Using Your Liberty B

How are we to make decisions about things that are not clearly indicated to us in Scripture. How do we develop criteria to make those kinds of decisions in a way that honors God in a way that benefits us in a way that foster growth of the body of Christ in a way that makes the gospel believable and attractive inverted. Thou shalt not command when the issue is not black or white. What should you do, how do you make decisions that honor God in the many gray areas of life.

Unfortunately, questions like those often get answered with lists of do's and don'ts, and we rarely ask the question why well today on grace to you.

John MacArthur considers this issue of Christian liberty and the thought process that should guide you in making decisions in areas where God's word is silent. It's part of a series of messages that John preached during chapel services at the Masters University where John serves as Chancellor, but this is not a message only for students, whether you're starting your career or nearing retirement.

Whether you're single or newly married or a grandparent.

Whatever stage of life you are in today's lesson provides important wisdom for you so follow along.

Now, as John continues his study called a course for life as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly what are we free to do.

There are things that are very obvious in the Scripture, clear commands, clearly things that God forbids us to do spelled out in no uncertain terms. There are also not only negative commands with positive commands. Things we are to do, and they're very clear to us as well. But there's a whole world of things that are not talked about in the Bible and it always poses the issue of how I make a decision how I make a choice about what I will do regarding something is not in the Scripture, things like I will Bible talks about these things in this category.

Food, drink alcoholic beverages, recreation sports, television, music, movies, Sunday activity poker other kinds of games. Smoking smoking dope hair styles clothing styles and it goes on and on and on.

How are we to make decisions about things that are not clearly indicated to us in Scripture.

How do we develop criteria to make those kinds of decisions in a way that honors God in a way that benefits us in a way that causes the growth of the body of Christ in a way that makes the gospel believable and attractive to the unconverted number one, number one, we ask a question will it be spiritually beneficial will it be spiritually profitable were not looking for those kinds of things we can get away with that with minimum damage. When I looking for high risk of Christian living were not looking for how close we get to the edge and still not get burned, and there are a lot of people who think that it's their freedom to live on the edge and try to avoid the disaster that's never the question say the second way, here's a second point will call the first one expedient, that is, it is profitable for me spiritually. The second one will it contribute to my spiritual development will it build me up if the first one is expedience. This is edification. There's 1/3 principle will it slow me down in the race. This is another way to view anything I choose to do. First of all, will advance me spiritually that's a positive. Will it continue to progress in the path of edification. That's a positive. Here's a negative approach to it, will it slow me down in the race.

Will it slow me down.

Let me show you language.

Therefore, we have so great a cloud of witnesses who have testified has we saw in chapter 11 to the life of faith and its benefits.

Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Fourth one first Corinthians 612 all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. We already talked about that but look at this one all things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything so here's the question will it bring me into bondage. Does this thing develop such an appetite that it becomes habit-forming, it takes over number five in my list in a very important principle, turns a little bit of a corner here. This is a question you have to ask will it really be a cover-up of my sin. Will it really be a cover up of my sin. Number six will it train me to ignore my conscience will it train me to ignore my conscience.

We can spend a whole week talking about the conscience of very important thing.

Maybe someday will do that, but turned Romans 14 for a moment just want to kind of give you the big picture today when you when you understand the role of conscience you you you benefit greatly from it.

Let me just give it to you real quick. Okay we have a law of God written in our hearts from birth Romans to even those who do not have the written law have the law, God written in their hearts K there's a moral lot there.

There's a there's a substantial foundational sense of what is right and what is wrong built into the human mind is part of being human to know right from wrong. In fact, in the Old Testament when the prophet Jonah. At the end of the prophecy refers to the city of Nineveh. He says that there are about 120,000 who don't know their right hand from their left hand and that is a description of children. The parallels one in the Mosaic writing that says they do not know right from wrong. They are below the age where the understand right from wrong. Talk about pagan people who don't yet know what's right or wrong because they're just little infants little children.

The assumption then is that they will grow to know what is right and wrong part of being a mature human to have that moral sense now that moral sense then becomes conditioned by your culture becomes conditioned by your your religion so you can see that whatever concept of right and wrong. They were born with in the fabric of being human has been massively altered by the religious culture that they have been raised in and that is same same thing in America. Ours is a different religious culture. What we have today is population of people who have had any sense of right and wrong mitigated so that we laugh at homosexuality. We laugh at sexual perversion.

We have lost the pristine reality of our moral understanding that comes from God, even to an unbeliever is really a foundation for further conviction and conversion at a later time. Now that's the moral law. It can be miss in formed and it is misinformed in our culture so that people's consciences are then misinformed and can't convict people of what they should and should not do them explain what I mean by that. You also are given by God. A mechanism called conscience conscience is not a moral law. Conscience is not a set of rules. It is not right and wrong. It is simply a mechanism triggered by your moral law if you're a Muslim. It triggers your conscience and your conscience moves your emotion and your emotion moves your will and you at conscience is a skylight it's not polite, it's the skylight that lets the light of whatever moral law or ethical law you subscribe to in conscience is only a mechanism parallel to it is pain. Pain is a divine mechanism given to you by God. It is a good thing because pain is the mechanism that tells you there's something wrong with your body.

The pain is not what's wrong it's the mechanism that is triggered when something is wrong, stop doing that.

You're hurting yourself.

Get help. Some things wrong. It's a gift from God.

No pain. You die, you die is what leprosy is. Leprosy is a disease of the nerves. You can't feel anything.

So you rub your fingers off you rub your nose off you rub your ears off you rub your face off you rub your feet off. It doesn't eat you.

It's just insensitivity. And you know how much pressure to apply and you rub off your extremities, so that's what conscience does a slight pain. It simply reacts to a set of convictions now that leads me to say this, you want to have the right set of convictions and you have that you also want to make sure you don't train your conscience to ignore those convictions. The Bible talks about having your conscience seared. That means covered with scar tissue so you can't feel anything. The middle of my back. I lost the entire middle my back and thought of Carona's college freshman slide about hundred and 25 yards and highway I'm never had any feeling their losses.

Scar tissue desensitized. You don't want to do that your conscience because you want to feel was Charles Wesley who wrote to him on the conscience. I think it's only once ever been written.

Nobody ever sings it, but he wanted the conscience to feel every single impulse of the righteous law of God that was in his mind, and you never want to train your conscience to violate that you can destroy yourself by having the wrong set of moral convictions. You can also destroy yourself by training your conscience to ignore those convictions. With that in mind, the Romans 14 in this passage well to start at the beginning now except the one who is weak in faith but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinion here. We got an issue where somebody comes the Christ of a Gentile world this and this guy has some convictions some feelings about his past life.

The control his freedoms could be true the Jew as well, if ever, Jew and Orthodox Jew came to Christ, you couldn't feed him a ham sandwich. The next day. Couldn't do it. Couldn't violate his kosher law because if you live that way. His whole life. Even though his come to Christ is conscience is still going to prick him and conflict him about those things that are part of the fabric of his life.

If you were a Gentile and you grew up with idolatry and all that was connected to idolatry, there would be certain things about idolatry when you came to Christ that you would reject wholesale like meat offered to idols and you if you tried to feed a new believer meat offered to idols and say I don't worry about your free to eat this meat he would gag on it. He would choke on it because his conscience would strike him because he remembers the orgies in the horrors and the blasphemies of that kind of life and wants nothing to do it.

So there are a lot of scenarios where where conscience hasn't yet had time to respond to a new set of laws that are being developed in the heart through the ministry of the Spirit and the word so there are some people who are still weak in faith don't understand their freedoms.

They don't think they can eat all things they did. Maybe they eat only vegetables because I don't want to eat meat offered to idols.

Maybe their Jewish they don't eat anything that's unclean verse three let not him who eats reef regard with contempt who doesn't eat, you can look down on these people come on, get with your freedoms guys let him not who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

Why are you to judge the servant of another to his own master he stands or falls that he will, for the Lord's able to make him stand. One man regards one day above another you if you if you always were in a Jewish environment you believe the Sabbath was the right day, you're going to believe the Sabbath is still in critical day of worship to the Lord because that's the conviction system it's embedded in you.

Your conscience is going to react to that. On the other hand, if you can out of a Gentile environment you not to have any particular concern about the Sabbath day so it's going to differ. One man regards the day above another, another regards, every day the same. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. You observes the day, observes it for the Lord. He who eats does it for the Lord, you give thanks to God. He who eats not for the Lord he does indeed give thanks to God were not living to ourselves are not dying to ourselves. If we live, we live for the Lord.

If we die. So for the it's all because somebody is trying to honor the Lord so you just don't ever want to do anything that violates your conscience and I think that's important to remember in the community even like this you get you get many of you come from backgrounds where there were certain things that you felt wrong. You were raised in a family to think those things wrong. If you go against what your conscience tells you you even though you have the freedom to do it, you will begin to train your conscience, train yourself, I should say to ignore your conscience. That's not helpful. You don't want to train yourself to ignore your conscience. Go to verse 22 the faith which you have have as your own conviction before God, don't train yourself to ignore your convictions because in time you will grow in time you'll understand.

In time you'll enjoy some liberation from those things and your conscience will affirm you rather than convict you. Your conscience will excuse you in the words of Paul, rather than accuse you the rest of us to maybe a little further along. We affirm that you ought not to do anything that violates or catches sometime somebodies with a group of people are going to go do something and they say why don't feel I should do that. I have convictions about that don't feel comfortable doing that you want to honor that person completely. There's a perfect illustration of a weaker brother whose conscience you do not want to defile because not only will it bring conviction.

It'll bring a loss of joy it will bring a burden of guilt and it'll push them back the wrong direction. The Lord is in charge of each of us the faith which we have is the faith which we have happy verse 22 is here doesn't condemn himself in what he approves. You don't want to.

You don't want to get to the point where you are in the name of freedom and under some kind of pressure doing what you feel is not right because if you doubt you're going to be condemned.

If you eat because you're not eating from faith, whatever is not from faith is sin to you, don't train yourself to ignore your conscience be patient. Whatever your conscience convict you about wonderful that's who you are before the Lord have as your own convictions before God, and over time, God will grow you to enjoy your freedoms. I call that the principle of encroachment your encroaching innocence on sacred territory. The territory of conviction and conscience okay. Number seven number seven will it help others by its example, will it help others by its example.

First Corinthians chapter 8 will just do this one quickly. Verse nine in verse 20 is a nine to careless this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. The end of verse 13. I will never eat meat again in the context meat offered to idols that I might not cause my brother to stumble. Is it wrong to eat meat offered idols know Paul, just that it's not wrong to eat meat offered at an idol is nothing. An idol is nothing. Doesn't matter. You can eat meat offered to an idol. It's not an issue but for some people it is an issue they were saved out of idolatry.

And they can't have the freedom to eat that meat that was offered to those blasphemous idols with which they were once associated in such sinful ways and there is not free to eat that meat will interfere with them. Don't eat it. Do not use your freedom in any other way than to set up virtuous and godly example for others. So you limit your freedom as Tom Pennington said that in the little Q&A he said you know you're spiritually mature when you're free not to use your freedom, why because you're concerned about setting an example for someone who, if they follow those freedoms would stumble into sin people asked me about that II say well the things I don't do the things I could do.

I don't do them in reason I don't do them is because if I do them. I would then become the person who sort of granted de facto permission to everybody else to do that and they might not be able to handle that it might cause them to sin. That's reason I don't drink alcoholic beverages.

For example, first of all I don't need to drink him. I can drink water just as well diet Pepsi have a choice bargain or juice or anything. I don't need. I'm not living in the Middle Ages. I'm not living in biblical times. I'm not living in a time when all there was was the fruit juices at the fermented in a hot environment and had to be diluted with water to protect against drunkenness.

I don't need to do that and and is it wrong to do that now is not wrong to do that and that's not the point, in and of itself. It's wrong to be drunk, it's wrong to lose your control and you lose your senses, but I choose not to do that because as sure as I would do that that would be enough for anybody to say well, John, because it is a must be fine let's have at it and pretty soon somebody's drunk that my fault, not really, but I just don't want to be the excuse that causes somebody to stumble into sin all Paul talks about this constantly in his writings in which we look at a minute ago in the Romans 14 and 15. Maybe just one quick reference Romans 15 one. We who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves if you're strong you bear the weaknesses of those who are weak. You don't just please yourself.

Let us each.

Please his neighbor for his good to his edification. So you just want to do whatever is going to be to the benefit of others who are watching your life.

You don't want to cause them to stumble and there's more in in second in the first Corinthians 8. You don't want to cause them to grieve, be devastated if you don't want to pull down the work of God in their life.

So that's principle. Of example, all right. Number eight will it lead others to Christ, will it lead others to Christ. That's an evangelistic issue just quickly.

Romans 1416.

Do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. That's the operative statement approved by men when you live the kind of life that never abuses freedom you give the best opportunity for men to make a positive commendation on your life if you live if you call yourself a Christian.

Declaring your Christian living on the edge of freedom and the message may be a little bit harder to communicate because the model and the example of your life is so close to what people are all engaged in. I think it's the restrictions of our spiritual lives that show people in a visual way. The distinctiveness of the work of Christ in our hearts, and if our lives are going to be approved the documents if they're going to be tested by the people who watch us and approved after the such examination, then we have to live lives that are far from the edge got a pull back into the zone where we are manifestly different than our culture tomorrow. Just mention them because time is gone will be consistent with Christ likeness. The Prince will I just gave is a principle of evangelism. If you're writing them down principle of evangelism number nine will be consistent with Christ likeness. First John 26.

You can look it up. First John 26 if you say that we are in Christ that we abide in him we are to walk as he walked so you ask that big question will what would Jesus do right. What would Jesus do Jesus do this to pass that test, and a final test will glorify God by the way, the what would Jesus do a simulation if you're looking for a knee emulation and the last one will glorify God, whatever you do with the eat or drink of it, all the glory of God. The principle of exaltation. All right expedience will be profitable.

Edification will build me up excess will slow me down enslavement will bring me into bondage excuse will be a cover for my sin.

Encroachment will it train my conscience in the wrong direction. Example would set a helpful pattern evangelism will lead others to Christ. Emulation will be like Christ. Exaltation will glorify God. I call this the ease of decision-making is free. Father what a great morning fellowship and worship is wonderful to be together.

Consider your word how rich it is, may we apply it to your glory in Christ name, amen. That's John MacArthur looking at five principles that will help you honor the Lord with your decisions, even in matters that the Bible doesn't specifically address. It's part of a foundational series titled a course for life, along with teaching each day on grace to you. John is also a pastor, author and Chancellor of the Masters University of John what we've been listening to is obviously applicable for anyone at any age, but I understand you're especially concerned that younger people let these lessons sink in reaching people early helping them make those important course corrections. It doesn't get much more strategic than that though a dozen and I fear the kids young kids make bad decisions.

Parenting can be a liability.

The ubiquitous presence of lies and deception and pornography and all this kind of garbage can lead young people down the wrong path and then what happens is later in life. The Lord gets a hold of them, but they've got a past history of sin that just keeps getting recycled in their mind and it's so debilitating.

I would know eyewitnesses what we do we do aggressors we want to get them when they're born and we want to begin to teach them the word of God from the very very beginning.

I think the reason people just keep flocking into Grace Community Church is me.

I think the preaching of the word is is a powerful influence, but I think it's as much as anything our children's ministry. Parents are frightened about what direction their kids are going to go and what influences are going to face in this world and I think the same thing at the Masters University we been doing the series on Chapel in the Masters University in isn't that we have us a student body full of people who are know for afraid the parents of symptom. There, but their kids who have come to understand that this is a very, very dangerous world they live in, and they want to be able to be prepared so that they can honor the Lord and not become a casualty not become a disaster so we have endeavored in this series called a course for life to bring you into Chapel at the Masters University. This was sort of the top 10 collection for students of any age series about living a life that honors our Lord and I've been doing Chapel for almost 35 years at the Masters University in this is been a kindest selection of some of the top messages it's really a blueprint for every believer, but boy we want to get it started when they're young so if you are a student, this would be a great series to get it's a 10 CD album and much more teaching than we had time to air on the radio. We didn't give all of it, but the 10 CD album is available and you can order it from Grace to you and by the way, only from grace to you, so get the series a course for life get it for your children get a for your grandchildren get it further young people in your church get a for your youth leaders and begin to feed the word of God into this young generation that is so being assaulted by the enemy.

Yes, for anyone at a crossroads looking for guidance for the immediate future, or life. Further down the road a course for life is packed with practical insight and direction and as John said it comes with a lot of material that we didn't have time to air to get a copy for yourself for a few copies to give away contact us today. Call 855 grace or visit our website Jide TY.org, a course for life comes in at 10 CD album.

The cost is reasonable and shipping is free again to place your order. Call toll-free 855 grace or go to our website Jide TY.org at our website. You can also download this series in audio or transcript format free of charge. In fact, all of John's sermons from over 51 years of his public ministry are free to download it. Jide TY.org and friend. Thanks for remembering that your support helps us take John's verse by verse teaching to people around the globe from Southern California to Australia to countless places in between, and on the other side of the world to partner with us. Make your tax-deductible donation to grace to you.

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I'm Phil Johnson encouraging you to be here Friday as we break from our normal schedule to air up Bible Q&A session. Tune in tomorrow and see if John answers a question about the Bible that you had it's sure to be a practical half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on grace to