As we were listening to the messages
yesterday, there were two verses of Scripture that just leaped
off the page to me. And I want to begin with those
today and then move to another passage if we have time over
in Romans 14. I titled this, Practical Instruction
for Believers. And I have two headings here.
We're going to see first of all that each believer is to prove
to mind our own heart, mind our own business. And then secondly,
to trust the Lord to make our brethren to stand. Paul's dealing
here, you know, with the spirit of legalism. He's dealing with
a carnal heart that makes men attempt to coerce others into
religious works. And I want to show you the contrast
in these two verses that struck me yesterday. Galatians 6 verse
4. But let every man prove his own
work. Prove, test, try, examine. Know why I'm doing what I'm doing. Try myself, try my own heart. Let every man prove his own work. Only I can prove my work. Only I can prove myself. Only
you can prove yourself. Let every man prove his own work. That work includes our profession
of faith. It's called, in some places,
our vocation. It's our calling and our election
of God. And it includes everything that
we do, whether it be religious works or whether it be works
out in the world, in our workplace and what have you. Every good
work. That every man prove his own work and then shall he have
rejoicing in himself alone." Now, you know Paul's not talking
here that we're going to have rejoicing in our works, confidence
in our works, confidence in our flesh, confidence in ourselves.
He just said in the verse before, if a man thinks himself to be
something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. That's what
we are in ourselves, is absolutely nothing. But he's talking here
about If we try and prove our own work, our own hearts, our
own faith, our own calling, and find it to be of God, of His
grace, of His work, of what He's accomplished for us and what
He's done in giving us a new heart, then we'll have rejoicing
in ourselves and our own hearts toward God rather than He says
there at the end, not in another, not in somebody else, and not
because of what somebody got us to do or because of what we
got someone else to do. Now look at this contrast. Drop
down to verse 12. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. They constrain you. They're not
minding their own hearts. They're not rejoicing in their
own heart, minding their own business before God. They desire
to show in the flesh, a show in the flesh, so they constrain
you. And whatever's done because of another man has made you to
do it. That's law. That's not grace. That's law. That's works. That's
not grace. You can put anything in the place
here of circumcision. Whether it be something under
the old covenant law or whether it be something in the church,
under the gospel that we believe in. Somebody's constraining you
to do something. It's law, it is not grace. only
lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For
neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but
desire to have you circumcised, now get this last part, that
they may glory in your flesh. See, they're doing just the opposite.
Paul said, let us prove our own work, let us try our own self,
let us examine ourselves. And then we'll have rejoicing
in our own hearts toward God, and not in another." And he says,
but those that desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they're
constraining you to do something so they can glory in your flesh
and glory in what they've got you to do. Now I want you to
see this first thing that Paul says here. Every believer is
to try his own heart, is to examine ourselves. to mind our own heart
to do our own business before God. Let every man prove his
own work. Instead of comparing ourselves
with others, instead of minding others' business, instead of
desiring a show in the flesh, instead of attempting to constrain
others to do what we think they ought to do, he says, let each
believer prove our own work. Now, how do I prove my own work?
How do I prove my own work? Well, if I'm going to make my
calling and election sure. which is faith and repentance
and hope. These are the works that God
has foreordained that His children shall walk in. If I'm going to
make my calling and election sure, Peter said, make your calling
and election sure. So if I'm going to make my calling
and election sure, what I have to do is I have to look and see
how does God say He called and He elected his children. And if my hope and my rejoicing
is in accord with how God says he calls and he elects, it's
true, it's sure. If it's not according to how
God says, God does it, it's not true and it's not sure. Now,
we have to, this tells us we gotta look outside of ourselves. We're looking to God's word,
that what God says. We're not looking at ourselves,
we're looking outside of ourselves. Even when we're examining ourselves,
we're looking outside of ourselves to find this rejoicing, to find
this sureness. Well, God says in his word that
he calls his children from eternity. And the scripture says in Revelation
that he wrote our name in the Lamb's Book of Life from the
foundation of the world. So that means he wrote your name,
my name that I was given in 1970, he wrote my name in the Lamb's
Book of Life in eternity before the foundation of the world.
That's how he called me. My mother and my father named
me Richard Clayton Curtis. And they thought, I know my mother
heard somebody call a child that in a mall, and she liked it,
Clay. So she decided she was going to call me Clayton. And
my dad's name's Richard, so they named me Richard. And I'm sure
they thought, like your parents did, they thought they were just
naming you after somebody in the family, or maybe they pulled
it out of the air, or whatever. But the truth of it is, without
them knowing why they did it, They named, the believer was
named what we were named by our parents because God named us
in eternity when he wrote our name in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's amazing, isn't it? That's
an amazing thought. He did that. He called us when
He wrote our name in eternity. So my calling, now I'm going
to prove myself, my calling and my election according to God's
Word, according to what God says, was from eternity. He did the
calling. It originated with Him. It's
by His sovereign, His right, His choice to call and elect
whom He will and save whom He will, not based on my works,
not based on anything in me at all. He did it. That's how God
says he did it. So when I read that, and I see
that, and it makes my heart to rejoice that that's so, that
gives me some assurance that it's according to God's word.
My calling and my election is according to God's word. I rejoice
in how he's called me. Well, then the scriptures tell
us that in time God quickens us and calls us by His grace. He gives us life, calls us by
His grace. We were dead, He calls us. He
quickens us. He makes us alive. That's what
the scriptures say. I must be born again. I must
be born of the Holy Spirit of God. Given faith, given life,
given repentance. And it's the spirit that quickeneth. I just saw something this morning.
Let me read this to you. In John 6, He said, it's the spirit that
quickeneth the flesh, prophet of nothing. The words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And He said,
but there are some of you that believe not. How did He know
that? They were written in His book
before the world began. And He says, for Jesus knew from
the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray
Him. He knew all that from the beginning.
But he said here, it's the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits
nothing, and it's by my word. My words are spirit, my words
are life, he said. That's why Paul said, he said,
he called you by our gospel, by our gospel, to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Don was talking
to a couple from Dingus yesterday and was talking about their pastor,
Brother Gary Vance, and he said when he was down there one time,
Brother Gary was praying and he said, he said, Father, he's
just a man. Preach him. And that's what Paul
is saying. I didn't do this. It wasn't by
my spirit. It's by God's spirit. It wasn't
by my words. It's by God's word. He used a
man to deliver it, but the words are His words. The life He gives
is the life He gives. It's the Spirit that quickens.
Our flesh profits nothing. Mine and yours, either one, it
profits nothing. My will that I have, and I have
a will, I had a will before God came and did anything for me.
I had a will. It was a will to figure out a
way I could prove this book wrong, a way I could prove God a liar
and myself true. It was a will to disown every
word of truth that had ever been spoken to me. It was a will to
listen to every Tom, Dick, and Harry I met in college who had
every convoluted way of thinking of who God is and why we exist
and all those things. It was a will to do anything
other than bow to God. But God had to come and create
life in me and create a new nature in me and give me His Spirit
and make me willing in the day of His power to bow to Him and
trust Him. And I didn't have anything to
do with it. It's not that God gave me a choice.
He didn't come to me and make me alive and show me life and
say, now pick which one of these you want to pick. He didn't do
that. He made himself, when he formed himself in my heart, he
made himself so irresistible to me. I didn't have a choice.
I didn't have a choice. That was it. He was it and all
I wanted. at all was him because he did
that. That's what he does. Now I can
rejoice in my heart because I like that. I believe God. I trust
him. That's how God says he does it.
And I believe him. And so in making my calling and
election sure and proving my own work, examining myself, I
find I want my salvation to be exactly how God says he says. It's the only way He gets the
glory and that's what I want. I want Him to have all the glory.
Well, when He made Christ everything to me, when He made Christ all
to me, when He created life in me, let me back up, when He created
life in me and He gave me His Spirit, He made Christ all to
me. He made me to see Christ Jesus
the Lord is God the Son who came and in my own likeness of my
flesh and for the sin that I am, condemned all the sin in my flesh,
went to that cross and completely, thoroughly became what I am and
bore all the wrath and punishment and justice that I deserve and
completely, thoroughly made it so I am absolutely dead to the
law. I am third. The law has nothing
else to say to me. The law is satisfied with me.
And now I'm alive to Christ and I trust Him and I believe Him.
He's been made the end of the law for righteousness to me.
And I rejoice because I see in God's Word that Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And
I believe Him because He's given me faith to believe Him. And
I believe Him. He put me in Christ and it was
of God that He made Christ my wisdom. I quit boasting and going
around and trying to exalt that puny, ignorant thing. You know how, just carnally speaking,
carnally speaking, some of you sitting here right now, let's
talk to Anthony and H.A. and Vincent. Y'all are, and Robert,
let's say, y'all are, what, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22. You think
about when you were Will's age. And you think about what you
know now, just carnally speaking, what you know now. You laugh
at some of the things you thought when you were that age, because
you thought that was so foolish and so ignorant. Well, when God
gives you faith to see Him, you're going to look back at all, if
He does that, you'll look at all the things you thought, and
all the things you said, and all the things that you boasted
in, and you'll say, that was absolutely goofy. That was like
a little ignorant child. That was goofy. That's what happens. We think we're so smart, think
we're so smart, till God makes Christ our wisdom. And then we
see wisdom. We see wisdom, infinite, holy,
eternal wisdom. And he made him our righteousness,
and he made him our holiness, our sanctification, and our redemption.
And our glory now in God. I rejoice in him because when
I examine what God's done for me, I find I find it complete. I find it accomplished. I find
all my fullness is Christ, who is all my completion. And so
I'm accepted of God, and I've got nothing to be sad about. I've got nothing to be down about.
I rejoice, and my heart's just overflowing with this good matter,
this good news. So we examine it that way. And
then faith works By love. Faith's active. Faith is an active
thing. It works. And faith works by
love. Faith works by love. It's not
by the constraint of men. I'm not here this morning. I'll
tell you what I did. This week, I worked ahead. Because I knew we'd have somebody
here preaching. And I knew I'd be spending a
lot of time with them. So I worked ahead. And got a message ready. And had a message ready. Completely
ready. by Friday. And last night at
about 1130 12 o'clock, this message woke me up. I was woke up with
this pressing on me so much. I got up and and worked on it
till I got here this morning. And I didn't do that because
anybody constrained me to do it. I didn't do it because anybody
forced me to do it. I did it because I wanted to
do it. I did it because God moved me by His Spirit to do it. And
His love constrained me to do it. And my love for those whom
He loves constrained me to do it. That's it. Nothing else. That's why I did it. Faith works
by love. This is what Paul said, Ephesians
Ephesians chapter 3, verse 17. Let's read verse 16. I'm sorry, verse 14. Paul says,
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I know the Pharisees were going
around making a vain show out of prayer. And you know what
Paul was doing while they were doing that? Paul said, my heart's
desire and prayer for them is that they might be saved. He
was really praying for them while they were making a mockery out
of prayer. And he said, and for this cause
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would
grant you. Paul said, I've got to ask God
to do this because I can't do it. But that He would grant you,
according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with
might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in
love, may be able to comprehend with all saints. This is what
saints comprehend. And he said, I want you to be
able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length
and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, the
love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with
all the fullness of God. That's what he was praying for,
that you might have this love shed abroad in your heart and
know what it is to not have to be made to get up in the morning
and prodded like cattle to get dressed and come to this place
and hear the gospel preached. But to get up and get dressed
with a song in your heart and a tip in your step on the get
here to hear a word from God. because you love him, because
of what he's done for you, what you've heard, what that he's
done. This is amazing love too, that God the Father, God the
Father sent his only begotten son into this world to live and
to die and to do for wretched sinners like I am, what I couldn't
do for myself. That Christ came to where I am
and he perfectly honored his own law, magnified his own law,
that he fulfilled everything that he said he would in the
law and the prophets. And then he went to the cross
and he laid down his life for me, bearing that shameful, ignominious
death that he died for me. And he did it while I hated him.
He did it while I was an enemy to him. He loved me and didn't
forsake me and kept me all the days when I hated him and rebelled
against him and went around scoffing and mocking and reproaching his
name. But now, because he did that,
because of his love, because of the riches of his love and
his grace toward me, I'm a child of God. I live in a big, giant
house called the household of God. Christ is the, he's the
head of it. God's given him to be the head
over that house and he's his own son who's the head over it.
And Christ is doing everything in it to provide for all my needs
and all my necessities in this life. He's ruling and he's reigning
over us as we just sang in that song. He's doing everything. I'm a child of God. So what I do, when I do something,
I'm doing it because I know I am what I am by His grace. I am what I am by His love. His,
the love of Christ, constrains me because I know that if he
died for all his elect, it's because all his elect were dead.
And in that he died, he died that we which live should not
henceforth live from now on for ourselves, but for him who loved
us and gave his life for us and redeemed us and bought us and
purchased us. Now, let a man prove his own
work. Then shall he have rejoicing in his own heart from God, toward
God. It's called a good conscience.
It's by his spirit, it's by his blood. Now here are a few good
works. Let's talk about some of them. Have this rejoicing in your heart.
Convince you've been called, elected of God, made alive by
Him, given faith, you've repented from all, you trust Him. The
first act of public obedience is baptism. And I say this again
because some of you have talked about that to me. And a few others
have talked about it to me. Baptism, it's a public act of
obedience to God. Confessing Him. Prove your own
work. Examine yourself. Why do you
want to do that? Why do you want to do that? Why do you want to do that? Is it because you lived in Christ
when He lived? Is it because when He was immersed
in the judgment of God, you were immersed in that judgment and
crucified with Him? And when He rose from the dead,
you rose in Him and you're seated with Him in the right hand of
the Father and you know you accepted in Him? Is that why you want
to do it? Well, I can't give you that rejoicing. I know I've told you feel free
to come and talk to me anytime and I want you to do that. But
first of all, you get along with God because I can't give you
the rejoicing. I can't put this rejoicing in
your heart and make this an act of love. I can't do that. I can't
do that at all. Only God can do that. So get
with Him and seek His word in the matter. Ask Him. And when
He gives it, then you have this rejoicing in your heart. then
be baptized. It's that simple. Observing the
Lord's table. Don covered that very well the
other night. Discerning the Lord's body. Why do I do that? Why do
I do that? I discern that His body was broken
for me. I discern His blood was shed
for me. That body, I'm taking that table to do in remembrance
of Him. He's all my worthiness to come
to that table. I'm doing it to remember him.
Let a man examine himself and so let him eat. That's what Paul
said. Let a man prove his own work and then he'll have rejoicing
in himself. What about giving? to support
this work, to support needy brethren, to support missionaries, to support
the gospel being preached in other places. Everything we did
here this week cost money. Every bit of it. It cost something. Every bit of food we ate cost
money. Every bit of the lights cost
money. Renting a building extra costs money. Everything costs
money. And believers want to share that burden. They don't
want it to be all on one person. They want to share it. And because
they want to share it, they're willing to give. We're not under
a tithe. We're not forced to do anything.
We're not constrained to do anything because of those reasons. We
do it because of love. But this is what the Word said.
And the Scripture says is, if a man won't work, he don't eat. The Thessalonians had a problem
because they really thought Christ was coming back right then. And
so a bunch of them just quit working. And they thought, let's
get ready. He's coming. We're fixing to
go home. And so Paul had to address that and he said, this isn't
communism. He said, this isn't socialism. If a man won't work,
he don't eat. And so, Scott, you get up and
go to work, take care of your family. Do you have to be constrained
to do that? You do it because you love your
family. Arch, you've had a couple of jobs since I've been here,
and no fault of your own, but when you were out, you went straight
finding one, didn't you? Because you had to have it, because
you loved your family. You didn't have to be whipped
to do it. You had to do it. You had to do it. But this is
the thing about giving. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him yield. Not grudgingly or of necessity. This is not by constraint of
men. Not because somebody guilted you into doing it. Not because
you just feel like, well, God's going to love me better if I
do this. No, that's not, God loves a cheerful
giver, a cheerful giver. That's the only way we can do
anything before God is out of love, because we do, faith works
by love. And every other thing that we
do, every other thing we do, whether it's from praying to
temperance, you know, this is the truth of the matter. We're
not under the law at all, but drunkenness is still drunkenness.
That's just how it is. Temperance. turning from fornication,
outward sin, reading, just simply reading the Scripture. Whatever
work it is, let it be because God has given us His Spirit,
because we do it not out of bondage again to fear, but because He's
given us the Spirit to cry, Abba, Father, and we have that love
of God in our hearts. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever
you do, do all to the glory of God. Whatsoever you do in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God and the Father by Him. And whatsoever you do, do it
heartedly as to the Lord, and not unto men." That's what Paul's
teaching here. So, let every man prove his own
work, then shall he have rejoicing in himself and not another. Now
let's see the contrast. Let's see the contrast. Look
down at verse 12. Galatians 6 verse 12. Now as many as desire to make
a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. And you can put any of these
things and more that I just named, all the things I just named and
a whole lot more, whatever you do, constraining you. Only lest
they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Neither
they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have
you circumcised that they might glory in your flesh, that their
rejoicing might be in you and what they constrained you to
do. Men who love to make a fair show in the flesh, men who try
to constrain others to do what they think they ought to do,
are doing it for three reasons. Paul gives right here. First
of all, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross
of Christ. You see, the men who constrain
you to do are doing it because if they don't try to constrain
you to do something, then their friends who do the same thing
will persecute them. Because that's what all that
stuff ends up in. You get a reward dangled in front
of you if you do it. But if you don't do it, you're
going to suffer. You're going to be persecuted.
And they know if I don't conform to that ungodly form of religion,
I'm going to suffer for that. If I stand fast in Christ, and
stand fast in the liberty wherewith I've been made free by the person
and work of Christ Jesus. They know I'm going to suffer
persecution for folks who say, but you've got to be under the
law, and you've got to do this, and you've got to do that, and
you've got to, you've got to, got to, got to, got to. They
know they're going to suffer persecution for that. And they will. But
they don't have this rejoicing in themselves. They're not rooted
and grounded in this love that Paul spoke about. To comprehend
this love with all saints, this fullness of God in the heart,
so as to be able to stand. So instead, they reproach and
they constrain because they don't want to bear that reproach. Here's
the second thing to do. Verse 13, reason why. For neither
they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. They're not doing
the things they're trying to get you to do. They're not. They're
not doing the things they're trying to get you to do. That's
the word of God. God knows better than I know.
And he says, through Paul, speaking by the inspiration of the Spirit
of God, he's saying they don't keep the law. You know how we
know they don't? Because the man who's been given
faith in Christ, to rest in Christ, he hates that yoke. He hates
that constraining, whipping yoke of his old flesh. It's still
there. And it comes up more than he likes for it to, towards his
brethren. And he hates it. He absolutely hates it. Because
he knows the law has been fulfilled for him by Christ, and through
faith in Christ, he's kept the whole law of God, and so has
his brethren. And that's where he rests. The man that does not
have that Spirit of God that's brought him to faith in Christ,
he has not kept the Law of God. Because the only way to keep
it is by believing Christ. That's why Christ came. If it
hadn't needed to be done by Christ, God wouldn't have sent Him. And
that's why He sent Him. It's not that since Christ came
down the laws lowered down some so you can keep it. That's just
exactly what the Pharisees were doing before Christ came. They
would lower it down to a level to where you could keep it. Now
a man may appear outwardly like he's keeping every aspect of
the law, but by his continual trying to constrain others to
make a show in the flesh and to do the things that he thinks
sinners ought to do to conform to his form, That man is manifesting
that he is not resting in Christ alone. And by not resting in
Christ alone, though he may appear to be keeping all the law, dotting
the I's and crossing the T's just like the Pharisees did,
he is not keeping it because he does not have that righteousness
that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees
who is Christ our Lord. And He only have that by faith.
But those who rest wait on Him. They trust Him. They know He's
able to make their brethren stand and they rest in Him. And therefore,
they don't constrain others to do anything. Look at Galatians
5.5. We, through the Spirit, Wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ,
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. That is the law we are under.
Faith, we fulfill the whole law of God. And because that love
of God should have brought in our hearts, we work by love. We work by love. Verse 13, for
brethren you've been called unto liberty, only use not liberty
for an occasion to the flesh, that is to start trying to constrain
others and make them do something you think they ought to do, but
by love serve one another. See that? Serve one another. Look down at verse 14, for all
the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. As the Lord said, you do what
you would have men do for you. That's what you do for them because
you love them. And he says in chapter 6 verse
2, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. You see this? It's a law of love.
It's faith which works by love. Now, they not keepin' the law,
that's the second thing. That's the second thing. Here's
the third thing. Since they don't have this rejoicing,
given of the Spirit of God, whereby they rest in Christ and trust
Him and look to Him, they have to find it somewhere. They want
a glory somewhere, they want to have some rejoicing somewhere.
So verse 13, he says, so they desire to have you circumcised,
that they may glory in your flesh. You know what that's called?
Vain glory. That's vain rejoicing. That's
seeking preeminence. That is wanting to be a master
among men because you won't bow to Christ and you won't subject
to the Word of God and you won't subject yourself to your brethren.
You want to be a master among men. Have the preeminence. It's called seeking to lord over
God's heritage. and that they may glory in your
flesh. It's what men will be talking
about when Christ said they'll approach me in the day of judgment
and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do many wonderful works? Look
at what we got folks to do. Look at the converts we made.
But that's the problem. We made them. That's the problem. We made them. Look over at Romans
8. And let's hold our place here
because we're going to stay here just a minute. Romans 8. Appearance,
the flesh, carnal things, is all that the carnal man glories
and rejoices in. Because it's all he can see.
It's all he can see. It's just what he can see with
his carnal eyes. Just what he can hear with his carnal ears.
And that's why he constrains others to do. So he can see them
doing the things that he got them to do. Romans 8, 5. For
they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
That's what it is. But they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. This law we just saw. Faith, whereby the whole law
of God is fulfilled, and that love which only God can give
in the heart, whereby we do all that we do. He can't submit himself
to that law. Can't do it. So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God, no matter what they do,
no matter how hard they try, no matter what works they're
doing. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if
so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. And that's
just contrast God's guilt right there. Now Paul said beware of
dogs, beware of them. Beware of evil workers. They're workers. But they're
evil workers. Beware of the concision. They're
cutting, they're trying to cut you away from everything that
they think is evil. They're trying to cut you away
into everything they deem to be good. But it's not by power,
it's not by might. By our power and our might, it's
gonna be by God's spirit, by his word only, through Christ. We're the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Believers are born of His Spirit.
We're not out to make a fair show in the flesh. We're not
out to make ourselves appear better than others. We're not
out to force others to our way. We're not out to be seen of men.
That's not what we're doing what we do. The other day we were
in a restaurant eating. And go ahead for sake of time
and be turning over Romans 14. Romans 14. We were in a restaurant
eating the other day We got our plate and we sat down.
And Will asked me, he said, Dad, can we thank the Lord for our
food? And I said, yes, we can. And I said, now, normally when
I'm in a restaurant in public like that, I thank the Lord for
my food in my heart without moving my mouth, without closing my
eyes, without bowing my head. You never even know it. But that
day, I said to him, he was asking me, would I lead us in prayer? And I said, yes, I will. And
I explained to them, I said, I'm not going to close my eyes.
I'm not going to bow my head. I'm going to talk to God, just
like I'm sitting here talking to you now. And I asked God to
bless the food, and I thanked him for it right there with my
eyes open, like I was talking to the kids. I did that because
somebody would say, well, you didn't bow and you didn't show
any reverence to God. Now in his house, I bow my head
to him because he's the king. And in the Lord's house, I bow
my head to him because he's the king. But in a public place,
I show reverence to Christ my Lord by praying the way he said
to pray. He said in Matthew 6, 5, When
thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners
of the streets that they may be seen of men. I didn't do it for men to see
me, and I explained to the kids why I did it the way I did it.
We're not making a show. We're sincerely thanking God,
and we're not making a show. I don't want men to see me. I
have no desire to be seen of men. We're not doing it for that
reason. Well, let a man prove his own
work. examine himself, he'll have rejoicing
in himself and not another. Now let's look at Romans 14.
Romans 14. This is my second point. Trust
the Lord to make our brethren to stand. Now the Pharisees,
the self-righteous, were the ones who were always comparing
their ways to Christ's ways. They would come to him and they
would say, why do your disciples not do like our disciples? One
time they came and they said, why do your disciples not do
like John's disciples? They're trying to divide them.
And they would condemn him for not doing like they did. But
the Lord wouldn't turn to their fair show. He would not turn
to that show. And so they rejected him. They
rejected him. When they criticized Christ,
be sure you get this, when they criticized Christ before people,
They only desired that Christ and his reputation would be cast
out before everybody that would hear them as evil. So that his
gospel would not be believed and they would justify themselves
before men for not believing him and not bowing to him. That's
why they criticized him and why they did that. You remember that
now. If you hear anybody criticizing any of your brethren in this
place and saying anything evil about what God's doing in this
place, remember why they did it to the Lord. Remember what
the motive was with the Lord. Remember that. Well, Christ and
his disciples always operate in an entirely different way.
Look at this, Romans 14.1. Now listen to this. Paul's using
food. He uses some days here as examples. These are things that are not
the major thing. These are things that are really
indifferent. Listen to this. Him that is weak
in the faith, receive you, receive you, but not to doubtful disputations. Don't doubt them. Just don't
doubt, don't dispute about him. For one believeth that he may
eat all things, another who is weak eateth her herbs. Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not. And let not him which eateth
not judge him that eateth, for God has received him. We need
to really understand this. I've had brethren in the church
where I was before I came here. I've had brethren. that believed
the gospel of Christ. They believed that our complete
ruin in the fall, that there was nothing we could do to save
ourselves. They believed God elected his people unto salvation
and Christ blessed us with all spiritual blessings in him before
the world began. They believed Christ came and
laid down his life particularly for the elect of God and accomplished
their redemption, successfully redeemed them, and purged them
of all their sin and made them righteous with God. And he did
it to declare God just and the justifier, that God gets all
the glory. His righteousness is upheld.
And they believed that the Spirit of God had to come forth and
had to give life and had to give all the gifts of the Spirit and
had to keep us and preserve us and carry us and that He would
perform this work and none would be lost. They believed the gospel.
These very same brethren, I've had brethren in, I've been one
of those brethren before when I was younger in the faith, and
still am in comparison with some of my stronger brethren. But
those, some of those very brethren who believed the gospel observed
things that they were completely free from and didn't even have
to do, and thought they should, and thought they should. It didn't
mean they didn't believe the gospel, and not at all. It didn't
mean they didn't believe the gospel. Do you see here the difference,
though, in how the Pharisees dealt with people and how Christ
and His disciples deal with people? Those who are strong are not
to despise our weaker brethren, and those weak in faith are not
to judge our stronger brethren. Believers are not to try to force
the other or put a stumbling block before the weaker. Neither
one, neither one. That's what love does. Which
if you had one of these little children, say you had a little
baby that's just learning to walk, and they're just learning
to walk, and they're coming across the floor walking, would we be
so cruel as to put out a block in front of them so we could
trip them and laugh at them? Would we do that? We wouldn't
do it for a weak believer either. That's what they are. They're
a babe in Christ, a babe in Christ. We do it for this reason, that
the gospel might continue. That gospel, that righteousness
accomplished by Christ, that's something we don't compromise
on. This work of God's grace, his Holy Spirit, we don't compromise
on the gospel. We're talking about things that
where believers think they still ought to keep the law, there's
things they ought to do, that's fine. They're here with you,
they come and they rejoice in the gospel. What do we do? We
trust God's gonna teach them. He's gonna teach them. How's
he going to do it? Through the gospel. Same way
he called them. Same way he brought them to faith.
Let's read this out. Verse 4. Who art thou that judges
another man's servant? Art owns a, or work, manages
a business and has a bunch of employees. and would look at
a servant in this regard. If somebody from the store next
to you came in, Art, and started saying, you know, I'll tell you
what you ought to be telling that fella to do. You ought to
be putting him over here on this side of the store and all that
stuff. You'd look at him and say, man, you don't even know
what I'm doing. You don't have a clue what I'm
doing." If one of your children came to you and they said, you
know, I think you ought to be dealing with this one and that
one this way and this one and that one this way, they don't
know everything you know about all the children in the house.
They don't know what you know about that child and that child,
how you've talked to this child and that child. They don't know
everything about you. And he says here, Who art thou
that judgest 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. God is able to make him stand.
One man esteemeth one day above another, and another esteemeth
every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. You'd think Apostle Paul, who's
dealing with those Judaizers over there that said, now except
you esteem this day higher than the other day, you can't be saved.
Or except you don't esteem this day at all, you can't be saved.
You'd think he'd deal with them in another way. He says, let
each one of those men be fully persuaded in his own mind. You
see that? Why? Because he that regardeth
the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. He believes the Lord. He's doing it because he loves
the Lord. And he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth
not regard it. Because he believes the Lord.
He believes he's free from it. Look, he that eateth, eateth
to the Lord, for he giveth God things. And he that eateth not,
to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God things. For none of
us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether
we live, we live unto the Lord. We're His. As long as we live,
the believer's His. He's our master. He's our Lord.
And when we die, we're still His. So whether we live, therefore,
or die, we're the Lord's. And for to this end, Christ both
died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord, both of the
dead and the living. But why judgest thou thy brother?
Or why dost thou set it naught, thy brother? For we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written,
as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall
give account of himself to God. You see that? That's what Paul
said over there in Galatians 6. Every man is going to bear
his own burden. If I come before the Lord in Christ, Christ is
bearing my burden for me. I come to the Lord complete in
Him. If I come to the Lord trusting in something I've done, I'm bearing
it myself. But every man is going to bear
his own burden. We're either going to come in Christ or we're going
to come ourselves. But I'm not going to answer for
you and you're not going to answer for me. See that? Alright, let's
go on here. I know, Paul said, and persuaded
by the Lord Jesus that there's nothing unclean of itself. Absolutely
nothing. Nothing's unclean of itself.
It's not a statue of Buddha that's unclean. It's bowing down to
the thing and worshiping it. It's not a statue of Michael
McDonald hung on a cross that's an idol. It's bowing down to
him and calling it the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, but to him that
esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. The man
that esteems it in his heart to be unclean, it's unclean to
him. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou
not charitably? Destroy not him with thy meat
for whom Christ died, Let not then your good be evil spoken
of, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. And it's
not these other things either. It's not the insignificant things
that we do or don't do. That's not the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is righteousness. Righteousness wrought by Christ.
Peace wrought by Christ. joy in the Holy Ghost, that joy
given of God in our heart, and this righteousness and this peace
and this joy, he that in these things serveth Christ, because
he's our righteousness, because he's our peace, because he's
our joy, being peaceful with men, dealing righteously with
men, dealing with joy with men, he that in these things serves
Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore
follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith
one may edify another. For meat destroyeth not the work
of God. All things indeed are pure, but
it's evil for that man who eateth with offense. It's evil for him. It's good neither to eat flesh,
nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth,
or is offended, or is made weak. Has thou faith? You have faith? You believe, I'm free to, I can
eat, drink, observe, not observe a day, whatever. Well, have it
to thyself before God. Happy, you see, that's what,
I have faith to pray before God. I have faith, but I had it to
myself before God in that restaurant. I wasn't doing it to make everybody
at the table next to me feel like I was better than him or
that he was, lesser than me or ought to be bowing his head and
praying or whatever. You see what I'm saying? We don't
constrain others. We don't put a stumbling block
before others in those regards, trying to constrain them to do
anything. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which
he alloweth, he has rejoicing in himself. See that? He's happy. And he that doubteth though,
and does it because you constrain him to, he's damned if he Because
he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. I know,
I know, I'm weary, let me, can I tell you this, I'm gonna tell
you this one thing. Tell you why, you know he says here, whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. And John said, sin is a transgression
of the law. I thought about that for a while.
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And sin is the transgression
of the law. Remember how we saw in Galatians
yesterday, we're justified by the faith of Christ. That is
his faithfulness. Therefore, we've believed in
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. And Paul
said, in the life I now live, I live by the faith of Christ
who lives in me. That same one who died for me,
he lives in me. This faith of Christ, this whatsoever is not
of faith. Let me read this to you. We believe
Christ by the faith of Christ, who lives in us, who gives faith
and increases faith in us according to his increase. That weak brother
who is weaker in faith, he has the exact amount of faith Christ
has given him. That believer that's stronger
in faith has the exact amount of faith Christ has given him.
The exact amount. And when that weaker brother
increases in faith, it's going to be because Christ increased
him in faith. You see, whatsoever is of faith
is of Christ the faithful, the head through whom all the body
has its joints and bands ministered to. So that what we do is done
by Christ working in us so that we do it in faith to Christ. so Christ gets all the glory.
But if we do anything because we are coerced by another man,
or to make ourselves appear better than another, or to add to what
Christ has done, it's not of faith, meaning it's not of Christ. Christ hadn't wrought that. Nor
is it done by faith in Christ, by love. It is sin because it's
of the flesh. And because Christ is the whole
fulfillment of the law through faith, everything and anything
done which is not of faith, that is of Christ, in faith to Christ,
is a transgression of the whole law of God. The whole law of
God. That's how those two are reconciled.
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, and sin is a transgression
of the whole law. You see? Whatever we do, if it's
not by the faith of Christ working in us, so that we do it with
faith towards Christ, it's a breaking of the whole law. That's why
I don't want your faith In anything you do, what you believe, what
you profess, your baptism, your praying, your singing, anything
you do, I don't want your faith to stand in the wisdom and power
and might of men. I want it to stand in the power
of God. Do you see that? Because whatsoever
is not of His power is sin. It's sin. So what do we do? Verse 1, Romans 15-1, We then
that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself,
but as is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell
on me. Now let me give you this. Paul said those who make a fair
show in the flesh, they do it They constrain you because they
don't want to bear persecution for the cross of Christ. Well,
for his people, Christ bore all of that reproach and all that
persecution that came from men for his people. Because he wouldn't
conform and do what men wanted him to do and conform to their
form that they were constraining other men to do, they reproached
him as a glutton and as a wine-bibber, as a friend of publicans and
sinners. They said he was a Samaritan and he had a devil. They charged
him with blasphemy and sedition. On the cross, they mocked him
and reviled him. And he bore it all, every bit of it. You
know why? For the edification of you and
me. That's why. I've had men reproach
me. I've had men say to me, you should
preach to them about giving more, because they need to give more.
I can bear it. I'll bear it. I'll bear that
reproach. I'll stand between you and that reproach, and I'll
bear it. Because I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to
do that. And Christ did that. He stood
between us. And he bore our reproach in his
own body. Our reproach that blasphemed
his holy name and his law and trampled it all underfoot and
persecuted him in our hearts. He bore all that sin away for
us, too. He did all that. He didn't please himself. He
did that for us. That's the example Paul gives.
So let us do everything for the edification of another. I'll
give you this last thing right here. Paul, you told that to the Galatians
and you told that to those at Rome. Now what you gonna do to
make sure that they do it? What you gonna do now to to put
it into effect and constrain them and make sure they do everything
you just taught them? Romans 15 5. He says, now the
God of patience and consolation. A God who is patiently bearing
with us and who is the only one who can console us and give us
patience, consolation. Now to him, I pray he grant you,
pray he do this in you. that you might be like-minded
one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that you may
be with one mind and one mouth glorify God in the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ." So, he says, you examine yourself. And
you have this rejoicing in your own heart to God. And he says,
and bear the burden of others and trust Christ to make them
stand. So how am I going to make sure
you do that? How am I standing here today
going to make sure you do that? I'm going to do just what Paul
did after he told them. I'm going to trust you to God. I'm going
to trust God to make that word fixed in your heart. And that's
the only way it's going to be made so and it be done by the
faith of Christ who gives it to you. It's the only way. Amen.