Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans 15. The Apostle Paul is now continuing. We finished
chapter 14 last time. He's going to pick up where he
left off in our teaching. And this teaching is concerning the relationship that believers
have one to another. He's talking to believers now.
That's something that we've got to understand to get truth of what's being told. This is believers dealing with
believers. He says in verse 1, Romans 15,
we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the
weak and not to please ourselves. Now, obviously, based on that
verse that we just read, there is a difference in the maturity
of believers, not in the security of believers, not any difference
in their security, but in the maturity of them. We then that
are strong. Now, the strong. It's amazing when you start looking
at these words, because immediately when you first read them, if
you're not careful, you're going to jump to some conclusions.
Strong. Well, I know this. It refers
to those, obviously, that are strong in the grace of faith. Weak obviously then must be those
that are weak or immature in the grace of faith. I believe
there is a direct correlation between what Paul is talking
about right here and what we looked at weeks ago in the parable
of the sower when the Lord said there was a sower, went forth
to sow and the seed fell on four different kinds of ground, the
wayside. Sometimes some hear the gospel
and it doesn't more make a bitter difference to them than a man
in the moon. They just, some hearing, it's just, it's just
nothing. I mean, just I'm telling you
now, you listen to what I'm saying. I'm telling you that some people
here, and this doesn't make any difference to them, the man and
the moon. They're just going through the
motions, all they're doing. And then some here, and it falls,
the Scripture says, on stony ground. It falls on ground that
somehow there's a sense in which some here, And they, it springs
up quickly and it appears as though that I mean just right
off the bat. I mean, man, they just, you know,
took it. I mean, hook, line, and sinker.
I mean, just like throwing out there, throwing a fishing, you
know, and man, there's been times I've been fishing and I'm telling
you, Jeff, I was watching that cork and all of a sudden, bam,
it was gone. And I thought, man. I've got some. And they appeared
as though that they took it just. And then what happens is the
Scripture says the son of persecution because of the gospel. You know,
the son comes out and it bears down and because there was no
root there, they said, no, not for me, not that. I mean, I don't
mind being going to church and all that kind of stuff. But if
I'm going to have to put up with this over this message right
here, forget it. Well, it withered because there
was no root. And some of it fell on thorny
ground. And this is the ground that really
causes me to take a deep breath because it's ground that appears
cleaned. It looks like, but the root system
of the thorns is there. And what happens is it falls
on there and it appears as though that that the seed took root
and after a while, after years, and I said sometimes it's years
and years, 5, 10, 50, 50 years. And before you know it, the thorns
in the care of this world is the way the Lord said it. Things
of this world become obviously more important. They've always
been important, but obviously, It's the things of this world
that choke out the Word. The things of this world. What
is more important than the hearing of the gospel of God's grace?
What's more important? Well, if God hasn't given a man
a heart for the gospel, wait and see, and you'll see what
is. Because whatever we end up doing, That's what we believe,
not what we say. He said, with their lips, they
do honor me with their heart. So if you want to know what a
man truly believes, what he wants, what he loves, see what he does. That's what he loves, you know.
Oh, no, no, no, no, wait, no, no. What a man does, what you
do, that's what you love. But then there were some that
fell on good ground. And the Scripture says it brought
forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold. It was good fruit it brought
forth. Well, it's the good fruit of
the Spirit of God. It's not your fruit, Neil. It's not my fruit. It's the fruit
of God's Spirit. Love, peace, joy, long-suffering,
gentleness, meekness, kindness, 30, 60, 100 fold. There was a difference
not in the quality of the fruit, but the quantity of the fruit. Those at Berea, they were more
noble, more well-bred, the Scripture says, than those at Thessalonica.
And they searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things
that Paul was preaching were so. They were more noble, not
because of what they did, but because of what God was pleased
to teach them. Strong. But now, I'm going to
tell you something. When it comes down to the strength,
we then that are strong, strong in the grace of faith, and I
know how we think. We think, oh, you know, I want
to be a warrior. Strong. Well, let me tell you
something. The attitude, the way that we
describe our strength lends itself only to pride. Let me just be real blunt with
you. I want to be on fire for God. That attitude that I see right
there, I'm going to take a long look
at you. I'm going to be honest with you.
And I'm going to watch, and I'm going to see, not because I'm
trying to judge you, but because I find great cause to doubt whenever
you find someone. Because what you're wanting to
do is you're wanting to elevate yourself. That's what you're
doing. Strong for the Lord. within the depths of his heart,
thinks that. He desires that. But let me tell you something
of what the Apostle Paul says concerning the cost of it. 2
Corinthians 12.10, Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses
for Christ's sake. Oh, I'm telling you, those few
words that he just gave right there, if we could behold Visibly,
if we watched it, what it actually cost, what he actually went through,
the beatings and being in the deep. I mean, persecutions, what
it cost. He says, I take pleasure in them
for when I am weak, then am I strong. Let me tell
you something. that thinks themselves or sees
themselves as strong in the faith. They're weak. They're the weak
ones. Paul reveals the true spiritual
strength that is realized in a believer. What it is. What is it? Not what
it is. What is it? I'll tell you what
it is. It's the realization of his weakness.
There's his strength. Whenever you are most oppressed
with yourself, Lord, help me. I can't do this. Lord, if you let me sink, Peter
said, I'm gone. God, help me. Their strength, their strength. You see, the human mind sees
itself as being able, I understand, I perceive, I'm this, I've worked,
I, I, I, I. That's weakness. Absolute weakness. I think about something that
Todd and I, I've told you this before, but it made such an impression
on me. Todd had gone through some real
physical trials. cancer, just a couple of times, just
real, real tough physical infirmities. He told me one time, he said,
Marvin, I'm telling you, he said, I look back now, he said, during
the time that I was going through those physical trials, And he said, I'm telling you,
I don't think I was ever more sensitive to the sufficiency
of God's grace as when I was right there. And he said, after
I get to feeling a little better, he said, I think back on it.
And I realize how frail I really am. But he said it was then that
I realized it. That's when a man is made strong. When he's weak, When he's infirmed,
when he cannot, that's when the strength of God's sustaining
grace is most evident to him. So whenever we start reading
this verse, we that are strong, be careful. Because I'm telling
you that those that see themselves as strong and think themselves
as strong and think themselves as knowledgeable. I know, I'm
aware, I can help you. You need some help, you come
to me. I'll tell you a strong one. It's one that will point
you to Christ and away from himself. Paul speaks of God's strength,
the gift of God's faith to believe God and the persuasion that they've
been delivered from the bondage of sin and self, the law, obligation
to it. And those that are weak, those of us that are learning,
hopefully God will teach us something. And Paul says, we that are strong
ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. It's such an opposite
thing. Those that are strong, those
that know their weakness ought to bear those that think that
they're really strong because they are the weak ones. They
ought to bear the infirmities, the prejudices, the error, the
faults, and these things that arise Our knowledge or lack of knowledge
of God's sustaining grace. We then that are strong are to
bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. The mature or the maturing, the
one being taught, the strong believer, as Paul refers to it,
don't make it your business to gratify your own appetite and
desire over someone else. Those that are made strong in
the Lord, and Paul says, when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong.
What you learned, what you've been taught is by the grace of
God. And we then, Paul says, have been taught something. Wait on the Lord. Bear that. Matthew 16, 24, Then said Jesus
unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow
Me. I'm telling you the hardest thing,
well, it's impossible for the flesh, but I'm telling you that
which fights against our flesh is for us to bow to God's sovereignty. This flesh in me, there is in
my flesh. I was talking to someone the
other day in regeneration. Let me tell you something, in
regeneration, nothing ever changes as far as this flesh is concerned.
That which is flesh is flesh. Nothing gets better with the
flesh. Nothing changes with the flesh. The same attitude and
will and heart of rebellion, dead rebellion, that we were
all born with, we all still have. You've still got that same heart
of unbelief. It's still there. What it is
in regeneration, there's a new heart. I'll give them a new heart,
new spirit, new will, new mind. And these two now fight each
other. And that old man, that old flesh,
let me tell you something. He wants to exalt himself. And
the new man says, as John said, I must decrease. He must increase. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak and not please ourselves. Verse 2, let every one of us
please his neighbor for his good to edification. We ought to please. his neighbor. Be agreeable. Accommodate. Why? For his good,
for his edification. Now, when it says that every
one of us pleases his neighbor, obviously in the matters of the
gospel of God's grace, there is no part of the gospel that
is forsaken for the sake of peace. But remember this, we're dealing
with believers. Believers with believers. An
unbeliever is not going to be convinced. It's not that we're
trying to compromise on the gospel of grace. We don't. But between each other, 1 Corinthians
9, 16, though I preach the gospel, Paul says, I have nothing to
glory of, for necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe, is unto me
if I preach, not the gospel." Let me tell you what is absolutely
a joy to me. I'm thankful. I realize. I just preached this message
just a few minutes ago. John said, I saw, I'm thankful
that I truly believe. I'm thankful that I believe that
God's given me a heart to preach Christ. But I'm thankful that God has
given me a heart to preach Christ. I'm thankful. I don't want to
talk about anything else. I had somebody tell me years
ago, years ago, they came for about six months and this is
what they told me. He said, you say basically the
same thing every time. I told him, I said, thank you.
I appreciate that. You know what's amazing is that
There are some people that are sitting here that hear from a
different passage, because I know I'm not preaching the same verses
because I'm going verse by verse by verse. But you know what?
The message never changes. It's always concerning Him. And
here's a group of people that come and they listen to basically
the same message concerning the same Lord Jesus Christ, and they
look at you like, that's got to be the best thing
I've ever heard in my life. And that was the attitude you
had last time. And you see it, and you see Him again. You see
Him afresh. And it's like you react like
that's the first time that I've ever truly heard what you said. That's a miracle of God's grace.
Whoa, if I don't preach the Gospel. But Paul says, let every one
of us please his neighbor. What? On these matters that we
talked about of indifference, don't make an issue if it's not
the gospel. If it's not the gospel of God's
grace, if it's not the gospel of God's grace in salvation and
in creation and in providence, if it has nothing to do, please your neighbor, be agreeable
with him. Why? For his good, for his benefit,
for his edification, for his building up. God will teach him.
The Lord will reveal Himself. Listen, study and strive after
pleasing the brethren. Not in tolerance of his rebellion
or wickedness. Don't try to humor him in his
sinful ways, but please him when it comes to these things that
don't matter. Just do it for his good. Verse 3, For even Christ
pleased not Himself. But as it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproached thee fell on me." It's always the
right thing to view our blessed Lord when it comes to beholding
an example. I mean, if we're going to behold
an example, who else are you going to pick? Paul says, let
every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification for
even Christ. Paul points us to the very one
to whom we must look. Even the Lord Jesus Christ pleased
not Himself. You think of the longsuffering
of our Lord. There are times, and I'll just be honest with
you here, Here again, Brother Scott hears me say this so often,
I'm not going to say it to embarrass him, but I've got so much respect
for him that there's times that I want to be careful not to say
anything in front of him that's stupid. I just don't want to
say anything to embarrass myself. You know, have you ever felt
that way? You know, you just, you know,
I want to ask a question, but I hope it doesn't reveal too
much of my ignorance. What about when the apostles
were with our Lord? Have you ever considered, here
is the Lord of glory, and He chose some apostles, and
He taught them? And how many times do we find
concerning His long-suffering to them? I think of Peter as
what comes to my mind right now. Lord, man, I'll never forsake
you. I would never do that. And here's
the long-suffering, he who pleased not himself. He said, Peter,
before the cock crows twice, you'll deny me three times. Peter said, it ain't going to
happen. And I mean to tell you, buddy, it was no time. Consider him who pleased not
himself. He pleased not himself. Not that
the Lord's pleasure differed from the Father's pleasure, because
they were one and the same, but before he ever tabernacled the
form of sinful flesh. A body was made Him, prepared
Him. He was made in the form of sinful
flesh. His body aged just like our body. In His body He thirsted just
like all of the effects of sin was on His body. He was made
in the image and the form. I used to think about that. How
could he age? Aging is because of sin. And
he aged. He didn't. He was made in the
likeness of sinful flesh. He thirsted. He hungered. He
hurt. I said before, when they nailed
him to the cross, he felt that. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh, yet without sin. Amazing. He was conceived of
the Holy Ghost. But long before He ever tabernacled
among us, long before He was ever made flesh, He spoke concerning
this very verse. But even Christ pleased not Himself. He did not have Himself as a
man, as our representative, our redeemer. He pleased not himself. This is what Psalm 40, verse
8 says. This is concerning the words
of our Lord in the Old Testament before He ever came into this
world actually in time. I delight to do Thy will, O my
God, yea, Thy law is within my heart. He said that under the
inspiration of the Spirit of God through David. not pleased Himself. As a man,
He was given to the will of His Father. He set His face as a
flint to the cross, had His Father's glory and His people's good in
view. John 17, verse 4, I have glorified
Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest Me to do. I glorified thee on the earth."
You know the word glory. Glorified means the opinion to
think. I've glorified thee. What he
said is, Father, all that you've ever thought, all that you've
ever purposed, all that you've ever considered, all that you've
ever determined, I have actually glorified you. has been made
manifest on this earth, and I finished the work that you gave me to
do. I glorified you." Nothing of his own ease was considered
in the pursuit of the Father's work. Every inconvenience in
this life that he had to endure, he did. I must go through Samaria. Why? One of his sheep was there.
He didn't skirt any issues. He pleased not himself. Isaiah
53 says he's despised and rejected of men. This is God in human
flesh. Subjected himself to whatever
it took. He pleased not himself. A man
of sorrows acquainted with grief. And for that, we hid our face,
as it were. We hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed
Him not. He pleased not Himself. What
was it going to take for Him to redeem me for Him to please
not Himself? That's what He said. The apostle then is moved by
the Spirit of God to illustrate this truth by Scripture. For even Christ pleased not himself,
but as it is written, Paul's going to give an illustration
based on the Word of God. The reproaches of them that reproach
thee fell on me. That is to say, the attitudes,
the verbals here The Lord is speaking of the Father long before
time of His arrival actually took place. The reproaches, the
slanderous speech. That's what it means, the reproaches.
The slanderous speech before you. And the guilt of that slanderous
speech, the reproaches of them that reproached you, all that
they said against you, all that they said outwardly or inwardly
for all of His sheep fell on me. He pleased not Himself. He made my inward attitude, my
hatred, my wrathful attitude against Him He made it his own. He made that to be his. I've heard men say, well, they
weren't actually his. He paid the debt of them, but
they weren't really his. I told you, I gave you that illustration. My mother and her committing
murder, and if I was going to help her out, I had to actually
be a substitute. I had to be made her. That's
the only way that that's truly a substitute. If there's any
other way, he's not really a substitute. He was actually made. The reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. Listen to this, if this
is not his, Psalm 40, 12. For innumerable evils have compassed
me about, mine iniquities, Mine iniquities, mine iniquities have
taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're
more than the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me,
forsakes me. My iniquities. Let me tell you
the greatest thought that I can think of right now concerning
my security. in the Lord Jesus Christ, that
what I am as being made in Adam, or having fallen in Adam, that He took every bit of that.
He took it away from me. Because let me tell you something,
I couldn't deal with it and have any security. I would get what
I deserved. You see, attitude as far as being
born in Adam, remember, I had sinned against an eternal God. Therefore, my sin against an
eternal God for justice, Gary, to be done, I would have to suffer
an eternal punishment for it to be paid. And therefore, it
would never be paid. Christ took my eternal guilt
against Him, and with one sacrifice forever purged my sin. How can one sacrifice satisfy
an eternal debt? Thanks be to God, He said it
did. And that settles it. All mankind reproached God. But God had a people out of that. And He came into this world,
and the Scripture says He pleased not Himself the reproaches of them that reproach
thee. For all that he loved everlastingly,
all that he would die for everlastingly, they fell on him. And in not pleasing himself in
one sacrifice, he redeemed every one of them." 1 Peter 3.18 says, also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. The reproaches of them that reproached his father
and reproached him too, they called him a winebibber. They called him a had-devils. All the reproaches of them that
reproached thee fell on me. Now, if he didn't please himself,
Paul says, we then that are strong, that is, those that have been
made to realize what they really are, we ought to bear the infirmities
of the weak and not please ourselves. May God Almighty be pleased to
give us some understanding into these blessed truths before Him
and may it be to His glory and for our good.