Let's turn over a few pages there
from the passage that our pastor read from turn to Romans 14. Romans 14. The Apostle Paul. through the inspiration of the
Spirit of God. It was God Himself who moved
upon Paul the Apostle to write what he did. All Scripture is
God-breathed. There's not one word in here
that was of man. All Scripture. is by inspiration
of God. And the Apostle Paul, under the
inspiration of God the Spirit, wrote, and we looked at this
last time, verse 1, Him that is weak in the faith, receive
ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Don't look in judgment. upon those
that the Lord has yet to teach some things that maybe God's
given you some liberty on. Now, before we get into this
Scripture today, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. You
know after I say this, you're going to say, well, you didn't
have to say that, but I do. If we're dealing and we're talking
about something that is concerning our righteousness before God,
our standing before God, salvation before God, there is no compromise
on it when it comes to things concerning salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord, and a believer will not compromise. He will not waver. He will not
put up with anything. He won't compromise with an unbeliever. He won't compromise at all. But what Paul is talking about
here is the attitude between believers. So understand. This is not an issue concerning
the gospel of free grace. Paul is talking to believers. So with that in mind, him that
is weak in the faith, he said, you know, I tell you, we will
profit greatly by being taught by the Spirit
of God. to exhibit a spirit of, let me
say it like this, adjustment concerning matters that are not
vital to salvation. I'll go into this a little bit
more. Receive upon one's profession
of faith in Christ. I believe that salvation is of
the Lord. The Lord has shown me that it
is not by my works of righteousness. I am not looking to anything
concerning. I believe that God has called
me out of darkness and has shown me that He saved me totally by
grace apart from anything that I can do. I believe Him and I
believe that even the faith that I believe Him by. was not the
merit of my salvation, it was the evidence of my salvation.
Faith is not the foundation of our salvation. Faith is the evidence that God's
taught you something. You believe or have faith because
God's already given you life. Okay? Faith. Men look at their faith as being
salvation. Faith is not salvation. We are
saved by grace through or taught that by faith. That is how we know it. Faith. Faith is the gift of God. He that is weak in the faith
receives. ye, but not to doubtful disputations."
There's not a more beautiful manifestation, the gracious character
of a believer than when he doesn't allow the weak thoughts of a
young believer to divide him. There's not a more beautiful
manifestation of grace. Isaiah 35, verse 3 says, "...strengthen,
help ye the weak hands, and confirm or encourage the feeble, the
staggering knees. Now, when we read concerning
weak in the faith, what is Paul talking about? Well,
here is where we start today. Verse 2, 3, For one believeth
that he may eat all things. Another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not, and let not him that eateth not judge
him that eateth, for God hath received him." Now, Paul was dealing with, and
he's writing to a group of Gentiles, you know, primarily, it was a
church at Rome. And he's dealing with an issue
that is concerning some carryover. There were some Jews. God was
calling some Jews out of darkness. And they grew up, I mean, being
taught some things. Meats, things like that. Leviticus 11 set forth the strict
observance of that which was clean or unclean concerning animals
and birds. And there were some things that
they did in the ceremonial law that was according to the strict
adherence to what God would accept ceremonially. It was a picture. But you see, they were strict
on that thing. Now, to eat one of those things,
that God had declared unclean to a Jew. Ceremonially, he had
to be cleansed. He was unclean in his mind. He disobeyed God. And that had to be taken care
of. But you see, what he was doing
was he had a conscience about him, and it was concerning some
things taught before. He's been called out of darkness. It wasn't that one animal was
morally unclean. It wasn't that an eagle or a
hog or something. They were being taught. God was
so arranging through that ceremonial law in the environment of an
Israelite that he would constantly be reminded of God's discernment
of sin. Every time he looked at something,
Neal, he saw an eagle and said, that's unclean there. He saw
a hog and in his mind he thought concerning God. God said that's
unclean. He was constantly reminded of
it. Hatred for it, he wouldn't have
any. You know, the very thought of
cleanness and uncleanness even entered the Jewish mind of Peter. It was concerning. Turn back to Acts 10. We read
this. We looked at this, but let's
look at it. Now, let me tell you who this
is talking to. This is Peter. This is Peter
the Apostle. Acts 10. This is one that walked
with Christ, called out of darkness, regenerated by the grace of God.
This is Peter, Acts 10, 9. On the morrow, as they went on
their journey and drew nine to the city, Peter went up unto
the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. He became very hungry,
would have eaten, but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
saw heaven open, certain vessel descending unto him, as if it
had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down
to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts
of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, fowls of
the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill, and
eat. But Peter said, Not so. Now let me tell you something.
I understand that there's, and we preached, I preached out of
this months and months and months ago concerning the regenerating
grace of God and the the sufficiency of God's grace to take that which
was unclean and made it clean. But I want you to listen to the
first response out of Peter's mouth. Peter said, Not so, Lord,
for I have never eaten anything that's common or unclean. Peter thought back on what he
came out of and was taught Years and years and years and years.
And the first thing that came to his mind, I tell you, it was only by the
regenerating grace of God Almighty and the discerning spirit of
truth that a Jew or a Gentile would be taught that all things
are unclean apart from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are cleansed in Him. God had set forth a picture,
a type in that ceremonial law. And He said, you don't touch
these, you don't do this, you don't do that. And there was
a strict adherence. Now, what are we taught in Christ? Revelation 1, 5 and 6, unto Him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and
hath made us kings and priests unto God. and His Father to Him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The law was according
to what I do. Grace, what He's done. But what I'm talking about and
what Paul the Apostle is talking about in this scripture is some
carryover things that in our minds we deal with. And don't say that we don't have
grave clothes. Don't say that we don't have
carryovers of things in our minds, you know. That elect Jew called
out of darkness, brought up under strict teaching of clean and
unclean, now he's regenerated by the grace of God, delivered
from the bondage of the law. But I tell you, these old habits
are hard to break. We carry a lot of those great
clothes with us. I wish I could tell you that
I don't have any prejudices. If I tell you I'm not prejudiced
whatsoever, I am a liar. And you are, too. I am prejudiced. I'm prejudiced. I'm not just talking about race,
I'm talking about anything. I'm telling you, there's just.
I like what I like. We all carry over. I tell you,
that weak Jewish believer might struggle with certain meats. You know, it's just meat. But to him, he struggled with it. Don't you
eat a piece of pork? I don't know if I ought to do
that or not, you know. Well, you don't think it's evil,
no, but I'm just, I'm thinking on it now. I'm just thinking. I grew up, my mama and daddy
taught in the synagogue and I said, you just bear with him. Bear
with him. Don't demand that they know immediately
what it took you years to learn. I tell you, that mature believer,
he knows that God is not meat and drink. It's righteousness and peace. But it's not what goes into the
mouth that defiles a man. That's what the Scripture says.
What comes out of the heart. That's what defiles him. Be careful. You remember that this is not
a disagreement over the gospel of substitution. That's not the
issue. I've said before, and look, and
I've had some things that were preferences to me. They were
preferences. I told you about that. I like,
I like, I like ties. I like tie pins. I like that. That's a preference. I think
I didn't think through it. You say, well, do you believe
you have to wear a tie and a tie pin to preach? No, that's like
it. But if God calls a man to preach
and he stands up, that's not an issue. That's not the issue.
What's the issue? It's over things that don't matter. That's what we need to be very,
very careful about. You know, we go through this
life being taught that our acceptance before God under false religion
is doing things and not doing things. It's that and the other.
But you know what? Our acceptance before God is by God's choice,
God's grace, God's calling, God's purpose, God's will. Don't forget
it. Don't forget it. Let not him
that eateth... Here's a Gentile. And he doesn't
have a problem with pork. Don't let him that eateth despise
him that eateth not. And let not him that eateth not
judge him that eateth. God's received him. What is the
issue? That's the heart of this message. What is the real issue? What's the disagreement over? God's received him totally on
the merit Lord Jesus Christ, His blood chose Him, eternally
received Him, received Him as righteous, robed Him in His righteousness,
powerfully called Him out of darkness. It came to Him by faith
given, and He doesn't do this, or He does do this, and it's
not an issue. It's not an issue with Him. Not
trying to establish a righteousness before God. That's not what he's
trying to do. It's a preference. Forget it. Never lose sight of the thought.
All souls redeemed by the blood of Christ are dear to Him. And they ought to be to us. As the Lord is to us. He's a
husband. as the bride is to him, his church. This is what Paul is saying.
Bear with those who are still yet to be convinced concerning
their liberty in Christ. Watch over their weaknesses.
Cover their frailties. Be gentle. Be forbearing. Pray
that the Lord teach us to manifest the Spirit of Christ. Verse 4. that judgeth another man's servant. To his own master he standeth
and falleth. Yea, he should be holding up,
for God's able to make him stand." I'll tell you, I thought about
this just before I got up today. I was looking over my notes.
I thought about this. There's a small step. between
the strong and the weak, the strong in the faith. They can
manifest weakness by being insensitive to those that truly are weak.
It is a small step, one that is weak. He is able to pick up
a few ounces of understanding. He knows He knows. The Lord taught
him some things, beginning to see some things, and then the
one that is strong, able to pick up a few pounds of divine enlightenment. But what is either one of them
in their abilities compared to he who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, Weighed
the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. That's what
Isaiah 40 verse 12 says. We're able to say, I've got a
little liberty myself, as it says over here. What difference does it make
if it's not the issue of the gospel? If something is not morally wrong,
If God hasn't dealt with it specifically in the Word, if God hadn't made
the point in question, if God has not specifically dealt with
it, I'm talking about just take anything in the world you want
to think about, whatever, whatever. I mean, I'm telling you, I grew
up under, and I went through a period in my life When I look
back on it now and I just I just wonder, you know, it just the
Lord began to deal with me on this on the truth concerning
Christ. And. I heard a it was, I guess
it meant to be a joke, but it made perfect sense to me. And
I. This this fellow was talking
about men with long hair. Well, how long is long? You know,
if you'd have seen me in college, well, you wouldn't want to see
me in college. But he's talking about this, he said, long hair. He's talking about these long-haired
hippies, you know, and rebellious. And here I was one of them, you
know. He's talking about how long it
is, and he hangs over their ears and stuff like that. You know,
coming down in their face, and he said, but he had one of these
sanctimonious gentlemen over here, and he combs his hair back,
and it comes back over the ear, and he kind of puts it in a ducktail,
and the length of the hair was the same as the one that came
down. It just, the other one combed it back. He said, so really
the issue is not the length of the hair, it was the direction
of the hair. I thought, you know what, I think that is. I think
that was the issue. I would prefer. I would prefer to have my hair
cut, you know, behind my ears. And if yours comes over, that's
all right, you know. The Lord will teach you concerning
your conscience what's right. You know, well, do I think you
ought to let it grow down? No, I don't think. No, I don't,
you know. But the Lord will teach you.
I love what you said to me. You helped me one day. I asked
Brother Scott about something that was bugging me about something
else that someone else said. And it wasn't over the gospel.
I just picked him up. We were going out to get a bite
to eat. And I asked him, I said, Brother Scott, what do you think
about so and so? And I expressed it to him. This was his answer.
The Lord will teach you. And I thought, why didn't I think
of that? Why? Almighty God has made one thing
to be the issue. One thing. There's one issue
concerning Almighty God. Listen to this. John 3, 18. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Paul says in verse 4, Who art
thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master he
standeth or falleth, yea, he shall be holding up, for God
is able to make him stand. I have in my mind a a code of
conduct to me. Now, I'm telling you, if the
Scripture, and I'll tell you this, number one, Scripture's
going to deal with a whole lot of things that ain't even up
for debate. Is it right for a man to love
his wife and be respectful to her? Scripture deals with that. Is it right for a wife to be,
you know, submissive to her husband? You know, Scripture deals with
that. That ain't up for debate. Is it right that we assemble
ourselves together and hear the Word of God? That is not up for
debate. That's not an issue. Why is it
not an issue? Because God has dealt with it.
I'm talking about things that the Scripture has not dealt with,
that we're unsure about. It's all going to be dealt with
in accordance with this Word. And a believer will strive after
it. But while God's teaching them, be patient with them. Don't do anything. The Scripture
deals with this. If there's something that you've
got some liberty on, whatever, whatever, just you put it in
your own mind and somebody else is offended by it, what should
you do? The Scripture deals with that. Offend them. It ain't worth it. It ain't worth it. I just don't
believe that you ought to do so-and-so and so-and-so. Why
do you believe that? Well, I just don't think so.
You that are strong, don't offend them over something that does
not matter. It doesn't matter. I don't think
you ought to go to a picture show. Don't flaunt that in your
face. If they don't want to go to a
picture show, fine. Don't make an issue of it. Go
when they don't know. I don't think you ought to do
this. I don't think you ought to do
this. Don't offend them. I'm talking
about brethren. I'm telling you, you're never
going to please an unbeliever. I can tell you that right now.
I mean, you might as well not. I mean, they're doing all that
they can do established on what their righteousness is before
God. You're not going to please them. But I'm talking about a believer.
God Almighty is able to make him stand. God has kept him. The Lord has shown him mercy. Verse 5, esteemeth one day above
another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind." Let him be assured, fully assured. You know, just like the law of
Moses made a distinction between clean and unclean meats, it made
a distinction between the observance of certain days, you know. The respect of those days under
the law was a requirement. It was a requirement. You know,
you observe this day, you don't observe this day. But to a person
called out of darkness, they have questions in their minds.
What do you do here? What about that? What about this day? What about
that day? What about, you know, as I said last week, If you have a heart and you say,
I just don't think that we ought to do anything on Sunday and
cutting your grass, then don't do it. I tell you what, there
was a time in my life when I wasn't allowed to go eat on Sunday because
I was letting somebody else work on Sunday and I was contributing
to their work and so therefore, It was worth it. Then don't go. Don't go. Go home. Fix you something. Make you a sandwich. Brother
Scott, if you want to go eat over there at Sabor's, go. I'll
go with you. I know what I'll do. I'll go
with you. But if you're offended by it,
don't flaunt that in somebody's face. If there's a day you observe
and somebody says, I don't think y'all did this, don't do that. What difference does it make?
That's what Paul is saying. One man seems one day above another.
It's not a point of contention. It's not a point to judge a man. Don't let something that does
not matter divide you. Those that are strong, The spirit
of stability and graciousness and mercy and kindness is to
take those things that are not issues and don't make an issue
out of it. It's not going to matter. The observance or the non-observance
of a certain day is not going to establish or destroy your
righteousness before God. It's just not a matter. One way or the other, be that
which disturbs the harmony of the church. Colossians 2, 16
and 17. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the new moon
or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come.
The body is of Christ. That's what Paul said. Colossians
2, 16. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. No one should be made to force
or act in a way that is in accordance with another man's conscience
on things that are not pertinent, on things that don't matter.
I hate to have to keep making an issue out of that, but you
know that this is the issue. If it's not the issue of the
gospel, then don't make it an issue. Let every man be fully
assured in his mind. He that regardeth the day, that
observes the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. He that regardeth
not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eateth,
eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth
not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. What's
Paul saying? Remember that for a believer. One that is yet to be fully persuaded
in his mind concerning liberty in Christ. He's doing what he's
doing in his heart that is the right and respectful thing to
do. This is respectful. He's not
trying to establish a righteousness before God. That wasn't the issue. He's not trying to maintain his
righteousness before God. That ain't the issue. What's
the issue? In his mind, it's respect. It's respect before God. I do what I do in this church
and elsewhere as the representative of this assembly and especially
as the representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do what
I do with this thought in my mind. I'm doing this respectfully
before God. Well, what if there's something
in my mind that someone else looks at and says, you know what,
Marvin? You're making an issue out of
something. Why? In my mind, it's the respectful
thing to do. Therefore, if it's respectful
in my mind, if I would rather not do it, Because I'm doing
this as unto the Lord in my mind. Do you know what it's going to
take for me to change my mind? The Lord's going to have to teach
me that. And then in my mind, I'll have to look at somebody
else and say, you know what? If He hadn't taught you that,
then I'm going to bear with you. I'm going to love you and help
you and be respectful to you and stuff like that. He that
regards the day, regards it to the Lord. Regulate your conduct
by a regard to God's will in your mind. That's what he's saying. I know the strong may say, you
know what, but you're wrong and you're acting foolishly. Fine. That's fine. Maybe they are. Maybe they haven't been taught
yet. Maybe so. But let me ask you
this. Don't despise them because of their weakness or ignorance.
Do you do that to your kids? You think of it like children
that you raise. How patient are you? Well, you
say, maybe not as patient as I ought to be. Neither are we
concerned in the gospel of free grace. How do you raise? How do you deal with those that
you love? You've got a friend. And they
have an opinion over something. And maybe that's not your opinion.
Maybe that's not your opinion. But is it really worth dividing
over if it's not the issue of the gospel? Is it? Paul said
it's not. A man does what he does, a believer,
according to his conscience before Almighty God. Verse 7, last one. "...For none of us liveth to
himself, and no man dieth to himself." I'll pick up verse
8, Lord willing, next time. But we'll just say this and then
we'll stop. No believer in Christ considers
himself to be his own master. What are you saying? I don't
make the rules. That's what I'm saying. What
am I supposed to be doing? Well, I'm supposed to strive
after peace, harmony. Almighty God teaches us and grows
us and matures us. Maturity is one of the greatest
attributes that I've observed. in men and women that God's taught. And I'm talking about it takes
years. I've noticed this that it's not
in the young, you know, believers just called out of darkness because
we all have those little quirks. Well, we all have quirks. But
you know the thing that I've noticed about an aged and taught
believer that I greatly admire? They've been mellowed. The Lord settles them down. And
things that don't matter are not the issue with them. You
know what the issue is with them? Christ. Salvations of the Lord. I listen to you when you get
up and read. I hear what you say, brother
Scott. There ain't a person in here that won't agree with me.
You watch and listen to somebody that God settled. You know what
they get down to? They get down to the real issue.
They get down to salvation by grace. Lord, thank You. Thank You that You showed me
mercy. Thank You that You called me out of darkness. Thank You
that You've kept me right up until today. They're mellowed. I've heard so many people say,
I tell you what, boy, the Lord really settled them down. Well,
I tell you what, give Him time. By His grace, maybe He'll settle
some of us down too. Teach us something. That's something
you don't learn. I told you what Brother Henry
Mahan said. I thought it was so good. He
said one of the greatest losses that this world ever suffers
is when God removes an aged and taught and settled believer. They're so pleasant to be around
because there's only one issue. And that's where you find them
going back to every time. None of us liveth to himself.
No man dieth to himself. No believer is at liberty to
regulate his conduct according to his own dictates but to the
will of the Master. What would you have me to do? I tell you, death, as well as
life, is in the hands of Him who does as He will. Life and
death, according to the understanding of the believer, is directed
for God's glory and for my good. He's God and there's none else. God helped me. be kind and compassionate understanding
to you and you to me. There's nothing that is more
desirable for a believer than that the brethren should dwell
together in peace. That's it. All right, Gary.