This morning, we're going to
be picked back up in our study of Romans that we've been looking
at for some time now. And this morning, we're going
to be in chapter 14, beginning of verse 1. The title of the
message this morning is, We Are the Lords, and it's taken from
verse eight here in chapter 14. We have just finished up chapter
13 in our last study. The principal things contained
in that particular chapter was the instructions to the church
as to the duties of being in subjection to magistrates, and
all civil authorities, and the command to love one another.
Paul also gives the command of being temperate in all things
and of chastity in themselves. And then now we begin at chapter
14 with instructions to believers relating to judging one another,
saved or lost, as it relates to non-vital issues. issues that have nothing to do
with saved and lost. That is to say that both groups that Paul is addressing
here profess to believe the gospel, that that was their only hope
of salvation, Christ and his righteousness alone. But he's
talking to the church at Rome here, which They had Jewish believers
in there, and they had Gentiles. And I was talking with Brother
Mark a little earlier, and I tried to put myself in that position
of, as the Jews were, being under that old covenant law for all
those years, and being instructed as concerning eating certain
things, or not eating certain things, or keeping certain holy
days, so forth, that God had commanded them to do. And I can
imagine it was a difficult thing here, even though, even though
you believed the gospel, you had the same hope as those Gentiles
did concerning Christ, you were now instructed that it was okay
to eat certain foods. And I can imagine there were
some issues there, and that's the reason Paul's addressing
it here. We'll begin at chapter 14, verse 1 here, where Paul
says, him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to
doubtful disputation. The him that is weak in the faith,
given the description of weak believers that are listed in
some of these verses here, which refers to Jewish believers who
had not yet been convinced in their consciences that all distinctions
of meets and days commanded under that old covenant law had been
abolished. Weak in the faith here does not
describe those who deny the faith or the gospel of God's grace
in Christ. Many today want to apply these
verses to those who deny the person and finished work of Christ
on the cross. But this just won't fit the context
that we're dealing with here. For those who deny the doctrine
of Christ, Paul's clear. He wrote later on in Romans 16,
beginning verse 17, now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which
you've 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. Also
he wrote in Galatians 1 verse 8, but though we are an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached unto you, let him be a curse. And John wrote
in 2 John 1 verse 9, whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. Those who denied, or who were ignorant of the true gospel,
were not considered true brothers in Christ, and true believers. Now concerning individuals that
believe, believed contrary to the gospel, Paul also wrote in
Romans 10, verse one through three, Brethren, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
He says they're lost. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. These here in Romans 10, one
through three that we just read, were considered lost and in need
of salvation. Those who believe the false gospel
of salvation by works and free willism, those that believe that
in some way, to some degree, it's their decision to choose
Christ. In other words, they believe
something other than that salvation is based entirely on Christ and
his righteousness alone. They say they're lost and we're
to pray for their salvation. We're not to speak peace to them.
not those that deny the gospel. Weakened to faith here refers
to those Jews who had been brought to faith in Christ and repented
of dead works, but who had not yet been taught and convinced
of the liberty that we who are saved by God's grace have in
Christ. These Jewish believers knew that
abstaining from certain foods, and keeping certain days was
not their salvation or righteousness before God. These individuals
that Paul was addressing here knew that forgiveness and righteousness
comes by the obedience unto death of Christ alone, but they were
not convinced in their consciences that God's commandments given
under that old covenant law concerning the eating of certain meats and
keeping of certain days that they were no longer in force
and were no longer required to obey as a Christian. Paul tells believers here to
receive ye, but not to doubtful disputation. He said to receive
them, but not to doubtful disputations. Paul instructs mature believers
who knew and experienced their freedom from the law in Christ
to accept these weak believers in their fellowship but not for
the purpose of passing judgment on them, for the weakness and
the ignorance in these matters that they were still holding
on to. The mature believer who rightfully enjoys their liberty
in Christ should not sit in judgment on the sincere but undeveloped
thoughts that govern the weak believer's conscience. This verse
one here, Romans 14, is an example of a weak believer who needs
our patience, our love, and our compassion. And it needs our
teaching as we teach them. Now, Paul begins to show the
differences between the mature believer and the weak believer
here in verse 2. It says, For one believed that
he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. The
mature believer enjoys his freedom to eat all edible foods, As it
says in 1 Timothy 4, 4 and 5, it says, For every creature of
God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with
thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word
of God in prayer. The weak believer here is hindered,
having been convinced that certain meats are unclean according to
the old covenant law. He, therefore, he only eats vegetables. He's not a meat eater or He certainly
don't eat any of those meats that in that old covenant law
as it relates to pork, for example, or any kind of fish that didn't
have a scale and all these different things that God instructed in
that old covenant law, all things that were pictures and types
of Christ as being that pure and that holy thing, that lamb
without spot of blemish. and so many other things that
as God instructed these Jews to, in all of these things, be
in pictures and types. And verse three here, it says,
let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let
not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath
received him. To despise someone indicates
contempt for him is worthless, one who does not deserve our
love and fellowship. The mature believer is not to
treat the weak believer in this way. He is not to act or imply
as if he is holier or more saved than that weak brother or sister
in Christ. On the other hand, the weak believer
is not to judge or condemn him that eateth all things, as if
to imply that the mature believer is lost or doing something sinful
when he exercises liberty to eat all things. The weak believer
is not to look at the mature believer as if to say, a saved
person just wouldn't do that. And I'm sure you've heard that
before. And then it says, for God receives him God receives
both the weak and the mature believer in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our salvation and acceptance
before God is not based on what we eat or do not eat. God receives his own based solely
upon the blood and the righteousness of Christ alone. Any who think
that eating or abstaining recommends them unto God are in serious,
serious error. Christ is our hope and assurance
of salvation, Christ alone. Christ is our only righteousness
and our only holiness before God, not our works in any way
or any form. In verse four it says, who art
thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master he
standeth or fallen, yea, he shall be holding up for God is able
to make him stand. We who are saved by God's grace
in Christ, who have been justified by Christ's righteousness alone,
who have been born by the Holy Spirit, we're servants of God. Christ is our master, and we
follow his word, not the words of the traditions of men. We
stand or fall only as God judges us in Christ, not as men judge
us based on religious traditions. or personal preferences or convictions. God says of his elect in Romans
8, beginning at verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. All who rest in Christ for
salvation, both the weak and the strong believer, will be
held up, preserved, and stand not based on or by his abstinence
or his liberty, but by the God of all grace who blesses us all
and keeps us safe in Christ, according to Jude 24, where it
says, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and
present you faultless before the presence of his glory, with
exceedingly joy. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.
Amen. Then Paul begins to talk about
the keeping of days here, as he instructs them. He says in
verse five, one man esteemeth one day above another, another
esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. Under the Old Covenant, the Israelites
were commanded to keep Sabbath days, weeks, and years, as well
as feast days. These were special days and were
given to them by God to remind them of the hope of His grace
and salvation by the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I said earlier, they were
pictures and shadows of Christ. Some weak believers had not yet
been convinced that Christ's great work of redemption meant
the abolishment of all their responsibilities to keep these
days and regard them as special in some way. The issue with them
was not salvation or holiness in keeping these days, but that
they believed God commanded them to still keep these days. Then
it says that the mature believer regarded every day alike. The
mature believer knew, according to God's word, that all distinctions
of meets and of days had been abolished by Christ. Then Paul
says, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Each
believer must follow the dictates of his own conscience in matters
not specifically commanded or prohibited in the scripture.
We must remember also that in this early time of the church
that we're talking about here, the New Testament was in the
process of, excuse me, being written. We can understand some
of the apprehension of Jewish believers and that they might
not have been taught in these specific areas at that time.
None of us begin this journey as a believer with full knowledge
in all areas of doctrine. We must be taught as we grow
in grace and in knowledge. Now, in verse six it says, he
that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that
regardeth not the day to the Lord, he does 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. Paul has shown that
every true believer must be convinced in his own conscience when it
comes to matters of Christian liberty. These matters are not
vital issues that we're talking about, not vital issues of gospel
truth concerning the person and finished work of Christ. As the
ground, the only ground of salvation, there can be no dispute among
the believers on vital issues of the grace of God, but we must
remember that the issue here is not works and obedience for
salvation, but what believers are commanded by God and responsible
to do to honor and to obey Him as sinners saved by grace. So
Paul here writes, he that regardeth the day regarded it unto the
Lord. The weak believer who is convinced
that God still commands him to keep certain days is not doing
it in order to be saved, else it could not be said he regarded
it unto the Lord. This means he does it to the
praise of the glory of God's grace in Christ. If he were doing
it to be saved, it could not be said that he was regarding
a particular day, the reason he regarded a particular day
was for the glory of God. The same is true of the mature
believer who does not keep a particular day, but who knows and exercises
his freedom to do so. His action in this matter is
to glorify God's grace. The same principle holds true
in both the mature believer who is at liberty to eat all foods
and in the weak believer who believe God still commands him
not to eat certain foods. both giveth God thanks in what
they're doing. Their actions are not in order
to be saved or become more holier in some way, but to give thanks
unto God. In verses seven and eight of
Romans 14, it says, for none of us liveth to himself, and
no man doth 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. And that's where
the title of my message comes from. No man has the power over
life and death, as his life is not from himself. He has no power
to lengthen nor shorten his life, nor to hinder or hasten our death. This belongs to God and God alone.
The goal of the Christian life It's not to live unto or for
ourselves, but to live unto and for the glory of God in Christ
and the good of our brethren in Christ. This is our whole
purpose in life and in eternity. We who are chosen, the chosen
of God, adopted into his family, we're justified and redeemed
in and by Christ and called into the kingdom of God's grace. We do not belong to ourselves.
We belong to Christ. This holds true in the way we
live our lives and in the way that we die. We have been purchased
by the blood of Christ and there is nothing in us or done by us
to deserve or to earn the blessings of redemption. We live by the
life of Christ who lives through us to accomplish his will and
to accomplish his way. We do not live by our own works
and our own righteousness, but by his. We do not live by our
own wisdom and our own power, but by his. We do not belong
to any man or to any religious organization. We belong to Christ. Now in verse nine, Paul continues,
says, for to this hen, Christ both died and rose and revived
that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Christ
died to set us free from sin, bring about our redemption and
pardon, and to establish an everlasting, infinite righteousness by which
God is just when he justifies the ungodly. He also died to
purchase us for himself that we might live unto God. Christ
is Lord both of the dead and the living. As God, Christ has
always been and will always be the sovereign Lord, but as our
mediator and redeemer who died, was buried and rose again, he's
established as a sovereign Lord of the church and all his saints,
both those who are dead with him and those who are left on
this earth at this time. Now in verse 10, It says, but
why dost thou judge thy brother, and he's calling him a brother,
and they believe the same, they have the same father, they're
trusting in the same Christ, believe the same gospel. Oh,
why dost thou set it not, thy brother? For we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ. Knowing the blessed reality of
God's grace in Christ towards all of us who believe, and knowing
that we are all members of his family, why would we judge our
brother or sister in Christ to be condemned over issues of eating
certain foods or keeping certain days that they don't believe
have anything to do with their salvation and that they have
not been convinced in their own conscience? And I can think,
I can think that we talk about these Jewish believers that run
that old covenant, but I tell you what, There's people today that go
to church in false religion that still look toward those Ten Commandments,
and some of them, a religion that I came out of previously,
still held on to all those dietary laws on touch not, taste not,
handle not, and whether or not you ate pork and didn't eat pork
or all these things, and they would look Even on the other
unbelievers, they would look on them as being saved or lost. They wouldn't just come right
out and say it, but they did. Some way, they were more holier
in some way because they abstained from all these things and they'd
done what God told them to do. And so, a person like that, that
came to the gospel, even today, might still hold on to some of
these wrong teachings, until they were taught better. And
we had to be patient with them. And that is if they believe the
gospel and have repented from this false god that they were
worshiping. We don't speak peace to anybody that's going to come
in and going to hold on to this false god that they worship,
believing that Christ died for everybody without exception. And yet and still, Is there believing
or something else just makes a difference between heaven and
hell? But yet and still, I can imagine that they would be such
a example of things that would come into a true church today. Why would we count our brother
or sister in Christ as worthless? Now, I must say this again, that
due to all the legalism that's out in the world today, Here
we're talking about fellow believers who have the same faith that
we have. Then in the last part of this
verse it says, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat
of Christ. Paul calls our attention to the final judgment to remind
them that these issues of eating or not eating certain foods or
not keeping certain days will not matter at the judgment. These
indifferent things mean nothing at the final judgment. All that
will matter then is this. Are we in Christ? Are we washed
in his blood? Are we clothed in his righteousness?
Whatever we have done on earth by way of obedience in these
matters, as our conscience dictates, will only serve as evidences
of our faith in and love to Christ and his people. Now, beginning
at verse 11 here, 11 and 12, it says, for it is written, as
I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, every tongue
shall confess to God, so then every one of us shall give an
account of himself to God. All men will be judged by Christ
as they stand in relation to Christ, according to Acts 17,
31. because he, because God hath
appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." See, we always
go back. That's the standard of judgment
right there. It's Christ. He's the standard of judgment.
That's what we'll be judged by. is whether or not we're looking
to Christ and that righteousness alone, or whether or not we're
looking in some way to something that we do, something that we
don't do, some works done in us by us. All men will bow to
the sovereign authority of Christ. Our only hope now and then is
to be found in Christ. We will give an account, not
for others as if we are judges of others, but for ourselves.
unto God. Look at 2 Corinthians 5, beginning
at verse 10. It says, For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade
men. But we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are
made manifest to your consciences. This is the declarative judgment,
revealing the reality of sinners. On the one hand, it will reveal
all those who will perish eternally, those who do not have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice, those who do
not have the righteousness of Christ charged to their account. And then, on the other hand,
this declarative judgment will reveal sinners who are saved
eternally, by the grace of God in and by Christ. Those who are
clothed in the righteousness of Christ, a righteousness that
they had no part in producing, a righteousness God has charged,
imputed to their account, whereby they stand at judgment without
blame. Sins not being charged to their
account because it was charged to Christ, our substitute, our
surety, And he came in time and he paid the debt, that debt,
that sin debt that we owe, but was charged to his account. And
Romans 13 says, let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but
judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion
to fall in his brother's way. Believers are forbidden to judge
one another as if to set ourselves up as judges or critics over
the conduct and behavior of other believers. And in these areas
of indifference is what we're talking about. But we as believers
are commanded to admonish, to rebuke, to correct, and recover
brethren who openly and consistently disobey the clear commandments
of scripture. But in these non-vital issues
that we're talking about, we're not to set ourselves up as judges
over every believer's conduct and matters where they're either
convinced or not convinced in their own consciences. We are
certainly not to judge them save the laws based on these grounds.
If we have faith in Christ, evidenced by repentance and former idolatry
of dead works, and if we love God's gospel, then we are in
the same family. We're equally loved, equally
justified, and adopted. Therefore, we're to be careful
not to judge wrongfully, so as to cause our brother or our sister
in Christ to stumble or to fall in their walk of faith. Whenever
we judge our brethren by such standards, it tends to take our
minds away from Christ and the glory of his grace in saving
and preserving all of us. May God continue to show us that
we as believers, we belong to God and we don't belong to ourselves. We are the Lord's. Amen.