Known by the world, known by
very few, but not forgotten, is she. And there's one person alone
that it matters who knows us, and she's not forgotten of him. She's such a good example, Charles
was too, of how the Lord gives grace to go through whatever. You remember Brother Charles,
the way he was the last two or three years of his life. And
he still had a smile on his face. Couldn't talk. And Barbara, smiling. Romans 14. Romans chapter 14. If I had a title, and we give
titles to messages for ease of remembrance or to know the subject
or theme of a portion of scripture, if I had a title it might be
this, we live unto the Lord, not ourselves. Or, don't offend
a brother. Romans 14, let's read verses
1 through 6. Him that is weak in the faith
receive you, but not to doubtful disputations or to judge his
doubtful weakness in the faith. For one believeth he may eat
all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that
eateth despise him that eateth not. Let not him which eateth
not judge him that eateth. For God hath received him. Who
art thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master
he standeth and followeth. Yea, he shall behold it up, for
God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above
another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth
it unto the Lord. He that regardeth not the day,
to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to
the Lord. He giveth God thanks. He that
eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. Read on. For none of us liveth
to himself or for ourselves. No man dieth to himself. Whether
we live, we live under the Lord. And whether we die, we die under
the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. I
will stop there. And I remind you that the Lord
is in heaven. What can we do to Him? What can
we do for Him? What can we give Him? Nothing,
except praise and with our lips and so forth. So to serve Him
and to live unto Him and for Him is to live for His body,
His people. Alright, back in these days,
the early church was full of Jews who would not eat any forbidden
meats, any unclean meats that was spoken of in the Law of Moses. And many still felt very strongly
about Sabbath days and feasts and so on and so forth, which
are a shadow. That's what the epistles teach
us. These things are types and symbols and pictures. None of
these things ever were meant for a person to be accepted by
God for. But they're types and shadows
and pictures. Now notice who he calls weak
in the faith. Look at verse 2. One believeth
that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. In other words, those who believe
they could not eat certain forbidden foods, they're the weak ones. Notice that. Look at verse 17. Go down to
verse 17. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy and the Holy
Ghost, verse 21. It's good neither to eat flesh
or drink wine or anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended
or is made weak. So the weak are those who touch
not, taste not, handle not, observe this, observe that. Verse 5, look at verse 5. One
man esteemeth a day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike.
That is, those who are strong in the faith realize that every
day is the Lord's day, not just one day set apart. Go over to Galatians chapter
4 with me. Galatians chapter 4. The whole
book of Galatians, the whole epistle of Galatians is by Paul
to a church there full of Jews. He said, and there were some
that came in, like they did in Jerusalem, and introduced, you
need to be circumcised, you need to keep the law, and so forth.
And Paul said, it's another gospel, that's another gospel, to bring
in the law and these things. And he said in chapter 3, look
at chapter 3, verse 2, This is only what I learned of
you. Answer me. Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law, by the hearing of faith? That is, when
the Lord opened your eyes and ears and you gave life, how was
it? You realize that Christ did it
all for you. Verse 3, so he says, Are you
so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect
by the flesh? All right, look at chapter 4
of Galatians. Chapter 4, verse 3. When we were children, we
were in bondage under the elements, the rudiments of the world. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive adoption of sons. Because you're sons, He sent
forth your spirit. His Spirit into your heart. Verse
9, now after you've known God, or rather are known of God, how
turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements or rudiments
where until you desire again to be in bondage, you observe
days and months and times and years, touch not, taste not,
handle not, and so forth. So he said, I'm concerned about
you. Colossians chapter 2, over there.
This is dealt with quite a bit, all through the epistles. And,
you know, the Jews, that's why they rejected our Lord. They
said, you make void the law. You teach against the law. They
said that of Paul. He said he teaches against the
law. Every Jew in every town where he went was in an uproar.
This man teaches us we don't have to keep the law. And they wanted to kill him.
And they tried to kill him. Colossians 2, verse 14. Here's what it says. Here's the
good news. Christ blotted out the head and body of the Lord,
and this is against us. The law is a curse. Why is that? It's not the fault
of the law, it's us. The scripture says, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. Every job, every tip, it shall
be perfect to be accepted. I didn't want to go in depth
on this, but maybe somebody still doesn't understand. Read the article by Philpott
in the Bulletin of Death. See, the law of Moses is not
our rule of life, though the principles of the moral law are
written on the hearts of of us, and even unbelievers. But actually
we have a greater, more binding law. It's the law of Christ,
the law of love, and so on. Look at verse 16 here in Colossians
2. That no man therefore judge you
in meat, or eating, and drink, or in respect of a holy day,
or the new moon, or the Sabbath day. They're a shadow. They're
just a shadow of things to come. That is, they represent Christ. Like, I'm coming and I cast a shadow. You see my shadow first. The
shadow can't do anything for you. It's just to tell you somebody's
coming and he's witnessed, Christ was witnessed by the law. The
law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, show up. Christ
is coming. The law, and I didn't want to
go, we've been through this so much in Roman, but by the law
is the knowledge of sin. That's why God gave it. That's
why God gave it. That sin might appear exceedingly
sinful. He says the law is spiritual,
meaning it requires perfection in thought. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy strength, all of
you, your mind, all the time. We come far short of the glory
of God. But not Jesus Christ. He came. Fulfilled the law. There's nothing
wrong with the law. Christ kept it. He loved it. Why did He do that? He did it
for us. He did it for His people. Now,
He just didn't turn us loose and say, now I've kept the law
for you, now you can be lawless people. Oh no. Oh no. And then he went on to
tell us the true meaning, how the law was really fulfilled,
love. Well, 1 Corinthians 8, go over
to 1 Corinthians 8. It says, I am dwelling on this
again, aren't I? But maybe somebody doesn't know
this. This is the heart and soul of
the gospel of why Christ came, 1 Corinthians 8. Verse 1, as
touching things offered to idols, we know we all have knowledge,
but knowledge puffeth up. Charity edified. Besides, if
you think you know anything, you don't know anything. Verse
4, as concerning the eating of those things offered to idols,
we know that idol is nothing. It's nothing in the world. Nothing.
It's meat. Not going to hurt you. Look at
verse 8. Meat commendeth us not to God,
neither if we eat are we better, neither if we eat not are we
worse. But, now here's, this is what he's
dealing with in Romans 14. Take heed, lest by any means
let it be very careful that your liberty become a stumbling block
of them that are weak. A man see you You who have knowledge,
you know that that idol, that meat's nothing. But you're sitting
in the idol's temple and you're eating for whatever reason, and
somebody, a brother, a weak brother, verse 11, through thy knowledge
a weak brother shall he perish, for whom Christ died, that is,
you destroy his conscience. You sin against him, you wound
his conscience, you sin against Christ. Verse 13, if meat like my brother
do offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stand. So he begins this chapter, go
back to Romans 14, he begins this chapter by saying he is
weak in the faith received, but not to judge him or to criticize
him or to come down hard on his, how he didn't understand and
so forth. If you go back, it's like Martin Luther. Some of us,
we all love Martin Luther. I love Martin Luther, okay? But
he came out of, he was steeped in Catholicism. He was a monk.
And he kept some of that baggage for years. You know that? And many of the old writers,
some of them were, they believed in infant baptism. That's weak
in the faith. But some of them believed that
very strongly. Some kind of a covenant theology. But we know better than that,
don't we? So somebody came in like that.
Now when I'm talking about the faith, There's one faith. Okay? We don't compromise, we don't
tolerate, we don't make allowances for people that don't believe
God is God. You don't have the faith. Here's
what Ephesians says, alright? There's one body, that's one
church, and they all believe alike. One body, one Spirit,
one Holy Spirit that leads and guides into all truth. God doesn't
have any people who don't know the truth. That's how they're
saved. They don't love the truth. Well,
He loves God, He just hates election. That's not possible. Everybody
knows God knows He's the one who chose them. They love election. Besides, it's God's Word. Somebody
can't be a believer if they don't believe God's Word. There's one faith, one Lord,
one faith. So, you know, and here it is
in a nutshell, and I'm thankful for Brother Calvin who condensed
these truths so that we might easily understand. Man's dead
in sin. Somebody doesn't believe man's
dead, somebody didn't believe they were dead, and they're still
dead. Right? Somebody doesn't believe God
is God and doesn't believe God is sovereign and God does as
He will. Somebody believes in free will, they're lost. They
don't know God. It's the first thing God shows
a person. You don't have free will. I do,
God said. I do. And I've come to let you
know it. Isaiah 43. I've chosen. He said, you have I chosen that
you might know me. What about Him? That is God. Some poor ignorant person that
says they let him be God or let Jesus in their heart, they don't
know God. That's not the faith. They're
not different faiths. Here's the truth, that God chose
a people. That's the language of Scripture.
And Christ came. He was given those people. Why
he came? Christ came to save his people
from their sins. Isaiah 53 is all about Christ
crucified. Who did he do it for? For the
transgression of my people. Was he stricken? Somebody believes Christ shed
his blood for every single person out there, and whoever does something
with it, they get a pat on the back. That's what saves them.
That's blasphemy. That's not the faith. That's
another faith. That's another gospel. Okay?
It's not just doctrine. It's another gospel. It's giving
man some glory, and God will share that glory with other men.
And this is the thing. Every one of God's people, they'll
all be taught of God. John 6, 45. And they all know
that Christ's blood is what put away their sins. Nothing they
did. That Christ's righteousness is
their acceptance with God. They all know that. The Spirit of God calls us. If He hadn't called us, we wouldn't
come. They all know that. That we're kept by the power
of God. They all know if He doesn't keep us, we won't be kept. Salvation
is of the Lord. That's it in a nutshell. And
weaken the faith means somebody who is still thinking that flesh,
there's something I can do in my flesh. Do you understand? But our Lord
said, that which is flesh is flesh, that which is spirit is
spirit. He said that flesh profited nothing. Isn't that what He said? Now,
I want to go on to try to explain that. About the deeds of the
law. Meat and drink, they don't condemn us or commend us. That's
what He just said. Alright. Back then, animal sacrifices
were made. And it was all mingled with the
heathen. It was awful. If you'll read
the Scriptures, go back to 1 Kings after Solomon, who the Lord divided,
and then Jeroboam, the sins of Jeroboam. It's what brought in
all of this. It says they feared God. They believed in the God of Abraham.
But they also worshipped idols, which is a good picture of religion
today. It's mingled with heathen practices,
superstition, and all this and that and the other. But not God's
true church. It's not mingled at all. Not
at all. That's why we can't have fellowship
with them. But they're Christians. Prove
all things. Remember how we just read that?
Prove all things. They're not Christian. They sold these things, these
meats in the market and they were offered for food and really
poor people could go in a place where they were serving this
idle meat and all that and they could go in and eat. But Paul said, I won't do that
if it offends, I could do it, I could walk in there and eat
that and it wouldn't hurt me. It's not going to damn me, it's not
going to nimb me. Here's a good, maybe a good illustration. All these so-called churches
all over. at these spaghetti dinners and all that so forth.
And that's one reason you know they're not a charity. Our Lord said my house should
be called a house of prayers for one thing. Worship God. That's
what he said. And that's the first thing he
did when he went in, the temple, is clean it out, get rid of the
selling stuff, food, all of it, it's not what it's for. Paul
even said that, you have houses to eat in. But what about what
I'm going to do with that? But anyway, here was my illustration. This so-called Catholic church
down here has spaghetti dinners all the time. And I could go in there if I
was real hungry. I could go in there and eat the
spaghetti dinner. It's not going to defy me, is it? Is it? No, that's an idle house. Yeah,
it's false religion and all that, but it's just spaghetti. It's
going to go out in the draft. But I sure wouldn't want to be seen
walking in there. Would you? What's John Davis
doing in that Catholic building? This is exactly what he was saying. So, I went, let's go on, go back
to the text here. Look at verse 5. It says, one
man esteems a day above another. Sabbath, Sabbath done. And I
don't know, I don't have any brethren, believers who think
that Sunday is a Christian Sabbath. You know, there are some people
that think Sunday is a Christian Sabbath. It is not. It is not
a Christian Sabbath. Saturday is a Sabbath day, but
our Lord, that represents the Lord Jesus Christ who is our
Sabbath. Hebrews 4, and I don't have time
to deal with that, but Hebrews 4 is all about that. That Christ,
He said He's the Lord of the Sabbath, didn't He? And he purposely
did things on the Sabbath to rile up those Pharisees who thought
they kept the Sabbath. And he strongly rebuked them,
saying, you think you keep the Sabbath? Christ is our Sabbath. We don't worship a day. We don't
rest in a day. Sabbath means rest. We rest in
Christ. He is our rest. And it wasn't
changed to Sunday. It's called the Lord's Day, but
not a Christian Sabbath. Which means, on the Sabbath,
I didn't mean to go into this, but do you know that if you went
out and picked up sticks on Saturday, on the Sabbath day, to start
a fire just to cook food for your people, you've broken the
law. God killed a man one time for
picking up sticks on Saturday. What's that represent? It means
that if you're rested in, trusted in, if you believe that you're
going to get to heaven by any works you do or don't do, they
were very proud of the fact that they didn't do any works on the
Sabbath. They were not only proud that
they did works, we did many wonderful work, but they didn't do any
work on Saturday. And maybe some want, and there
are some people that shouldn't cut your, years ago, shouldn't
cut your grass on Sunday, shouldn't do this, shouldn't work on Sunday
and so forth. Is that going to send the band
to hell? No way. Well, I don't know of anyone
still, but if someone did observe Sunday, if someone did observe
Sunday and said, I'm going to set aside this day, I believe
very strongly that this day I'm going to devote completely to
the Lord. That's it. I'm not going to be carried about.
That's a good thing. That's a good thing. That would
be a real good thing. But we got some brethren that
had to go to work on Sunday. I'm working right now. You're
resting. Well, and all of us ought to
be totally dedicated in our lives for the glory of God. And this
is what he's saying here. But a day, we're not keeping
a day for the sake of a day. Eating and drinking. Verse 7-9,
none of us live it to himself, no man die to himself, whether
we live, we live under the Lord, whether we die, we die under
the Lord, we live, therefore we die, we are the Lord. To this
end, Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be
Lord both of the dead and the living. Down in verse 17, I read
it before, I'll read it again. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, it's not about things anyway or days, but righteousness,
peace, joy, and the Holy Ghost. He that in these things serveth
Christ, not in things, but in righteousness, peace, joy, and
the Holy Ghost. He's acceptable to God and approved
by men. Go over to Mark chapter 7. We don't live for ourselves,
and we're not a rule under ourselves. And you don't want to be ruled
by anything either, but ruled by Christ. And we're under the
royal law of Christ, and this is what he's telling us. And we're not to judge a brother,
and I strongly believe this, but... In Romans 14, he said,
I know by the Lord... Do you still have it? Let me
look at this before we look at Mark. Romans 14, 14. Before we look at Mark 7, look
at verse 14, Romans 14. I know and am persuaded by the
Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. No thing unclean
or sinful in itself. Do you see that? Is that what
this is? Is that what that means? That's exactly what that means.
It's not any one single thing you can put in your body that
will defile your soul. I go to Mark 7. The Pharisee, oh
boy, and still today. Mark 7, verse 14. The Lord said, when he called
the people unto him, he said unto them, hearken unto me, every
one of you, and understand. There is nothing from without
a man that entering into him can defile him. Wow! See, because the Pharisees thought,
I don't do this, I don't do that, I don't touch this, I don't even
touch this, let alone, you know, like you hear somebody say, liquors
never touched my lips. Well, huh, that's Nyquil. But anyway, they were very proud
of that. And they thought because this
is true, God is really pleased with me. Then Christ didn't need to die. That's how serious it is. Paul
said it's that serious. If righteousness comes by the
law, acceptance with God, by you doing or not doing something,
Christ died in vain. That's how serious it is. Read on. This is the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said the things, verse 15,
that come out of a man. That's what defiles a man. If
any man have ears to hear, let him hear. Well, the disciples,
that shocked them too. But Lord. In verse 18, he said, Are you
so without understanding? Do you not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him?
Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly,
and goes out into the draft, purging all meat. That which
cometh out of the man, that defileth the man from within. Out of the heart of men proceed
evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
All these evil things come from within. That's what defiles man.
Nothing. Now in this day, you know, there's no meats that we
can't eat. There's no meats. What is to eat? Alcoholic beverages. And the Bible Belt, especially.
And there used to be a Sunday Law. Remember, Blue Law, you
didn't serve or sell alcohol on Sunday. Well, the Bible does
not teach that drinking wine is evil. It doesn't teach that.
The Lord Jesus Christ drank wine. And I've heard people say, well,
it's new wine. Wine is wine. If it's not alcoholic,
it wouldn't become wine. They said of the disciples at
Pentecost, they're drunk on new wine. So that's not wine. But they called the Lord a glutton
and a wine-beaver. Who did? The Pharisees, who never
touched a liquor. They said, he's a wino. He made wine. Our Lord was never intoxicated,
our Lord was never inebriated, our Lord was never taken up with,
controlled by, under the influence of anything, ever. He drank it, temperance, sure
he did. But, and he said there's nothing. This offended the Pharisees,
it shocked the disciples, and our Lord said very plainly here,
it's what comes from within. We label these things. My pastor
used to say, a man's not a drunk because he drinks. He drinks too much because he's
a drunk. That the evil's not in the thing,
if it was, you could just quit it and you'd quit doing evil.
If sin was in a bottle or a box and you just set it aside, you're
not a sinner anymore. Well, what's what inside? What's inside? Not what you put
in your belly. If sin were in things, we could
just quit thinking. However, there's some people
that are strongly offended by these things. Scriptures does
tell us drunkenness is a sin, doesn't it? Drunkenness is a
sin. Gluttony is a sin. Overeating is a sin. You can
eat so much till you just pass out. I've done it. It's not funny. Why is it we think, you know... Gluttony. They called our Lord
a glutton and a wimp. Like, in the same phrase. You know, he would never, flesh,
he didn't live for flesh. He didn't have to have this thing.
He ate for the taste. He drank for the taste, to join
in with people, okay? Sinners. Alright? But he didn't
need wine or whatever to give him some kind of feeling he didn't
have. He didn't eat for hunger and
thirst. He lived on righteousness. One time they begged him to eat
something. He hadn't eaten in a long time.
He said, I am eating. He said, I have meat to eat you
don't know of. If you knew something more about this you wouldn't
have to feel like you had to eat all the time. Right? That's what he's showing
us here. He was filled with the spirit.
Joy, enjoyment, and inward spiritual. In Ephesians 5, he tells us this. He says this in Ephesians 5. He said, Be not drunk with wine
where it is excellent, but be filled with the Spirit. Be filled
with the Spirit. Scriptures doesn't condemn it,
but it says, don't be sober, don't be intoxicated,
don't do it. Be not drunk with wine, but filled
with the Spirit. And a brother in preaching used
this term, being filled with the Spirit, he said, we're drunk
on the Spirit. That's bad terminology. Drunk means you're out of your
senses. You're not able to control yourself.
You're not in your right mind. You're not able to think straight.
That's what drunk means. And we're not drunk on spirit.
We're clothed in our right mind. We think finally. We're not drunk
on the world, drunk on this thing, but we're filled with spirit.
We have the mind of Christ in our right mind. You understand?
Well, let me deal with some other things here. And Paul said, if a brother or
sister is offended by this, he said, I'll not do it as long
as I live. He said, I can do this, and that's
what he said in Romans 14, do it in privacy, but let not my
liberty be evil spoken of by anybody. If somebody's offended,
it's not worth it. Not worth it. That's what he's
teaching. Happy? Look at Romans 14 verse 22. Happy is he that condemneth not
himself, and that thing which he hath allowed hath some liberty.
But, buddy, if it's offensive to someone, you do it. I can
do whatever I want to. It doesn't matter what they think
about me. Yes, it does. Oh, yes, it does. Yes, it does. Well, let me bring
up a few other things here, because these things are now upon us.
Recreational drugs. Marijuana. Now you say in preaching,
those things aren't evil? No, I didn't say that, I think.
Drugs. I can't believe I have to deal
with this, but I do. Drugs were created for disease and pain. There's no such thing as a recreational
drug. In other words, to take something
to reach some kind of euphoric sense and put yourself out of
your trouble and all that. That's drunkenness. Isn't it? That's drunkenness. Marijuana. Can't believe I'm having to deal
with it. Can't believe it. But our society
is now accepting this. Okay? Anything taken in to alter
our minds, For that reason, take it in and it alters our mind,
deadens our senses so that we're insensible and unintelligible
at sin. It's not in the thing, but if
you have to have that, you want that. Scripture says be sober,
don't be inebriated, don't be intoxicated, don't be senseless,
don't be stupid. Four ways it used to refer to
smoking pot. Four ways. Get high. It's a false sense of euphoria.
Because that's what it does. Stoned. You act like a dead rock. Wasted. Let's get wasted. And that's exactly what you are.
A waste. Wasting your substance. Stupid. They used to even call it that.
Let's get stupid. And that's what it makes you. So enough of that. That's not
acceptable. It's not acceptable. So go back to our text. That's not being weak in the
faith. That's being weak-minded. Somebody
thinks you can do those things and it's all right. You're weak-minded. You're weak in understanding. And it's a shame. That person
ought to be ashamed that a brother or sister or somebody thought
they were doing these things. Man, oh man, it's wrong with
people. Alright, go back to our text. Romans 14. It says, besides,
verse 16, let not your good be evil spoken of. The kingdom of
God is not in these things anyway. God didn't save us so that we
can just eat and drink and be merry and when we die, then we
go to heaven. and keep doing it up there? No,
that's not what it's about at all. It's to free us from these
things. In heaven, we're going to eat
and drink. I have no doubt we'll drink wine. But we're not going to eat for
hunger. It'd be for the taste, right? Our Lord didn't eat for
hunger, He ate for the taste. It's not we're going to eat.
Our Lord said we're going to sit down at the marriage supper
of the Lamb and we're going to serve us and we're going to eat. But Christ is our bread. We're
going to be feeding on Him from then on. Why? We don't need to
drown ourselves to get rid of our troubles. We
don't have any. We don't need to get high. We're going to be
as high as we can get. full of righteousness, of peace,
and joy of the Holy Ghost. We don't need anything to alter
us. And people who do that, there's
something wrong. Is that right? So, he says, don't
destroy the work of God, verse 20. All things are pure, but
it's evil for that man who does it with offense, who takes his
liberty But to offend someone, he says, it's good neither to
eat flesh nor to drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother
stumbleth or is offended, is made weak. If you have faith,
have it to yourself before God. Be happy and enjoy, if you don't
condemn yourself in that thing you allow, but he that doubteth
is damned. Don't force this on his conscience.
he eateth not of faith, or whatever, he's not fully persuaded in his
mind, his heart, in the will of God, in the word of God, it's
sin to him. Sin to him. Don't you dare force
it on your weak brother. I remember, you know, when you're a young
believer, you're so sensitive to everything, and you should
be. Old believers should be. But you don't have perfect understanding
of things. like this thing of liberty. I remember reading everything,
and I came across Jeremiah 10. It talks about the customs of
the heathen, or vain. Go out and cut a tree down, and
fasten it, and put gold and silver all over it, and so on. I said,
that's a Christmas tree. I just knew it was. And I had a fellow I kind of
was taken up with that I thought he knew the scriptures. And he
didn't have one. He believed it was evil to have
a Christmas tree. So I came home one day and I
announced to my wife that we ain't going to have a Christmas
tree anymore. I said, I don't know. We didn't have one for two or
three years. But my pastor never came up to me and said, son,
and rebuked me for my doubtful disputation. He didn't deal with
me. But after a while, I finally
understood that's not talking about a Christmas tree. It's
talking about idolatry. The people made actual idols
that they bowed down before. And I started thinking, you know,
not one single brother or sister have I ever known kneeled before
that Christmas tree ever more. I can't recall. And my children
are not teaching that, oh, Christmas tree, oh, holy tree. No, it's just a tree. You just
decorate a tree like you decorate anything else. That's not what
Jeremiah 10 is speaking of. Talking about idolatry. Worshipping
of idols. And boy, I was strongly convinced
of that. But then the Lord showed me that
that's being weak in the faith. That's nothing. It's just a tree. Boy, and here's an idol that
you're going to have to, here's something you bow down to, self. And God hates it. God hates it. So, I don't know if I tried to
make all that clear or not, but it starts out, don't judge a
weak believer and don't offend a weak believer. If you have
liberty, have it yourself. It's not worth it. We live under
the Lord, we're out for His glory and His honor, the good of the
body, the good of the people. Not, I can live any way I want
to. Oh no. Paul one time in another
place said, I don't please myself, I seek to please all men. That's
what he said. Alright.