Your brethren in Kingsport, Tennessee
say hello. They love you. They pray for
you. Your brethren in Australia say
hello. They love you. In Madisonville,
Kentucky and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands,
you've got a whole bunch of love sent your way this week. I began
here in Romans 15, as you remember, Last week we were in verse 4.
I said I wanted to jump ahead. So about two weeks ago I started
this and the first few verses of Romans 15, but I want us to
look at Matthew 15 first. David wrote, Behold, in Psalm
133. He says, Behold. This is something
to consider, isn't it? Behold, how good and how pleasant. Not kind of good, kind of pleasant.
Behold, two halves. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's something else.
It's something to behold. It's like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard,
that went down to the skirts of his garment. It's like being
anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit from the top of your
head all the way down to the bottom of your feet. It's precious. It's precious. This unity and
love, this worship together, it's only among the brethren.
It's only among the children of God. It's not between the
children of light and the children of darkness. It's not possible. It's not possible to have fellowship
with them. Our Lord condemned self-righteousness. He did not
tell His disciples, well, now you just dwell in unity with
those Pharisees. He said, leave them alone. Leave
them alone. They want to leave the preaching
of the gospel because they just love themselves so much, because
they love their work so much, they love their knowledge so
much. If that's what they want to do, let them go. A bunch of
them left our Lord before too, didn't they? They walked away.
I said, Lord, they left. He said, you going too? Let them go. Here, Matthew 15,
verse 10. And He called the multitude and
said unto them, Hear and understand. Not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth,
this defileth a man. The outside doesn't matter. The
heart matters. All your good works, all the
things you think you're doing right, eating right, not eating
right, abstaining, that doesn't matter. It's what comes out of
the mouth. It's from the heart. That's what defiles us. Then
came his disciples and said unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees
were offended after they heard this saying? I bet they were.
Don't you know you offended these folks? But he answered and said,
every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall
be rooted up. If they aren't his, the preaching
of this gospel, it'll run them off. They can't stand it. Stand up, preach about grace
and love and mercy. Oh, love the Lord who loved us
first. Love your brethren that Christ
dwells in and He dwells in you. And people will plug their ears
and say, I can't take it no more. That offends some people. Don't
you know that offends people? Our Master says there in verse
14, let them alone. They be blind, leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. Do we see that? Do we understand
that there can't be unity between those that believe in their works
and those that believe in grace? Those that prescribe to the law.
I believe everything you all believe, but I think we ought
to be doing this. You have to do that. Between that and free
and sovereign grace in Christ alone. Oil and water can't mix. I can't worship God together
in spirit and truth because there's no spirit and no truth in them. Turn over to Galatians chapter
1. Galatians chapter 1. It's not warming, peaceful, comforting
to try and worship with someone that believes another gospel.
There's not oil running down from the top of our head to the
bottom of our garments and someone that believes in another Christ.
That is dividing, isn't it? Someone trying to split God's
church wide open. Galatians 1 verse 6. Paul says, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel. We remember before that another
means something totally different. He says in verse 7, which is
not another. It's not almost the same. It's wildly different,
but there are some that trouble you. Now we're going to have
troubles in this life, aren't we? We're going to have disagreements. And so the first time somebody
disagrees with somebody, we don't say, ah, Galatians was wrote
for you. Get out. Now we're going to have troubles.
Paul qualifies this here. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Oh, now we see. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. There's going to be
troubles anyway, but if there's trouble, division over the gospel, that's to be accursed. Now this
unity here in Romans chapter 15, this worshiping the true
and living God together, it's not common among all religious
people. All these people that claim to
be Christians, they all don't mix together. The unity, the
love, the worship is only with those that are made one with
Christ. One with Him. Remember why Galatians
was written. Those troubling people, they
weren't saying that Jesus loves everybody and He just wants to
be your co-pilot. They didn't come troubling with
that, did they? They claimed to believe what these Galatians
believed. They claimed to believe everything that you and I believe.
And they said, but you need to be circumcised. Now you take
circumcision out and you put in anything you want to put in
it. Baptism, Sabbath keeping, attendance, supplements to your
faith, anything. Any legality of do this. Christ
saves his people, but X, Y, Z. That's what they're talking about.
You know, not one thing of the law of grace is bad to encourage
folks to do. Did you know that? Not one fruit
of the Spirit is bad to encourage people to do. You ought to go
out and love. You ought to be gracious. You
ought to be merciful. You know what? Tomorrow I want to meet
you and I need you to be long-suffering. That's a good thing. There's
no law against it. Do it all you want. I turn to Romans 16. Those that divide the body of
Christ, those that sow discord among
the brethren, biding and devouring, They bring in this ever so slot
heresy that if it were possible, even the very elect would be
deceived. I mean, a whole lot of elect
have been temporarily deceived before, haven't they? I wouldn't
be me. I might be in the middle of it.
Paul warns us to identify these people, avoid them, and let them
go. We always catch the first part
of that, and we stop, don't we? Look here in Romans 16 verse
17. Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions
and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned,
and avoid them. For they that are such serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good
works and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. There
are some that pervert this gospel of Christ. Or they just, they
pervert it, but they're as close to it as they can be. That way
they can fill their bellies. They can line their pockets.
Or they can just get all the praise and glory from men and
the television and everything else. To get praise from people. Have people say nice things to
them. Paul says, you mark these people. We like doing that, don't we?
That's who they are. I know them. I know some, and
it hurts. He says, mark them and avoid
them. That means avoid listening to
them. Don't give them an ear. Avoid
talking about them. Avoid poking them with sticks. I'm trying to keep gently saying
this. The Lord sends preachers to His
people in their day. Don said that a thousand times.
People hear it, they just don't listen. But the Lord sends people
in His name. Spurgeon can't tell you what
I'm getting ready to tell you. You understand that? John Gill can't
tell you this. Avoid commenting about it on
Facebook. We need to be told that. Don't
entertain conversations about it. If somebody else is commenting
on it, leave it alone. Avoid them. That's as plain as
the Lord could say it to us. Mark them. That's it. Avoid it.
And then leave them alone. Let them alone. Don't touch it. What Paul is calling for here
in Romans 15, before he gets to Romans 16, is love, unity,
forbearance, worship among believers. Because of our love for our Redeemer
and His love towards us. That's what he's getting at.
That's how it starts. The Lord reveals Christ in our hearts.
We see His love for us in the face of Jesus Christ. And we
love the Lord. We don't love Him as we ought
to and we don't love Him as we want to, do we? But we love Him. And then, Then the love of God
and the love for God, those are the prerequisites. Then we love
our brethren. If someone does not know God,
they do not love my God. They cannot love the brethren
because they are not a brethren. The love of God is not in them.
John told us that plainly, didn't he? Look here in Romans 14 verse
17. Romans 14, 17. It says, for the Kingdom of God
is not meat and drink. It's not correcting and we've
got to sort all this stuff out. Let's get these days and these
drinks and these liberties and all this stuff. We've got to
get our ducks in a row on this. It's not getting a handle on
those things. What is it? It's righteousness and peace and joy
in the Holy Ghost. What does that mean? The Kingdom
of God is the person and the work of Christ our Lord. The Kingdom of God does not have
anything to do with getting people to think like we think. It doesn't
have anything to do with getting people up to the level of liberty
that we have. It doesn't have me getting you to have Kevin
Thacker's faith. It doesn't have anything to do with it. The Kingdom
of God is righteousness. Christ our righteousness. The
Kingdom of God is peace. It's the peace we have with the
Father, the God that we offended, through the blood of Jesus Christ.
And it's the joy we have. The Kingdom of God is the joy
that Christ is all of our hope and joy. Salvation is accomplished. That's something to smile about. If you're low, if you know you
can't accomplish it yourself, knowing that Christ fulfilled
everything for you. That's comfort, that's patience,
that's peace. It says in verse 18, for he that in these things
serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. The Lord accepts it and your
brethren approve it. Let us therefore follow after
things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify
another. It says put those troubles away,
take all those Those marked ones, put them out of your mind and
focus on peace and edifying of who? One another. Of your brethren. Look to them. Christ is all and
in all and knowing Him. Doctrine is about Christ. Knowing
Him. Knowing the person. Paul tells us here in chapter
15 verse 1. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities
of the weak and not to please ourselves. The new man does not
say, I'm strong. The old man will. That flesh
will. I'm the strongest one in this
bunch. Get out of the way. I'll run this place. That's what
the old man says. The new man won't say it. Paul
told us in Galatians 6 where if a man thinks himself to be
something when he's nothing, not during the times he is nothing,
that's what we are. We're nothing. If a man thinks
himself to be something when he's nothing, he's deceived himself.
He's lying to himself. However, that new man, that new
man is the only one that can say When I'm weak, then I'm strong. Why? Because that's the only
one that knows Christ, isn't it? How are believers strong? We
are strong in the faith of Christ, that gift that He's given us.
We believe Him. My faith is He is faithful. We
trust Him, don't we? We are strong and we are unwavering
in the gospel of God. Not our knowledge and our strength
in the gospel, but our hearts are firmly settled on how God
can be just and the justifier in Him. Concerning how God saves
sinners, we are strong, we are firm. Why? Because we believe
God. We are strong in Christ knowing
that everything that's required of me to be in front of that
throne is fulfilled in Him, in that person. Strong on this earth,
Walk in this life knowing I'm freed from the law. I'm freed
from death. I'm freed from the bondage of
sin because of who freed me. A believer is strong in confidence. Now our confidence, what we feel,
our assurance, our confidence, that's weak most of the time.
But the object of our confidence never wavers. who our assurance
is, does not waver. I want to give you an illustration
about that. I was talking to a believer one time, and he was
so low, and he said, I don't even know if I'm one of the Lords.
I think I'm lost. And I said, do you think Christ
can lose any of His sheep? And buddy, he's about to chop
my head off. No, of course he can't. And I said, well, do you
think there's something required by God of you to be in His presence
other than Christ? He said, well, no. I said, why? Why do you know
those things? He said, I believe God. There you have it. He's my assurance. Christ is my confidence. I don't
feel assured, I don't feel confident all the time, do I? In Him. He's my confidence. He's my assurance.
Paul's telling us here that we that are strong in Christ, we
that have some experience, we've been down this road a few times,
in this flesh and in our spirit, We that know whom our strength
is in, we ought to bear the infirmities of the weaker brethren." Is that
the new believer? Someone that's just been walking
with Christ for a month? Yeah, that's them. That's also
the very mature believer, the very mature saint that acts like
they ain't one. They act like they've never known
the Lord. We'll see in Ephesians 5 in the next couple weeks, husband's
the head of the wife, isn't it? But a lot of times, us head acts
more like a headache than a head, don't we? What do you do with
a headache? How do you treat a headache?
Same way as you treat a wounded or a weak or a new believer.
You bear them. You're tender to them and you're
gentle with them. Not to please ourselves, but
for that wounded or that weak believer. Look here in verse
2, Romans 15, 2. Let every one of us, weak or
strong, Every one of us. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good to edification. That's not changing the gospel
to suit someone. We bend over backwards and kiss
our heels on anything we can except the gospel. We don't bend
on that. We don't refrain from a portion
of God's word because that younger brother or sister doesn't like
it. We know it'll offend them. We're not to sacrifice part of
the gospel to please our neighbors, make those that live around us
get along better with us. Paul said, if I yet pleased men,
I'm not the servant of Christ. If we refrain from a portion
of Scripture because it may offend someone. Romans, the end part
of Romans 1 is pretty plain about the reprobate, isn't it? That
may offend somebody in my family. Maybe I just won't read that
this week. That ain't doing them no favors, is it? That's not edifying. That's not
looking out for their best interests. That's to plainly tell them.
What Paul is referring to there in verse 2 is in matters of difference,
in personality, in offenses of the past. just like marriage. When one
or both parties are offended, one side has a responsibility
to stand down. One side or the other has got
to give to show grace. One side or the other has got
to compromise self for the benefit of the other. Now if two brethren
had have fallen out years ago, the stronger brethren is to make
amends. Bear the infirmity. Bear the
sickness. If it was a physical infirmity,
would you bear it? Sin's a physical infirmity. What
if it's a brain tumor? Me and my brother, we had a fallen
out ten years ago. Turns out he had a brain tumor.
That's why it's a name to me. Could you let it go then? But
it's physical. That's different. Sin's in this
flesh. That's our infirmity. I knew
a brother one time that smelled of perfume. He had an allergic
reaction to most of the chemicals in it. He couldn't leave the
house for three or four days if somebody wore strong perfume
close to him in the services. So the pastor asked folks, said,
hey, please don't wear perfume or strong deodorant or something,
or just don't sit next to him. Sit on the other side. Well,
we get mad about that. No, I'm going to put on two layers. Use a whole bottle. That'd be
foolish, wouldn't it? Ain't no different than asking
to stop a distraction. Same thing, and we won't get
mad about that. Anything we can bear that allows others to hear
the gospel, we bear it. We bear it. What's our motivation?
What constrains us to sacrifice ourselves, my wants, my desires,
to put that behind somebody else's want and desires? Put them above
me? The law can't do it. The law can't do it. Everything
in the law is bitterness, isn't it? People say, I don't get better
at the law. Do 55. Do 54 and a half. Give it 10 minutes, you'll be
better, won't you? Breeds law, breeds contempt for the law. Doesn't breed love and grace,
does it? When we have to stand in front of it. Here's the saint's
motivation and our constraint. Verse 3, Romans 15, 3. For even
Christ pleased not himself But as it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproached thee fell on me." I want you to think
of how offensive the disciples were to Christ. I dwelled on
this a long time last two weeks. I've had some brethren offend
me, and the longer I live, the more I realize in the past, and
probably currently, I'm offending brethren. And I hold it pretty
heavy. But I want to focus this just
on the disciples, just on the apostles and disciples. and see
how long-suffering Christ was to him. See how He didn't please
Himself and He looked out for His brethren. You talk about
saying some hurtful things unintentionally. You ever said something that
you didn't mean to be offensive and to be a dagger into somebody's
heart? But it was. Our Lord walked this
earth with a sinless, divine nature inside of Him. And every
moment He was around His people in this flesh. They had doubt. They had the sin of unbelief. They had distress on behalf of
walking in this world. That troubled our Lord. Peter
was asked to walk on the water. He said, Lord, you're out on
that water. Bid me to come to you. But whenever he saw the
wind was bolsterous, he was afraid. God Almighty was standing right
in front of him and said, come to me, Peter. Peter got scared. And beginning to sink, he cried,
saying, Lord, save me. And immediately, Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, where dost thou doubt? Why would you doubt? Did
he let him sink down to his to his waist. They let him make
it up to his armpits. They let him get to where just
his nostrils was out. I'm going to teach you a lesson. He immediately
sent out his hand and grabbed him and said, O thee of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Why did you doubt me? James,
John, and Peter was up in Gethsemane, wasn't they? Our Lord said, My
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here
and watch with me. I'm going to go pray. You stay
here and pray with me. And he went and prayed. He said, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou wilt. That hour was upon them, wasn't
it? He come back more or less asleep. And he said, well, you
couldn't watch me an hour? He said, you get up and watch
with me. He went back and prayed again.
He came back a third time. Second time he wasn't asleep.
Third time he came back, he said, sleep on. He said, get your rest. The hour is at hand. In Romans 15, it says, We that
are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not
to please ourselves. Christ is our example. He pleased
not himself. All the reproaches of his people
fell on him. And how did he react? He cared
for them. He loved them, didn't he? That
Samaritan woman at the well, Christ come to her and said,
give me a drink. And she said, why are you even talking to me?
There's rules against this. I'm a Samaritan, you're a Jew.
Why are you even speaking to me? We don't talk. Did Christ stomp off and say,
fine, get your own water? He said, if thou know the gift
of God and who's speaking to you, you'd ask me of living water.
He didn't please himself. He kept pursuing her, didn't
he? He kept speaking to that bride until he revealed himself
to her. Kept being gracious, kept being
long-suffering. Peter said, Lord, I'll never deny you. And they
said, poor Peter, before that cock crows, you're going to deny
me three times. What did he tell those people?
He said, you go tell my disciples and Peter after he rose again. Turn over to John 14. I always feel bad bringing up
Peter. Philip and Thomas had some run-ins too, didn't they?
They said some hurtful things to our Lord. John 14, verse 1. Christ said, let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. And whether I go, you know. And the way, you know. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we
know not whether thou ghost, and how can we know the way? Was that offensive? You think
I just shot an arm to him? Just spoke to him, and the next
word out of Thomas' mouth said, I don't know what you're talking
about. That was a reproach Christ had to bear, wasn't it, in Thomas.
That was an infirmity, wasn't it? His flesh was sick. He was
sick with sin. The cross run doubting Thomas
off. He said, you haven't learned yet. These years I've been walking
with you. You ain't going to get it. Get
out of here. He run him off. Praise God, he didn't, did he?
He says there in verse six, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. the truth and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should
have known that my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him
and have seen him." He told him the gospel one more time. Preached himself to him one more
time. Was Thomas and Peter the only
ones? Philip said, Hush Thomas, I got something better to ask.
Get out of the way. Look here at verse 8. Philip
saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. I need sufficient grace, Lord,
and I'm going to tell you how you're going to give it to me.
Show me the Father. That's how arrogant we are, don't
we? We think we know what's best
for us. Verse 9, Jesus saith unto him,
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known
me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father, and how sayest thou then, show us the Father?" Christ
bore the infirmities. He bore the sin sickness of these
great apostles and these disciples, didn't He? Has He bore any of
your infirmities? He has. If you're His, He's bore
every one of them. All of them. So we that know Him, we who Christ
bore our infirmities, we ought to bear the infirmities of our
brethren. Christ bore it, we should. He forgave it, we should. Why are we always so shocked
when sinners act like sinners? I scribble down politicians.
They do something wrong crooked. Can you believe they did that?
Why? Don't I believe God? Why would
I be shocked if sinners act like sinners? Why am I so surprised
when a fallen, depraved flesh that these new spirits are housed
in, when it falls, when it seems depraved, when a sinner saved
by grace stumbles? Why does that shock me? We shouldn't support it. We shouldn't
condone open sin, but we shouldn't be surprised about it, should
we? Just bury it. Put it in your backpack. Keep
on going. Back in our text in Romans 15. Romans 15, 3. For even Christ pleased not himself,
but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell
on me. All of my reproaches, all of
my infirmities, all of my sin fell on my substitute at Calvary.
And that very reproach against me from my brother or sister,
that was put on him as well. And it's gone forever. It's removed. It's blotted out. And so I should
blot it out also. For unity's sake, for the worship
of our God together's sake, We ought to bear the infirmities. It can hinder our prayers. I
know we're going through Ephesians 5. Those messages on marriage
have been on my mind quite a bit. I woke up this morning thinking
about it. But we're married together in local assemblies, aren't we?
We're all the bride of Christ. We're the body of Christ. Peter
said that our prayers not be hindered. Deal with your fellow brides.
appropriately, have unity in the body of Christ that our prayers
be not hindered. He's speaking of husbands and
wives, that applies to us too, doesn't it? Here's what we looked
at last week, there in verse 4. For whatsoever things are
written aforetime were written for our learning. He's speaking
of the Old Testament, we have the New Testament now. These
things are for our learning, that we through patience, through
that cheerful endurance and comfort of the Scriptures might have
hope. Now He gives us the benediction.
Verse 5, now the God of patience, the God of cheerful endurance,
and consolation, the God of comfort, grant you, He's the only one
that can give it, grant you to be like-minded one toward another
according to Christ Jesus. He prayed that somewhere else
in Scripture, didn't He? He said, let this mind be in you. Be like-minded. Why? Here's what Lord will and
will look at next week. Why are we doing all this unity?
Verse six, that you may be with one mind and one mouth, glorify
God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. How do saints glorify
God? So many people just worried themselves
sick over, well, does this bring glory to God? Does that bring
glory to God? I want to worship in spirit and in truth, and it
ain't never got nothing to do with spirit or truth. How do
saints glorify God? God's glorified when we recognize
and honor Him for His creation all around us. Walk outside,
you see a hawk flying? That's the Lord's hawk. That's
beautiful. Honor Him, praise Him. God's
glorified when we honor the work of His providence. I don't like
the way that stuff turned out, but that's exactly what was required.
Every breath I took, every step I took, Everything, every hair
that ever fell out of my head or grew was just right in the
Lord's providence. He's glorified when we honor
His workmanship. What's His workmanship? His people. When we honor our brethren. God's
glorified when we are given His mercy and His grace. And He comes
to sinners and is gracious to them. And He's merciful to us.
And we wake up in the morning and that mercy is brand new.
Just like it was yesterday. We glorify Him, don't we? Not
ourselves. God is glorified when we gather
together to worship Him. And whenever our lives and our
conversations are in agreement, when it's matched well to His
gracious calling to us. He said, that glorifies me. That's
honorable to God. In Romans 15, verse 7, "...Wherefore,
receive ye one another..." Because of all this, receive one another.
"...as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Receiving
our brethren, those weak, those that are sick, infirmities, that's
honoring and glorifying to God. I wish I could remember that. Somebody said something hurt
my feelings. If a sinner acts like a sinner, I think, you know
what? They've received me. I'll receive
them. That'll be glorifying the God.
Because that's what Christ received sinful men. Amen.