I'll see you guys in the next one.
You
All right
Church I'll be ready to sing the praise to the Lord
The fellowship sounds excellent, so keep it going after the service as well, but please take your hymnals now in turn to him number
114 him number one one four one hundred fourteen will begin by singing the great physician him number
114 and when found can you please stand 114 one one for the great position?
you
Oh
We
Oh
Yes, Heavenly Father Lord
We thank you for your son's name the name of Jesus and Lord as we come to your house this morning. We do
Uplift that name the name that's given us salvation who's given us our forgiveness of sins and Lord
We just come as a thankful people
Lord for everything that you've provided all your blessings Lord in the promises that you have for the future so this morning Lord
I just pray you a Holy Spirit would work in our hearts our minds that we would not be distracted by anything else but
To give you our full attention to praise you Lord and to hear from your word
So we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated
All right one nine six now one hundred and ninety six I will sing the wondrous story
196 I will sing the wondrous story
Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story of the Christ, who died for me, singing with the saints in glory, gathered by the crystal sea.
I was lost, but Jesus found me, down the stream that went astray.
Through his loving arms around me, threw me back into his grave.
Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story of the Christ, who died for me, singing with the saints in glory,
gathered by the crystal sea.
I was bruised, but Jesus held me, the same was I from many a fall.
Life was gone, and fears possessed me, but he freed me from it all.
Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story of the Christ, who died for me, singing with the saints in glory,
gathered by the crystal sea.
Days of darkness still glowing, sorrow past I often dread, but the Savior still is with me by his hand.
Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story of the Christ, who died for me, singing with the saints in glory, gathered by the crystal sea.
He will send me to the river, rose as water at my feet, then he sent me over, where the love was I shall eat.
Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story of the Christ, who died for me, singing with the saints in glory,
gathered by the crystal sea.
All right, you guys sound extra good this morning, well done. All right, 247, 247, keep that singing going.
247, saved, saved, 247, saved, saved, and then we'll have our Bible reading.
I found a friend who is old to him, his love is ever true.
I love to tell how he delivered me, and what his grace can do for you.
Saved by his alibi, saved to your life sublime, but now he's sweet and my joy is complete, for I'm saved, saved, saved.
He saves me from every sin and harm, secused my soul each day.
I'm leaning strong on his mighty arm, my love will guide me all the way.
Saved by his power divine, saved to your life sublime, but now he's sweet and my joy is complete,
for I'm saved, saved, saved.
When more than he could be and all alone, enough he said to me.
And I'll lean too far to live with me in the morning.
Saved by his power divine, saved to your life sublime, but now he's sweet and my joy is complete,
for I'm saved, saved, saved.
All right, praise God, great singing.
Okay, can you please take your Bibles now, please take your Bibles and turn to Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5, brother Jason's coming up for the reading.
Galatians chapter 5, thank you.
Galatians chapter 5, the Bible reads,
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ have made us free,
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Behold I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.
Ye did run well, who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
I'll have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded,
but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment whosoever he be.
And I brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?
Then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh,
but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word even in this,
thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself.
But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, deceiviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like.
Of the witch, I tell you before, as I have told you also in time past,
that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with their affections and lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Dear Lord, I just want to say we love you, we love your word this morning,
and pray Lord that ye be with us, and especially lift up past the Kevin that you're filling with your Holy Spirit,
Lord, and let him preach your word with power and authority today, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Wait a second. I got channels only at the end of the sermon. Do we have another favorite?
Hymn number 45? Let's just do one more song. Hymn number 45.
When I can read my title clear. Hymn number 45. When I can read my title clear.
And then we'll come back to Galatians chapter 5.
When I can read my title clear. Two mansions in the skies.
I'll be farewell to every fear. And wipe my weeping eyes.
And wipe my weeping eyes. And wipe my weeping eyes.
I'll be farewell to every fear. And wipe my weeping eyes.
Should earth against my soul engage in fiery knots.
Behold that I can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowning wound.
And face a frowning wound. And face a frowning wound.
That I can smile at Satan's rage and face a frowning wound.
Let cares like a wild dalliance come true.
Rose ball, may I but safely reach my home.
My God, my heaven, my all. My God, my heaven, my all.
Oh, my God, my heaven, my all. May I but safely reach my home.
My God, my heaven, my all. There shall I bathe my weary soul in seas of heavenly rest.
And not a wave of trouble roll across my peaceful rest.
Across my peaceful rest. Across my peaceful rest.
And not a wave of trouble roll across my peaceful rest.
Alright, please take your Bibles once again. They're in Galatians 5.
Galatians 5. And the whole book of Galatians is all about
people coming to a church and trying to remove what salvation, the Gospel is.
You know, the freeness of salvation. Faith on the finished work of Christ alone.
And you've got certain Judaizers come in and they're trying to bring in aspects of the law
to bring the church under bondage. Things like circumcisions.
Different aspects of the law. They're trying to bring that into the church
and bring people under a burden.
And if you have a look at Galatians chapter 5 and just verse number 1 there it says,
Stand fast. Stand fast means be firm, be unmovable about this.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty. Liberty means freedom.
You know, Christ has made us free.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ have made us free
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Salvation is free. Salvation has been paid for all in Christ Jesus alone.
And we're commanded to stand fast, be unmovable in this area.
Now when we talk about verse number 1, this is very clearly about salvation.
Verse number 1 is clearly about salvation, isn't it?
That we've been set free. We've been set free from the power of sin.
We've been set free from the wrath of God. Okay?
And it's all free. We've been given liberty. Okay?
Now, here's the thing about Christian living though.
Some people think, okay, salvation is free. I've been set free.
But now Christian living is all these rules and regulations
and it's so hard to live like, oh man, it's like it's prison
to live this Christian life that God, that pleases God.
No, no, no. You've got it all wrong. You've got it all wrong.
Okay? If you drop down to verse number 13. Look at verse number 13.
This is not about salvation now. This is about your Christian living
because it says, For brethren, so what's a brethren? Someone that's saved, right?
A brother in the Lord. Someone that's already saved.
For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.
See, salvation gives us liberty, but now that you are saved,
you've been called unto liberty.
You know, God has given us a life of freedom, a life of liberty.
And then it says these words. Because some people think, well, what are you saying?
Are you saying that, you know, we have a license to sin?
Are you saying that we should just go against the word?
No, no, because it continues there.
Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.
So don't be like, well, God's given me liberty,
therefore I'm just going to do whatever my flesh desires.
You know, I'm just going to go out and sin.
I'm just going to go out and break God's laws.
No, don't use your... Do you have liberty to do that?
Yeah, everybody has this... You have your own liberty.
You have the freedom to decide now that you're saved
whether you're going to live a godly life, a righteous life,
or whether you're just going to give into the flesh and do what you want.
You've got the liberty to do that.
But the commandment is, don't use your liberty for the occasion of the flesh.
We should not use the liberty for that. Let's keep going.
But by love, serve one another. Serve one another.
So what I want to show you is that, verse number one,
God has given us liberty in salvation, but not only in salvation.
Now we are called to live a life of liberty.
Just don't use your liberty for the flesh.
The title for the sermon this morning is individual soul liberty.
Individual soul liberty. We're continuing our statement of faith.
And in our old statement of faith, I did not have a topic on individual soul liberty.
When I was looking for different churches, some have it, some don't.
Individual soul liberty is often referred to as a Baptist distinctive.
Often referred to as a Baptist distinctive.
And we've been given liberty to read God's word, to follow the Lord God as we see fit.
You see, other churches, let's say the Roman Catholic Church for example,
they do not believe in individual soul liberty.
They do not believe that the individual is accountable to God.
Their view is that the individual is accountable toward the Church.
And as a collective, then God will accept you by accepting the Roman Catholic Church.
It removes the individuality of the person and it puts you into some type of universal church system
where God just looks at you through the lens of a collective, the lens of a larger group.
But we see here, no, God has given us individually liberty.
Now under this statement of faith, and this is so important,
because as I preach this, you're all going to agree, yeah, yeah, I believe that, I agree with that.
But what I find within, especially within fundamentalist churches,
that yes, they understand the doctrine, but they don't live the doctrine.
Okay, they don't live it. Because they've got a messed up view of what fundamentalism means.
But this is what it's going to say in our statement of faith under individual soul liberty.
We believe that every Christian must obey God rather than men.
You know what that means? That means you must obey God rather than me.
I'm not God, okay, rather than men.
It says, for all, for all must answer God before the judgment seat of Christ.
Do you know you're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ individually?
You're going to be judged by God, not for your sins,
but you're going to be judged for what you've done on this earth individually
before the judgment seat of Christ.
Therefore, this is what it's going to say,
therefore no man nor church has the right to act as a person's conscience.
Everyone has the right to read the scriptures
and to choose how to respond according to its teachings.
Now, if I was running a cult, I would hate this doctrine.
If I just wanted everybody to be exactly the same and exactly like me,
and you know, I'm in charge, you've got to listen to this man,
and if you want to be right with God, you need to listen to this man,
we can run a cult, and we can remove individual soul liberty.
But no, God has given us liberty.
Okay, cults want to put you under burdens.
They want to put you under the laws and give you great fear
that if you just step out of line, then you might lose your salvation
or that you'll be discarded out of the church
and nobody would care about you or talk to you.
That's what cults do.
Reverend, we're an independent, fundamental Baptist church.
You know, we're a Bible-believing church,
a very important concept that God has given us.
We're all accountable.
This means we all have to come to a point of understanding
that we're sinners in need of a saviour.
You know, children, you're not going to go to heaven
just because your parents are saved.
And children, you're not going to go to heaven
just because you attend New Life Baptist Church.
You individually need to come to a point in life.
Say, yes, I realize I'm a sinner. I need a saviour.
What did Jesus do for me?
He died. He was buried. He rose again.
He paid for my sins.
He's given me the freeness of salvation.
He wants to give me liberty.
Yes, Christ, I accept that truth.
Yes, Christ, I'm trusting you and you alone.
I'm doing it, Lord. I'm trusting you myself.
We all have to have an individual response to salvation.
And then we are individually accountable to God
for the life that we live.
This is what individual soul liberty is all about.
Now, this is not practiced in a church.
Number one, the church becomes like a cult.
This is when pastors begin to lord over the flock
rather than being an ensemble unto the flock.
This is when pastors stop to not respect the boundaries of families.
They do not respect the boundaries of your life.
And not only will they take authority within the church,
which is right and proper,
but then they'll start trying to take authority in your family.
They'll tell you how to live your life.
They'll tell you who to marry.
They'll tell you when you can go on holidays.
They'll tell you when you can get divorced.
They'll tell you whatever it is that's in their hearts
because they start to lord over the flock.
They want to take charge of people's lives and people's families.
No!
We're individuals.
We're given liberty to read the Bible yourself.
Okay?
Read the Bible yourself.
I encourage you to do that.
How do you know what I'm preaching is correct
unless you go and read the Bible yourself to begin with?
See, we've all been given this responsibility.
See, if we don't respect individual soul liberty,
you will have a pastor lording over the flock.
That's number one.
But number two, and I'm telling you,
I'm talking about 99% of conflicts that I've seen in churches,
not just my church, but other churches,
is because people don't respect this individual soul liberty.
They think it's my right to go to someone else and tell them how to live
because I'm holy.
I'm righteous.
I've been saved longer than them,
so I need to go in and tell them what to do with their life.
You cross those boundaries.
You don't respect.
People like individual soul liberty for themselves.
Ah, yep, nobody should tell me.
You know what's between me and God,
but then they have a hard time practicing it to others.
They don't respect that others have individual soul liberty before God too.
It's such an important doctrine.
It's something I strongly believe.
You know, we are a collective.
Yes, we are.
We are a church.
We're here to serve and love one another,
but let's not remove the individual from that, okay?
We're all individuals.
We have different personalities, different strengths and weaknesses.
The Holy Spirit has given each one of us a gift to serve this church.
We're not all going to be the same.
We're not all going to preach the same.
We're not all going to act the same.
We're not all going to respond the same.
We're not all going to have the same families.
We're not all going to dress the same.
And we have to respect that, okay?
Because we're all on a journey, aren't we?
Individually in our walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.
The reason I said this causes conflict is if you keep going,
the Bible pretty much reinforces this.
Let's read verse number 13 again.
For brethren, you have been called unto liberty.
Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.
And you'll soon see that this occasion to the flesh
is not just sin in general, but it's conflicts, okay?
Because then it says, rather than the conflicts,
but by love, serve one another, okay?
You know what this means?
This means that if you respect individuals,
you will respect the individual.
And you say, you know what?
I'm going to serve the individual.
I'm going to love the individual in this church.
I'm going to love and care for each individual family
that's in my church, even if they do things differently
to how I see things.
See, it's going to help you to not have, you know,
not to put your expectations on someone else,
but it's also going to help you in life,
not to be like wondering, oh, what does so-and-so,
what does bran so-and-so think about me?
What does family so-and-so think about us?
Who cares?
What does God think about you?
That's what individual soul liberty is all about.
Let's keep going there.
Verse number 14.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this, thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself.
But then look at verse number 15.
But, so you can see, it's all connected, right?
This is not a separate verse.
But if ye bite and devour one another,
take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
I want you to see that.
You know, liberty, again,
allows you to respect the other person
just because they do things differently.
You're not going to get all upset about it.
You know, I strongly believe,
and I believe the Bible strongly teaches
that it is the man's responsibility
to work hard and provide for the family,
to get out there and work hard, right?
Now, let's say there's a family in our church
that says, hey, pastor, heard your sermon,
and I see where you're coming from,
but we believe, you know,
by our own study of God's word,
we believe that wives should be out there working a job,
maybe because she earns more money, whatever reason, okay?
And the husband, the dad's going to be the house husband.
And that's how we're going to run our life.
Am I going to go to sleep at night about it, do you think?
Do you think I'm going to be tossing and turning,
oh, that family can't believe it.
Do you think that?
Like, I strongly disagree with their position.
Let me say that.
I strongly disagree with that.
I strongly, I don't believe the Bible teaches that whatsoever.
But I'm giving you a sort of far-out example there, okay?
But look, I'm not going to go to sleep over it.
I'm not going to be, okay, now I'm going to start a series on men,
you know, a ten-part series on men working a job, right?
Just to address that one individual family.
I'm not going to go to sleep over it.
And you know what, if I do something as a family,
that another family in this church does not,
does not, I don't know, agree with, whatever,
it's between me and God.
Again, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
And because I'm not going to lose sleep over it,
I'm going to be at peace.
That means I can come to church and be at peace with you.
But when you let things bother you,
you know what that creates?
It creates divisions.
It creates conflicts.
You start to bite and devour.
I can't believe family so-and-so raises their kids this way.
It's none of your business is what it is.
Okay, you raise your kids the way you believe
the Bible tells you you need to raise your kids.
It's between you and the Lord.
You're accountable to God.
I don't agree how this lady brought morning tea,
you know, to the church service this morning.
It's between them and the Lord.
They're serving the Lord.
I don't like how so-and-so cleaned the church this week.
They're serving us.
They're acting out of love.
They're doing it for the Lord.
Leave them alone.
Stop biting, devouring, you know,
just because they don't see eye to eye with you
about something so insignificant,
something that should not matter to you.
We're all going to be judged
at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ
for what we've done for Him.
And I promise you,
if you practice individual soul liberty,
not just believe it, but you practice it,
you're going to be at peace with people.
You're going to be at peace at church.
You're going to find it easy to love one another
even though they operate so differently to you.
Let's go to Romans 14.
Turn with me to Romans 14, verse number 1.
Romans 14 and verse number 1.
Now, we're going to read verses 1 to 10,
but we'll just go through it quickly.
Romans 14 and verse number 1.
I'll give you a moment to turn there
because I really want you to see it.
Romans 14, verse number 1.
Him that is weak in the faith
receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
You know, if someone comes to the church
and they're weak in the faith,
you know that they come to church,
they just tick the box,
and Monday to Saturday,
they're just living for the world.
They're just weak in the flesh.
They're weak in the faith.
You know, they may be carnal Christians,
they're backslidden, whatever it is,
but they come to church.
You know what?
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye.
I'm going to receive that person.
I'm not going to just point out all their faults.
And say, brother, what are you doing in church?
No, no, because church might be the only thing
that's keeping them going.
It might be the only thing that sparks
a little fire back in their belly
and gets them right walking with the Lord again.
People can be different.
People can have disputations,
disagreements of how to do certain things maybe.
But verse number 2, it says,
for one believer that he may eat all things,
that's pretty much, I think, the majority of us,
okay, except when I'm on keto.
But, you know, we're eating all things.
Another who is weak eateth herbs.
You know, if someone says, you know,
I just want to be a vegetarian.
You know, I just want to eat, you know,
is that correct?
Is that what the Bible teaches?
No, it's not what the Bible teaches.
But is it wrong?
Is it sinful to just eat herbs?
No, it's not sinful.
You're not breaking the laws of God, are you,
by eating herbs?
But hey, if someone thinks that this is something
that makes them right with the Lord for whatever reason,
they're weak in the faith.
They just haven't got the knowledge of the Scriptures.
Sometimes people do that because of health reasons.
Fine, whatever, you know.
If someone wants to eat herbs for health reasons,
leave them alone.
Individual soul liberty goes everywhere.
It goes as far as what you eat, okay.
Verse number 3,
let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not,
and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth,
for God hath received him.
You know, ladies, I really appreciate the morning tea
that you guys bring,
but I don't want to create an environment
where one lady says,
oh, I don't like what they've brought.
They do it unto the Lord.
If you don't want to eat what someone else brought,
then don't eat it.
Someone else will eat it.
The support for the kids will eat it, pretty sure, okay.
Someone will eat it, okay.
Just do it unto the Lord.
We're not in competition, are we?
Individually, we're not in competition.
Look at verse number 4.
Who art thou that judgeth another man's servant?
To his own master he standeth a-falleth,
yea, he shall be holden up,
for God is able to make him stand.
You know what God is trying to do?
Causing each one of us to stand firm.
God is trying to make us all to grow and to be like Christ.
But when we find a brother or sister
not walking the way that we think they should be,
we want to tear them down.
We want to judge them.
And God is trying to lift them up,
and you're trying to tear them down.
Who are you to judge another man's servant?
Who are you to judge another family?
Who are you to judge other people's children?
Leave them alone.
Practice individual soul liberty.
I promise it will make you much happier.
It will give you so much more peace in life.
Verse number 5.
One man esteemeth one day above another.
Another esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
We just had Christmas.
Some people want to celebrate Christmas.
Some people don't.
Some people are indifferent.
Who cares?
Some people want a Christmas tree.
Some people don't.
It doesn't matter.
Someone wants to elevate one day above another.
We've got Australia Day coming up.
You want to enjoy Australia Day,
go out with your family,
enjoy the public holiday,
and celebrate Australia for at least being
one of the best countries in the world at the very least?
Go for it.
Another says, you know what?
I don't like Australia.
I don't like the wicked laws.
I don't like our wicked government.
I can't celebrate Australia.
Well, don't celebrate Australia then.
It's up to you.
Okay?
And if someone invites you for Australia Day,
hey, come over to my house and let's celebrate Australia Day.
Come over for a lunch,
and you go, I don't celebrate that.
Well, who cares?
All right.
Just say, look, thanks for the invite,
but, you know, I've got other plans.
How about that?
Okay?
My other plans are not to celebrate.
Instead of making people feel like they're rubbish
for, you know, steaming one day above another.
Everyone, it's up to you.
It's up to you how you decide to do things.
Up to you which days you're going to celebrate,
all right, or not celebrate,
or just view every day alike.
To me, every day is special.
Every day is special
because it's all been created by God.
God's given us every day,
a new day to live life,
a new day to serve him.
Let's keep going to verse number six.
Hear that?
Regardeth the day,
regardeth it unto the Lord.
You might say, Australia Day,
okay, I know it's a wicked nation.
I know there are wicked laws.
I know there are 250 abortions
happening every single day in Australia,
but I'm going to thank God for putting me in this nation.
I'm going to thank God for the liberties that I have
that I can go soul winning.
I have the liberties to go to church.
I have the liberty to read my Bible without persecution.
You might want to celebrate that.
Celebrate unto the Lord.
And hear that regardeth not the day.
To the Lord, he doth not regard it.
Hear that eateth, eateth to the Lord,
for he giveth God thanks.
And hear that eateth not to the Lord,
he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
For none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieeth to himself.
Now we're learning something else.
Not only do we have the liberty to decide what to do,
but we don't live to ourselves,
and we don't die to ourselves.
Meaning, yes, liberty is great,
but now we have accountability for the way that we live.
Okay, we're not living for ourselves,
we're living for the Lord.
How well are you living for the Lord?
Okay, liberty is great.
Woo hoo, I got freedom.
Yeah, but you're accountable to God
for the decisions you make in life.
Because it continues in verse number eight.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord,
and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's.
For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived,
that he might be the Lord both of the dead and living.
Then verse number 10.
So understanding this, okay,
he's the Lord of the dead,
he's the Lord of those that have passed away,
and he's there for those that are still alive.
Okay, Lord means he's in charge.
You know, Lord means we're his servants, he's the boss.
Therefore we're accountable to him now
with the liberty that he's given us.
But then it says in verse number 10,
but why dost thou judge thy brother?
Why do you judge your brother?
Why do you go home after church
and say I can't believe family so and so did X, Y, and Z at church?
I can't believe that this family
doesn't eat around the dinner table like we do.
I can't believe this family lets their kids go
and play video games for 10 hours a week, I don't know.
I can't believe, listen, forget it.
But why dost thou judge thy brother?
Leave him alone.
They're accountable to God.
They're living for the Lord, they're accountable to him.
Let God deal with them.
Why dost thou judge thy brother?
Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother?
What does that mean?
Why dost thou set at naught, naught is zero?
Why do you make them nothing to you?
You know, when you start to judge your brother,
when you start to criticize,
you're saying they are nothing.
They don't know anything.
Look, I'm sure this sermon's gonna touch someone here today.
This is what churches are.
We're all different people, individuals, families,
and we're just very critical people.
Saying no I'm not.
Yes you are.
You are.
So am I.
Okay, individual soul is so important though.
Okay, to have unity in a church.
Alright, it's so important.
I want this in our statement of faith.
I want people to, let's find out about this church, alright,
this individual soul liberty.
We're not here judging one another.
We're leaving the judgment to God is what we're doing.
Okay, because it continues there.
Why dost thou judge thy brother?
Why dost thou set at naught thy brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
We're all accountable to Jesus Christ
for the life that we live.
You've got freedom.
You've got liberty.
Okay, I might not agree with you.
Alright, but God's going to judge you.
Christ is going to judge you one day.
Not whether you're going to heaven or not.
That's a done deal.
Okay, Christ has already given us liberty.
He's already given us a home in heaven.
Heaven is a done deal.
But now, how is God going to reward you in eternity?
Remember we're commanded to lay up treasures in heaven
and not on this earth?
Well, depends on how you live your life.
How much you served him.
How faithful you were toward him.
How well you kept his laws.
How well you used the liberty that he gave you to serve him.
To serve one another.
To love one another.
He's going to judge you on that
and reward you in heaven based on that.
If you live for yourself, you take liberty
and just give into your flesh,
you'll still make it to heaven,
but you won't have much up there.
You won't have much to rejoice in
for the work that you've done for the Lord.
Okay, but we're all individually
going to stand before this judgment seat.
And to me, that's a humbling thought.
To stand before Jesus, who gave his life for me,
who paid for all of my sins,
and then to say, what did you do for me?
Oh, yeah, Lord, I was just criticizing
every family at church.
You know, the other parents,
they didn't raise the kids
the way I raised my kids.
That's just stupid.
That's wicked.
Okay, we have individual soul liberty.
And when we talk about our church,
we're an independent fundamental.
Some people have removed that word fundamental.
I love that word fundamental.
We're a fundamentalist church.
Baptist church.
You know, it used to be that IFB,
it used to be that IFB was a common term
describing churches like ours.
But a lot of churches now remove the F.
We're just independent Baptists.
Okay, I think that's not,
you know, first of all,
the term fundamentalist
was coined by Baptists to begin with.
I don't know if you know that or not.
It was coined by a Baptist.
Okay.
And it meant that basically we believe
in the foundational doctrines of the Bible
is what it meant.
Okay, we believe in the blood atonement.
We believe in the miracles.
We believe in the virgin birth.
We believe in the trinity.
We believe in these fundamental doctrines
that make up the Christian faith.
That's what a fundamentalist
is supposed to be all about.
But what's happened over the last, say, 20 years
is that the media has taken this
Baptist-coined word
and applied it to Islam.
Islamic fundamentalists.
And what they mean by that is
Islamic extremists.
Islamic terrorists.
And so what's happened within the Baptist world?
Panic, we don't want to be seen
in the same light as extremists and terrorists.
Therefore, let's remove the word fundamentalist
from our church.
Or from our title, from our description.
It's a Baptist-coined term.
Okay, fundamentalist is talking about our foundations.
The basis of what we do
when we come to serve our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, as I said to you,
fundamentalism is meant to be
all about the foundational doctrines.
Okay?
The doctrines that are part of the Christian faith.
If you remove yourself from some of these doctrines,
you are no longer teaching a Christian faith.
Like if you start to deny the trinity,
that is no longer Christianity.
If you deny that Jesus Christ is 100% God
and 100% man, you're denying Christianity.
You're creating a new religion.
You're creating a cult.
You're creating something new
that is not Christianity or biblical Christianity.
That's what fundamentalism is all about.
But here's the problem that I've seen,
that when we talk about going to a,
when people talk about being a fundamentalist,
what do you think pops in someone's mind?
Oh, that's a fundamental church.
That's a fundamentalist church.
Do you think the first thing in their mind is,
ah, therefore they believe,
you know, they take the Bible literally,
you know, they're Bible believers.
Do you think in their mind they're going,
ah, they believe in the doctrine and miracles of the Bible.
They take all that literally.
No, you know what most people think
when they think of a fundamentalist church?
Ah, it's one of those churches that sings the old hymns
and the women wear skirts.
That's what people think today.
Oh, you're a fundamentalist church.
Oh, you must read from the old King James Bible.
You know, oh, you must be the church
that, you know, has 25 kids per family
and you all homeschool your kids.
See, people think of the word fundamentalist
with the way you live.
Okay, and then they think,
if I come to that church, they're going to enforce,
because they're foundational, foundational things,
they think what is foundational to us
is how we live our life.
No, no, no.
What's foundational, what's fundamental are the doctrines.
Okay, that's what's important.
But I guarantee you, maybe even right now,
there's someone in our church that thinks
fundamentalism is talking about the way we live.
And if you don't homeschool your kids,
you're not a fundamentalist or something,
something like that.
You're wrong.
What does that breed?
That breeds judgment.
Looking at other people.
Oh, your kid goes to regular school?
How selfish.
Oh, you homeschool?
What lazy parents.
Bet you they play video games all day
instead of being taught anything.
That's not fundamentalism.
Okay, again, fundamentalism are the doctrines
that we hold, the fundamental truths of God's word.
Okay, and then we build from that.
Fundamentalism is not how we live our life
and build from there.
Because if it was that, then we would be a cult.
Then we would be judging one another.
Then we would be saying,
hey, is that woman's dress, you know,
I think that's a little bit too low there.
Is it more than two fingertips length from the neck?
I don't know what that is.
But people are like that.
I'm telling you, people are like this
in independent fundamental Baptist churches.
I'm telling you now.
Mothers are looking at other daughters
of other families and going,
I think that's just,
there's a bit too much shoulder on that dress.
There's just a bit, there's too much back there.
And look, if you've got your standards
and that's how you want to raise a family, do it.
Individual soul liberty.
You have the liberty to decide how you want to do things.
But this does not give us the liberty
to judge other families or other people.
And this protects you.
You know, it protects you as well,
where you have boundaries,
where other people cannot judge you
for the way you decided to live your life.
Okay?
And there's freedom, there's peace,
there's acceptance when you accept this truth of the Bible.
Okay?
Come with me to Genesis chapter two.
Genesis chapter two.
And I know I've preached on this before many times,
but I just like this very simple truth.
In the book of Genesis,
especially the first few chapters,
things are very straightforward.
In the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, all right?
And most, I would say pretty much all doctrines, I think,
that are just the most important doctrine of the Bible
are going to be found in the book of Genesis.
And individual soul liberty is found in the book of Genesis.
In Genesis chapter two, after God created Adam,
it says in verse number 15, Genesis 2.15,
And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
All right? So he gives Adam a job.
Verse number 16,
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
You can only eat of one tree, Adam.
Don't touch any trees except one.
That's the only one you can eat from, Adam.
Is that what God says?
Now let's read it again, verse number 16.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.
Does that sound like liberty to you?
Adam, whichever tree you want, Adam.
All the trees.
I don't know how many trees there are in the garden.
Hundreds, maybe?
Or were the fruits without the curse on the earth?
I mean, the mango must have tasted even better, right?
I mean, the strawberries were probably the size of your head.
I don't know.
And just think about how good fruit is
and then how wonderful he would have been in the garden of Eden.
God says you can eat of all of them, Adam.
That's very free, isn't it?
But then he says in verse number 17,
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it.
For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
The only thing I want to take away from there is the liberty,
the freedom that God gives to Adam.
Adam, go for it.
Unlimited choices.
You know?
But sometimes people think a fundamentalist Baptist church is this.
Pastor, which tree should I eat of this morning?
Pastor, which tree should I eat of for morning tea?
Pastor, what tree should I eat of for lunch?
Pastor, you know, what tree should I eat of at dinner?
It's like there's hundreds.
Go for it.
Choose.
Just don't eat of that one tree that God said not to eat of.
Just don't cross the boundaries and sin against the Lord.
Don't use your liberty for the occasion of the flesh.
But there's liberty.
There's liberty.
There's freedom.
Some people don't like this, though.
They like the idea of just one tree.
I promise you, if there were some independent Baptists that were God
and they created man, they would create one tree.
Eat of this tree, Adam, and that's it.
Because that's how they like to live their life.
No, it's liberty.
It's freedom.
You know, Wednesday when I said,
I'm not in competition with other churches or other pastors
because there's liberty.
Okay?
We usually sing four hymns before this.
No.
We did five hymns.
Guess what?
There's liberty.
It's okay to sing an extra hymn.
I just want you to see God's heart toward Adam.
He doesn't want Adam to be just restricted Christian living.
It's like, man, I can eat of anything I want.
Let's go, man.
That's fun.
That's enjoyable.
You see, liberty gives you joy.
It gives you options.
It makes life a bit more fun, a bit more adventurous.
As long as you're respecting the boundaries of not breaking God's laws.
Let's keep going.
You're in Genesis 2.
Let's drop down to verse number 18.
Something else I want to show you here.
Verse number 18.
And the Lord God said,
It is not good that the man should be alone,
but I will make him and help meet for him.
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field
and every fowl of the air,
and brought them unto Adam, look at this,
to see what he would call them,
and whatsoever Adam called every living creature,
that was the name thereof.
What else?
God brings all the animals to Adam?
All right, Adam.
You have the liberty to decide what you're going to call the animals.
And God just watches on.
All right, go for it, Adam.
All right.
Adam did not go, all right, this one's got a long neck.
God, what do you reckon?
Giraffe, okay, giraffe.
All right, no, it wasn't like that.
God says, all right, Adam, I've given you the liberty of all the trees.
Now I'm giving you the liberty to name every animal.
That's how God operates.
Okay, the same God that created Adam,
the same God that gave Adam liberty
is the same God that's given you your individual soul liberty.
Okay?
And again, I'm not saying you've got to license the sin.
I'm not saying just go ahead and sin.
No, that's not what I'm teaching.
Okay, don't take my sermon out of context.
But there is a lot of freedom.
There's a lot of different ways to live life.
There are a lot of different ways to raise children
and to raise your family and to lead your home
and to work your job and to, there's lots of ways to do things.
Be respectful toward other people that choose to do things differently to you.
Come with me to 1 John chapter 2.
1 John chapter 2 verse number 26.
1 John chapter 2 and verse number 26.
1 John chapter 2 verse number 26.
It says, these things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
You might want to say deceive,
seducing people to false teachings, false understandings, false doctrines.
I want you to notice verse number 27.
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you.
You see, the moment you got saved, you've been anointed within yourself.
This is speaking about the Holy Spirit.
I have the Holy Spirit in me right now and I hope the Lord is using my spirit to preach you God's word.
But you have the Holy Spirit within you as well.
You've been given that anointing as well.
And therefore it says, and ye need not that any man teach you.
Isn't that interesting?
But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lie
and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
You see, the Holy Spirit teaches each one of us that are saved.
We all have the right and the ability to open God's word and say,
Lord, by your spirit, show me your truth.
Church is important. Church is something that God commands.
God has appointed or ordained men into leadership, pastors, etcetera, teachers.
Because generally speaking, this man is often able to use the time to go and dig in deep
and teach God's word when other people may not have that time.
And so of course, by experience, by the study, by the length of time,
of course I'm going to be teaching things and maybe I'm going to open your eyes to certain things.
But that should not stop you and say,
well, therefore the only way I can learn God's word is by coming to church.
You know, you open God's word, you utilize the spirit of God that is given you
and you ask God to reveal truth unto you.
Look, I'm not so prideful to think that every word that comes out of my mouth behind this pulpit
is always true and always perfect because I still have stuttering lips.
You know, my vocabulary isn't that great.
Sometimes my brain can be thinking about something but out of my mouth comes something else.
But, okay, therefore you have the ability also.
You have the Holy Spirit.
You have the Lord who teaches you.
There is nothing that I should be able to teach you that you yourself cannot go to God's word
and find out by yourself.
If I'm teaching you something and you're like, I just don't see anywhere in the Bible.
I mean, I know you've said that, you know, and you're teaching that,
but I just don't see anything.
Well, you know what, go with what the Holy Spirit has taught you.
Sometimes I am going to pop out my opinions from time to time.
My hope is my opinions are lined up with the scriptures, but my opinions can be wrong.
Well, you go with what you see in God's word, what God, you're accountable to God, not to me.
You're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, not before the judgment seat of me.
God has given you that anointing.
Please don't think, oh man, I need to learn something from the Bible.
You know, switch off the YouTube sometimes and just open God's word yourself.
Okay, stop becoming dependent on other men.
You don't need for men to teach you.
You've got the Holy Spirit.
Would you want to be taught by man or by God?
Okay, then turn off the YouTube.
Okay, get your head into the Bible and say, God, teach me.
Come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse number 9.
And then after you've been taught by God, then turn on the YouTube and listen to other people, okay?
But make sure you do not neglect this part of your life.
Every person has the right to read their own Bible.
Okay, this is not the Catholic church that says, oh, the Bible is too hard for you to understand.
No, no, you can understand it.
I'll show you why in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse number 9.
1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse number 9.
The Bible says, but as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.
But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit.
For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
Do you want to know the deep things of God?
You need to ask the Holy Spirit, Lord, reveal this to me.
Teach me, Spirit of God, guide me as I read and study your word.
I'm not the Holy Spirit of God.
No man is the Holy Spirit of God.
I try my best to be a vessel for the Spirit.
I try my best that God will use me and I try to empty myself of my flesh as much as I can
to come and preach you God's word.
But at the end of the day, I'm still a man.
I'm still a faulty channel.
But you, you can have direct access to the Spirit of God through his word to be taught.
Verse number 11.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him?
Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God,
which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
You know right now I'm teaching spiritual things.
Okay, so I've heard it past, okay, great.
No, it's not enough.
You compare spiritual with spiritual.
You take something else that is spiritual, God's word, and you say,
look, I heard pastor preach this, I heard the preacher say this,
now let me go to God's word and compare spiritual with spiritual.
You need God's word.
You yourself are to take this Bible and compare what you hear.
Verse number 14.
But the natural man.
Now the natural man here is, yes, we'll say it's the unsaved man.
Yes, it is.
But the natural man is also a man you've got.
That's your flesh.
Okay, so you can apply this in both ways.
It says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
The only way you can understand or discern God's word is by the Spirit.
Okay, the natural man does not receive it.
You know, if you're in the flesh, right, if you're in sin and you're far from the Lord,
and you haven't confessed your sins to the Lord recently,
and you're just living for yourself,
when you pick up God's word, you're going to have a hard time understanding it.
You're going to start doubting God's word.
You're going to start thinking, oh, maybe the Lord does not really require that of me.
I'm just going to go my way, I think, here.
That's the flesh.
Remember, you have liberty, but don't give the occasion to the flesh.
Don't be the natural man when it comes to the things of God.
Use your liberty.
God has given you the Holy Spirit.
He wants to give you liberally great wisdom of his word.
So take hold of that for the new man that God has given you.
Okay, now you can discern the things of God.
Now you can understand the scriptures.
Before you read the Bible, say, Lord, help me to just put that flesh away,
the fleshly carnal understanding that is contrary to your word,
and help me read the Bible for the lens of the new man.
Alright, and the Holy Spirit will be able to teach you great truths.
Verse number 15.
Now this is still so important.
Okay.
Let me use that silly example again.
Say, pastor, I read the Bible, I believe my husband should be the house husband,
and I'll go, the wife will go out and work a job.
Let's pretend.
You know, for some reason, that's your conclusion.
Okay.
Verse number 15.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things.
Okay.
Then it says this.
Yet he himself is judged of no man.
You know what?
If you read the Bible, and you come to a conclusion,
okay, not by your flesh, but through the Spirit,
you come to a conclusion that differs from mine,
I am not to judge you.
You are not judged by any man.
This is why you have your own sole liberty to decide.
Okay.
Hey, when you know God's word,
you can judge all things.
You can say, okay, Lord, this is my life.
I know your word.
You've taught me truth.
You've guided me through your word, Lord.
Now I have the liberty to judge my life
and to decide how I'm going to do things.
But not for another man to step in and tell me how to live my life.
Because I'm not being taught by another man.
I'm being taught by the Spirit of God
that I have within me through the word of God that you've given me.
That scares people.
You know, that scares pastors to say such a thing.
Because then they think that church members are going to go out there
and live a wild, crazy life or something.
Oh, pastor, I don't believe that.
I believe God wants me drinking alcohol and going clubbing.
Obviously, all that is sin.
Okay, obviously, that's giving occasion to the flesh.
Okay, that's not where we're going with this.
I'm talking about the liberty to decide.
Say, pastor, which tree do you like to eat for breakfast?
I don't know, maybe the banana tree over there.
Say, well, I prefer the orange tree.
All right, go have the orange tree.
Go eat the orange.
Go for it.
You have the liberty.
All right, as long as you're not giving into your flesh,
as long as you're not sinning against the Lord,
you choose.
Go for it.
Please don't think, oh, I better not do this
because what if pastor finds out?
I mean, if it's sin, well, that's something else.
But I'm talking about just life in general.
I'll tell you quickly now.
We're trying to figure out, my wife and I,
we're trying to figure out a time where I can go.
Since we started the church in 2017,
we've not had a family holiday.
Everything's been ministry week in, week out,
whether here or in Sydney or et cetera.
I think I need a little break.
I need just maybe two, two and a half weeks or something
just to leave ministry alone, to go out there,
and someone might say, oh, pastor,
you shouldn't do that.
I don't think that's right.
I'm not judged by any man.
I need a recharge.
I need to spend time with my family.
I haven't even gone to look at southeast Queensland
all that much.
I don't even know really what's out here too much,
except what's just locally.
I'm not judged by any man.
I'm not there wondering, oh, man,
what's the church gonna think if I disappear for two weeks?
You know?
Some people have a hard time.
It's just like everything that anyone does
or decides to do.
It's like, I've gotta give my two cents.
I don't care about your two cents.
Your two cents is not gonna change my life,
but God's word's gonna change my life.
Your two cent opinion does not matter, okay?
It matters in your life what it matters,
what God has guided you, what He's instructed you.
If there's something that God is teaching you this morning
and you know you've compared spiritual with spiritual,
then you make a decision.
You have the choice now.
Lord, how am I gonna apply this to my life?
Again, I'm not gonna come to your house
and enforce the rules of the Bible into you.
You have liberty.
You have choice.
You decide.
And by your decision, don't forget
you're accountable toward Jesus Christ, okay?
You're in there in 1 Corinthians 2.
Look at verse 16.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord,
that he may instruct him,
but we have the mind of Christ?
Isn't that interesting?
Let me read that again.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord?
So like no one does.
No one knows the mind of the Lord,
but the Holy Spirit does.
Remember we saw that earlier.
And because you have the Holy Spirit,
and because the Holy Spirit can teach you,
it says here, but we have the mind of Christ.
The one that teaches you, you know,
you ought to care what Christ thinks about you, right?
You ought to care what pastor thinks about you,
or what this brother at church thinks about you,
or what this sister in church thinks about you.
Hey, worry and concern yourself, not worry,
but concern yourself with what Christ thinks of you.
Know the mind of Christ by knowing God's word,
by being taught by his Holy Spirit.
Then when you know what Christ thinks about you,
now you can make the right decision in life,
what is the right thing to do,
and what is the wrong thing to do?
And then you've got liberty to decide
what you're going to do.
I want you to really, really appreciate this doctrine.
It's so important.
Narcissists do not want you to believe this doctrine.
You know, in church, generally speaking,
people try to be more trustworthy,
more open, more caring, more loving.
Hopefully that's usually the kind of people
that gets drawn toward a church,
but you know what also draws people toward a church?
You know who else gets drawn toward a church?
A narcissist, because they know
I can take advantage of people at church.
And before you know it,
your life is dedicated to someone else.
They're telling you what to do in life.
They're coming to your house uninvited.
They're telling you how to raise your kids.
They're doing whatever they want in your life.
You know what?
And they don't appreciate you.
You do your best to appease them.
You're doing your best to love them.
They don't appreciate it.
People come in like this,
and they do not respect boundaries.
I don't want a narcissist,
and we might have narcissists in church,
I don't know, I don't know everybody,
to come in and start commanding someone else's life.
When you understand individual soul liberty,
you'll say to that narcissist,
hey, get lost.
I'm accountable to God.
Leave me alone.
Okay, if there's any narcissists,
get out of here.
I don't want you in church.
I don't want you trying to take control of people's lives.
I don't want you taking control of people's families
because all you're going to do
is cause division in our church.
I don't want you here, even if you're saved.
I don't want a narcissist in our church.
Okay, I want, you know,
if someone's like very saved for a long time,
a Christian for a long time,
right little Lord, holy living, right?
You know, you're like the standout Christian in the church.
And you come up to me and say,
you're the Christian who's living the most godless,
worldly life.
You say to me, hey, pastor,
you know we need to do something about so-and-so there
because, you know,
they're not living up to the right standards.
You know what?
I'm going to respect that person's individual soul liberty.
And I'll say to you, you know what?
You care about brother so-and-so,
go and take it to the Lord who's his Lord and master.
You take it to the Lord and you leave him alone.
You pray for him and you love him
and you stop tearing him down.
So this is what individual soul liberty is.
Okay?
We're all at different stages in our Christian growth.
And sometimes in our Christian growth,
people are going backwards.
Leave them alone.
Pray for them.
Okay?
Ask the Lord to intercede.
Okay?
You respect your own soul liberty.
You respect their soul liberty.
They're accountable to God.
Okay?
The Lord will act upon that person at the right time.
I'm going to quickly read to you from Acts 5.
Can you please turn to Hebrews 13?
Hebrews 13.
I'll quickly read to you from Acts 5.
In Acts 5, we have Peter and some of the disciples trying to,
they're going out in Jerusalem.
They're preaching Jesus Christ.
And of course, the religious leaders, they don't like this.
Okay?
You guys go to Hebrews 13.
And the religious leaders, the chief rulers,
they don't like the fact that the disciples of Jesus
are preaching in the name of Jesus
and they try to withhold them, restrict them.
But then you have these words in Acts 5, 28.
This is their response saying,
Did not we straightly command you
that ye should not teach in this name?
And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine
and intend to bring this man's blood upon us?
Verse number 29.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
We ought to obey God rather than men.
You know, in the families, children,
in your families, and I'm teaching individual soul liberty,
but God has commanded children to be obedient
to their parents, to honor mother and father.
Okay?
That's the right thing to do.
That's what God instructs of you.
All right?
So if I preach something behind this pulpit
and Dad says, No, that's not what we're going to do.
I don't agree with pastor Sepulveda on that issue.
This is what we're going to do as a family.
And you say, Yes, Dad.
Because the Bible says to honor mother and father.
I have no authority in your family.
You obey Mom and Dad.
Okay? That is the right thing to do.
God will look down and bless you.
And you obey Mom and Dad.
Because that's what God has asked you to do.
You obey God rather than men.
I'm a man.
Okay?
God does not say let the pastor enter your family life
and tell you how to run your home.
Children, God says obey Mom and Dad.
Honor Mom and Dad.
You do what is right.
We're all accountable.
If Mom and Dad are doing things wrong, guess what?
They're going to be accountable to Jesus Christ
on the day of judgment.
Okay?
So that ought to be your mindset.
You ought to obey God rather than men.
If I preach something and you say, No, pastor,
I don't believe that.
I believe God says otherwise.
Alright.
You obey God rather than men.
Individual sole liberty.
Hebrews 13 verse 17.
So I'm talking about the family home.
I'm talking about you as individuals.
Let's talk about the church very quickly.
Because individual sole liberty might be,
Oh, pastor, I'm tired of these old hymns at church.
I reckon we should bring in the Hillsong.
You know, King James, let's bring in the NIV.
Let me use the NIV for just a quick example though.
Alright, we're a King James only church.
Okay, we believe it's a perfect,
preserved word of God in English.
Okay, I'm not going to,
I'm not going to apologize for that position.
But if you decide and you say,
Pastor, yeah, okay, I'll bring it to church,
but at home we'll read the NIV.
Do I agree with that?
No.
Do you have the liberty to read it?
Yes, you do.
Can I come into your house
and strip every NIV out of your bookshelf?
No.
I don't have the right to do that.
Okay?
But if you bring the NIV to this church,
I will strip it out of your hands
and throw it in the bin.
Okay, because the Bible says in Hebrews 13, 17,
Obey them, these are the words of God of course,
Obey them that have the rule over you
and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls
as they must give account
that they may do it with joy
and not with grief
for that is unprofitable for you.
So even though we have individual soul liberty,
I don't want you to take that liberty so far
where you think,
Pastor, you step down,
I'll preach today.
No, no, no.
You obey the one that has rule over you
at this time in the house of God.
Okay, so if I say, hey,
throw that NIV in the Bible
and pick yourself up a King James Bible,
you do it.
Okay, because I'm accountable.
I'm accountable to God for this church.
I don't want to face God one day
and my church, oh yeah,
they all had NIVs
because they taught individual soul liberty, Lord.
And so they just decided to all bring NIVs
and new King James Bibles to church.
No.
Thank God he at least still has authority,
you know, and you can see,
we're talking about accountability.
I've got to give account to God
for this church one day.
Hey, and if you do it,
if you help me do it with joy,
you know, if you say,
yes, Pastor, I would throw it in the bin.
You know what,
and that would give me joy.
This is profitable to you.
If you dig your heels in
and you disobey
and you become rebellious at church,
it's unprofitable for you.
Meaning there's not only rewards
for the life that we live individually,
but there's also rewards
for what we do as a church.
Okay.
So do you want extra rewards
because you're a great church member?
Then obey the one that has rule over you.
But remember, my rule is here at church.
Once church is over,
I no longer have rule in your life.
Come with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5,
2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse number 9.
Next point,
and I've already kind of touched upon it,
but just a little bit further.
Don't forget with personal liberty
comes personal accountability.
Okay.
With personal liberty
comes personal accountability.
2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse number 9.
I've already spoken to you
about the judgment seat of Christ.
This is not the great white throne judgment
where non-believers are going to be
cast into the lake of fire for all eternity.
We're talking about being judged
for what we've done for the Lord here
at the judgment seat of Christ.
2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse number 9.
We labour that whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of Him.
So even though we have liberty,
we want to live a life
that is accepted by God.
That's acceptable by God.
Okay. Why?
Because in verse number 10 it says,
For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ.
Look at this.
That everyone may receive the things
done in his body.
Everyone, every man, woman, and child
that is saved will stand before Jesus
and Jesus will say,
What did you do with your body?
How did you serve me?
Receive the things done in his body
whether to that he have done,
whether it be good or bad.
So I'm saying, hey, with your liberty
choose to do good.
Choose to do that which is right
because then the Lord will reward you faithfully
for your service and love toward Him.
If you choose to do that which is bad,
bad is not sinful
because we're not going to be judged for our sins.
Our sins have already been judged
by Jesus Christ on the cross.
Like God's not going to bring up
all our sins on judgment day.
They've already been paid for by Jesus.
It's all been nailed to the cross.
The Lord's died for our sins.
But the things that are bad
are things that are just not profitable.
The things that add no value.
The things that have no eternal value.
The things that we've done
that may not be sinful but,
like God's not going to reward me
for watching a soccer game.
You know what I mean?
But is it sinful to watch a soccer game?
It's got no eternal value.
It means nothing, okay,
in the scheme of eternity.
Those are things that are bad.
Okay, when you say a piece of fruit
has gone bad,
you're saying it's gone off.
It's not profitable.
It's sinful.
We're not going to stand before God in sin.
The sin's been taken care of already
in the body of Christ.
But I want you to see,
you're accountable, okay?
Please don't walk away going,
oh great, pastor told me,
individual soul of liberty.
So I'm just, you know what,
I'm just going to live how I want.
That's it.
I don't care about the Bible.
I'm just going to do what I want.
What are you going to say
that I'm going to give you?
Hey, do that which is good.
Use your liberty for good.
Cover me to another passage,
Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number six.
Hebrews 12 and verse number six.
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number six.
As I said to you,
with personal liberty
comes personal accountability.
And in Hebrews chapter 12
verse number six it says,
whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth,
and scourgeeth,
that's like whipping, okay?
And scourgeeth every son
whom he receiveth.
You see, you do have liberty.
But if you take your liberty
and do that which is wrong,
God will chasten you
on this earth, okay?
God is going to bring hardships
upon your life to correct you.
Verse number seven.
If ye endure chastening,
you are as with sons.
For what son is he
whom the Father chasteneth not?
You know what it's saying here?
Parents, if you don't correct your children,
if you don't chasten them,
if you don't scourge them
when they do wrong,
what kind of parent are you?
That's what it's saying.
It's saying you're not a parent
if you're not raising your children
and applying some corporal punishment
from time to time
for the wrong that they do.
And we do things that are contrary to him.
You see, with personal liberty
comes personal accountability.
You're still accountable to God, okay?
I'm not here to judge you.
God's going to judge you.
And don't be surprised when your life
becomes extremely difficult
because you're far from the Lord.
And then it says in verse number eight.
But if ye be without chastisements
whereof all are partakers,
then ye are bastards
and not sons.
A bastard is someone without, you know,
earthly parents or without a father, okay?
We're not bastards.
We have a heavenly father.
We're sons, okay?
But if you be without chastisement,
it says whereof all are partakers.
You know what?
If you've been saved for a period of time,
we've all been partakers of God's chastisements
because we've all used our liberty
and done things that are contrary to God.
If you've never been chastised by God,
then you're a bastard is what you are.
You're not actually even saved.
You know what?
If you see God's heavy hand upon you
and you recognise, boy,
I know why I'm receiving this.
I know where my heart's been far from the Lord.
I've not been walking his ways, okay?
Then that pretty much confirms
that you know what?
Therefore, I'm saved.
If God loves me enough to correct me
when I've done wrong,
to make me accountable, you know,
in this life when I walk paths
that are contrary to his will,
yes, God will correct us
but don't forget,
the accountability continues in heaven
when we stand before his judgment seats,
God's going to say,
wait, what did you do of profit?
What did you do of value for my namesake?
So don't forget that.
I'm not saying, hey,
decide whatever you want.
There's no consequences.
There are consequences.
Those consequences aren't going to come from me.
They're going to come from the Lord, okay?
All right, brethren.
Individual soul liberty.
I hope you stop criticizing
your brother or sister in the Lord.
I hope you stop being passive aggressive
toward people even in prayer
and get together in prayer.
Let's say, sorry,
I know I'm a bit over time,
but let's use the example again.
The family that said,
my husband's going to be the house husband
and we get together on Wednesday night prayer meeting,
right, after service and like,
dear Lord, thank you for the church
and Lord, I just pray that every man
and stop being a house husband
and that he would stop sending his wife
out there to labor and work hard
and provide for the family.
That's been passive aggressive.
That's been very judgmental.
Leave them alone, all right?
Hey, take that, pray for that family
if you want to.
Take it to the Lord alone.
Take it to the Lord God.
You don't have to be judgmental in prayer.
I'm just being righteous.
No, you're being judgmental.
You're being critical.
It's not accountable to you.
Don't be a narcissist.
It's not about you.
It's about the Lord.
You know, we live for him,
we die for him, we eat for him,
we drink for him, we serve for him.
Our life ought to be the Lord's.
Stop being the Lord of other people.
Stop being critical about other people.
Okay, when you get home from church this afternoon,
enjoy your family, enjoy your time.
Stop talking bad about other people at church.
It's not your place
and at the same time,
it's not about you.
Stop worrying about what brother so-and-so
or what sister so-and-so
or what family so-and-so thinks about you
and your life.
Stop it.
You're accountable to God.
God's going to judge you.
You make sure you're doing what God expects from you.
Individual soul liberty,
it's such a beautiful doctrine,
so important for the peace
and prosperity of our church.
In summary, brethren, in conclusion,
once again, what's going to be
the right thing to do in the world
rather than men,
for all must appear to God
before the judgment seat of Christ.
Therefore, no man nor church
has the right to act as a person's conscience.
Everyone has the right to read the scriptures
and to choose how to respond
according to its teachings.
All right, let's pray.
Yes, Heavenly Father, Lord,
I want to thank you so much
for the liberty that you've given us
in Jesus Christ.
Lord, the freedom, the free gift,
that you've given upon us
to teach us all things,
to learn the great wisdom and truth
that comes from your word.
Lord, I just thank you
for every teaching, Lord,
every doctrine that you've opened our eyes toward.
Please use this pastor, Lord,
to teach without error.
Lord, I know I still make mistakes in life,
but please, Lord, use me
to be a vessel unto you,
to guide and to direct this church
in the paths that you would want us to walk,
not just collectively, Lord,
but to reassess and to judge
everything that we do in life
to see whether it is acceptable unto you.
And Lord, if it is not acceptable unto you, Lord,
give us the zeal, the passion, the drive
to make the necessary changes, Lord,
that would make a life that is holy unto you.
Lord, we pray all these things
in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, please take your hymnals.
And 332, 332 channels only.
332, 332 channels only.
332, channels only.
The blessed master
loved you all thy wife was now
flowing through us,
thou canst use us
every day and every hour.
Empty that house,
shouldst give me
a clean air
soot in my hand
with no power
as thou giveth so graciously
with each command
channels only,
blessed master,
but with all thy wife was now
flowing through us,
thou canst use us
every day and every hour.
Witnessing thy power
to save me,
setting free
from self and sin,
thou will water
to possess me
in thy fullness,
Lord, coming
channels only,
blessed master,
but with all thy wife was now
flowing through us,
thou canst use us
every day and every hour.
Jesus will now
hear my spirit,
hearts that we are
surrender, Lord,
and the streams are
being imported
from our inner
memory flow,
channels only,
blessed master,
but with all thy wife was now
flowing through us,
thou canst use us
every day and every hour.
Every day and every hour.