I'm going to put you this quote but I'm thinking as I get up here as I as I know that the lord is that which is weak in this world. to accomplish his purposes. I think of a quote that's something like there are better preachers who preach better sermons but no one has a And I'd like to start off also speaking about our confession of faith. Many of you know that Waco Family Baptist Church holds to the Second London Confession of 1699 as a summary statement, as a small systematic of what we believe are the truths of scripture. On the back of your worship guide, there's a small statement that says the Bible is the word of God and our only certain and infallible rule for faith and practice. That line comes from our confession. We hold to the Second London Baptist Confession as a clear and accurate interpretation of the Bible doctrines which it addresses. And I point that out to say that this morning, I will be preaching on the topic of Christian liberty, and I have used as a guideline, as an outline, Chapter 21, Paragraph 1 of our confession. Again, I'm not preaching from the confession. The confession is a help. It is an outline. It is a summary statement of the truths that we see in Scripture. Not only that, but it layers those truths for us so that we can have assurance of how One doctrine builds upon another. So to begin, I'll speak about the types of preaching that you guys have become familiar with here at Wake Up Family. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the term expository preaching. You know what, before I get started, one more time, say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for today. We thank you for the opportunity to gather together, to hear your word, to understand the truth that is buried deep within the riches that are there for us. If we only look, if we meditate on these truths and let them build upon one another, we see the full revelation of what you would have us know about who you are, about your goodness, your holiness, your justice. salvation and how you have made a way for sinners to be redeemed so that we can see in the story of Genesis that there was a fall that man was separated from God but we see throughout redemptive history in Scripture that you have made a way to bring us back into the fold of God. Father we thank you for for this great salvation, and we thank you for the opportunity to sit and learn and understand more. We ask that you bless our time together. In Christ's name I pray, amen. Again, I'm sure most of you are familiar with the term expository preaching, the type of preaching that moves through books of scripture, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, forcing a preacher to handle the writings as they are given, preventing them from skipping what may be considered difficult text. Expository preaching provides a helpful framework to preaching where both the preacher and the congregation can know what to expect moving forward. This gives the hearer a key to know how to better pray for your pastor studies and an expectation of how the word will be handled, delivered, and received from one Lord's day to the next. Consecutive expository preaching is indeed useful and beneficial to God's people. And then there's topical preaching. Too often, topical preaching gets a bad reputation. Many have abused this type of preaching to avoid difficult topics or misuse scripture. They may expose themselves to error by missing the mark completely, by failing to exegete correctly, or even failing to keep the word in its context. But let me make a case for sound, theological, topical preaching. A topical sermon or series done rightly will ground God's people on a full range of doctrines. It forces the preacher to have a fuller grasp of systemic theology, a better understanding of the common threads of Scripture throughout the entirety of the Bible. For congregations, topical sermons can expose us to a better understanding of all of Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation, the people of God need to see the oneness, the consistency, the unity of the Bible as a whole. 2 Timothy reads, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. My point is that expository preaching is excellent for the long-term spiritual health and nourishment of congregations. And topical sermons can be beneficial for both the preacher and the congregation for larger scopes or themes in scripture. As someone who does not stand in the pulpit week in and week out, I often find myself preaching topical sermons. And this week, my topic will be Christian liberty. Our confession has a chapter devoted to this, chapter 21. Christian liberty and liberty of conscience. And I will be using paragraph one as the basis of my outline moving forward. If you'd like to turn there, you can reference it from time to time. Christian liberty can be found in the Baptist hymnal on page 681. That's not hymn 81, that's 681 toward the back. And if you have the little black copy, it's page 45. When we think about Christian liberty, Our thoughts may immediately go to things like what kind of music can we listen to? Should I use social media? What types of movies can we watch? Should I partake in the consumption of alcohol? Can I smoke cigars or pipes to the glory of God? Christian liberty meant much more than this to the writers of our confession. I hope that we can all see and understand that Christian liberty is much more than guidelines to hobbies or perceived entitlements. Calvin wrote in his Institutes, unless this freedom be comprehended, neither Christ nor gospel truth nor inner peace of soul can be rightly known. Likewise, Dr. Renahan states in his Baptist Symbolics on the 2nd London, the confession asserts that Christ has purchased liberty for believers. It was an intentional accomplishment of his sacrifice related to justification, adoption, sanctification, assurance, the law of God, worship, and the church. Christ, by his death, delivered his people from sin and its many consequences and set them free for many blessings, all of which must be resolved back to the death of Christ. Christian liberty, Christian freedom is about what we have been set free from and what we have been set free unto. We are about to review what the confession states about what we have been set free from and what we have been delivered from. But consider this, as Christians, we are not just set free to go and do as we please. When the Jews were set free from their bondage, from their slavery in Egypt, they were not set free to govern themselves. they were set free so that they may have the opportunity to worship the one true God as they ought. Romans 6 and Romans 7 speak much of this topic, being set free from sin and from the law, but also becoming re-enslaved to our Redeemer. Romans 6, 17. but thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teachings which you were committed and having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 7, 6, but now we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive so that we serve. We serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code. So now, hopefully, we are starting to see what is truly important about this term, this doctrine known as Christian liberty, and why a right understanding is so important to the life of all believers. Let's now begin to unpack what our confession has summarized about this for us. Now, paragraph one begins by stating, the liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel. full stop, the liberty which Christ had purchased. Christian liberty is freely bestowed upon us, but it is not free. It has been purchased by the blood of Christ. 1 Corinthians 6 reads, you are not your own, for you were bought with the price Acts 20, 28 says, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Romans three, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put, as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. Propitiation properly signifies the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift. Christ hath purchased the liberty that benefits all Christians, and He has done this with His life, with His most precious blood. Christian liberty is freely bestowed upon us. It is freely given to us, but it is not free. Paragraph one reads, the liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the rigor and curse of the law, and in their being delivered from this present evil world. Bondage to Satan and dominion of sin from the evil the victory of the grace and everlasting damnation. In these short few lines of our confession, we have no less than 10 effects of sin from which Christ has delivered us. So my sermon would be 10 points. That sounds like a lot. We'll get through it. So first, freedom from the guilt of sin. Romans 5, 12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned, for all have sinned, and sin is one, that is lack of conformity to our, read that again. Sin is lack of conformity to, or transgression, that is rebellion, of the law of God. Sinners, by definition, are guilty of having broken God's laws, but scripture tells us Galatians 3, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursing is everyone who is hanged on a tree. Christ has become a curse for us and therefore has freed us from the guilt of sin. Second, the condemning wrath of God. Again from Ephesians chapter 2. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature what? Children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. God's wrath upon sinners is described as a condemning wrath. This ties with the previous point. To be condemned is to have a pronouncement of guilt legally laid upon you. The condemning wrath of God should be seen as the mightiest of terrors to the unbeliever. John 3, 36, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Isaiah 13, nine, behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. But Romans nine, excuse me, Romans five, nine, since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Believers, Christians are delivered from the condemning wrath God. Third, the rigor and curse of the law. I'm going to read from Romans 7 verses 1 through 6. And I'll say we've used this point before in other sermons. It's always a great place to be. It makes our point here, the rigor and curse of the law, Romans 7. Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives. For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, And if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code. In the marriage illustration, verses two through three, the husband has died, and now the woman is no longer lawfully in union to him, no longer legally obligated. She is free from that law. In the application passage, verse four, you have died. You have died to the law, but then we have this language, through the body of Christ. So Romans seven is telling us that you belong to another. By nature, you were in union with, in bondage to Adam. You were under the law, but you have died to the law, verse four tells us, through the body of Christ. Romans 6 verses 3 through 5, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Death has ended in obligation to marriage, and death has ended in obligation to the law. But see the resurrection language of Romans 6-4 and Romans 7-4. It reads, newness of life. It reads, raised from the dead. You died so that the bondage to the law is over, and that you are no longer obligated to fulfill every letter perfectly to obtain salvation. You died now dead to the law in the sense that it no longer threatens condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8, 1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And 7, 6 again. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Fourth, we are delivered from this present evil world. Galatians 1, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. We're rolling through these kinda fast, but they come back together. Point five, bondage to Satan. We had just read this verse, Ephesians 2, to speak of the condemning wrath of God, but here it tells us of our deliverance from Satan. Again, Ephesians 2, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. and point six, dominion of sin, that is the flesh. Ephesians two continued, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Satan is called the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians two two, and Christ refers to Satan As the ruler of this world in John 12, 31, unbelievers remain enslaved to this present evil world, to Satan, and to the dominion of sin, which works in the flesh. This does not mean that Christians are completely free of the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We know the Apostle Paul struggles with his sinful flesh in Romans 7, 15. but he struggles as we all do, because we desire to serve the law of God with our mind, but we find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. Romans 7, 21. But although Satan may tempt us, he may influence us, he no longer holds sway over us. Colossians 113, he being God the Father, he has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. In speaking of Satan, John Gill writes, the once an angel of light is now darkness itself and is reserved in chains of darkness. He is a ruler of the darkness of this world His kingdom is a kingdom of darkness, and he blinds the minds of them that believe not, keeps them in darkness, and increases the natural darkness of their minds. He delights in works of darkness and tempts men to them, and his everlasting state and portion will be blackness of darkness. His power over men in a state of unregeneracy, which he usurps and has suffered to exercise, is very great. He works effectually in them and leads them captive at his will, and nothing less than the power of God, who is stronger than the strong man armed, can deliver out of his hands, and which is at least one part of the mercy for which thanks are here given. In speaking of sin, the words of Christ from John chapter eight, truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you are free indeed. Thanks be to God for his deliverance from this present evil world, bondage to Satan and the dominion of sin. Seventh, from the evil of afflictions, No, we are not delivered from afflictions, but from their evil. The evil of afflictions, a child of God will still be subject to the faults of this world, to trials and to temptations, to physical and mental conditions, to poverty, anxiety, depression, these difficulties, these miseries, these hardships, these sufferings, the pains of living in a fallen world. in no way affect your relationship with your Heavenly Father, or the glory we can't even imagine that waits for us. Romans 8, for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. 8, 9, and 10, the fear and sting of death, victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation. Without Christ, death would be the greatest affliction. Death is the sure punishment spoken of by God to Adam and Eve in the garden. Genesis 2, and the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Again from John Gill, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. which in some sense immediately took place, man became at once a mortal creature, who otherwise, continuing in a state of innocence and by eating of the tree of life he was allowed to do, would have lived an immortal life, of the eating of which tree, by sinning, he was debarred. His natural life, not now to be continued long, at least not forever, he was immediately arraigned. tried and condemned to death, and was found guilty of it, and became obnoxious to it, meaning to be exposed to something harmful. And death at once began to work in him. Sin sowed the seeds of it in his body, and a train of miseries, afflictions, and diseases began to appear, which at length issued in death. Moreover, a spiritual or moral death immediately ensued. He lost his original righteousness. In which he was created, the image of God in him was deformed. The powers and faculties of his soul were corrupted and he became dead in sins and trespasses. The consequence of which, had it not been for the interposition of a surety and savior who engaged to make satisfaction to law and justice must have been eternal death, or an everlasting separation from God, to him and all his posterity, for the wages of sin is death, even death eternal. Why is there such a fear of death? Why is death the greatest affliction? Is it the fear of the unknown, or is it the fear of what is known? Romans 1 tells us that, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Hebrews 9, and just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Men intrinsically know the folly of their lives, but in being a God of their own lives, they put themselves on the throne, and like the serpent, they deny the truth. We read earlier in Genesis 3, did God actually say it? They question the justice and the wrath of God as if it is not real. As if God will change his mind or be bargained with. The Old Testament book of Nainam reads the Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. or the unbeliever. For those who are not in Christ, there is good reason to fear death. Look at this list we've been reviewing. Those outside of Christ are not freed from the guilt of sin. They are shackled to it. They are under the condemning wrath of God. They will be held accountable to the curses of the law. They are not delivered from but delivered unto this present evil world, they remain in bondage to Satan. Sin abounds in their flesh. There will be no deliverance from the evil of afflictions, and what awaits is an eternity of everlasting damnation, eternally separated from the goodness of God, yet eternally under His just judgment. But for the believer, For those who are in Christ, we have the promises of God found everywhere in scripture. Isaiah 25, he will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. Revelation 21, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. 1 Corinthians 15. I tell you this, brothers, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? Death raises your steam. Christ, Christ defeated death at the cross. In becoming our brother in humanity, in taking on flesh, his obedience, his life and his death is credited to all who would believe. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Hebrews 2. Christ has freed us from the fear and sting of death. He has given us the victory of the grave, and he has delivered us from everlasting damnation. Do you know what else the scriptures say about our having been released from this bondage? Romans 6, 17, but thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. And having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. where once you saw the commandments of God, the law, as condemning a level of perfection you could never obtain, you could never live up to. Now you see it as the attributes of God's character that we should strive for to grow in our own personal holiness. We will fall short of the mark. Your father in heaven no longer views your shortcomings and those things as failures, but as faithful attempts from an obedient heart, trying to please your heavenly father. You have been granted the ability, the ability to, with boldness, access the throne of grace. What does that mean? It means that you can speak to your father in heaven who has promised to hear you because you are his. You have been adopted, brought into the fold of God, purchased by the blood of his son of infinite value and worth so that you may do what you were created to do. Worship him as you ought. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself Ecclesiastes twelve. The end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear god. and keep his commandments. for this is the whole duty of man. Let's go to the grave. We ask that you make us thankful for Christ, for his life, his death, his obedience, and his blood, for reconciling man to God. Father, we thank you that we can look to Christ and see the things in this world, the ugliness in this world that we have been freed from. And at the same time, we can look and see the things that we have been freed unto. To worship you rightly, to approach your throne in prayer, to speak to our friends and loved ones about the glorious things that God has done. Because you choose to use the ordinary to do the supernatural. Again, Father, we ask that we be made thankful for these gifts. And we ask that you be with us as we go about our days and our weeks ahead. and that we not forget that we are yours, that we have been purchased with a price, and that we have a duty to serve. We ask these things in the name of Christ Jesus, your son, amen.