Sermons on Freedom
1 Cor. 6:12-20
Six Reasons Why Sex Outside Marriage Is Wrong SCRIPTURE: 1 Cor. 6:12-20 Introduction: I read recently of a wife who went to lunch with eleven other women who were taking a French course together, since their children were all in school. One rather bold woman asked the rest, “How many of you have been faithful throughout your marriage?” Only one raised her hand. That evening when the woman of our story related the incident to her husband and admitted she was not the one who had…
1 Corinthians 9:1‑18
He Practiced What He Preached SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 9:1‑18 Introduction: The topic of our text today is one I do not relish. It deals in part with the question of whether pastors should be paid. This topic, however, is really only used by the Apostle Paul as an illustration of a broader theme which he began in chapter 8 and continues through chapter 10, namely the theme of Christian liberty and the need to limit that liberty by love for one another. If you were…
1 Cor. 10:23-11:1
Using Freedom Rightly SCRIPTURE: 1 Cor. 10:23-11:1 Introduction: You know friends, I really look forward to our times together here at First Free. Sunday is the high point of my week. But it hasn’t always been. It wasn’t my favorite time when I was growing up. I was always in church, and I never really rebelled against going (it wouldn’t have done much good–my dad was the pastor), but neither did I enjoy it very much. Why the difference today? Well, there are probably a lot of…
Daniel 6, 1 Cor. 6:9-20
Flee Immorality Introduction: In Daniel 6 we were challenged to follow Daniel’s example of exceptional allegiance to duty in the face of temptation. We considered a number of crises facing us today (integrity, marriage, parenting), but time did not permit us to examine the crisis in sexual immorality. We return to that topic this morning. Pastors have been known to make sweeping statements, sometimes overstatements, to wake a congregation up, statements like: “Never before in the history of mankind has sin been darker,”…
Acts 13:13-52
How to Be Free Indeed Introduction: Everyone cherishes freedom. Political freedom is sought by people everywhere, and they will devise ingenious methods to get through the Berlin Wall, or pay exorbitant sums to gain a place on a boat leaving Indochina, or risk their lives in the face of guns in the Philippines, all for political liberty. People are also desperate for religious freedom. Our own church’s forefathers cherished freedom from the state churches of Scandinavia, so much so that they named their…
Acts 21:1-14
Finding the Will of God Note: I am not ashamed to acknowledge my debt to two authors from whom I have borrowed extensively in the preparation of this sermon. The book, Decision Making and the Will of God, by Garry Friessen and Robin Maxson, is one of the ten most influential books I have ever read. I purchased a copy in 1980, have read it many times, and have taught through it more than once. I encourage you to buy it and read it carefully. I…
Revelation 2:12-17
To Pergamum: The Too Free Church Freedom is one of the greatest words in the English language. It’s also a great biblical term. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:13, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.” And one of my all-time favorite verses is this: “If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.” I really believe in Christian freedom, which I would define as the liberty to make my own doctrinal decisions and lifestyle choices under the boundaries of Scripture and under…
Luke 7:36-50
Have You Miscalculated Your Indebtedness? Every one of us likes stories, and Jesus was a storyteller par excellence. It just so happens that the first parable I am going to tackle is a parable about two debtors, but that is where the connection with last Sunday stops. Missionary aviation is a field of service that for the past fifty years has enabled the gospel to penetrate the most remote areas of the third world. About six years ago I left the southernmost…
2 Corinthians 3:7-18
The Superiority of the New Covenant I want you to engage your sanctified imaginations this morning. Transport yourself with me back to the year 950 B.C. Solomon is the King of Israel; the magnificent Temple of Solomon, which took 150,000 workers seven years to build, is just about 15 years old, having taken the place of the Tabernacle which was built in Moses’ day some 500 years before. You live in Jerusalem and are a devout believer, so you walk to the Temple…
Galatians 3
How to Turn Legalistic Homes and Churches into Havens of Grace Jean Jacques Rosseau began his famous treatise, The Social Contract, with these famous words: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” I would like to paraphrase that slightly: “Man is born‑again free and yet everywhere we see him going back to the chains that bound him before his conversion.” I see two common kinds of slavery among Christian people. One is a slavery to worldliness–materialism, sinful pleasures, and spiritual…
Galatians 4:21-31
Two Sons, Two Covenants When I was in Seminary my homiletics professor waxed eloquent on more than one occasion on the advantages of expository preaching, as opposed to topical preaching or textual preaching. Among the advantages he reiterated were that it keeps the preacher from riding hobby horses, it gives the people a balanced diet, and it allows the Bible to speak for itself. There is another important factor which I don’t recall my prof mentioning, namely that expository preaching forces…
Galatians 5:1-12
The Only Thing that Counts I heard about a preacher of the last century who preached on the same text, John 3:16, every Sunday for five consecutive years and never preached the same sermon. Well, I’ve been accused of preaching the same sermon for the past three months, only from four different chapters. And in a sense that’s true. Virtually every paragraph of the Book of Galatians from the first verse has employed a different way of saying the same thing, namely that…
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