Christian Liberty

1
Christian Liberty

• Romans 141-18

Presented by Bob DeWaay December 30, 2007
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Accepting the One Who is Weak

• Romans 141
• Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not
  for the purpose of passing judgment on his
  opinions.

3
What Paul Means by Weak

• 1Corinthians 84, 7
• Therefore concerning the eating of things
  sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no
  such thing as an idol in the world, and that
  there is no God but one. However not all men have
  this knowledge but some, being accustomed to the
  idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed
  to an idol and their conscience being weak is
  defiled.

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What Paul Means by Weak

• 1Corinthians 88, 9
• But food will not commend us to God we are
  neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the
  better if we do eat. But take care lest this
  liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block
  to the weak.

5
An Example of Diverse Scruples

• Romans 142, 3
• One man has faith that he may eat all things,
  but he who is weak eats vegetables only. Let not
  him who eats regard with contempt him who does
  not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge
  him who eats, for God has accepted him.

6
The Lord Alone Judges His Servants

• Romans 144
• Who are you to judge the servant of another? To
  his own master he stands or falls and stand he
  will, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

7
Liberty in Days of Worship

• Romans 145
• One man regards one day above another, another
  regards every day alike. Let each man be fully
  convinced in his own mind.

8
Liberty in Days of Worship

• Galatians 410, 11
• You observe days and months and seasons and
  years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have
  labored over you in vain.

9
Liberty in Days of Worship

• Colossians 216, 17
• Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard
  to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a
  new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a
  mere shadow of what is to come but the substance
  belongs to Christ.

10
Those who Give Thanks Honor God Whatever They Eat

• Romans 146
• He who observes the day, observes it for the
  Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for
  he gives thanks to God and he who eats not, for
  the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.

11
All Christians Live and Die for the Lord

• Romans 147, 8
• For not one of us lives for himself, and not one
  dies for himself for if we live, we live for the
  Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord
  therefore whether we live or die, we are the
  Lord's.

12
Christ is Raised to be Lord of Those who Have
Faith in Him

• Romans 149
• For to this end Christ died and lived again,
  that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the
  living.

13
We Should be Concerned About Our Own Relationship
to God

• Romans 1410
• But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you
  again, why do you regard your brother with
  contempt? For we shall all stand before the
  judgment seat of God.

14
We Should be Concerned About Our Own Relationship
to God

• Romans 1411, 12
• For it is written, As I live, says the Lord,
  every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue
  shall give praise to God. So then each one of us
  shall give account of himself to God.

15
We must not give needless offense

• Romans 1413
• Therefore let us not judge one another anymore,
  but rather determine this -- not to put an
  obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.

16
Things are not Ceremonially Impure in the New
Covenant

• Romans 1414
• I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that
  nothing is unclean in itself but to him who
  thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is
  unclean.

17
Things are not Ceremonially Impure in the New
Covenant

• Titus 115
• To the pure, all things are pure but to those
  who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure,
  but both their mind and their conscience are
  defiled.

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Showing Love to the Weaker Brother

• Romans 1415
• For if because of food your brother is hurt, you
  are no longer walking according to love. Do not
  destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

19
Do Not Bring Disrepute to the Gospel

• Romans 1416 - 18
• Therefore 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
  and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who
  in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God
  and approved by men.

20
The Fruits of the Kingdom of God

• The righteousness, peace, and joy intended, are
  those of which the Holy Spirit is the author.
  Righteousness is that which enables us to stand
  before God, because it satisfies the demands of
  the law. It is the righteousness of faith peace
  is the concord between God and the soul, . . .
  between the heart and our fellow men. And the joy
  is the joy of salvation that joy which only
  those who are in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost
  ever can experience. Charles Hodge

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Applications and Implications

• 1) Accept those God has accepted
• 2) The Lords supper is the eating and drinking
  that matters most

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1) Accept those God has accepted

• Ephesians 42
• with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
  showing forbearance to one another in love,

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2) The Lords supper is the eating and drinking
that matters most

• 1Corinthians 1117, 18
• But in giving this instruction, I do not praise
  you, because you come together not for the better
  but for the worse. For, in the first place, when
  you come together as a church, I hear that
  divisions exist among you and in part, I believe
  it.

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2) The Lords supper is the eating and drinking
that matters most

• 1Corinthians 1120, 21
• Therefore when you meet together, it is not to
  eat the Lord's Supper, for in your eating each
  one takes his own supper first and one is hungry
  and another is drunk.

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2) The Lords supper is the eating and drinking
that matters most

• 1Corinthians 1122
• What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and
  drink? Or do you despise the church of God, and
  shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to
  you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not
  praise you.

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2) The Lords supper is the eating and drinking
that matters most

• 1Corinthians 1123, 24
• For I received from the Lord that which I also
  delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the
  night in which He was betrayed took bread and
  when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said,
  This is My body, which is for you do this in
  remembrance of Me.

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Eating and drinking the Lords Supper in faith
show the righteousness peace and joy we have now
and expectation of the coming King

• 1Corinthians 1125, 26
• In the same way He took the cup also, after
  supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in
  My blood do this, as often as you drink it, in
  remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this
  bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's
  death until He comes.

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