All right, look at Romans 14,
look at verse one, which starts out, it says, him that is weak
in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Now there's several things that
need to be set forth to understand the teachings that God has for
us in Romans 14, concerning receiving brethren. And the first key thing
that we need to understand is the phrase in the faith. Verse one there, him that is
weak in the faith. He's talking about somebody who
is a weak believer. You understand that. And he says,
receive ye, receive that weak believer. Now, who's he talking
about? A weak believer, all right? Now, as we go down through this
passage, this week and next week, we're gonna see that he's talking
about something specific, weak in some specific area. And I'm
gonna hold on there, but look at verse two. He says, for one
believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth
herbs, And what he's talking about is the relationship here
concerning Christian liberty. And that's a real point that
we have to be taught on. The relationship of one who is
mature in the faith in the things of liberty. Christian liberty,
what we are allowed to do or not do, and one who is not mature
in those areas of Christian liberty. But this, I'll tell you, this
passage is all about how we as brethren ought to guard our fellowship
and see it as one of the most precious things we have. no matter
what differences we have, and here's the key, in non-essential
matters. Now, he's not talking about the
gospel here as far as being weak in the gospel or strong. You
know, today, there are so many false gospels, people who claim
to be Christian. For the most part, if you go
around the city and you might find churches where a false gospel's
preached, and they recognize themselves as being all brethren,
but now, we who are truly in the faith, and that's the key
there, him that is weak in the faith. It's not weak in the faith
of the gospel, he who is weak, but he's in the faith, or she's
in the faith. The faith is the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace. in the salvation of sinners conditioned
on Christ and based on his righteousness alone. So we need to understand
what we're talking about. This is talking about not differences
over the gospel. Whenever the Bible talks about
differences over the gospel, the essentials, the ABCs, by
which God the Holy Spirit in the new birth brings us center
to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. If there's a difference
there, then we have no fellowship. We have to understand that whenever
the Bible talks about fellowship, true Christian fellowship, it's
talking about those who have fellowship in the truth. of the
essential truths of who God is and who we are as sinners and
who Christ is and what he accomplished on Calvary's cross. And I'll
use these terms, I don't often use them from the pulpit because
it just kind of diverts people's attention away from the scriptures.
This is not fellowship between Calvinists and Armenians. That's
not what it's talking about, see. Anyone who believes a false
gospel is not in the faith and they're not in the fellowship.
And you know that from other scripture, I've got listed here
in your lesson, Romans 16, 17 through 18. And that's where
Paul wrote to the same people here now, the same church. He
says, I beseech you brethren, mark, now that means name, Name
them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine
which you have learned. See, if there's a doctrinal difference
over the essentials of the gospel, you're to mark them, he said,
and avoid them. Don't receive them now, avoid
them. For they are such that serve
not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, their own appetites. their own self-righteous appetites,
and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
You know, people today, I'll go back to the issue that Jeremiah,
the prophet, had to deal with. Jeremiah was telling the people
of Jerusalem the truth. You deserve the wrath, we deserve
the wrath of God, and God's wrath is going to come in the form
of punishment, that will bring us, that will destroy us and
bring us into captivity. Now accept it, it's what we deserve.
That's what he was saying. But there were a lot of false
prophets in that day who came along and their message was peace,
peace. when there was no peace. They
were telling the people, it's all right, don't listen to that
prophet of doom. He's a burden. Now, you remember
how Jeremiah was called the burden of the Lord, you know? It's kind
of like a lady told me one time, she says, you don't ever have
anything good to say about us. And I said, no, but I've got
a lot of good to say about Christ. And that's who we need. He's
our goodness, isn't he? He's our righteousness. And so
they would cry, peace, peace, when there was no peace. And
so, but now you gotta understand, people today who call themselves
Christian, they would look at somebody like Jeremiah as being
hateful, mean, and they'd look at these false prophets as beings
all so loving and kind. There's so much love there. You
understand what I'm saying? Well, I've also got 2 John 9
written down here. Well, Galatians 1.8, I forgot
that, where Paul wrote both, 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. You don't receive him. And then in 2 John 9, whosoever
transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ hath not
God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father
and the Son. And then later on in 2 John 10 and 11, he tells
them, don't receive them into your house, into your fellowship,
if they come not with the doctrine of Christ. So what we're talking
about here, if we interpret it within its context, which what's
the issue here? The issue is what you're gonna
eat and what you're not gonna eat. That's exactly what it's
about. Don't take it any further than
that. And then later on, we're gonna see next week, it's over
keeping a day or not keeping a day. And we'll see about that. But even those who claim to be
Christian, but who deny the gospel or are ignorant of the gospel,
we don't receive them. We reject them. That doesn't
mean we're gonna be mean to them, doesn't mean we're gonna be hateful
to them. We love them and pray for their salvation, but we have
no fellowship with them. And I often refer to Luke's gospel. You know, you see in Matthew
and Luke where the Lord told the people, he said, he that
loveth father, mother, sister, brother more than me, is not
my disciple? Well, you remember Luke uses
a little stronger language there. He says, if you don't hate mother
and father, and you say, well, now wait a minute. You mean we're
supposed to hate them? Well, yes, but what does that
mean? It doesn't mean that we're supposed
to be mean to them or have a hateful attitude toward them, that evil
hatred that comes from our own self-love. It simply means this,
that we love them, but we reject them as being our brother or
sister in Christ, if they don't believe the gospel. You understand
what I'm saying? Just like God's hatred, which
is righteous indignation. He hated Esau. It means he rejected
Esau on a just ground. And so we don't have any fellowship
there. But here he's talking about a
weak believer, somebody who knows the gospel. Weak in the faith,
what's he talking about? That's true believers who had
been brought to true faith in the true Christ, who know the
ground of salvation is Christ's righteousness imputed and not
their work, but they have yet been taught or been convinced
of the liberty that believers have in Christ. For example,
to eat certain foods, which had been forbidden under the old
covenant, or to keep or not keep certain days which were prescribed
by the Old Covenant. And so it's possible that some
of these could have been Israelites that had been brought up, being
taught under the Old Covenant, which said taste not, touch not,
handle not. And they've come to know Christ,
but they haven't been taught. or haven't been convinced in
their own conscience that now I can eat barbecue, I can eat
pork, something like that. I couldn't under the old covenant.
Now, those dietary laws that were under the old covenant,
they were very strict, weren't they? And that was a physical
way that God separated that physical nation from the Gentiles. And
back then in the Gentile world, you know, some of the things
they ate, you'd probably make you sick today. And so, you know,
I used to watch this program on TV on the Food Channel, Food
Network, where a guy went around to all different kinds of countries
and you'd see him eating all kinds of junk. I couldn't even
watch some of it because it was just sickening. And I don't think
we have liberty to eat stuff like that, to be honest with
you, but I'll show you something here in just a moment. But that's
what he's talking about. Their issue here is not salvation
and how God saves sinners, the ground of salvation. Is salvation
conditioned on me or conditioned on Christ? I read an article
in the paper this morning where a fellow was talking about how
does one receive the blood of Christ? And what he's talking
about, he's not talking about by faith now, he's simply saying
the application of the blood of Christ, and he said you do
it by baptism. When you're baptized, you come
up out of the water, then you're saved. That's what he was saying.
I don't have any fellowship with that man. He's a false preacher. I can't receive him as brother.
Now, if I ever met him and wanted to talk, I mean, I'd be kind
to him, and I would love him in the sense that I'd pray for
his salvation, but we don't have any fellowship in the faith.
You see, that's a challenge and a denial to my hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood. My hope's not built on the fact
that I was baptized. Brother David, you were baptized
a couple, that's not your hope. You were confessing your hope
in Christ in doing that. And so understand that. Now he
says in verse one, receive these weak brethren, but not to doubtful
dispusations. What he's simply saying there
is receive them in your fellowship, not just so you can argue with
them or browbeat them. You know, whenever we're dealing
with something like that, Christian liberty, we have to be aware
that we've got to use some wisdom, we've got to use some compassion,
and we've gotta be ready to teach and to help somebody. We don't
flaunt our liberty, all right? And I want you to notice something
about this. You know, there are times when
we as, if we are mature believers and realize in our conscience
from the word of God that we have liberty to do certain things,
that others may be bound in their conscience. There are times we
should forego our liberty in order not to put a stumbling
block in a weak believer. But do you know that any time,
and again, now that's a believer. Do you know that any time the
Lord was challenged by unbelievers concerning issues of liberty,
he didn't back down one inch. He didn't forgo. You remember
when the disciples were eating with unwashing hands? Now, and
the Pharisees challenged him. He said, go ahead and eat. Don't
back down an inch. And that unwashing hands didn't
mean they ate with dirty hands. It means they didn't go through
the ceremonial washings that the Pharisees thought were essential
to receive God's blessing. They were challenging the gospel.
And then another time when he sent his disciples out to pick
corn on the Sabbath, ooh, and they came, the Pharisees came
and challenged him, and what did he say? Oh, boys, you better
stop doing that. No, he said, go ahead and pick
it. Sabbath wasn't made for man, man wasn't made for the Sabbath,
Sabbath was made for man. And he said the Sabbath, even
the Sabbath law and the old covenant never forbade acts of mercy and
acts of necessity. They were interpreted wrong,
so he didn't back down. But now there are times when
we might forgo our liberty using wisdom and love and compassion
towards a weak brother or sister in Christ. Well, here's the issue,
verse two. For one believeth that he may
eat all things. Another who is weak eateth herbs. Now, to be honest with you, I'm
not exactly sure what was going on here. I know, for example,
going back to the old covenant, there were things that they were
forbidden to eat. And it was because that God separated
them in that way. And there were things that were
unhealthy, especially back then. They didn't have the cleaning
things that we have today. But it never commanded them to
be vegetarians under the Old Covenant. In fact, you know they
were really forbidden to be vegetarians? Did you know that? What did you
do on the Passover? You slew a lamb. You roasted
it and you ate it. And that was all a picture of
our faith in Christ. Christ, the Lamb of God, went
under the wrath of God, roasted. And then we partake of him, eat
of him in the sense, you remember he said, eat my flesh and drink
my blood. He wasn't talking about cannibalism. He was talking about
we consume him in faith. We believe in him. We rest in
him. He's our only hope of salvation.
But they weren't commanded to be vegetarians, and most commentators
say this E to the third means vegetarianism. Now, I don't know
where that come from, and what culture, maybe a gent, I don't
know. But, you know, there may be people, for whatever reason,
they think, well, being a vegetarian puts you up on a higher scale
than you low-down meat eaters, you know, or something like that.
Incidentally, statistically, vegetarians do not live longer
than meat eaters. It just seems longer. But anyway, that was going on. But let me show you, and I told
y'all back in the back, one of the scripture references that
I think helps put this in perspective, I've been thinking about it all
week. I forgot to put in the lesson here. You notice there
in verse two on your lesson, I've got 1 Timothy 4 referenced. We'll look at that in just a
moment. But the first reference I was wanting to have was Galatians
2. And turn over to Galatians 2 with me. Now again, and it just needs
to be emphasized that he's not talking about a gospel issue.
If we differ on the gospel, how God justifies the ungodly, we're
not in fellowship. We cannot receive anyone who
denies this gospel. And again, we pray for their
salvation. But here in Galatians 2, this is the episode where
Peter was eating with Gentiles. And it says here, look at verse
seven. He says, but contrary wise, when
they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed
unto me as the gospel of circumcision unto Peter. And that's simply
just talking about how Paul, his main ministry that God had
called him to was to preach to Gentiles. Peter, his main ministry
was to preach to the Israelites. But now that doesn't mean that
Paul never preached to an Israelite, and it doesn't mean that Peter
never preached to a Gentile. In fact, we have it in Acts where
Peter went and preached to a man named Cornelius, who was a Gentile. But he's saying here in verse
eight, he says, for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship
of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.
And when James, verse nine, Cephas, And John, who seemed to be pillars,
perceived the grace that was given unto me, that they gave
to me and Barnabas, the right hand of fellowship." When they
perceived that Paul believed and preached the same gospel
that they believed and preached, what'd they do? They received
him. Paul's my brother. You mean this guy who used to
persecute the church? This guy who had it in his mind
to wipe the name of Jesus of Nazareth off the face of the
earth, received it, yes sir. God has brought this man to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. He believes that God,
he know, in fact, God used him to write most of the New Testament. Now that wasn't at this time,
but that was what was happening, that was what was in the process.
And so they received him in the right hand of fellowship, that
we should go unto the heathen and they unto the circumcision.
Verse 10, only they should remember the poor. That's the poor in
Jerusalem, I think. And the same which I also was
forward to do. Look at verse 11, but when Peter
was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was
to be blamed. For before that certain came
from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were
come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them that were
of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled
likewise, they followed Peter, because Peter was a man of influence.
And it's so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their
dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto
Peter before them all, if thou being a Jew livest after the
manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Gentiles, why compelst
thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Now, you see what's
going on there. Peter, by his action, brought
the gospel into question, as if to say that these converted
Gentiles We're on some kind of a lesser tier than the converted
Israelites. And so we're commanded not to
eat with Gentiles. And Paul says, I have to stop
there. I have to withstand him to the
face. Because what does the gospel tell us? It tells us that we
are all equally, equally sinners in need of God's grace. Equally,
you say, well now wait a minute, what about that thief on the
cross? And what about Saul of Tarsus? Saul was a moral, religious,
dedicated, sincere guy, and the thief, he was a thief. When God
saves a sinner, thief or false religionist, why does he do it? Because we are, listen, I often
say it this way. The woman at the well, who had
what, five husbands, is that right? She was no more in need
of God's grace than Nicodemus, who was a false religion. Nicodemus
was no closer to the perfection of righteousness required by
God than the woman at the well. In fact, if you wanna say it
this way, you probably could. Nicodemus was probably farther
away Remember what the Lord told the Pharisees when they go out
and get Gentile proselytes into their false legalistic religion?
You make them twofold more the child of hell than you are. Because
then they're ensconced in a false refuge. But when God saves us
by his grace, our justification before God, what is that? We're
forgiven of all of our sins. Now you may be sitting there
and say, well, I've got more sins than you. You don't know
that. We're all equally sinful in the eyes of God, equally deserving
of God's wrath. So when God justifies, he forgives
us of our sins, based on what? Based upon the blood of our surety. And what is it to be, it's to
be declared righteous. God has declared his people righteous. He hasn't declared Jim more righteous
than me, or me more righteous than Jim. We're equally righteous
because it's the righteousness of Christ that's imputed to us.
It's his merits. And so this thing about eating
or not has nothing to do with that. And if you think it does,
then you descend into the realm of legalism. So look over at
1 Timothy chapter four. And listen to what Paul writes
here in verse one. He says, 1 Timothy 4, now the
Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith. Now I'm not gonna give a meaning
to all of these things because I don't have time, but just,
he's talking about in the latter times they'll depart from the
faith, they'll deny what they claim to believe, giving heed
to seducing spirits, doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to
marry, celibacy, and he says, and commanding to abstain from
meats. which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the
truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing to be
refused if it be received with thanksgiving for it's sanctified,
set apart by the word of God and prayer. Now, does that mean
that we can eat anything and everything without exception?
No. You know what? I've noticed that
God put us here on earth and he gave us a mind. I heard a
Seventh-day Adventist preacher talking about that. They say
you can't eat pork, for example, because of the old covenant.
Well, we're not under the old covenant. And he said, he went
to that verse in 1 Timothy 4 and said, you know, every creature.
And he said, well, he said, he said, that doesn't, that doesn't
mean we can eat pork. He says, you wouldn't go out
and eat maggots, would you? Well, God has given us a mind. And what Paul was talking about
in 1 Timothy is those things that are edible. People eat,
you know, that doesn't mean anything and everything. I'm not going
out and re-eat rocks. So think about it. Use your head,
you know. These edible foods, there's nothing
forbidden that God has blessed. And God has already blessed it
all. That's why when we get together to eat, there's some people who
use what they call the blessing superstitiously. I had a man
tell me one time, he said he wouldn't put a bite of food in
his mouth until he prayed. That's superstition. First of
all, God's already blessed us. Now we thank God, and we don't
have to make a public display of that. In fact, Christ tells
us not to in Matthew. He says, don't make a public
display of that. Our prayers are not our witness.
That's between us and God. Go to your closet, he said, and
pray. Our witness is the gospel. So
understand that. Now go back to Romans 14. Well,
apparently some of these weak believers were convinced that
you could not eat certain things. And it wasn't any part of their
salvation or their righteousness before God. But look at verse
three. He says, let not him that eateth,
that's the mature believer in Christian liberty. Let not him
that eateth despise him that eateth not. That means don't
reject him, don't count him as nothing. He says, and let not
him which eateth not judge him that eateth. Oh my goodness,
if you eat that, you're just not being godly. And it made
me, they were saying a believer wouldn't do that. You ever heard
that? A believer wouldn't do that.
Well, there are certain things believers should not do. I agree
with that. But to look at something like
this issue and say, well, no, a believer wouldn't do that,
that's wrong, that's a judgment. And he said, and you know what,
Paul, look over at Galatians, or Colossians rather. Chapter
two. Colossians chapter two. This
was a problem in the church at Colossae. Look at verse 18, Colossians
chapter two. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding
into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind, not holding the head from which all, well,
I've started to, I didn't start the verse I really wanted to.
Look at verse 16, I'm sorry. He says, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day,
or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days. Don't allow them
to judge you on that. And then he goes down there,
look at verse 20. Wherefore, if you be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are you subject to ordinances? What kind of ordinances? Taste not, touch not, taste not,
handle not. That kind of thing. All right,
go back to Romans 14. I'm gonna have to hurry here. I just got one more verse to
go to. But he says, let not, in verse three, let not him which
eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Now
on what basis does God receive a sinner? On what he eats or
doesn't eat? No. It's by his grace that reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
God's received this person who's pleading Christ. The true Christ. on the ground of his blood, his
righteousness alone. And you tell me you're not gonna
receive him? Because he's eating a barbecue? Is that your idea? Well, it's certainly man's idea.
It's not God's. And so he says in verse four,
who art thou that judgest another man's servant? Now whose servant
are we? We're God's servant. We're servants
of righteousness because God has brought us to see our sinfulness
and our need of Christ. And it says, to his own master
he standeth or falleth. Now again, that's the judgment
of God. If I come before God and say,
Lord, I know that you received me because I've stopped eating
certain foods, does God receive him? Does he stand before God
or does he fall? Because God doesn't accept any
man's person on that basis. That was the issue that Peter
was dealing with in his action. He just got up and moved tables.
So those guys come and say, well, they'll see me eating with Gentiles.
No. To his own master, he standeth
afar. Yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand. And that's the issue. How does
God make us stand? in Christ, not upon what we eat
or don't eat, but it's in Christ. Now I've got in the last part
of your lesson, you can read this, a word about legalism,
but I wanted to make this point there just simply. Just because
a person says, I'm gonna try to keep the law, for example,
whatever law they're keeping, does not make them necessarily
a legalist. It's what is their motive, upon
what basis, you see. If a person says, well, I'm just
convinced in my mind that the Lord says not to do this or to
do this, not for salvation now, not to eclipse or challenge or
add to the righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to me. That's
legalism, you see. So if a person says, well, I'm
convinced we shouldn't do this, we should do that. If they're
not doing it for a legalistic motive or a mercenary motive,
they're not legalists. But understand, I often think
about it this way. Every believer in Israel that
was brought up under the old covenant, they were all bound
by those strict laws. But they weren't legalists. They
believed in Christ, Moses, all. Now, the majority of that nation
under that covenant, they were legalists. They turned that old
covenant, rather than a convicting word to show us our sin and our
need of Christ, they turned it into a system of legalistic work
salvation. And that is a legalist. All right.