All right, guys, good morning. Good to see you here this morning. I hope and pray that you guys are doing well. Thank you so much for joining us again on our online series for Calvary Baptist Church of Cardiff as we continue on the fundamentals of the faith, our foundational online series. And today we're going to get into individual soul liberty. So thus far, we've seen the Bible as a sole authority for faith and practice. We've seen the autonomy of the church, the priesthood of believers. And we've looked at the two ordinance of the local New Testament church, which is baptism, by immersion, meaning the motive of the method, and the Lord's table, showing His death till we come. So today we're gonna get into individual soul liberty. The concept of individual soul liberty is related to the truth of the priesthood of believers that we covered a few weeks back. It's also related to biblical soul authority because we have our soul liberty through our soul authority. So soul liberty means that each individual is responsible to God, okay? Me as a pastor, I am responsible for how I feed the flock of God. I am not responsible for you feeding it yourself. I'm responsible for providing you the food. You are responsible for taking it in and applying it into your life. So soul liberty, again, is tied to that point. It's our individual responsibility to God. It's expressed through His Word. So for our doctrine, our practice, and our conscience. So each individual can interpret the Word of God for himself, long as it is not contrary to Scripture. You know, in times past in high churches you've seen the the ordination of men who have done nothing more than control and dictate and do the things that they have done toward individuals. They've controlled them, locked them in by false beliefs and this and that. And the Bible does not teach that. We are not to be a lord over God's heritage. Me as a pastor, I'm not to have my thumb upon you. I'm gonna preach and teach the word of God. I have the right to exercise a church discipline. This is true. That's my job as a pastor, uphold the word of God. But nonetheless, individual soul liberty gives you your soul responsibility to God as expressed through his word. So true service for the Lord must be voluntary. If you're doing it for any other reason, if you're doing it to please man, if you're doing it because you're forced into doing it, it's not pleasing to God. So true service is... is true service for the Lord must be voluntary. It's operated in a works basis for the Lord, assuming gain is godliness, is not exercising individual soul liberty. And it's not led by the Holy Spirit of God. So in other words, if you guys are, if you're operating in a works basis for salvation, a works basis for man, guys, that's not exercising individual soul liberty, nor is that being led by the Holy Spirit. So this particular distinctive, this particular truth does not justify lawlessness. It does not constrain us to be worldly. It does not teach us to live in a manner unbecoming as a Christian. As a matter of fact, it should drive us to more live as a Bible-believing Christian. God can and does direct on the individual level. In 1 John, if you have your Bibles or if you're taking notes, write this verse down and read it at a later date. 1 John 2 and in verse 27, the Bible says, but the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you. And ye need not that any man teach you, 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." So I'm going to repeat the statement I made before the verse. God can and does direct on the individual level. It is the Holy Spirit of God which performs the anointing. 1 John 2, verse 20 tells us, but ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. So I'm gonna stop you there just real quick, and I'm going to help you through this portion of Scripture, because it may be a little bit confusing to you. It does not negate the need of human teachers, okay? Because you have the possession of the Holy Spirit of God within you as a saved individual, and because you are directed on the individual level, that is individual soul liberty, your responsibility toward God, his responsibility to lead God and direct you from within, And the anointing of the Holy Spirit, because you have that, does not negate the need of human teachers. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 through 14, speaking of the local New Testament church, the Bible says, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all," it says there, "'till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God and to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every weight of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.'" Now, again, not a long lesson today, not that long, but I wanna bring up a point here. If you have the Holy Spirit of God in you, the same Holy Spirit of God is in me, the same Holy Spirit of God that was in the Apostle Paul, then what's the problem? How come you have certain individuals that will believe false doctrines because of cunning men who lie in wait to deceive? You follow? Now, one or two reasons. If a person does not have the Holy Spirit of God in them, they'll believe anything. They love darkness rather than light. They'll believe the control of false doctrines and pagan teachings and all this and that. They'll disregard the lessons that we've already taught in this series thus far. They'll disregard the Bible as sole authority. They're gonna go by their opinions, emotions, or their denomination. They'll disregard the priesthood of believers and demand that people come to him or her to have prayer to the heavens. They'll definitely disregard biblical baptism as we see 66,000 just in our own country of Wales a year fall prey to that damnable lie. They'll disregard what the Lord's Table truly and really is. They'll disregard those things. Why? because either they're not saved and born again in the blood of Christ, which I lean to the majority because of their own teachings and actions, because they are themselves cunning men. They are deceivers. They are lying in a way to deceive. They are filled with cunning craftiness. They are wicked teachers being tossed around with every winded doctrine by the sleight of men. Or, guys, they've seared their conscience even after being saved and given healing. But I have a big issue with if someone possesses that same Holy Spirit that 1 John speaks of in chapter 2, why the Word of God would not bear witness with the Holy Spirit in them. 1 Corinthians tells us very clearly, chapter 2, verse 14, that neither can they know them, all right, for they are spiritually discerned. You cannot know the things that are the Spirit of God outside of the Spirit of God, okay? So the natural man receiveth not the things that are the Spirit of God, neither can they know them, for they, the spiritual things, the things of God, are spiritually known. So I'll leave that one there where it is and let it kind of germinate a little while. God deals with people as individuals, in the church age especially, guys. God is no respecter of persons, Acts chapter 10, verse 34. We see it when the wonderful Cornelius was saved. The Bible says, and Peter opened his mouth and said, of truth I perceive that God is no respecter of person. God looks on all that they are sinners and receives anyone who believes and repents by faith with a broken and contrite heart, despite gender, despite race, societal standing, intellect, you name it. Whatever your heritage is, it does not matter. God will receive you as a child of God. He will receive you into the bride of Christ. He will receive you as a born-again individual. when you make your confession sure and sound in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection. You are by all accounts individually responsible before God for your personal salvation. I am not responsible of it. You are responsible of it. John 1, verse 11, tells us, "...he came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." So, not of blood. Guys, that is, it's not by inheritance. You're not going to get it from your mom and daddy. Not of the will of the flesh. It's not by individual effort, i.e., works. Nor of the will of men. It's not going to be by institutional decree. Will never be, never has, never will. But as many as receive Him," guys, each believer has individual sole liberty to choose his own church, determine his or her own fate, to decide on the Bible of whether they're going to deny the living Christ or whether they're going to accept it and receive it as the perfect and airy Word of God. So with liberty always comes responsibility. with responsibility will always come accountability. You will be held accountable for the responsibility within the liberty that God has given you. Number one, God is going to judge going to judge in different areas, in different places. He's going to judge at the Great White Throne. The Great White Throne is the judgment place for the lost dead, all of those during this period of time here that were lost, lost from day one. They will be brought forward at the Great White Throne judgment, which occurs at the end, at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. And they will be judged according to their works. You say, why their works? Well, because number one, they deny Jesus Christ is why they are in hell. Death and hell shall give up its dead, right? And they will be judged there, all right? That's how they got to that point. But now they're gonna be judged on how diabolical their works are to give them a particular torment in the lake of fire. You say, whoa, wait a second, there's different levels. Yeah, there's different levels in the lake of fire. But Luke 16 tells us that in hell, the rich man lifted up his eyes being in torments. And there's multiple torments where he was. That's just hell. The final resting place for the lost dead will be the lake of fire. We see that not only is the lost dead judged at the great white throne, but the tribulational and the millennial living. are judged at the great white throne revelation chapter 20 verse 13 says and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works verse 14 goes on to say and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire so that's the judgment of all so if you deny the lord jesus christ during this church age here, you will not have another opportunity to be saved and born again. We know that to be true, according to 2 Thessalonians 2. If you've been given the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ, you will no longer be able to be saved in the tribulation period. The only Gentiles who have the opportunity for salvation in the tribulation period will be those who had never had an opportunity or never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ during the church age. And those are going to be scarce, if you will. for the child of God, for those, the bride of Christ and the bride of Christ only, those who are saved and born again within the church age, according to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our judgment is at what's known the Bema seat or the judgment seat of Christ. We see this judgment place at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. The Bible tells us in verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone receive the things done in his body, according to that which he had done, whether whether it be good or bad. We also see that tied together in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 11 and 12. 1 Corinthians 3, 11 and 12. then that is laid which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. That sort is tied to 2 Corinthians 5.10, we just read, whether it be good or bad. Verse 14 says, if any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. That's a crown. If a man's work shall be burned, it shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." So eternally speaking, a person is saved. That is, you're not being judged at the judgment seat of Christ of whether or not you're going to heaven or have eternal life. That is already sealed unto the day of redemption right here, right now. That does not change. but your rewards are going to be based upon how you have worked for Jesus Christ in this body, in this world here today, whether they be good or whether they be bad. 1 Corinthians likened them unto gold, silver, precious stone, or wood, hay, stubble. Gold, silver, precious stone have all their important representations. Gold is the picture of Christ's deity every time that you have upheld and witness the fact of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning that He is God. Romans chapter 10, verse 9, that thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus. Okay, He has begun. Silver was the price of His redemption. He was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver by Judas Iscariot. Every time you witness the redemptive act of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're laying silver upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. And those precious stones within the Bible, precious stones, precious jewels, have always been likened to human souls. So every soul that has been saved, born again to the blood of Christ, as a result of the honest and integral work that you have performed for Jesus Christ, will be laid upon that foundation, will be tried by fire, shall withstand, and will result in a crown or crowns for you. Wood, hay, and stubble is a picture of man's dead works. Wood is a dead tree. Stubble is leftover straw. Hay is dead grass. Once it's tried by fire, boom, it goes up in smoke. There is suffering of loss, okay? Romans chapter 14, verse 12 tells us as well, Romans chapter 14, verse 12 says, so let every one of us give an account of himself to God. So guys, we have to understand that this type of teaching, individual soul liberty, places the responsibility for every child of God within themselves. Every part of that responsibility is going to be held accountable, if you will, at the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so individual soul liberty has led the Bible-believing Christian, historically the Baptist, To reject the false teaching of infant baptism, individuals must decide for themselves. To reject infant church membership, members must be saved and scripturally baptized for church membership. To accept religious liberty, Worship is not and should not be a state dictatorship. No nation has the right to establish a state church, nor do they have the authority to enforce Christians to compel anyone to support an ecclesiastical institution. Let me say that to you again. Nor do they have the authority to enforce or compel anyone to support an ecclesiastical institution that is not biblical, that is not godly, that is not right, never has been, and never will be. Baptists have held true that neither civil nor ecclesiastical councils can enter into the realm of the soul or dictate in any manner of conscience. As a Bible-believing Christian, as a Bible-believing Baptist, we are not forced, we do not force our views on anyone. We are to witness the precious Word of God. We are to witness the pure Word of God. We are to witness the true Word of God and let the Holy Spirit of God do the work and place the responsibility to receive or reject on each individual soul in this world today. We are not to manipulate or to coerce or to threaten people to force them into our beliefs. That is anti-biblical as they come. That is anti-God as they come. And anything that is anti-God is what? Satanic and I know you say well preacher. Are you calling? Yeah, I am why because the word Satan means adversary He is the great adversary of all that is right and good that which is evil is opposite of what God and who he is and so anything that is contradictory to his pure precious Word of God Anything of coercion, anything of manipulation, anything of threatening, anything of forcing these type of religious views on someone is working and operating under the shroud, under the darkness of Satan himself. Okay? So guys, I do hope this was a blessing on individual soul liberty. I know we probably ended with kind of a A little punch in the gut, I understand that. But again, I stand by the teachings. I stand by them very clearly because they are biblical. They are not my opinion. As far as I'm concerned, they are no one's opinions other than the accurate truth of the Word of God. And I'm going to stick to that. And I hope and pray that you do as well. So guys, we're looking forward to our next lesson that we'll get into next week. Hope and pray you guys have a great rest of your week and a good and safe weekend. Looking forward to seeing you in church on Sunday. God bless you all, guys.