Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans 14. I was thinking, as Brother Scott
was reading, of the Lord's unchanging mercy
and grace. What a blessing! that we're able to be living
in a time of such wonderful comfort. And in the midst of all of the
calamities of this world I was talking about, it
seemed like every time you turn on the television, it's no good
news, you know, as far as the world's concerned. But what a
blessing for the people of God. This is the comfort that we have.
Our God never changes. Consider the lilies. They spin
not. It is said, but Solomon in all
of his glory was not arrayed like one of them. If he so clothed
the field, which today is and tomorrow is gone, shall he not
so clothe you? You know what, there's some real
comfort there in Carl. What's going to happen? Whatever he
wants to. What are you going to do? Whatever he leads me to
do. And when he's done, it's over.
And that's good. Romans 14. We're going to deal
today for a few minutes, and I mean that's going to be short. with a subject that this whole
14th chapter really deals with, but I'm going to just look at
the first verse today. And we're dealing with actually
the attitude that believers have toward one another, and especially
over the subject of liberty in the gospel, liberty in Christ,
freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ. If there's anything we ought
to strive for, it's unity among the brethren. The psalmist says,
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. This is wonderful. To be able to be here, be together,
one in spirit, so pleasurable. Almighty God is the author of
our unity. We are together in Christ. God
is not the author of confusion but of peace as in all churches
of the saints. That is what Paul said to the
church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 14. So all that are here, that
are in the faith, have been called out of darkness by God's But
obviously, the Spirit of God has revealed that there's a growth
in grace. That's the scriptural terminology. Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now listen, let me tell
you this. Growing in grace is in our minds You know, someone
would, you know, and this is a carnal thought. This is a carnal
thought. I'm going to tell you right now.
To think in our minds, I'm growing in grace and I'm getting stronger. I'm growing in grace. Paul says,
when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. So growing in grace actually
is a growing in My understanding of myself and God's mercy to
me, it's a... Does growth and abasement sound
right? Growing, being abased. That's a growth in grace. And
John said, I must decrease. I must decrease. And that goes
just absolutely opposite my carnal thinking. I think, Bob, I've
got to get better. I've got to get stronger. Strong
in the Lord. Now, I can tell you, you're arrogant.
You've just got a spirit of arrogance about you. People, I've noticed
this. And it usually is this way. Not always, but usually you'll
find the older, a true, settled, the grounded object of God's mercy, man or
woman, the more God brings them down, the attitude of that person
that want of humility and thankfulness. I was thinking when Brother Scott
said, you know, I love to read these Scriptures. It just talks
about God. I just want to talk about Him. Not how much I know and how much
let me impress you with this or my understanding of this side
or the other. Let's just talk about Him. And I thought, boy,
you know what? What an attitude. Talk about
Him. Those that God has taught something. Paul says in Romans 14, 1, Him
that is weak in the faith, receive ye. but not to doubtful disputations. Obviously, there are some lambs
among the sheep. Had there not been lambs among
the sheep, the Lord would never have told Peter to feed them.
You love me, you feed my lambs. The weak. What is it to be weak in the
faith? Well, I can tell you this, being
weak in the faith is to still have thoughts that carry over
from false religion of things that I need to be doing or things
that I should be doing in order to prove my faithfulness or set
forth my sincerity before God, weak in the faith. I tell you
this, Paul dealt much with this, and Lord willing, we'll deal
with it in the book of Acts where Paul did some things that I know
a lot of people have given him down the road about, about associating
himself with those of the law and doing things that some weak
brethren had some problems with. But I think Paul the Apostle
used great wisdom in what he did. But we'll deal with that. Those that are weak in the faith,
those that are most weak in their understanding of themselves,
I need to be taught some things. I want to hear. Tell me again
what the Lord has done for me. Do you know it's the hardest
thing concerning the carnal man, the impossibility to just, as
Brother Scott says, you come to God empty handed. A man can
come to God with nothing in his hand and do it sincerely. That empty handedness is something.
That's something. If a man could just believe God I was talking about all this,
the calamity, things that are going on in this world. Do you
know what it does, how it fights against my carnal nature to not
think in my mind, I've got to do something. I might do something. I don't know what I might switch
around. I don't know what I'm going to
have to do, but something is going to have to be done because
I don't want to be caught shorthanded. That's weakness. That's absolute
distrust of God. Do you know what it takes for
a man or a woman to be strong in the Lord? They've gone through
some things. And God taught them by experience
to trust Him. Trust Him. I talked about that little article
that when Moses took the people of God out of Egypt, took them
into the desert, what did it take for Moses to take those
people? He had to believe God. But I'm
going to tell you something, every step of that 40 years,
you go back and read the account of what he went through, and
I'm telling you, he struggled. People raised themselves up and
they resisted Him. How many times do you think that
Moses, even in his own carnal flesh, in his nature, wondered,
you know, what do I do? He'd go to the Lord. Strong in
the Lord. I'm telling you, those that are
grounded and taught, they've gone through some trials, tribulations. And no trial or tribulation is
easy. It's grievous for the moment,
but it works an eternal weight of glory. You find yourself in
trouble. A believer is going to cast himself
on the mercy of God. Those that are weak in the faith,
those that God has yet to teach, as He will, receive them. They've got some
doubts and some trials. They're weak in their faith. I know they are. You think what
the Lord said to the apostles. He was out in the ship. Water
was coming in. They started crying out, what
are we going to do? The Lord was asleep in the back
of the boat. And the Lord spoke to the elements
out there. Just calm. They looked at that. He said, why did you die? You
know what that is? It's weakness. Weakness. I believe that He called me out
of darkness. But I believe that before He
called me out of darkness, I believe that He everlastingly loved me
and I believe He chose me in Christ. If He gave His Son, to
die for me. Is he not going to see me through
this world? I think about Brother Don Fortner
when his son-in-law asked him, he said, can I borrow one of
your wrenches? Don said, I gave you my daughter. You don't think I'd give you
a wrench? Weak. Receive ye him that is weak in
the faith. Obviously, I know that there's
got to be some strong in the faith because he says receive
him. But I'll tell you this, I think most of us will agree
with this. Boy, there's very few of them in there. Strong. Strong. There's very few. I'm so thankful. that God would
teach some and ground some. I think about what they've gone
through. I think about watching these dear saints of God, what
they've been through. Scott, I wouldn't embarrass you.
I wouldn't. But I thank God for what you went through, what he
taught you. I'm thankful you're here. I'm thankful for your attitude. I wonder sometimes how you get
up here. I'll be honest with you. Him that is weak in the faith,
receive ye." How many times has Almighty God caused the paths
of two believers to cross paths? And those that have not been
taught, grounded, sustained, how that age-taught believer,
how kind God was to the weak through the strong. Receive ye,
but not to doubtful disputations. What is that? Don't sit in judgment
on the weak opinion of your brethren. Don't judge his doubtful thoughts. That's what it means. You remember that this weakness
that's being talked about right here is not pertaining to the
gospel of free grace. If it's an issue of the gospel,
If it's an issue of the gospel, we cannot, we cannot, we cannot
just act as if it's not an issue. Paul says, woe unto me if I don't
preach the gospel. If the issue is the gospel, then
you cannot deviate. I mean, the honor of Almighty
God It's what we're talking about. I cannot deviate for the sake
of peace between somebody that would be sitting in this congregation.
I can't deviate on the truth of the gospel. I can't just for
the sake of peace. But if the issue is something
that is not the gospel. And there's something that one
feels we're going to deal, it's hard for me not to get into the
next few verses because I know what's coming up, Neil. But let's
suffice it to say this morning, because Paul is going to start
dealing with meets and observing certain days and things that
just don't matter. They just don't matter. One that's
weak received, but don't put doubts on his weak thoughts. They don't matter. Just to sit here and to think. that because the Lord has taught
me and given me some liberty in the gospel. And then to set
judgment on someone that may not feel in his heart. See, to
someone that God's not taught some things concerning his liberty
in Christ, for him to go against what he feels in his heart is
the right thing to do. I'm going to give you, I cannot
help it, I'm going to have to give you this example. We're going
to study this, Lord willing, Lord willing, about the end of
November. That's about where I'm looking at it as far as Acts.
Paul the Apostle, there was four guys that took a vow, and it
was a Nazarite vow. What it was, a Nazarite vow,
there were some things that were involved concerning their stand before God. They were going
to make a promise to the Lord, and it was a vow that they were
taking, and in their heart, they were doing the right thing in
their heart. And this was pertaining to the
law. And they had made a vow to the
Lord. In their heart, they were doing
the right thing. And James came to Paul and said,
Paul, we've got some problems here. These fellows, they're
believers. He said they believe God. They've
confessed Christ, but they had some things that they carried
over from their ceremonial law that they felt was the right
thing to do. Paul, we've got some confusion
here. What should we do? And I'll tell
you this. I'm not going to get into it right now. I'd like to,
but Paul went along with them on it. And the reason he did
was because He knew it didn't matter. It just didn't matter. Christ was the end of the law
for righteousness. These fellows felt that it was
the right thing to do. And Paul didn't cut them off.
He left some communication there. Listen, there are some things
that just don't matter. Coming down to the end of a grass
cutting season. Is it going to matter whether
or not you cut your grass today? Christ is the end of the law.
Yeah, but you say, I just don't feel it's right. Then don't do
it. You might offend somebody. Was it really worth offending
them over? No. I just don't think it's right,
you know. Some ladies may say, I just I
just don't feel it's right to do anything. Wear skirts to dress
up to church. OK. Then wear skirts. If somebody's not been taught,
you know that they don't have that conviction. Let me ask you
this. What difference does it make? What difference does it
make? I think you ought to do so. I
don't think you ought to observe this. I don't think you ought
to eat this. That's fine. That's fine. Was the issue the
gospel? was the issue of the gospel of
free grace. If it wasn't, then don't break
fellowship over somebody or something that doesn't matter. What difference
does it make? He that is weak in the faith,
receive ye. Remember, even the disciples
had some questions and some problems. The Lord said in Isaiah 42, 3,
a bruised reed A weak convert shall he not break, and the smoking
flax, the dimly burning object of his mercy, is what is set
forth there. Shall he not quench, he shall
bring forth judgment unto truth." The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
was speaking of John the Baptist, He said, what did you go out
in the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? John the Baptist was a man taught,
grounded, strong in the Lord, strong in faith. But those broken
with calamity, those that are brought down with the consciousness
of their frailty, they're strong. And they're not going to cut
you off. They don't. They won't. They won't cut you
off. for something that doesn't matter.
Now, as I've said before, I'm not going to deviate on the Gospel.
We're not deviating on the Gospel. We can't deviate on the Gospel. But as I've said before, and
I'm telling you, Paul had a whole chapter here on this very subject
right here. Don't cut a brother or sister
off over something that doesn't matter. If it doesn't matter,
him that's weak in the faith, Paul said in Galatians 6, 1,
Brethren, if a man, or actually the word there is although. Although
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. All believers are redeemed by
the blood of Christ. all indwelt by the Spirit of
holiness and grace. But I want to tell you something.
We're still human. And we go through this world and we have
some trials and some tribulations and some problems. But we're
in this world and we're still plagued with indwelling sin and
doubts. And that potential Not to fall
from grace. I'm not talking about that, but
I'm talking about to stumble over issues that don't matter,
that don't matter. Don't let it be so. Don't let
it be so. I mean, if somebody, if there's
something that you feel that you desire, you know, whatever. I mean, I sit here and start
naming things, if you've got something and it's you feel in
your heart, that's the. That's the I feel comfortable
doing that, you know. I feel I feel comfortable, I
just feel comfortable. If I'm going to be preaching,
I feel comfortable wearing a coat and tie. Now, if somebody, you know, there's
been there's been times that I would wear a three button,
you know, knit shirt, something like it. But then it's just,
I mean, just something about it. I just, I don't know, Gary.
I just feel, I just feel more comfortable. Let me ask you something.
Is that really an issue? I mean, is that a big deal? If somebody said, well, now I'll
tell you, if you're going to be preaching in this pulpit, you're going
to have to be wearing a coat and tie and you're going to have
to be a soldier. It's not an issue. I mean, I
want to dress respectfully. Don't get me wrong. I would say,
wear the best you've got. Don't try to bring attention
to yourself. No. But don't make an issue. Don't cut a brother off for a
word. Restore him in the spirit of
weakness. Repair or bring back to the place of fellowship without
a haughty attitude. I tell you, consider the gentleness
of the Savior toward us, how compassionate. How gentle, how
kind he was, I think about is I read the I read the accounts
of those that actually walked with him. Converted, called out
of darkness, and how many times they would do or say things that
were just you think, how how could they walk? How could they
actually? Be with the Lord. How could they not trust Him?
How could they? Him that's weak in the faith. Receive Him. But not in judgment. Not thinking. I tell you what,
I don't see how in the world He can think that. I mean, just
look. Consider yourself. Let me tell you something. Let
me tell you who needed this message more than anybody else in this
congregation today. me, because I'm the world's worst. I'm telling you the truth. I
am the world's worst. If you do something and it's
not the way I do it, I go that quick. I mean, it don't
take me. And if you don't believe me,
you ask my wife. I'm the world's worst. What difference does it make?
What difference does it make? All right, brother, here you
go.