Boom. Wi-Fi. Have any here? Yes, got a weak signal. Next. That can't be for Cody. Did it? I got up at Todd's, and
I mean, I barely could see over it. I ought to leave it up there. Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 296. 296. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, dear my faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, Gives me grace for every trial,
Meets me with the living Bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Cushing from the rock before
me, O a spring of joy I see. Cushing from the rock before
me, O a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above, When my spirit, full of the immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
283. 283. Oh, how sweet the glorious message
simple faith may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. Still he loves to save the sinful,
heal the sick and lame. Cheer the mourner, calm the tempest,
glory to his name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name! He who pardoned daring Peter,
never needst thou fear. He who came to faithless Thomas,
all thy doubt will clear. He who let the loved disciple
on his bosom rest, Bids thee still with love as tinder lean
upon His breast. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never,
glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. He who, mid the raging billows,
walked upon the sea, Still can hush our wildest tempest as on
Galilee He who wept and prayed in English in Gethsemane Drinks
with us, each cup of trembling in our agony. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never,
glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. As of old, He walked to may us
with Him to abide. So through all life's way he
walketh ever near our side. Soon again he'll be beholden,
pacing Lord the day. But we'll still be this same
Jesus as he went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Romans chapter
14. Romans chapter 14. Read the first nine verses. By
God's grace, hopefully have something to say about them. Him that is
weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may
eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him
that eateth despise not him that eateth not. And let not him which
eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. 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. 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. And he that regardeth not the
day to the Lord, he doeth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth
to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not
to the Lord, he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of
us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether
we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ both
died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the
dead and the living. Our blessed Master, our Lord
Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior, who is God over all,
blessed forever. Lord, we are so thankful that
you blessed Cody to preach here last Lord's Day. We pray, Lord
God, that you would continue to bless him and his family,
strengthen them, encourage them, uphold them. Lord, we understand that you and your
sovereign mercy put them in a a great, great fight of affliction, a
great trial. But Lord, he seems so, gives
you all the glory, attributes everything to you, and we're
thankful because we do attribute everything to you. Lord, to you
be the glory, great things you have done. Lord Jesus, we ask
that you'd enable me to speak tonight, enable me to Open the
word of God and be a blessing to the saints that's gathered
here tonight. Make these scriptures understandable. Make them, interpret
them in the right way to your glory and the good of the hearers.
Lord, bless my preacher brethren wherever they are and what they're
doing. Bless those, Lord Jesus, that can't be with us tonight
through providence. Please meet with us tonight for
Christ's sake. Amen. 21 in our course book. How tedious and tasteless the
hours when Jesus I no longer see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds,
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. The midsummer
sun shines but dim The fields strive in vain to look gay But
when I am happy in him December's as pleasant as May, His name
yields the richest perfume, And sweeter than music his voice,
His presence disperses my gloom. And makes all within me rejoice. I should, were He always blessed,
I'd have nothing to wish or to fear, No mortal less happy as
I, My summer would last all the year. Content with beholding
his face, I halter his pleasure, resign Through changes of season
or place. Would make any change in my mind. Oh, bless you, the saints of
His love. A palace ator would appear. All prisons would palaces prove,
If Jesus would dwell with me there. Dear Lord, if indeed I
am Thine, If Thou art my sun and my song, Say, why do I languish
and pine, And why are my winters so long? O drive these dark clouds
from the sky, Thy soldiering presence restore, Lord, take
me to thee upon high Where winter and clouds are no more. What we're dealing with in this
particular chapter is people having conflicts over Christian
liberty, what's allowed and what isn't allowed. And it deals with
our attitude one toward another, with our disputes, maybe even
our disagreements, certain day concerning certain days or concerning
certain foods and Conflict over things that are not specifically
commanded or forbidden in the scriptures. And I'll tell you
the principles, there may be a lot of conflicts today, but
the principles are the same. Now, first thing it says here,
him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful
dispassions. In the margin, it says not to
judge his doubtful thoughts. He says, welcome the weak believer
or the babe in Christ into your fellowship. And don't criticize
him. Don't criticize his opinions,
his convictions, because when he's talking to people, he's
talking to mature believers, strong believers that have some
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and things in Christ. And you
know, and if we're instructed, and God tells us that we're to
grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, well
surely, surely we could not, because we have weaknesses and
immaturity, surely, surely we can bear with other people's
weaknesses and immaturity. And he says when somebody's weak
in the faith, and they come into the congregation, and into your
fellowship, pay attention to them, Bear with their ignorance,
be patient, instead of demanding that they immediately, immediately
know what it took you years to learn. And I'm grateful that
people treated me that way when I first got around, people who
knew the grace of God, because I sure was green as grass, and
they were sure gracious to me. And then look what he says here
in verse 2. For one believes that he may eat all things, and
anything that is set before him he is allowed to eat. Another
who is weak, he eateth herbs. One man's faith allows him to
eat anything, while another is troubled about meat, whether
it's sacrifice to idols or something that's forbidden under the law.
So he limits his food to vegetables. He understands, you know, if
he walked up and seen somebody eating something that had just
been offered to idols and they bought it in the marketplace,
he said, I can't eat that. I can't eat that. And if somebody
had some pork on the table, I can't eat that. He's weak. We can eat anything. But because
he is so weak, he said, since I can't eat that, I'll just be
a vegetarian. I'll just eat vegetables. Then
look down here in verse 3. Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not. So if you're able to eat anything
you want, nothing forbidden to you, don't you despise that man
who eateth not like you do. He's not mature enough and strong
enough to do what you would do and eat what you would do. And
then let not him that eateth not, if a fellow is not eating,
and he's watching a fellow that can eat anything, let him not
judge him that eateth. And here's the secret to both
of them. God's received him. God received the weak man, God
received the strong man. God received the man who couldn't
eat, and God received the man who does eat. So don't despise
and don't judge. Don't judge. Oh, my. You know, we understand, we understand
that the kingdom of God's not in meat and drink. Look over
here at verse 17 of chapter 14. We understand this. For the kingdom of God is not
in what we eat or what we drink, but in righteousness and peace
and joy And the Holy Ghost, that's what the kingdom of God is. But
he's talking about weak believers and mature believers in these
verses. You know, it's not that they go within,
you know, we understand that that's not what goes into a man,
that's not what defiles him. What he eats is not what defiles
him. What defiles a man is what comes out of his heart. That's
what our Lord said. You know, a fellow said, boy,
they're eating this, and your disciples eating this, eating
that. He said, it's not that that goes into your mouth that's
going to defile you. Because it's going to come out
in the draft. But he said, what comes out of
your heart, what comes back out of your mouth, what comes out
of your heart, what you say, you know, out of the heart, out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And so, you
know, that's what we got to go about, you know. And I tell you,
so don't look upon the man or despise a man who doesn't understand
these things and still bound by touch not, taste not, and
bound by traditions. There's a lot of people that
you come in contact with that, you know, you wouldn't dare do
anything in their presence to be offensive to them, to offend the weak brother for
whom Christ died. And there is weak brethren to
whom for Christ died. And I'll tell you something,
you know, let's don't let us, if a person abstains from certain
things, don't pass judgment on that one who eats and for God
received and welcomed both of them. Now here, I'm going to
give you four things. The disagreement is not over
the gospel of substitution. That's not what the disagreement's
about. That's one thing we'll never,
ever, weak or strong, whether you eat or you don't eat, whether
you drink or you don't drink, you got touch not, taste not,
handle not, if we will not budge on this gospel of substitution.
The gospel of Christ bearing the sins of his own people on
the tree, putting our sins away by the sacrifice of himself.
That gospel that it means that God took made our sin to meet
on Christ and Christ put all of our sins away once and for
all. And God accepted everything Christ
done, and now we have to do nothing as far as our gospel, our relationship
with God. And now the disagreement is not
over the moral law. It's not over the moral law.
They're not arguing over how you should live or how you shouldn't
live. The disagreement's not over repentance. It's not over
faith. It's not over love. It's not
over grace. It's not over mercy. It's not over those things. It's
not over meats. It is, excuse me, it is over
meats and drinks and things regarding this flesh, what you take in
with your body. It has to do with what you eat
and what you drink. Whether you can eat this thing,
have that thing, drink this thing, drink that thing, you can't.
That's what they're arguing over here. And all of those things
regard the flesh. And I'll tell you, the natural
man's religion, the natural man's religion, lies in his works. You got to
look at his works. You got to look at the deeds
that he's done, the things that he's done. And he's looking for
self-approval and accept us before God. Oh, my. But when he comes to Christ,
when he comes to Christ, when he comes to Christ, oh, my. I tell you, it's difficult for
him. And I tell you, it's difficult.
And I remember going through some of these things myself years
ago when I was really young. Our acceptance, our entire, it's
difficult for some people to realize that our entire acceptance
is in Christ. Not in ourselves, not in our
church attendance, not in our prayers, not in our works, not
in our sincerity. Nothing. Not in our devotions. When he comes to Christ, it's
difficult for him to realize that our entire acceptance in
Christ. Not in our own righteousness
and not in our works. And I tell you, these grave clothes
come off awful slow sometimes. And every one of us can attest
to that looking back over the years. Every one of us can attest
to that. Them grave clothes are hard to
shed sometimes. Huh? But now look what he says
here in verse 4. Who art thou that judgest a mother
man's servant to his own master? He stands or falls. Yea, he shall
be holding up for God is able to make him stand. That believer,
whether he's weak or whether he's strong, is the Lord's. He's the Lord's servant. He's
the Lord's servant. He's not my servant to condemn
or to judge. either stands or falls before
God. If he falls, God the one has
to uphold him. And I'll tell you what, he says,
yeah, who art thou that judge, you know, by his own master,
he stands or he falls. You know, the believer, whether he's weak
or strong, he's the Lord's servant. He's not my servant, your servant
to judge or condemn. He stands or falls by the master. And here's the thing, whether
he's weak or whether he's strong, he's one chosen of God. He's
one of God's elect. He's chosen of God to salvation. He's chosen of God to be a servant. And the master orders his own
household. It's his household. It's his
people. Oh my. The master lord of his
own household and the weaker brother shall not fall. Ain't
that what he stands? He stands or falls. And look
what else it says, said he shall be holding up. That weak believer,
he should be holding up. God's going to hold him up. And
he got to hold us up. God's able to make that young
believer, that weak believer, that believer that has a hard
time thinking things and realizing some things. shall not fall,
but grow in grace, and the mature believer grow stronger in Christ."
And here's the thing. Let all criticism, all condemnation,
and judgment of one another in things not pertaining to the
gospel of the righteousness of Christ, just don't let it ever
be mentioned. Don't let it be mentioned. Look
what he says here again in verse 5. Here's another instance. There
he is talking about food, what you could eat, what you could
not. Servants of the Lord, we belong
to him. Now he's going to talk about
days. He's going to talk about days. Verse 5 says, one man esteems
one day above another. Another esteem every day just
exactly the same. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. Now, here's another instance
of a difference of opinions in the church about the observance
of Jewish laws. And when he talks about certain
days, what he's talking about, days that were appointed by Moses,
such as the Passover. You know, there's still a lot
of Jews that has the Passover. They're called the Yom Kippur.
They still observe the Passover. And then there were different
feast days. And then especially there's the Sabbath. And there's
a lot of folks that's very, very particular about those kinds
of things. And these were holy days in the Old Testament. And
these traditions were hard to break for these young men and
these believers coming into the church. One man may observe a
strict Sabbath. Another man who serves every
day, every day is the Lord's day. Every day belongs to God.
Every day is God's day. We worship and praise God every
day that we live. Not just set aside one day for
it. It's all days, every day. But another fellow says, listen,
you know, I remember Arthur W. Pink, bless his heart. You know,
his wife would cook on Saturday because he wouldn't do nothing
on Sunday. Well, that's what they call the Sabbath. There's
a lot of people have Sabbath. And he would judge you and condemn
you. But now that's the wrong thing
to do. That's the wrong thing to do. But I do know that if
a person wants to steam one day greater than another day, don't
judge him. Don't be critical of him. Give
him an opportunity to grow. Give him an opportunity to listen.
Give him an opportunity to grow. And oh, look down in verse six.
I love this right here. Now, you notice what it says
here. He that regards the day, whether it's one day or whether
it's every day, he that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the
Lord. If you got one day you do, it's
the Lord's. That's going to be my day. And
if it's every day, it's the Lord's day. Oh, my. And look what he that regardeth
not the day to the Lord, He does not regard it. He that eateth,
eateth to the Lord, and he that giveth thanks, and he giveth
God thanks. And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not,
and giveth God thanks. They both, whatever, whether
it's a day or what you eat, they did it and they gave thanks to
the Lord. Well, I only have one day that
I pay attention to. They esteemed that day, they
regarded it as the Lord's. And then they said, well, I'm
going to only eat this here, and I'm going to give thanks
to the Lord. I'm going to eat anything I want to, and I'm going
to give thanks to the Lord. The matter, the thing is, is
they both was given thanks to God. They both were acknowledging
God. They both were acknowledging
the Lord Jesus Christ as being the one that they acknowledged
what they eat or whether they didn't, whether they had a good
day or a bad day, or regarded a day or no day. My and here's
the thing we got to we got to be convinced in our own minds
We got to and you know if a person worships in imitation of Somebody
else that's absolute foolishness. Well, this is the way they do
things. Well, I guess I'll have to do it, too. I Oh, no, no,
no. You be true to your own conscience.
You be true to your own heart. You be true to what God has taught
you at that particular time. And to do something without being
convinced in your heart and you override your conscience, that would be destructive to
override your own conscience. Oh, my. But if he reads, he gives
thanks to God. Who abstains, he gives thanks
to God. Since both parties are concerned with the glory of God,
they should be patient with one another. Oh my, there's a lot
of things that might be included in this, such as styles. Styles,
people like, you know, everybody in the church gonna dress a certain
way. Order of a worship, you know,
there's a lot of different ways of worship a lot of different
orders of worship Way that people worship some people worse with
a lot of noise some people worship with no noise Some people worship
with lifting hands some people worship with a lot of singing,
you know And a lot of things going on and then there's such
thing as personalities that enter into it But look what he says
down here in verse Seven, no man, none of us lives
to himself and no man dies to himself, whether you're a weak
believer or a strong believer, whether you can eat anything
you want to or whether you can't, whether you steam one day or
whether you steam a lot of days. John Donne said this, no man
is a rock, no man is an island, none of us stand by ourselves
and none of us live by ourselves. We are in the body of Christ,
we're in the church of Christ, we're in the church that Christ
Jesus our Lord bought for us. I'm not a separate, we're not
separate trees planted out here on a hill. No, no, we're branches
with other branches in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not a building
that stands separate and alone, but I'm a stone with other living
stones in the living temple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh
my, no man lives to himself, no man dies to himself. And I
don't live, listen to what I'm telling you now, I don't live
by any duties that I have to do, any services that I do, or
any sacrifices that I make. I live in Christ, that's what
he's saying. No man lives to himself, we live
to Christ. We don't live by our personal
righteousness, we live by His righteousness. No man dies to
himself. Look over in Philippians. I want
you to look over in Philippians with me. Look over here in Philippians. No man dies to himself. You know,
where do we get our life? We get it from Christ. Look what
he said here in Philippians chapter one. No man dies to himself. My life
belongs to Christ. and his body, and so does my
death. Christ gives me life, and I belong
to him, and you know when I'm gonna die? When he says I'm gonna
die. I live and die by him. That's
what he's talking about. Look what he said here in verse
21, Philippians 121. Listen to what he says here. For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain. I was looking at an old building
today, an old bulletin today, and it was back right after Bill
Carruthers had been called home. And I was looking at a little
article that was in there. I said, it's our loss, but it's Bill's
gain. And oh, what a gain he had. To
die is gain. For me to live right now and
to die, Ah, what gain? Eternal, be with Christ, be with
the saints, be in glory, be where there's no sin, where there's
no tears, where there's no heartache, there's no sorrow, no grief,
no sadness, no more trials. Oh, that's what a gain that would
be. But look what he says, but if
I live in the flesh, I have to stay here in this body. This
is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I don't
know. I don't know. I'm in a strait. I'm in this little narrow place
here. I'm in a strait between the two,
having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better. Nevertheless, nevertheless, to
abide in the flesh is more needful for you. In other words, God's
gonna keep me here as long as it's needful. Oh, our life belongs to Him.
I'm so thankful that my life belongs to Him. I'm not my own. I'm not my own. I don't belong
to myself. And you don't belong to yourself.
We belong to Him. We belong to Him. And then look
what it says there in verse 8. For 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, all mine. Whether we live, we live under
the Lord. The Father gave us to Christ. The Father gave us
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus purchased us by
His obedient life, by His substitutionary death, by taking our place. We're
His. We're not our own, and we're
not another's. Whether we eat or don't eat things
forbidden or formerly, whether we observe a day or don't observe
a day, whether we live or die, it is to our Lord. We're His. We're bond slaves. We're not to despise, be judged,
or ordered by men in the things of God. And I would not dare
put my conscience on another man's conscience. Wouldn't dare
do it. And oh my, listen to this now. This is the reason. This is the
point. This is the end. This is the
goal for Christ dying and rising and revived that he might be
Lord, death of the Lord and the living and the dead. This is
why our Lord Jesus Christ died. He's Lord of every believer. He's Lord over every believer.
Whether that believer's living or whether he's dead, our Lord
bought us. You know, He died to buy us. He bought us from ourself. He bought us from our self-love.
He bought us from our self-righteousness. And He saved us from this world
and all that's in it. He redeemed us from sin. Masters
which had dominion over us, sin had dominion over us. And I tell
you, He's the supreme master of all believers. And God enabled
us to cultivate by His grace, love, peace, gentleness, and
goodness, and forgiveness, and forbearance, because everybody's
not the same. There's some, Paul, let me show
you one verse of Scripture and I'll quit. 1 Corinthians 6, verse
12. I meant to go over there earlier.
1 Corinthians 6 and verse 12. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 12. This
is what he's talking about here, right here. Look what he says. This is it, right here. There's
things that it's lawful for me to do, But if I'm around somebody
that it would bother and be offensive to, I wouldn't do it. Paul said,
if my meat offends a weak brother, I'll not eat meat. And this is
what he says in verse 12. All things are lawful unto me. All things are lawful to me. Days, food, but all things are
not expedient. All things are not profitable. And all things are lawful, but
I will not be brought under the power of anything." And what
he's saying is, I will not, I will not be offensive to anybody over
what I eat, what I drink, and what I do in my life if it's
going to be offensive to anybody. That's what he's talking about.
And don't judge, don't criticize, don't condemn, don't despise.
The weak, and don't let the weak despise the strong. Because I remember when every
one of us way back yonder, them old grave clothes come off awful
slow. Sometimes, boy, you know, you
know, you remember when all of a sudden God just say, somebody
say something, your eyes just pop open. Got it, got it, got
it. And that's the way we got to
be. God help us to be that. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, thank you for meeting with us tonight.
Thank you for your precious word. Thank you for the truth as it
is in the Lord Jesus. And Lord, when we do come across
weak brethren, we do come across people that weaken the faith
and don't have the same understanding, the same convictions, the same
principles. Don't let us be critical. Don't
let us be judgmental. Lord, help us to be very understanding. Help us to be gracious. Help
us to honor your holy, glorious name. And we ask these things
in the Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he passes by. He's not too busy to hear your
heart's cry. He's passing by this moment your
need to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he goes by. See, Sunday, listen, we have
dinner Sunday. I hope everybody remember that
first Sunday. Hot luck, bring what you want. And I hope, I
hope there's some good in your pot. There always is, always
is. See you Sunday morning, God willing.