Historical Background

Introduction to Christian Liberty: A Tacky and Delicate Subject

0:05 I've announced that we would be considering for some Lord's Day evenings, precisely how many, I'm not sure, some of the basic portions of the Word of God dealing with the broad subject of Christian liberty. Now, that may be a new term to some of you. I trust it will not be a new term when this series of studies is concluded, but that you will have some understanding of what generally has been meant when the people of God have spoken concerning Christian liberty. Now, anyone who has any acquaintance with the connotation of those two words, Christian liberty,

0:45 or the larger phrase, the doctrine of Christian liberty, is aware that this is a tacky and a very delicate subject. However, it's accurate to say that no serious study of the Word of God in general, or of the doctrines of grace in particular, can long be maintained without one's being forced to consider this whole issue of Christian liberty. Now, the simple reason for this is because the gospel of Christ has as one of its dominant notes the proclamation of liberty.

1:27 It was said in prophecy that Messiah would come, anointed, of the Holy Spirit for the explicit purpose of proclaiming liberty to those who were bound, and the opening of the prison to those who were in a state of bondage. When the Lord Himself appeared among men, He used language such as that as is found in John 8. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Then when we turn to the apostolic writings, we find such language as this, For freedom did Christ set you free.

2:06 Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Further, we read such things as these, The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and of death. The words of Peter, As free, yet not using your freedom as a cloak for maliciousness. So you see, if we take the Scriptures seriously, any study, even a cursory study of the Scriptures, will sooner or later force us to ask such questions as these.

2:41 What is the precise nature of that liberty purchased by Christ and applied by the Holy Spirit? What are the implications of that liberty in worship, in service, and in general Christian conduct? In treating this subject, in the Institutes, Calvin, who is rarely quoted from this pulpit, contrary to the suspicions of some, he is rarely quoted from this pulpit,

3:11 introduces his treatment of this in his Institutes by saying he who proposes to summarize gospel teaching, which is what Calvin was doing in the Institutes, his purpose was not to start a theological battle, but to give a practical pastoral summary of the gospel that the people of God might be grounded, that the people of God might be grounded therein. And so he says, he who proposes, and in this case it was himself, to give a summary of gospel teaching ought by no means to omit an explanation of this topic, that is Christian liberty. For it is a thing of prime necessity, and apart from a knowledge of it, consciences dare undertake almost nothing without doubting.

3:56 They hesitate and recoil from many things, they constantly waver and are afraid, but freely, freedom is especially an appendage of justification and is of no little avail in understanding its power. You see what he is saying? He is saying if we take seriously the Bible doctrine of justification, the salvation tendered to us in Jesus Christ, we must in any summary of the gospel of free grace treat the subject of Christian liberty. Now so much by way of that introduction to ease us into the subject, the form we shall follow is not verse by verse exposition of any given passage, but it will be topical

Outline of the Series and Historical Background

4:40 in that we will be opening up many portions of the word of God from many sections of the scriptures. And the basic framework of our study will be as follows. This evening I want to give a brief historical background to the issue of Christian liberty, taking apostolic history as it is found in the scriptures, and then just a few words about subsequent churches, church history, particularly Reformation history. And then secondly I wish to state those factors in our own contemporary situation which demand clear thinking on this subject.

5:16 And then after giving you a homework assignment in our next study, God willing, I shall give a broad biblical and theological statement of the doctrine using the Westminster Confession as our guide. And then fourthly we'll focus on the matter of things indifferent. If you want to sound very learned, you say the adiaphora. And that's what we'll be discussing, the adiaphora.

5:39 Matters of things indifferent, and then a hopper into which I throw anything else that I haven't been able to cover will give some practical conclusions, exhortations, and warnings arising out of the preceding. All right, tonight then, it is my purpose, first of all, to give a brief historical background to the issue of Christian liberty, first of all in apostolic history, and then in the history of Christian liberty. And then in church history, particularly Reformation history. And there are four major strands of historical fact which come to us in the New Testament which force upon the writers of the New Testament a thorough dealing with the subject of Christian liberty.

Apostolic History: The Problem of Transition

6:23 And those four things, I'll give you four catchwords by which to remember them, and then we'll look at them in some detail. There was the problem of transition, secondly, the problem of expansion, thirdly, the problem of inclusion, and then the problem of defection. Transition, expansion, inclusion, and defection. First of all then, Christian liberty, the whole doctrine of Christian liberty was forced upon the New Testament writers because of the issue of transition.

6:59 In other words, the New Testament is written in the context of the New Testament. So the phasing out of the old Jewish economy and the introduction and full establishment of the church in its mature form. We had a little bit of that this morning. There was a time when Gentiles were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel.

7:19 There was a barrier between Jew and Gentile which God Himself had erected. Now the width of that barrier was sometimes increased by Jewish carnal pride. And the height of it at times. But the barrier itself was erected by God Himself.

7:36 It was God who forbade the Gentiles from entering into the place of Jewish worship. It was God who had erected this middle wall of partition for wise and necessary purposes connected with redemption. But what do we have in the New Testament? Well, we have the record of a transition period in which God is tearing down the structure of the old, introducing and establishing the structure of the new.

8:01 He is phasing out the people and the peculiarities of old covenant worship with its temple, with its priesthood, with its sacrifices and all of the rest. And He is introducing and establishing the genius and the beauty of the new covenant with its heavenly and spiritual realities. Its heavenly priesthood, its heavenly sacrifice, its heavenly temple, its true Israel and all of these other concepts so richly expounded in a book such as the book of Hebrews and also, in the book of Galatians. Now you say, what in the world then does this transition from the old covenant to the new have to do with Christian liberty?

8:41 Well, just this. The old economy was marked by the centrality of the law and all of the ceremonies and religious life which were attached to the Jewish law. Now this question began to trouble believers because the first believers were predominantly drawn from those who had worshipped under the old economy.

9:07 Now, having come to embrace Christ as the fulfillment of everything to which the old pointed, they had a problem. The temple was still standing. There was a line of priests still functioning at Jerusalem. Devout Jews still went up to Jerusalem three times a year for the stated feast.

9:26 That's why the whole bunch was there on the day of Pentecost. Now they had this problem. What do we do now that the new is coming but some of the, the trappings of the old are still standing? There's a man who becomes a believer on February 2nd.

9:42 On February 18th, his son is born. And he says, man, eight days from now, I've got to stay. Well, wait, do I really? Do I need to have him circumcised or don't I?

9:53 That was a problem.

9:55 You see, we removed from that and just sort of be indifferent. This is a tremendous problem. I still go up to the feast at Jerusalem. But is it not God who said I should go?

10:06 And if I now have the reality, does that mean I can no longer, hold to the shadow, which is now all the more meaningful that I have the substance? How much of the old Jewish worship shall still be enforced? Here was this period of transition. And it is because of that historical fact that the doctrine of Christian liberty was hammered out in New Testament apostolic concern.

10:32 The book of Galatians addresses itself to that very problem. Romans chapter 14 deals with certain holy days and feast days and certain things that were taboo from a religious standpoint. So you see, these chapters and the whole book of Galatians do not grow out of some abstract, detached theological concern of the apostolic writers. No, no.

Apostolic History: The Problem of Expansion

10:55 These things grew out of the problems connected with transition from the old and the introduction into the new. All right? The second factor in apostolic history is what I'm calling expansion. While God is drawing His people to Himself in the first initial thrust of the Gospel after the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, drawing them primarily from the Jewish community, His design was that they should be witnesses unto Him both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

11:30 So now there is the problem that is related to the expansion of the church. You not only have transition from the old into the new, you now...

11:39 You have penetration and expansion. So the Gospel comes to a pagan city. It comes to a place such as Corinth. And now they have tremendous problems with their old pattern of life.

11:52 Prior to their conversion, their whole way of life was wrapped up with their heathen deities. They did not have simple feasts. The feasts were in honor of the deities. And so you have the problem dealt with in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 concerning meat that has been offered, unto idols and worshiping in the idol temple.

12:13 Or shall I buy some bargain beef that's sold in the market outside of the temple? If I buy that beef and take it home and say to my wife, I've got a nice cut of meat at a bargain price, am I indulging in the worship of the idol to which that meat had been offered a half an hour before I buy it? This is a real problem. I've got chapters in the New Testament addressing themselves to this problem.

12:36 The Council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 addresses itself, to this very problem. What was the problem? The mansion. The church had its rituals.

12:47 How much of this must be radically cut off once one is introduced to the gospel? Furthermore, most heathen religions had rules of asceticism on the one hand, or they gave license that led to libertinism on the other hand. And now they hear we're free in Christ? Well, does that mean we're free to just follow wherever our impulses lead us?

13:13 On the other hand, we're called to self-denial. Does that mean we should not enjoy our food? We should not enjoy marriage? Remember what Paul says?

13:23 There in Colossians, there are these false teachers, he said, infecting the church at Colossia. And he says what they're doing is a great show of will-worship. Touch not, taste not, handle not. They had their rules of asceticism.

13:35 And you had others, according to Peter, who promised themselves liberty while they themselves were the servants of corruption. So you see, the problem of the gospel expanding is expanding. Into the heathen community created certain problems to which the apostolic writers had to address themselves. What is the precise nature of our liberty in Christ?

13:55 Are we so free in Christ that we need not concern ourselves with whether or not we eat a piece of meat offered to an idol? Are we so free in Christ that we need not concern ourselves with what someone else may think if I eat that meat offered to an idol? Those are the questions to which large portions of the New Testament address themselves. Now, there's a third strand of apostolic history that forced on the apostolic writers a wrestling with the doctrine of Christian liberty, and it is the problem of inclusion.

Apostolic History: The Problem of Inclusion

14:27 With this expansion, Gentiles are being brought to Christ. Now, God did not have any notion that in cosmopolitan communities where God had sovereignly in the dispositions of His providence mixed Jew and Gentile, that Jews should establish separate churches that would have a real Jewish flavor. Kosher churches. And that Gentiles ought to establish Gentile churches.

14:57 No, no. We find there was a tremendous problem of inclusion. You see? Now, just try to think what this meant.

15:07 Here comes a kosher Jew out of a lifestyle that from the time he can remember anything, from the dawn of consciousness, certain things were clean, certain were unclean, there were rituals, and there were all of these other things connected with the whole mosaic economy, and you've been programmed from the dawning of consciousness to think and act and react in a certain way to foods, to people in terms of their national identity, and suddenly you're sitting in an assembly somewhere next to someone who's been saved out of raw paganism. A Gentile dog. And there you are, thrown in the same place.

15:48 He's uncircumcised. He doesn't know the difference between one day and another. No day is sacred to him. He counts all days alike.

15:57 No foods are clean and unclean. Right, a guy has ham sandwiches for lunch. I saw him.

16:03 He doesn't know the difference. You had this problem of inclusion.

16:10 So A.B., the kosher brother, he just comes to his Greek brother over here, saved out of his pagan background, and says, look, you've just got to cut this business out. This will never do.

16:22 And he starts trying to impose upon him the tradition of inclusion. The trappings of his whole Jewish ceremonial background. He says, look, I've got to take you to the local priest not to get saved. Christ has saved you, but he's got to pick you up.

16:32 You're just not quite in unless you're circumcised.

16:36 And listen, you've just got to alter what you've got in your refrigerator at home. Some of that stuff has got to go, man. If you're going to have me come over your house, it's terribly offensive to me. You see?

16:45 And then the Greek brother over here says, look, you've got all kinds of hang-ups. You've got to get sorted out. Don't you know we're free in Christ? And what happens?

16:52 They come to loggerheads because of the problem. The problem of the inclusion. And notice carefully, the apostles never hinted that the answer was separate Jewish churches and separate Gentile churches.

17:08 They would rather be in agony over the disruption and the problems that grew out of inclusion than to enter to the notion that there ought to be separate Jewish and separate Gentile churches. As we shall see in the exposition of Ephesians 2 as we go on in that chapter that we began again in this morning. He has broken down the middle wall of partition and is made of the two one. And what is true of our essential oneness in Christ on the basis of redemption, God wants it to be manifested at the level of communion and fellowship.

17:46 So that's why the writers say one man esteems every day alike. To him there are no holy days. But he said another man, he's still in his conscience, feels every time those special holy days come around, he just can't treat them like any other day of the week. And what does he say?

18:02 Well, let all the people who are persuaded one way form their own little church. And no, no, no, he doesn't. He said, you've got to learn not only how to peacefully coexist, but lovingly interact with each other. And the doctrine of Christian liberty has expounded in Romans 14, Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 8, grows out again of this problem of inclusion.

Apostolic History: The Problem of Defection (Legalism and Libertinism)

18:24 The council at Jerusalem, that was the problem. And so they had to wrestle with it. And then there is the fourth. The factor in apostolic history which forced this doctrine to the forefront.

18:38 And it's the problem of defection. The word deflection would be proper. I looked it up. But defection is better.

18:45 To deflect is to bounce off at an angle. So we talk of someone deflecting from truth. But defection, of course, is to leave the ranks. And I've opted out for defection.

18:56 In other words, there was the ever-present problem of defection from the truth of God into two errors. The error of legalism and the error of libertinism or antinomianism. And these were two very real problems in the early church. The problem of legalism, which is what?

19:18 It's the problem there at Galatia that says not only is it proper for our kosher brother to continue to engage in certain manifestations of Jewish ceremonial law. It is essential for him, to be saved. And it's essential for our non-kosher brother. You see, the issue was that these Judaizers were teaching it was necessary to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved.

19:48 That's the language of Scripture.

19:53 And so you had this defection from the doctrine that salvation is solely by grace and not based upon human merit or human works. Well, then there were those people who'd shout up a story. Well, they'd shout up a story and they'd say, well, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do that.

20:10 I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that.

20:10 We're not saved by what we do. Conclusion then, what we do doesn't make any difference.

20:17 And so there was the problem of license and libertinism, antinomianism, all synonymous terms. Anti, against, nomos, the Greek word for law, antinomianism, against law. We're so free, we're free to do whatever our flesh tells us. And since we're saved by the law-keeping of another, that is Jesus Christ, and by the devil, by the death that he rendered on behalf of a broken law, what I do in relationship to God's law doesn't make a bit of difference.

20:49 I can live as I please and I'll still be all right.

20:55 Now that was no potential or theoretical problem. That was a real problem in the early church. And so Paul addresses himself very powerfully to the legalistic spirit in Galatians. He does it again in sections of Romans.

21:09 But that same Paul addresses himself to the antinomian spirit in passages such as 1 Corinthians 6. He does it again in the latter part of Galatians 5. James addresses himself to it in his entire epistle. Addresses himself to these who say all is well, but who evidence no moral and ethical submission to the standards of biblical conduct.

21:32 Well, I submit to you that these four problems in apostolic church history, transition, moving from the old economy to the new, expansion, the gospel, penetrating the heathen community so that the Jew can no longer be comfortable in his Jewish insulation. And you know how practical this is. You know some of the problems we faced when God began to give us increase about two or three years ago into segments of society where we hadn't penetrated before. And God began to bring among us some of you who were pretty mixed up and didn't know which end was up.

22:05 In any era, the scriptures, life in general, and all the rest, well, we had to adjust because we had to adjust. Because of the problems due to expansion. And then there was the problem of inclusion. Getting these people all melted together into one worshiping, functioning body of Jesus Christ.

22:25 And then the problem of defection.

The Profound Nature of Christian Liberty

22:30 Now these facts, and that's all they've been, is a brief overview of some New Testament facts, should help us to see that the issue of Christian liberty is much more fundamental than such questions as these. Shall we or shall we not attend the motion picture theater? You see, the minute you mention Christian liberty, somebody's wondering, well, if you're going to tell us, now, it's a little bit of a caricature, but I'm sure, if I wanted to do a little survey right now with a raise of hands, some of you would be red-faced.

22:58 Shall I or may I have a little bit of wine once in a while? Christian liberty. Can I or can I not do this? Shall I or shall I not do that?

23:07 Can I drink or eat this? Or can I not? Now you see, when we come to the doctrine of Christian liberty, dear people, we're dealing with one that is of profound concern to the very nature of the liberty promised in the Gospel. It touches the whole issue of the implications of that liberty with reference to God's law, with reference to holiness, and the problems connected with this doctrine touch avenues of the practical life of the Church of Christ in its interaction with itself and with the world.

Reformation History: Liberty from Roman Bondage

23:43 Now that's a broad, all-encompassing area of concern. And therefore, I trust we shall approach it in reverence, in utter dependence upon the Spirit of God that He Himself might teach us. Now, having given you this brief overview of the history of the emergence of this doctrine in apostolic history, now briefly, in Church history in general, but in particular in Reformation history. If you read the confessions that grew out of the Reformation, the Helvetic Confession, and then, of course, the Westminster Confession, which I feel, and I simply echo the sentiments of men, who are far more competent than I to speak on this subject,

24:25 it is the highest expression, the most rich expression, or the richest expression of Reformation thought and life. These men, who were pastor-teacher theologians, when they drew up this confession, gave a whole chapter with four lengthy paragraphs to the subject of Christian liberty. Now, why? Why was this doctrine so prominent?

24:51 In the thinking of the Reformers. Why does Luther, in his exposition of Galatians, at times, roar like a bear when he's opening up the doctrine of Christian liberty? I just often wonder what it must have been like to hear Luther preach in the flesh, when he can roar through black ink on paper with such volume and vehemence at times, hundreds of years after he was dead. It must have been something to have heard him in the flesh.

25:15 But be that as it may, Luther roared and thundered on the doctrine of Christian liberty. The Reformation Confession, are very careful to spell out what this liberty is and what it is not. Well, why? Why?

25:29 Well, may I suggest the answers to be found in remembering that these men were, for the most part, men who came out of the Church of Rome at a time when people took seriously the teachings of that Church. Now, you have many Romanists today who, in our day of anarchy, could care less what Papa Paul thinks or what Papa Paul says. But this was a day when you did not even dare question whether or not Papa Paul or Papa Leo, whoever was Papa at the time, you didn't even dare question whether he might be right or wrong. To do so was to put yourself in jeopardy of mortal sin that would land you in hell with no hope of getting prayed out if you brought a whole carload of shekels

26:13 for prayers on your behalf. They took the doctrine of Rome seriously. Now, when anyone takes classic, historic, Roman Catholic teachings seriously, there is but one word to describe its effect upon the human soul. One word.

26:31 Bondage.

26:33 Bondage. Miserable, crippling, overpowering, almost dehumanizing bondage. It is bondage with reference to God. Their whole doctrine of God was one which produced nothing but dread and fear.

26:53 You never thought of God as Father, though you may have said, a hundred our fathers. You thought of God as the angry, frowning, distant judge waiting, as it were, to pounce upon your soul and to cast it to the flames. And that's why the Mariolatry was almost a psychological necessity to replace this of the unapproachable, distant, angry deity. Mary was so kind and gentle and we feel we can approach her.

27:26 It was bondage with reference to worship. Everything was, with form and ceremony. Do this, do the other, do it this way, do the other way. The whole ritual of the Mass, the priest was instructed to say certain Latin words at a certain time in a certain way.

27:39 Bondage. Nothing of a liberty and freedom of truership. With reference to life, all the rules and regulations, bondage. With reference to dogma, everything worked out and handed to you and you were expected to believe it upon pain of death.

27:55 The anathema of the church was always there like a sword of Damocles, hanging over you. Over the head that said, you dare not think for yourself. Now, when the light of the Gospel broke in upon the minds and hearts of such people, there is but one word to characterize the practical effect of the Gospel. If bondage was the word that characterized their condition under its power, the word liberty characterized their condition when they came out from under that power.

28:23 Liberty. I approach God as my Father in worship. Freedom! With reference to the knowledge of God.

28:34 Freedom with reference to life. A man is now free to be a man and say that he desires a wife. And that's why Luther was so homey and earthy in all of his talk and discussion of family life. Homey to the place where some of us are a little too fastidious to consider him a bit crude.

28:53 But it's because he'd experienced the liberty of the Gospel in which he could face himself in the mirror as a man and say it's right that I should be a man and have the desires to be a man. To have a wife and to be a father and to laugh with my children and to snuggle with my wife. It is right. I'm free to be a man.

29:12 I no longer am in bondage to that cursed teaching that says that my normal God-given manly desires are something to be driven out by flagellations and fastings and penance. I'm free to be a man. Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. I'm free with reference to dogma.

29:33 I'm a free man who can stand under the Lordship of Christ indwelt by the Spirit and search the Scriptures to know what God has revealed. And so one of the watchwords of the Reformation was sola scriptura. The Scriptures alone as a self-interpreting body of divine revelation. Now do you see why?

29:53 Why then, Calvin said, no summary of the Gospel is complete that does not touch Christian liberty. Calvin knew something of the bondage of Roman teaching. Calvin knew what it was to be in the grip of the tyranny of Romish doctrine. Richard Sibbes, a worthy son of the Reformation, said, and I now quote, it is both unthankfulness to God and wrong to ourselves to be ignorant of the extent of our liberty in Christ.

30:26 It makes melody to Satan to see Christians troubled with that they neither should or need. It makes melody, to Satan, to see Christians troubled with that they neither should or need. It is both unthankfulness to God and wrong to ourselves to be ignorant of the nature of our liberty in Christ. And so I submit to you that in Reformation thought the doctrine of Christian liberty gained tremendous prominence because these men came out of the bondage of Romanism and the doctrine of Christian liberty.

Contemporary Situation: Dispensationalism's Influence and the Law of God

31:09 And so I submit to you and coming out of that bondage they drank in their liberty in Jesus Christ and wanted to leave as a heritage to further generations or unborn generations their understanding of the teaching of the Word of God at this point. Now having given you that brief historical overview, apostolic history, and from the standpoint of Reformation history, now let me address myself to something that's closer to home. This is the second major division of our study tonight. The contemporary studies and the contemporary situation which makes discussion of this doctrine extremely difficult but absolutely necessary.

31:46 Why am I blocking out some five, six, maybe seven, eight, I'm not sure, Sunday evenings in which to address myself to this subject? Knowing something of its delicacy, knowing something of how difficult it is when handling a subject topically to be balanced, to be comprehensive. I know that I've cut out an awful lot of work for myself. Why?

32:07 Why? Well, let me try to answer. There's no disputing the fact that there is a growing rediscovery of the doctrinal heritage of the Reformation.

32:20 This very assembly is living proof of that fact. And it's a fact that's both embarrassing and disturbing to a lot of people, but it's a fact nonetheless. The emergence of the Banner of Truth Trust and the many publishing houses that are now publishing contemporary and old Christian writers who reflect those perspectives that can best be described as Reformation perspectives, the centrality of God, the predominance of grace in the scheme of salvation. Now, the problem is that most or many of us who have, in the goodness of God, been rediscovering these doctrinal heritages

33:04 or this doctrinal heritage of the Reformation have had as part of our background a greater or lesser involvement in the total religious climate of dispensationalism. Now, please, if anyone is here as a dispensationalist, don't plug your ears and say, there they go at that church clobbering dispensationalism. Seldom is that term ever used from this pulpit. If you're visiting with us, please take my word for it.

33:29 If you want confirmation, pick out any ten takes at random of the eight or nine hundred in there, and I doubt you'll hear the word dispensation or dispensationalism there. But in trying to give this background, I've tried not to use it, but if I spent time to describe the things, without telling you what it is, that would take another two hours, so I'm going to use the term. But will you please be gracious in allowing me the liberty of using it as I try to be gracious in showing its influence. Now, dispensationalism as a full-blown system of religious thought and life has predominated American evangelicalism in the non-traditionally Reformed churches for the past 50 to 75 years.

34:07 Such churches as the Christian Reformed Church, such churches as some of the Presbyterian churches, some of the Lutheran churches, though they've had some infection with dispensationalism, they've not been dominated by it. But the independent Bible churches, most of the Baptist churches, most of the Bible church movement has been dominated by dispensationalism as a full-orbed religious perspective. It has not simply been the notion that in the unfolding of the history of redemption there were certain epochs in which God dealt this way. No, no.

34:44 Dispensationalism is something more than that. And one of the dominant characteristics of dispensationalism has been its indifference to or its outright rejection of the law of God as a valid standard of conduct for the believer.

35:02 Dispensationalism's watchword has been for the most part we're not under law, we're under grace. Its interpretation of that biblical phrase has been if we love Christ we don't need rules. The Ten Commandments are mosaic. They're for the Jew under the old economy in the dispensation of law which ended at Calvary.

35:20 They're for the Jews in the kingdom age when the Lord comes back and makes His headquarters at Jerusalem. That's official dispensational teaching. And though there may be some lessons to be learned from the Ten Commandments, we are not to give ourselves to expounding the Ten Commandments as a valid expression of the lifestyle of a believer in, quote, the age of grace.

35:44 Now it can be demonstrated historically that whenever you give up God's law as the rule of conduct you will always end up substituting your own laws.

35:59 That's exactly what the Pharisees did. Remember what Jesus said to them in Mark 7? What did He say in Mark 7? Turn to it now.

36:08 And I'm conscious that I haven't actually turned you to a specific passage tonight which is also rare here. But the nature of the introduction has precluded that. But we have been dealing with biblicalism and biblical principles and broad biblical concepts.

36:24 Jesus said to the Pharisees, to the Jews of His day, verse 8 of Mark 7, Ye leave the commandment of God and hold fast the tradition of men. And He said unto them, Full well do you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. And then He gives a specific example. For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother.

36:50 Fifth commandment. Fifth commandment. And then from an application of it further on in the Mosaic economy, he that speaketh evil of father and mother let him die the death. But ye say, and then he exposes their clever little way of getting around God's commandment.

37:04 Honor your father and your mother. What's that mean? Well, at least means if they're destitute and in need, you provide for their physical sustenance if you have the wherewithal to do so. And the Pharisee would say, yes, that's right.

37:14 But the portion I set apart for mom and pop I took up to the temple and it's dedicated to God. They call it korban. That is dedicated to God. And then they went skipping along with their consciences never bothering them when they walked by the destitute mother and father.

37:28 He says, you see what you've done you clever hypocrites? By substituting your own regulations and manipulating and playing with words you're living in open defiance of what God has clearly revealed. And that beats or enunciates a principle that is always true in religious experience. When men no longer believe that God in His wisdom through His law has given an adequate standard for human conduct and they cast it aside they'll always substitute their own that is rooted in human tradition.

38:01 And this has been characteristic of dispensationalism in its influence of the ethics of all who've come within its orbit. Proof? I'll just give you a few to show you that I'm not whistling Dixie on this matter.

38:16 It's not enough that God says thou shalt not kill. That is, thou shalt have a serious regard for human life and wherever human life exists we're to regard it as a sacred gift from God a sacred trust from God a sacred accountability to God for human life mine my neighbors my children etc. That's adequate to touch all legitimate taboos. I must not then take into this body or seek to impose upon the body of another anything that is destructive of life.

38:52 Now we know that drunkenness is destructive of life but so is excessive coffee drinking and so is excessive caloric intake that puts a strain upon the heart that it was never made to bear. But in fundamental circles if someone sees someone who is not a drunk who accepts wine as the gift of God as we read in Psalm 104 and who enjoys with moderation a glass of wine with a meal and gives God thanks for it and to calm his nerves he pumps down five more cups of coffee

39:31 in his heart with his excessive coffee drinking than that man does with his occasional glass of wine which may actually aid his digestion help him to sleep better and have his heart function better the next day. Now is this a polemic for wine drinking? No. No.

39:55 No it isn't. It's simply a specific illustration of what I'm talking about.

40:01 The law of God says that I'm to regard my mind as a sacred trust from God. I'm to love him with my whole mind. That means that everything that comes in at the mind's inlet the eyes the ears everything that comes in to the mind's inlet is to be something that I can with good conscience receive as a gift from God. Therefore everything that I read everything that I hear I must be able to say I can do so as an expression of love to God with all my mind.

40:34 Now that'll take in what I watch on the television what I read that'll take in the music I listen to that takes in everything. But what's fundamental isn't done. Thrown out God's law and said thou shalt not go the moon pictures show when it's on the corner when it's in the commercial situation. And you have evangelicals who've been influenced by this who sit and spend hours in front of their TV watching stuff that is polluting their minds and it never bothers their conscience why it isn't in the checklist.

41:06 It's only when you go down on the avenue because people can see you then and then you'll be a stumbling block. Ever hear that before?

41:14 I've heard it ad nauseum.

41:17 That means until you're sick to the stomach. Whenever you see ad nauseum written that's what it means. Now dear ones I don't mean to caricature but these are very real things.

41:28 Very real things. Thou shalt not commit adultery. What's that mean?

41:34 It means that purity shall mark every motion of thought and attitude and desire. And that I shall not in the words of the exposition of this that commandment in the larger catechism there are line after line of what that commandment forbids and what it enjoins upon us. I shall not do anything that unnecessarily provokes unto lust in myself or in another.

41:57 But you see when you throw out God's law as a valid standard of conduct and substitute your own. I've been at camps where young people came from churches steeped in dispensational ethics and dispensational theology. Oh no. We would never cohabit but the provocation to lust in the way they conducted themselves carried themselves the way they acted on their dates in front of fellows and girls.

42:22 It was a constant violation of the seventh commandment but the things they were doing were not on the check. Do you follow me now? Do I need to go any further to demonstrate that whenever you throw out the law of God as the valid standard as an adequate standard for human conduct you'll substitute your laws your own laws which like the Pharisees always tend toward externalism.

42:46 Always. Toward externalism and towards a clever way of avoiding the very victims of God's law. Ye make void the word of God by your tradition. Now that's the problem many of us face you see.

Contemporary Situation: Fear of License and the Need for Balance

43:05 In coming to the doctrine of Christian liberty we do not come to it in a vacuum. We come to it out of the context of our past associations. Now something further complicates the problem. That when we look around at the traditionally reformed denominations such as the Christian Reformed Church and some of those other reformed bodies that have come out of the Netherlands and some of them that have come out of the Highlands and out of other parts of the world.

43:30 Of Europe. Some of us are scared to death. Because we see in these denominations that have had as part of their heritage a full orb doctrine of Christian liberty for the most part. Now this is not a blanket condemnation.

43:44 But for the most part we see an absence of real evangelical piety. Any hungering after holiness. We see little of real evangelistic zeal. We see people who say oh Christian liberty yeah that means I can smoke my cigars and drink my beer.

43:59 Why get all uptight about it? Then we see people who apparently have never wrestled with whether or not some of these externals do indeed affect their testimony before the world and in relationship to others. And we say well boy if that's what that doctrine leads you to I don't want that. And then we say but at the same time I don't want that that I'm coming out of and we feel like we're between the devil and the deep blue sea.

44:21 And we say where do we go? Well my friends may I encourage you first of all by the reassurance that that kind of fearfulness that kind of cautionness is a healthy thing. This is a delicate and a dangerous doctrine. Calvin was very much aware of that when he introduced it after saying what he did about its importance he went on to say as soon as Christian liberty is mentioned either passions boil or wild tumults arise unless these wanton spirits are opposed in time who otherwise most wickedly corrupt the best things.

44:59 Some on the pretext of this freedom shake off all obedience to God and break out in unbridled license. Others disdain it thinking it takes away all moderation order and choice of things. Now isn't that true? And that's what's going to happen and I'm fully aware of it and that's why I'm scared to death to preach this series.

45:18 If the Holy Ghost does not teach you these things you know what some of you are going to do? You're going to run off like a young wild ass who's just been turned loose from the corral for the first time and you're going to ruin yourself with this doctrine. And there are others of you in reacting against it who are going to say if that's where the doctrine leads I'll have nothing to do with it. Calvin saw that in his day.

45:40 Listen. As soon as this is mentioned Christians boil or wild tune on the pretext he said not the proper use but the pretext of this freedom shake off all obedience to God and they break out into unbridled license. Others say that doctrine takes away all moderation order and choice of things I'll have nothing to do with it.

46:05 Well if it's so dangerous and men can run off into license on the one hand or overreact against it into legalism why bother study it? Calvin goes on to say but as we've said unless this freedom be comprehended neither Christ nor gospel truth nor inner peace of soul can be rightly known. Rather we must take care that so necessary a part of doctrine be not suppressed yet at the same time that those absurd objections which are wont to arise be met. And that's my purpose in this study that by the grace of God I shall anticipate those objections that are wont to be made and to meet them with due biblical instruction and caution.

46:48 So the contemporary situation in which we find ourselves demands that we deal with this. Because of the past influence that many of us have experienced because of the undesirability of some of the options that are before us if we are to give to our generation and that's all we're really responsible for we need to look at past generations to learn and cursed is the man who has no historical perspective and we must have a sense of responsibility in terms of wondering what foundation blocks we're laying for unborn generations but in a real sense there is but one generation for which we're responsible and that's this generation. It said of David he served his generation

47:33 by the will of God and fell on sleep. And that should be our desire. And if we're to bear a valid witness to our generation of what biblical Christianity is , individually and corporately the doctrine of Christian liberty must be understood and then fleshed out in the totality of our lifestyle as a congregation and in our individual life patterns as believers under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Something that touches the roots of the freedom purchased in Christ cannot be passed over with indifference or with an over fastidiousness.

Why This Doctrine is Essential: Honoring Christ and Our View of the World

48:10 And I confess that I've had to pray through that fastidiousness. I said Lord I'm scared to death to open up this doctrine because I know some who are sensitive are going to react and say well pastor's trying to get us all to be a bunch of libertines.

48:28 I know some of you are going to have to fight this. You're going to go home tonight and probably pray Lord I believe pastor's wrong and even say he's going to deal with this doctrine. Lord deal with it.

48:38 Well once you tell the Lord in secret it's all right. But I believe God has dealt with me in terms of being overly fastidious. Because you see the tap roots of the freedom purchased by Christ are involved here. Has Christ set you free from the rules of men?

48:54 Yes or no? If he has you dishonor him by coming to the rules of men. You can deny yourself any lawful liberty for Christ's sake and honor Christ but you cannot deny yourself one lawful liberty in subjection to man and honor Jesus Christ.

49:13 You're the bond servants of Christ. Be not ye the servants of men.

49:19 It's one thing for me to say no to many many things out of love to Christ and desire for the furtherance of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9 knowing I'm perfectly free to receive those things as God's gifts. It's another thing for me to look upon them as no-no's because some man has said you shall not touch them. So you see we cannot honor Christ and avoid this subject since it involves our whole view of the material world as created by God.

49:46 We can't avoid it. We read this morning that everything God made he looked upon and said it was good. Everything. Everything.

49:54 You see the doctrine of Christian liberty greatly affects your whole view of the material world. How do I look upon it? As God did? Or am I a pagan dualist who says some things are intrinsically evil?

50:07 Paul had to fight this in his day. He said every creation of God is good and to be received with thanksgiving. Some of you can't receive all of God's creation with good. With thanksgiving.

50:19 As good. Why? You've come under bondage to the doctrines of man. Now does that say you will take your liberty to enjoy every facet of God's creation?

50:29 No. But you know that you're free in Christ so to do if there are good reasons to do so. So you see our whole view of the material world and that's one of the curses again of the dispensational ethic. It has a pagan element of looking upon certain things as intrinsically evil.

50:47 It has a pagan view of the material world. Much of it. Not all. And since this involves the issue of practical godliness we've got to deal with it.

Why This Doctrine is Essential: Relationships in the Body of Christ

50:57 And finally since it involves our relationships in the body of Christ. We must deal with it. To what extent do you have a right to expect me to conform to your set of no-no's and yes-yes's?

51:12 To what right do I have? To what extent do I have a right to expect you to conform to my yes-yes's and my no-no's? Some of you will remember back when you were just beginning to sport a mustache or a beard. I might make a comment and say I think it looks good.

51:26 I think it doesn't look so good. I'm always careful to say look I'm talking now as your brother from an aesthetic standpoint not as your elder in a place of spiritual authority. You say well why in the world did you do that? Because I don't have the bit of authority to bind your conscience about the fuzz on your face.

51:43 You see? I don't. If I say one thing with reference to the fuzz on a man's face that bears any indication that I'm saying that from the standpoint of constituted spiritual authority I'm usurping a place in his conscience which I have no right to.

52:04 Now I'm perfectly free to say I think you look stupid. with a beard. I'm perfectly free to say I think you look good with a beard. I've said both.

52:23 Now do you see how this applies then to us in our church life? We've had people come to us and say I didn't notice anything in your constitution about a covenant of conduct. I said no I'm afraid you don't. I said we've got one perfectly adequate covenant of conduct here in the world.

52:41 We don't need a supplemental one.

52:44 There are actually churches where you can't join until you vow that you will never do this touch this go here go this go the other. Who has the right to bind the consciences of men? King Jesus alone and he's done it in his word and that word is adequate. We believe that scripture is sufficient to make the man or woman of God perfect unto every.

Homework Assignment and Concluding Prayer

53:08 So brothers and sisters that's the issue before us in the doctrine of Christian liberty. I hope this has whetted your appetite to plunge into the subject. Now you have a little homework. Next Lord's Day God willing I should be preaching down in Houston, Texas.

53:21 So it's obvious you won't be hearing about Christian liberty unless one of the brethren who's preaching here will be treating the subject. The following Lord's Day evening Eugene and Noel are going to give us their report of the summer. You got that Eugene? Two weeks from tonight the report from the visit to Puerto Rico for the summer.

53:39 All right? But then God willing the first Lord's Day of the new month will be considering together the first study in the doctrine itself. And I would seriously now encourage you as a little homework to get your mind at least orientated to the basic perspectives that we'll be covering. Read the section in the Westminster Confession.

54:01 It's chapter 20 in the London Confession chapter 21 dealing with Christian liberty. Read it. Try to analyze it. Get the basic elements.

54:09 The outline is very very clear. Every one of you ought to be able to outline it without too much trouble. And then I would encourage you please to read these following chapters through at least once between now and then to get a acquainted with the basic areas of biblical teaching. Galatians chapter 5.

54:28 Galatians chapter 5.

54:32 Romans chapters 14 and 15. Romans 14 and 15.

54:40 And 1 Corinthians chapters 8 through 10.

54:47 These are the pivotal chapters dealing with the subject of Christian liberty. We'll be referring to them to a greater or lesser degree in the unfolding of the series of studies. And I trust that God in his grace will make this a time of rich profit and may I solicit your prayers that the Lord will guard us lest the enemy take advantage of this area of truth to do in our day what Calvin saw the enemy doing in his day. It's only the spirit of truth that can keep us from abusing the truth but blessed be God he is able to do so.

55:22 Let us now unite our hearts in prayer.

55:33 Father we thank you for that liberty that has been purchased for us in Jesus Christ.

55:41 We who were the slaves of the devil.

55:45 We who were the lackeys of our own lustful impulses and desires.

55:53 Many of us slaves for years to a condemning accusing conscience and to the fear and dread of death and judgment in hell. Oh God we thank you for the freedom that we know in Christ. The freedom to know that there is now no condemnation to those who are in union with Christ Jesus. The freedom to receive all of your gifts as good and to sanctify them by the word of God and by prayer.

56:24 Oh Lord we bless you for this freedom and yet we are conscious that our remaining sin would abuse this freedom. Oh we ask that as we embark upon this series of studies that your spirit would teach us. Lord have mercy on us. Lord have mercy on us.

56:39 Help me in my preparation that blind spots that I now have may not be projected upon this people. Oh Lord give me light and ever increasing understanding and balance and wholeness of perspective and deep pastoral insight and give to this people the Berean spirit that will not accept anything apart from that independent searching of the scriptures to see whether these things be so and then Father we are confident that in a group this size there are some who know nothing of even the beginnings of liberty in Christ who are slaves of

57:22 their sin slaves to their own lust. Oh Lord as they've observed and felt in this place tonight something of the holy joy of the people of God attending upon praise and prayer and the word of God may it create in them a jealousy to know that no this God who obviously is known and loved by the people in whose midst they have sat tonight and now Father we commend to you this week that is before us help us in life in every dimension of responsibility at home at school in the office on the road on the ball field in the living room in the

58:06 kitchen in every area of life. Oh God grant that we may manifest the reality of that liberating work of Christ that we may live in the joyous abandonment of that freedom in Christ that will make us light and salt in the midst of darkness. We pray that your Holy Spirit would come upon us with grace so to walk that others seeing us may ask the reason of the hope that is in us. Be with us take us safely to our home and to our homes and for all of your mercies to us this day we give you heartfelt thanks

58:49 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.