to the Romans to a 16-page letter, with Romans 14-15 being pages 14-15, to emphasize the organic unity and logical flow of Paul's argument across the entire epistle.

Those who divided up our Bible into chapters and verses, you know, this was a human endeavor back a few hundred years ago. But I want us to think of the Roman letter as Paul's 16th 16-page letter. It's been divided into 16 chapters. And in this 16-page letter, we are this morning going to open up the letter to page 14 and on into a bit of page 15.

11:05 - 11:33 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not voluntarily impinge upon your eyeballs with evil plays or plots dripping pagan sensuality and immorality, whether in theaters or at home.

Martin uses the example of Roman theaters with their pagan sensuality and immorality to illustrate what Paul would consider inherently evil, contrasting it with the non-moral issues of Christian liberty.

dripping pagan sensuality and immorality you think Paul is putting into the category of Christian liberty going to such plays drinking in with one's eyes acted out homosexual fornicating relationships and doing that to the glory of God as a matter of Christian liberty no way they were to abhor what was evil evil plays voluntarily impinging upon their eyeballs any contemporary application

33:05 - 33:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not voluntarily impinge upon your eyeballs with evil plays or plots dripping pagan sensuality and immorality, whether in theaters or at home.

He uses the example of Romans delighting in gladiatorial bloodbaths in the Colosseum to illustrate inherently evil entertainment that defaces God's image, arguing it cannot be justified under Christian liberty.

you don't go to the theater in New York to see it you bring the theater to you by way of blockbuster with plots with immorality and unclean ness and ribaldry abhor what is evil don't call it Christian liberty what about Roman Christians who used to delight to go to the Colosseum they loved to see the gladiators come out and fight to the death and to see the blood spurting and it fed something base

33:47 - 34:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not watch violent movies (e.g., 'Dirty Harry,' 'Terminator') under the name of Christian liberty, as they are evil.

Martin applies the Colosseum example to modern 'shoot 'em up, blow 'em to pieces' movies, arguing that watching such violence is evil and cannot be excused as Christian liberty.

and evil in their hearts you think Paul is putting going to the Colosseum and watching a bloodbath of gladiators as a matter of Christian liberty where men deface the image of God in one another and murder one another an act which God hates and finding entertainment in it I ask you do you think so you see the modern application Dirty Harry Terminator 1 Terminator 2 Terminator 3 write down to all of the present shoot him up blow him to pieces blood in door movies you watch those under the name of Christian liberty

34:32 - 35:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He explains that these issues arose from the diverse Jewish and Gentile backgrounds within the cosmopolitan Roman church, where Jewish converts, though not legalistic, maintained…

He references Douglas Moole's massive commentary on Romans and his six answers to the origin of the issues in Rome, using it to support his chosen explanation for the diverse consciences in the Roman church.

the identity of the issues addressed alright now then the origin of these issues how in the world did these issues get into the Roman church so when Paul's dictating his letter and he comes and sees that his amanuensis is written page 13 and he says oh boy we're on page 14 I've got to address this issue why did he have to address the issue with the church at Rome well devout students of the word of God differ in their answer to that question Douglas Moole in his massive commentary on Romans I mean massive it's a thousand pages it's no little ditty commentary when he addresses that question he ...

42:42 - 43:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He explains that these issues arose from the diverse Jewish and Gentile backgrounds within the cosmopolitan Roman church, where Jewish converts, though not legalistic, maintained…

He uses the example of Messianic Jews who continue to observe certain Jewish customs without adding them to salvation, illustrating how cultural/religious background can influence conscience regarding non-moral issues.

would add to their salvation no these things were just so much a part of their cultural slash religious background that they just felt un-Jewish not continuing them you see the difference now between continuing them because if I don't I'll be lost I won't be saved and saying well I just feel more comfortable continuing in these things just like many Jewish converts today say they don't have to reject their Jewishness to become Christians they call themselves fulfilled Jews Messianic Jews and they will continue to keep a number of the things that are part and parcel of their quote Jewishness no...

44:56 - 45:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He explains that these issues arose from the diverse Jewish and Gentile backgrounds within the cosmopolitan Roman church, where Jewish converts, though not legalistic, maintained…

Martin shares a personal story about his father pouring expensive booze down the toilet, illustrating how his own conscience was conditioned against alcoholic beverages due to his background.

never saw them slur a word and you were taught at a given age the moderate responsible use of wine it's unthinkable to you that God would be displeased with your moderate use of wine others of you like myself I came out of a background where devil sin hell and booze were synonyms yeah that's right my father was an executive for Shakespeare galactic shaver and every year they'd give him this big box of real fancy expensive booze you know what he would do in front of all of us he'd take the tops off and pour them down the toilet except for a little bit at the bottom of one kind of hard liquor th...

50:07 - 50:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin outlines two main problems: the potential to prevent or disrupt the unity of the local congregation, and the potential to cripple and devastate the spiritual health of some…

He paints a picture of a vegetarian and a steak-eater at a church supper, both thanking God for their food, to illustrate how differing consciences on food can coexist in unity and mutual respect.

of the same mind and what is that mind the recognition that there will be diversity of persuasion on these things and that those who are persuaded in one direction do not judge those persuaded in another and those on this side do not look down their nose at those here they are persuaded Christ has bought the one Christ has brought them under his gracious rule they are seeking to please Christ this one bows over its vegetable meal and thanks God for his vegetables not like a Pharisee oh God I thank you I ain't eating meat like my brother Henry that would be Pharisaical

55:19 - 56:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Be fully persuaded in your own mind regarding matters like homeschooling versus Christian schooling, and be supportive and embracing of one another.

Martin uses the example of differing convictions on homeschooling versus Christian schooling within the congregation to illustrate how non-moral issues can cause division if not handled with grace and respect for conscience.

the task of the training of your children upon you as parents therefore homeschooling is the only honorable way to train your children others say God has laid the task of training upon the parents it is a rare parent who is competent to give the training that will most glorify God therefore a Christian school is your we've had to sort out my friends in this congregation in sippy and divisiveness over the method of parental responsibility administered in the training of children this will never be while some of us have bred a home schooling

59:02 - 59:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that people will come into the church with no sense of a dress code or other cultural heritage, and be prepared to receive them without judgment.

He uses the example of people coming to church in shorts and t-shirts to illustrate how the church must be prepared to receive those with different cultural heritages and consciences on non-explicitly biblical matters.

not spoken and dear people if God is going to use us to break into this community and reach real live contemporary sinners we're going to have people come in who have no sense whatsoever of a church dress code I mean we're going to have guys coming in here in shorts and t-shirts with garish stuff printed on well you're going to meet them at the door and say oh you can't come in here like that bless God if the place were full of them I hope after a while they get a little sense of propriety but I'm not going to go up to them and say you can't come here with your shorts you people don't have a c...

62:00 - 62:45 Read in full sermon