I was thinking that Brother Carl
read the heading of that chapter. Habakkuk, in his prayer, trembleth
at God's majesty. And I thought to myself, you
know, I've read about John. I'm going
to read something that Paul the Apostle wrote. You can turn to
Romans 14 while I'm making this statement. I thought these that we read
of died in the faith. And we're here for just a little
while. It just happens according to
the good pleasure and providence of God that we're on this earth
for a vapor right now breathing. But I'm telling you in light
of eternity, this is nothing. This is nothing. It's just, I
mean, just think back. Some of us that are older, I
just think back how long ago it's been that we were children
just that quick. Now here we are. We're going
to leave this world. Every time I hear of somebody
that passes out of this life, that's the first thing I think
of right now. What thoughts did that person
have toward Christ? That's what the Lord asked His
disciples. What think ye of Christ? I pray
God be pleased to bless this Word today for the salvation
of His people. I pray God bless this Word and
call someone out of darkness. This life has put a vapor. It's
going to be over. And then in that day, appointed
unto man once to die in the judgment. Romans 14. The Apostle Paul has
been dealing with the wise and mature attitude that believers
should have toward one another. As we've said in the last few
Sundays, I'm just taking these Scriptures and just going verse
by verse by verse by verse Whatever the Spirit of God was pleased
to write, that's what we want to look at. That's what we consider. What Paul has been setting forth
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, obviously, this
is something that's needful for God's people. What has Paul been
setting forth? Don't offend another believer
with things that don't matter. How many times have we said that?
month. If we've been joined to Christ since He died, since He was buried,
since He rose, and God's people with Him, since we've been justified freely
by His grace, and because we've been justified. Remember, to
be justified is to be declared by God innocent. But God's declaration of justification
to declare innocent before the law, no offense, no offense,
no record of offense, that's amazing. Justification means
that there has never been a record of offense justified freely by
His grace. How can that be? Only being considered
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him there is therefore
now. As Brother Scott says, when is
now? Now. How long has now been now? It's always now with God. He's
the eternal God. Therefore, there's no condemnation
to them that be in Christ Jesus. But then we consider that we
did fall in Adam. And we did come forth from our
mother's womb speaking lies. We were born sinners. And God
freely now pardons. Now there's another word that
means to forgive. God Almighty has declared His
people justified, no record of guilt before Him in Christ. But they were born sinners? That's
right. And He pardons them. He forgives
them for Christ's sake. Why? Because Christ has paid
their debt. God can justly forgive. If we confess our sin, He's faithful
and just to forgive us. Why? The debt has been paid.
What was owed, Christ paid. God can freely pardon. If all of these things are so,
that is true. If all of the types and the symbols
and the shadows have been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ and
we are free from any obligation To obey. Why would anybody want
to return to those shadows and types under a sense of obligation
to do them? That's what we're asking. Religious acts of eating or not
eating, of observing certain days or not observing certain
days. These have absolutely nothing to do with our service before
Almighty God. Eating or not eating or observing
or not observing absolutely has no value for the soul. They don't
commend you to God. They don't defile you. We're
free. Free in Christ. The rule of Christ in the heart,
verse 17 of Romans 14. The kingdom of God, that is the
rule of God, Romans 14, 17. The rule of Christ in the heart
is not meat and drink. What is it? It's righteousness
and peace, joy in the Holy Ghost. Alright, let's look at verse
19. That's where we're going to start this morning for a few
minutes. Verse 19, "...let us therefore
follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith
one may edify another." Paul is saying, listen, days, meets,
observances, Whatever you feel is right, wrong, if Almighty
God has called you after darkness, do this one thing. Pursue the
things of peace. Be instrumental in building up
and promoting growth in others. Verse 20, for meat, destroy not
the work of God. What do you mean the work of
God? It means the brethren. That's what it's talking about.
The work of God. Ephesians 2.10, For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in. For meat,
for food, something formal, for whatever, something that was
formally forbidden by the ceremonial law. I actually knew someone. I mean, I actually knew them.
I actually talked to them that told me that they would not.
The meat that I think of, the Jewish, is the pork. I mean,
that was forbidden. It was not allowed. A Jew couldn't
eat pork. God forbid them to eat that.
And I actually knew someone that told me They said, well, if the
Scripture says that Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday,
today, and forever, and nothing ever changes with God, then it
was forbidden then, and it's just forbidden now, and I just
would rather not do it. Okay. That's okay. If you feel that that's not the
right thing to do, then I'm going to do like Brother Scott said,
just let God teach them. Leave them alone. For meat, destroy
not. Don't attempt to loosen one that
feels that what he's doing is out of a right conscience before
God. Now, I don't need to say this, but I'm going to say it
again. Whenever we're dealing with something and you don't
feel that you're establishing or maintaining a righteousness
before God. If you tell me that you don't
want to do something because you just don't have a good conscience
to do it, I just don't feel comfortable with it. That's fine. But if you tell me that you're
righteous before God because you don't do that, that's different. I'll tell you. It's not by works
of righteousness that we've done. It's according to His mercy He
saved us. If you don't want to go to a
show, don't go. If you don't want to watch certain things,
don't watch it. If you don't want to eat this, if you don't
want to drink that, that's fine. That's okay. Paul says for meat, destroy not. Don't be a hindrance
to the work of God. All things indeed are pure. All things are clean. All things
are clear. But it is evil for that man that
eateth with offense. A brethren that feels within
his conscience that something is evil. To him, it's evil. I used to install vinyl siding. And it got to a point when I
was installing vinyl siding that after I went up so high, it just
got to a point for a while it didn't bother me. The higher
I'd go, it didn't bother me. I could be on a walk board and
it didn't bother me. I could be up 35, 40 feet If
I was up there, now if I was up there and you're scared, I
don't want you up there with me. If it bothers you, then I
don't want you up there. I don't need the help that badly.
But then it got to a point to where after a while, height started
concerning me. I remember one time telling a
buddy of mine that was up there with me, we were up close to
40 feet. And there was a big spruce tree
behind us and I told him, I said, now listen, here's the plan.
If anything happens on this walkboard, I'm going into that tree right
there. At least I'll have something
to kind of carry me down a little bit. Hopefully. Later I made a decision. If it's
over 20 feet, I don't want to fool with it. Why? It bothered
me. Someone could say, well now, 20 feet, 40 feet, it bothers
me. It bothers me. And if it bothers
me, whatever you say is not going to make any difference. If I
start to get concerned, if something bothers someone, and it's not
concerning the gospel of free grace, it's something that they
do or don't do or drink or don't drink or eat or don't eat, if
it bothers them, for meat. Don't hinder the work of God.
Don't make a big deal out of it. If it is offensive to Him,
don't do it. Paul said in verse 21, It is
good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby
thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. What's the right thing to do?
Don't offend him. That's the bottom line. The bottom
line. Why? For the sake of peace. Don't
make an issue out of a piece of pork, a picture show, or a
bottle of wine. Don't do it. Don't do it. Verse 22, "...Hast thou faith?
Have it to thyself before God." Happy is he that condemneth not
himself in that thing which he alloweth." Do you have faith? Paul said. Are you fully persuaded
in your mind that God Almighty, for Christ's sake, has saved
you? Do you have faith? That's what
he's asking. Are you fully persuaded that
God, before the foundation of the world, chose you in Christ? Not because of anything that
He saw that you would do, but because He pleased Him to do
so. Do you believe that when the Lord Jesus Christ went to
the cross and when He was made sin, He was made sin for you? That He was made your sin? That
when He died, He died under the judgment of God as your substitute. That He was buried and you with
Him. And when He was raised, you were
raised. Do you believe that God Almighty,
apart from any works of your self-righteousness, that God
called you out of darkness and imparted a new heart, a new nature? There are two natures in a believer.
Two natures. Do you believe that God's given
you a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind? And do you believe
that you're going through this world right now with that same
old flesh that you were born with that wrestles and wars against
the new nature? And you're struggling with it
back and forth, but you know this, that God Almighty who has
said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, that He's
keeping you by the power of God. And one day, you're going to
put off this old flesh. Who shall separate me from the
body of this dead? Paul said, God will. Have you
faith? Do you have faith? Do you believe
that God has saved you by grace? Do you feel that you have a right
persuasion then, that all of these things, that there's nothing
unclean of itself? Nothing. You believe that there's nothing
that's legal, that's right, that's not going to be harmful for you.
Do you believe that you have liberty in Christ? Paul says,
Have it to thyself before God. Keep it private. Don't parade
it. That's what he's saying. Hast
thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.
Don't try to make a point to show that you're above the weak
thoughts of your brethren and flaunt your liberty. This liberty is before God. in the sight of God. God Almighty,
if He's given you a heart to settle you down, have your liberty
and the exhibition of it before Him and not before men. Happy, blessed is he that condemneth
not himself in that thing which he alloweth. Blessed is the man
that's got a good conscience Blessed is the man that acts
with some discretion before others. Don't try to put others in a... I'm telling you, when you try
to make somebody do... Now, you just stop and think.
If there's something that bothers you, and somebody is trying to
get you to either do it or not do it, and you just don't have
a good conscience toward it, Do you know what they're making
you do? Feeling very uncomfortable. That's the first thing they're
doing. You're making me feel very uncomfortable. Why don't
you want to do that? I just don't want to. Is that
okay? I just don't want to. Why? Because
in my heart, I don't have a clear conscience about it. planning lord willing to move
here in the spring. You know that. House is up for
sale. Supposed to close on the 15th
of December. She wants to stay until after
the conference there in Kitchens Creek in March and come here. Winter hopefully will be mostly
over. She wants to come and there are
some things that she is going to have to make some decisions
on. She's got her insurance in Louisiana. She pays taxes in
Louisiana. She votes in Louisiana. Doctors
in Louisiana. She's got everything. She's going
to move to West Virginia. Well, what's she going to do?
What is she going to do? I'd get on the phone and I'd
say, now mama, now listen, here's what you've got to do. Now if
I was you, I'd go ahead, I'd break all ties with all your
doctors over there and just call your insurance and tell them
don't worry about it and I'd call and I'd tell them I ain't voting
there anymore. You know what you do? Let her
do what's comfortable to her. Just come here, stay here, and
then when you're ready, to find you an insurance agent, find
you one. When you find this, this is just a silly example,
but the point of the matter is, don't try to make somebody do
something until they have had it convinced in their heart,
we're learning, we're growing, God's teaching us. You didn't
learn everything in one day. And neither did anyone else. That's why it's a blessing Just
let men be taught of God. Sit under the Gospel. How do
I learn? Just sit. Listen. What do you encourage somebody
to do? You asked me one time, Gary. You said there was somebody
you was talking to. This is what I told him. I believe
this is right. What do you tell somebody? Just tell them, come
sit. Just listen. How are they going
to learn? How did you learn? How are they
going to be taught? Who do you think teaches? Do
you think I have the ability to convince you of something?
They'll all be taught of God. That's what Scripture says. God's
people are going to be taught. God will set them down. Just
don't try to be a hindrance to them. Don't try to be a manipulator. Don't try to get them to... Let
people learn. And I'm telling you, they'll
be thankful for it, and you will too. Verse 23, he that doubteth is
damned if he eat. He that eateth not of faith,
because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith
is sin. You know, we've quoted that so
many times. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. What does it mean? Well, it was written in this
chapter right here. So obviously it has something
to do with what Paul has been talking about. He that doubteth
is damned if he eat. That is, if a man, not persuaded
in his heart, if a man is persuaded that something is wrong, if a
man feels that something he's doing is going against his conscience. There's something about what
he's doing. Man, listen, we all have things
like this. All of us. I could start naming things. I could name men with long hair,
women wearing makeup, women wearing pants over dresses. I could go on and on and on. What are they? Just settle down. If it's not the issue of the
gospel, settle down. He that doubteth, he that's not
convinced, a man that cannot put a difference between it,
he's doing something wrong in his heart. Someone else looks
at him and says, you ain't doing anything wrong. Yeah, but he
doesn't know it. He's not convinced of it. No one acts on the faith
of another. If I don't feel something's wrong
and you do, you're not walking on what I believe. You're not
on my faith. On yours. If a man thinks something's
wrong in his heart, it's wrong. If he thinks that God has commanded
or not commanded a thing, Then to that man to go against
what they're saying is doubt to him. Whatsoever is not of
faith is sin. Whatever we do of which we're
not certain that it's right, to us it's wrong. That's what
he's saying. Whatsoever is not of faith. Whatsoever is being
done or not done, and it's not out of a heart, that God has
settled. To you, there are some discrepancies
there. For Christ's sake, for the sake
of the brethren, for the sake of peace, for the sake of unity
in the assembly, don't expect someone else to act according
to something that God has convinced you of. There are some things
that now, believers, you, you that believe, there are some
things now that don't bother you that maybe years ago did. The best thing in the world for
the sake of the brethren, we're here for one reason. We're here
to set forth and proclaim the gospel of God's free grace. We're
human beings. We're humans. And all of us that
God's called out of darkness has got some old grave clothes.
They've got some things that we've held on to. I mean, I think
of some things that go back in my mind a long time. Things that
I heard and things that I did and things that I was taught
and this, that and the other. What? Thank you of Christ. Everything
else. Leave it alone. God Almighty
is going to teach His people. And He's going to settle them.
And in their heart, they're going to be able to rest. Alright Gary,
you come.