The NXR Podcast - DAILY TRUTH - The Freedom of the Conscience

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, real quick, before we get started, I have a small request.

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00:00:19.620 Jesus said,

00:00:20.740 Man cannot live on bread alone, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

00:00:25.380 You're listening to Daily Truth.

00:00:30.000 In all these ways, an elder must be able to say to those in his church,

00:00:34.760 follow me as I follow Christ.

00:00:38.560 He must be able to set an example for the flock.

00:00:43.040 That's 1 Peter 5.

00:00:44.900 Not domineering over those in your charge.

00:00:48.420 Domineering meaning not pushing and prodding the sheep by coercion.

00:00:54.480 But as we said last week, but rather persuasion.

00:00:57.160 now there are many in the church today in america not saying this church necessarily but in the

00:01:03.940 church today in america who would interpret persuasion as coercion i don't like the way

00:01:10.920 you're talking to me you made it feel as though if if i was to take any other position than the

00:01:17.100 one you espoused i would be wrong now we have to ask is that domineering is that coercion is that

00:01:25.300 spiritual abuse? Or is that just good preaching? John MacArthur holds as a position that a Christian

00:01:34.480 should not drink alcohol. And he has preached on more than one occasion, an entire sermon

00:01:40.300 in his church devoted to binding every conscience in the room to not drinking a drop of alcohol.

00:01:48.780 I disagree.

00:01:52.900 R.C. Sproul, Lord knows that man disagreed.

00:01:56.180 I'm not saying that he abused alcohol, but it's a Presbyterian, Ligonier Cruises.

00:02:01.200 There was some whiskey on those cruises.

00:02:02.740 I'll just leave it at that.

00:02:04.180 So there's disagreement.

00:02:06.920 The question is, is MacArthur, as a pastor of his congregation,

00:02:11.740 permitted by the word of God to see something and have a conviction

00:02:18.220 and seek through persuasive preaching

00:02:22.100 to bind the conscience of every person in the room?

00:02:28.120 Yes.

00:02:29.220 Yes.

00:02:30.640 Is that spiritual abuse?

00:02:32.740 Well, we like to say it is,

00:02:34.420 especially if you like alcohol, right?

00:02:36.320 You're going to have,

00:02:36.980 if you're in that church and you like to drink,

00:02:39.460 you're going to have a massive temptation to say,

00:02:42.280 where's Christian liberty?

00:02:45.720 What's going on?

00:02:48.220 but he's allowed to do that.

00:02:49.780 And the congregation is allowed to disagree

00:02:51.900 because it's secondary.

00:02:55.300 And MacArthur's church is not commanding

00:02:57.940 in the sense that they're exercising church discipline

00:03:00.600 over those who drink alcohol

00:03:02.660 so long as they're not getting drunk.

00:03:04.340 Do you understand?

00:03:05.600 So you're allowed to have a powerful preaching,

00:03:08.600 persuasion, hold a secondary or tertiary,

00:03:12.020 I would argue that one's tertiary,

00:03:13.380 doctrinal position that may in the larger body of Christ

00:03:16.960 be somewhat even obscure seek to bind the consciences of every person in the room making

00:03:22.320 the most persuasive arguments that you can and the congregation at the very same time ultimately

00:03:28.060 disagree and you as the pastor say i think you're wrong i actually think this is wrong and at the

00:03:37.880 very same time not exercise church discipline because it is an example where there is liberty

00:03:43.960 so all that being said the point is that an elder must through persuasion not coercion that's what

00:03:53.900 the scripture means first peter chapter five not domineering that's what it means not to domineer

00:03:58.920 i think we often interpret domineering through the lens of strong preaching if the voice is

00:04:07.080 elevated as mine is now, we are sometimes too quick to throw that into the domineering category.

00:04:14.920 Do you understand? So not domineering simply means not coercion, right? Not commanding something that

00:04:23.100 really should be counsel. But through these two authorities, the authority of command, that which

00:04:28.740 is explicit in scripture, and the authority of counsel, that which is more implicit and peripheral,

00:04:34.900 even in the realm of the authority of counsel,

00:04:37.920 you can still make powerfully persuasive arguments

00:04:40.860 and hold a deep conviction.

00:04:44.020 A congregant is allowed to do that.

00:04:47.300 And certainly, so is an elder.

00:04:49.500 All right, all right, all right.

00:04:50.680 Stop twisting my arm.

00:04:51.900 I know you want to hear the inside scoop.

00:04:54.580 Here it is, the glorious vision

00:04:56.340 of Right Response Ministries

00:04:57.740 for the first half of next year, 2023.

00:05:01.020 We have not one, not two,

00:05:02.800 but three massive endeavors that we will accomplish by the grace of God. The first you

00:05:09.100 already know about. It's our Theonomy and Post-Millennialism Conference, May 5th, 6th,

00:05:13.880 and 7th with James White, Joe Boot, Gary DeMar, Dale Partridge, and yours truly, Pastor Joel

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00:07:55.960 God bless.

00:07:56.640 Thanks so much for listening.

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The NXR Podcast - November 30, 2022

DAILY TRUTH - The Freedom of the Conscience

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