All right, let's open our Bibles
again to Romans chapter 15. The title of the message this morning,
Unity in Christ. In this previous chapter, the
apostle has been exhorting us to have unity among believers.
That's important to point out here that he is not talking about
compromising the gospel in order to have unity among religious
people. That would just be wrong. The
Savior himself said of the Pharisees, you leave them alone. They'd
be blind leaders of the blind, you leave them alone. Don't compromise
to get along with them. The Apostle Paul said in another
place, if any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. So he's not talking about compromising
to get along with religious people at the expense of the truth of
the gospel. But this is talking about believers. We are to seek
unity and peace with each other. You know, we're God's people,
our believers, they're God's children, but now we still have
the weaknesses of this flesh, the weaknesses of our personalities,
the weaknesses of faith and the things that we've learned or
we haven't learned. And we're to seek unity with each other,
despite those things, by not judging one another in things
that don't make any difference to salvation. Now, if it makes
a difference to salvation, if it makes a Difference to the
gospel makes a difference to the glory of Christ. That's another
matter. But these things that don't make
any difference to salvation, we're to compromise on those
things. So we have unity, peace. And that peace will be had if
we all just do one thing. Just focus on Christ. Find our
hope and our joy and our peace in him and not in our so-called
works, not in all these different religious things we want to judge
one another for. If we'd all set our affection and our attention
on Christ and his glory and not our own selves, we'll have unity. Now, verse one, Romans 15, Paul
says, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities
of the weak and not to please ourselves. Now, the strong here
are mature. They typically are mature, well-taught
believers. And I know some strong believers,
those that we would say are strong. And here's one thing that's universally
true of all of them. None of them will ever say they're
strong in themselves. Matter of fact, if you ask them
about themselves, you know what they'll say? They'll say, you
know, I'm weak. I'm weak in faith. I'm weak in
good works. I'm weak in love. It's not what
it ought to be. I'm weak in every way. But here's
how a believer's strong. It's when they know that they're
weak. When they know there's nothing about them that's strong,
and then they will totally rely on Christ. That's when we're
strong. That's what the Apostle Paul
said. When I'm weak, then am I strong. Because when I know
I'm weak, I'm forced to rely on Christ who has all strength.
If I'm relying on Christ completely and wholly, I'm strong. He'll never be moved. He'll never
let me go. A believer is strong when he
relies upon Christ to be all of his salvation. Christ is the
whole house. He's the foundation. He's the
walls. He's the roof. He's the landscaping. He is all. If Christ is all of my salvation,
then that believer is not going to worry about the law, is he?
No, it's all been fulfilled in Christ. He has no obligation
to the law anymore. Christ has fulfilled it. He had
no obligation to the religious ceremonies because none of those
things are going to make me more saved if Christ is all of my
salvation. But now the weak believer, They
tend to be immature, although they're not always immature,
but they're someone that just hasn't had the time to learn
as much yet. Now, they're saved. They know Christ. They trust
Christ. But they're still weak in some areas. They still think
it's better not to eat or drink certain things. They think it
just makes you a better person or more saved or, you know, whatever.
They think it's better to observe religious holidays. And a weak
believer may be an older believer. One who's very rigid about things.
Rigid about following the law. Rigid about following ceremonies.
Rigid about their own morality. Because they think it makes them
a better Christian. That person is not strong enough. No, they're
weak in the faith. Now, they have weaker faith.
But don't ever forget this. They're still children of God.
They're God's children. And those who are stronger are
to bear witness. They're to make them feel loved,
make them feel appreciated, and don't make them feel like you're
looking down on them. We're not to treat them like
a wicked man. No, we're to treat them like a weaker brother. The
word ought, Paul uses here, means to owe, or we're under an obligation. Stronger believers, those who
are stronger in the faith, we owe it to the weaker believers
to bear with them and to teach them. Stronger believers are
under an obligation to bear with weaker Just like parents are
under an obligation to bear with their children. Shawn, you are
right, at least right now, you're not mad at Landry for not cutting
that big hill in front of your house, are you? No, you're under
an obligation to him. He's not big enough yet. Now
Landry, that day's coming. Your dad's gonna make you cut
that grass. But right now, he bears with you. He's under an
obligation to do that because that's what's best for you. It's
safe for you. Don't be trying to cut that grass yet. It's not
safe. See, your dad watches that. Well, that's how the stronger
believers to watch for the younger one. Don't do something that's
going to hurt him now. That's just not that's not loving.
Those who are strong in faith, they're not to please themselves
by abusing their freedoms in Christ. You know, weaker believer
might think it's just wrong to drink alcohol. They think it's
sinful to drink alcohol. Now they're wrong. That's just
not right. That's not so. But the stronger believer owes
it not to please himself. but to bear with that younger,
that weaker one, and don't drink alcohol in his presence. You're
under an obligation to do that. Yes, a believer has liberty in
Christ, but you're never free to use your liberty to hurt the
weaker brother. We owe it to each other to think
about and understand this. Everything I do affects you,
and I need to think about how it affects you before I do it.
I'm not free to abuse my liberty if it'll hurt you. We're never, go back to what
I said this before, I feel like it's important to drive this
point on, we are never to sacrifice the truth in order to have peace
with someone. This is always for their good,
for their edification. That's what Paul says at the
end of verse two, there's, it's for his good to edification. Well, it's never going to be
good to encourage somebody in a lie, is it? It's never going to be
edifying to someone to encourage them in an indoctrinal error.
The matters here we're talking about are matters that are indifferent.
They just don't make any contribution. They don't add to it. They don't
take away from our salvation. In those areas, we're to give
up our rights for the good of somebody else. We're to give
it up. Now, I don't know that there's ever
been a more divisive time in the history of our nation. And
here's one thing nobody today is willing to do. They're not
willing to give up anything that they think it's their right to
do. They're not willing to give up anything that they want to do.
That just goes against our nature. So what is the motivation to
bear with weaker believers and not please ourselves? Well, the
one word answer is the gospel. But in our text, Paul gives us
seven reasons. I promise I'll be brief, but
I believe this will be a blessing to First of all, we're to not
please ourselves and bear with our weaker brethren because of
the redemptive work of Christ. Verse two, Paul says, let every
one of us please his neighbor. Don't seek to please yourself,
but seek to please your neighbor for his good to edification.
For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. You think of who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. He bore the weakness of His people,
didn't He? He bore with them and He saved
them by His power and by His grace. That's Christ's work of
redemption as the sinner substitute. All the reproaches of their sin,
all of our sin against the Father, it all fell on Him. He bore all
that. He bore the sin of His people.
He bore the punishment of that sin so that His people would
be redeemed by His blood. Now think about that for a minute.
Christ bore all of the sin. He bore the guilt of that sin.
He bore the filth of that sin for His people. Christ is stronger and greater
than all of His people. He never used His strength to
please Himself, did He? No, He always did it to please
someone else. He is better than all of His people. He's just.
We're unjust. He's holy. We're sinful. He's
wise. We're ignorant. But He bore with all of that
weakness of His people. so that he could redeem them
from their sin. Now, when I think of that, can I bear some weakness
in my brethren? I mean, in reality, I'm really
no stronger than anybody. I'm certainly no better than
anybody else in any sense of the word. Then I ought to be
able to bear some weaknesses in my brethren. When I think
about how the Savior bore my weaknesses and my sins, And the
key word here that tells me this is speaking of the redemptive
work of Christ is the word neighbor. See that? Let every one of us
please his neighbor. Now look back at Luke chapter
10. This is the passage of scripture. That word neighbor immediately
brought to my mind. This tells us this is referring
to the redemptive work of Christ. Luke chapter 10, begin reading
in verse 25. And a certain lawyer stood up
and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest
thou? How do you read it? How do you
understand it? He answering, said, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor
as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast
answered right. This do, and thou shalt live.
He willing to justify himself said unto Jesus, and who is my
neighbor? Now this man, you can tell he's
a legalist, didn't he? He knew the right answer from
scripture, but he's a legalist. And this is the thing about legalists
and free willers. They think they can earn a righteousness
by keeping the law. They still think there's something
they can do to make themselves. Now they might, they might say,
I believe in salvation by grace, but they always say, Well, but
I can do certain things and grace will take me the rest of the
way. I can bring myself up so far and grace will take me the
rest of the way. No, that's not salvation by grace. They believe
they can do something to make themselves righteous. And since
they can make themselves righteous by something they do, this is
what they're universally interested in. Doing the bare minimum. Doing the bare minimum. You work
with somebody that always seeks out to do the bare minimum. Nothing drove me more crazy than
that at work. They're wanting to do the bare
minimum. Now, this lawyer, I'm going to tell you how bare minimum
he was. He didn't even talk about loving God, did he? No, he said,
who's my neighbor? Who's my neighbor? Well, certainly,
now let's narrow this down. My neighbor can't be a Gentile,
can he? No, I'm a Jew. My neighbor can't be a Gentile.
My neighbor, maybe he's the guy that lives next door to me. My
neighbor's Jeremy, but not the people next to me. Well, maybe
the people on my street, but no further than that, right?
Let's not get this circle too big. Who's my neighbor? Our Lord answered this question
with a parable that shows us the redemptive work of Christ
for his undeserving people. Verse 30, Jesus answering said,
a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell
among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded
him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now the traveler here
in this parable represents all men. We all fell among Satan
in the garden and we disobeyed God, we sinned against God. And
by his disobedience to God, man was stripped naked, stripped
of all of his righteousness, all of his goodness. Man has
been wounded and beaten by the law and wounded and beaten by
others like this legalist trying to hold our feet to the fire.
And we're not left half dead, we're left completely totally
dead in trespasses and sins, unable to do anything to help
ourselves. All right, verse 31. And by chance,
there came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him,
he passed by on the other side. Now, the priest represents the
law, and the law looks at us in our following condition, dead
there in the ditch, and the law passes by on the other side of
the street. You know why? The law can't help us. We're
already dead. It's too late. Verse 32. Likewise, the Levite, when he
was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other
side. Now the Levite represents the
ceremonies. All these religious ceremonies that people in the
flesh get so taken up with, they look at us in our fallen condition,
dead down there in the ditch. And those religious ceremonies,
Passed by on the other side of the street. I mean, they can't
even get close to the ditch because we're so defiled in our sin.
We'll defile and ruin them. They got to cross by on the other
side of the street. Those ceremonies, they cannot help us. They can't
heal us. They can't cleanse us. They cannot
save us. We'll just defile them. They
pass by on the other side of the street because it's too late
for religious ceremonies, brethren. All right, verse 33. But a certain
Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw
him, he had compassion on him. And this Samaritan represents
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was a Jew, wasn't he? He was a Jew.
But in the parable, Christ is represented by no good, no count
heretic of a Samaritan. You know why? Because when Christ
came to this earth as a savior of his people, he came in the
nature of his fallen people. He came in the nature of the
people that he came to save and in great compassion. He came
where they were. He didn't cross the street. He
came down in the ditch where they were and saved them in great
compassion. Verse 34. And he went to him
down there in the ditch and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil
and wine, set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn
and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed,
he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto
him, take care of him. And whatsoever thou spendest
more when I come again, I will repay thee. Christ the Savior
came to his people. He took care of every need that
they had. He gave them life. He cleansed all of their wounds.
He paid the full price to redeem them and deliver them to glory.
Now, verse 36, which of these three thinkest thou was neighbor
unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, he that
showed mercy on Then said Jesus unto him, go thou and do likewise. This is the point of this parable.
The point of this parable is Christ is the friend of sinners.
He's the friend of sinners. He has saved his people from
their sin by his sacrifice for their sin. So don't judge your
brethren by the law. Don't judge them by how well
they keep the law or how moral you think that they are. Because
they weren't saved by the law, were they? No, the law couldn't
help them. The law passed by on the other side of the street.
Don't judge them by the law. And don't judge your brethren
by the religious ceremonies that they keep or they don't keep.
Who cares if they put up a Christmas tree or not? Who cares? Who cares
if they drink alcohol or not? They weren't saved by religious
ceremonies, were they? No, the religious ceremonies
can help them. They were saved by Christ. They were saved in
Christ. So accept them in Christ. Have
fellowship with them in Christ. Christ sacrificed himself for
his people. And I believe I can sacrifice
some things and give up some things that might please me for
the good of my brethren too. All right? Second, verse three,
back in our text, Romans 15. Don't seek to please yourself,
but seek to please your neighbor. Here's your motivation for it.
Give up some of your rights, because our Savior Himself didn't
seek to please Himself. Verse 3 says, even Christ pleased
not Himself. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
God. He's not like God. He is God. And if anybody could
do anything He ever wanted to do, it was the Lord Jesus. And
you know what? He did do everything He wanted
to do. But He never did anything to
comfort or please His own body. He never did anything to seek
glory or recognition from men. He never even demanded his rights
as God, did he? Instead, he humbled himself and
sought to please not himself, but his Father. The Prince of
Glory, equal with the Father, became a servant to his Father
in order to satisfy his Father's holiness and his Father's justice
so that his people would be saved. He even humbled himself to die
a cursed death. bearing the sin of His people,
bearing the curse of sin for His people. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ despised sin. I mean, we think we don't like
sin. Lord Jesus is holy. He despised sin. It was so contrary
to Him. But He allowed it to fall upon
Him. He allowed Himself to be made sin so that He could bear
the sin of His people away from them. Now, when you think of
that, you reckon, that you could bear some of the weakness of
your brethren. And these matters that don't make any difference
salvation. I think you could. And then this Christ also sought
not to please himself. But to please his people, he
sought to please his people is so much weaker than him. He never
sought his own comfort. He always sought the comfort
and the well being of his people. He willingly came to earth as
a man. And we can't imagine how far
down he came from the heights of glory to dwell as an embryo
in the womb of the virgin. How he humbled himself. How he
humbled himself to appear in the likeness of our flesh with
all the weaknesses, limitations of our flesh. And he did all
that so that he could be the representative of his people.
so that He could bear all of their burdens away from them.
Not only did He willingly become a man, but He willingly suffered
and died the worst death any man has ever died. Remember when
that mob came to take Him in the garden? He didn't seek to
please Himself. He didn't hide behind His disciples
and try to sneak off into the night. He stepped out in front
of them. Who are you seeking? I'm Him. See, he sought their comfort,
didn't he? And he went and he suffered and
he died alone. All so that he could redeem his
people from their sin. He did that to please his people.
And I'm telling you, nothing pleases me more than that. Nothing
makes me happier to think that salvation is fully accomplished
in Christ the Savior. He bore all my sin away. How
he humbled himself to do everything it took to save somebody like
me. When I think of that, can I give up some comforts? Can
I give up some of my right for the good of my brethren? I believe
I ought to. I believe I ought to be able
to. See, Christ is the Savior. Nothing we do contributes to
that in any way. Then let's seek our joy and our
fellowship together in Christ. Not in these matters that are
indifferent. All right, thirdly, what's my motivation, the believer's
motivation to bear with the weaker believers, and not to please
myself. It's because that's what the Word of God teaches. Verse
4. For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience
and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Now the Scriptures,
the sole purpose of the Scriptures, is to point us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The whole purpose of the Scriptures is to reveal Christ.
And the Scriptures teach us that our hope is in Christ. We don't
have any hope in trying to keep the law. Forget it. You never
find any hope there. You can't find any hope in following
religious ceremonies. You're never going to find any
hope there. What is our hope? Christ, who is our hope. He's
our hope. That's what the scriptures are
written to teach us. Then let's look to you. The scriptures are
written for the comfort of God's people. Not just by telling them,
oh, now everything's going to be all right. Scriptures are
written to comfort God's people by showing us Christ. He's accomplished
all of our salvation. My comfort is knowing He's all
I need. My comfort is knowing He's on
the throne. He's in control of this thing,
not me. My comfort is knowing Christ is the sufficient Savior. He's done all the work. All things
are ready, Mike. Now rest. That's my comfort. I can rest in Him. And we don't
have to worry. God's going to send us to hell
if we do something wrong or we slip up, you know. We don't have
to worry. Well, now I know, once saved,
always saved. You're not going to lose your salvation. But if
I don't do this right, God's going to make me live in a slum
in heaven and my buddies are going to be living up there in
a mansion, you know, and they're going to be looking down on me. How foolish. The
Scriptures are written for our comfort. Salvation's in Christ. It's all in Him. It's sure and
certain in Him. The Scriptures are written for
our learning. Now, what is it that we're supposed to learn
from Scripture? We're not supposed to learn how to live. We're not
supposed to learn how to live a better life. This is what we're
supposed to learn. One thing. One thing. Christ. Just one thing. The Scriptures
were all written to reveal Christ and salvation in Him. That's
why the Scriptures are written. Brethren, let's not judge one
another on these other things that don't matter. Faith in Christ
is all that matters. Second, the scriptures were written
so we could learn patience. Our God is the God of patience. Aren't you thankful God is so
patient and long-suffering with sinners? If God wasn't long-suffering,
not one of us would be saved. No sinner would ever be saved
if God wasn't so long-suffering. If the Lord was so long-suffering
with Lot, long-suffering with David, long-suffering Peter had
to learn things over and over and over again. The Lord is so
patient with him. Couldn't I be patient with others?
But want a better example, Matt? Want a better example? The Lord is so long-suffering
with me. Peter's got nothing on Frank.
Had to learn things over and over and over and over again.
The Lord is so long-suffering with me. and my weakness, all
my wrong thoughts. Couldn't I be patient with you?
I ought to be. Let's patiently
wait. Wait on the Lord to teach His
children. Just wait on the Lord to cause
His children to go up and mature. It took some time for us and
it's going to take some time for other people too. And then
third, the scriptures were written for our Like I said a minute
ago, our comfort is Christ. Our comfort is His person, His
work, His righteousness, His blood, His grace, His power,
His mercy, His love. Then let's not judge one another
on these matters of law and ceremony and things. If we do that, all
we're going to do is take away comfort from both us and them.
Because we're going to force both you and me to look away
from Christ and look at these other things and we're immediately
going to lose our comfort. Let's just look to Christ. He's
the one who comforts his people and all of our weaknesses and
all of our sorrows and all the things we've got to learn. He
is our comfort. And let's comfort one another
to our edification that we may grow in grace by having our whole
relationship based upon Christ. Our motivation to not please
ourselves but please our brethren is following the example of our
Savior. Verse 5. Now the God of patience and consolation
grants you to be like minded one toward another according
to Christ Jesus or according after the example of Christ Jesus. Look over Philippians chapter
2. This is the best commentary you can find on this after the
example of Christ. Philippians chapter 2. Our desire
is to be Christ-like. If we know Christ, our desire
is to be Christ-like. Our desire is to treat one another
after the example of Christ our Savior. Christ is first and foremost
the Savior, but He's also the believer's example. Philippians
2, verse 1. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, if you would follow the example
of Christ, love one another, with a deep, abiding affection. That's how Christ loves His people.
That's how we're to show love one for another, too. If we love
one another, we'll bear one another's burdens, won't we? Verse 2, fulfill
ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of
one accord and of one mind. Have the same mind. Have the
same goal. The goal of this body is Christ. It's His glory. It's the salvation
and good of His people. If we keep that in mind, we'll
bear with one another's burden. Verse three, let nothing be done
through strife or vainglory, but in loneliness of mind, let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. If you just always seek what's
best for the brethren and not what's best for you first, you'll
promote this love, this unity, following the example of our
Savior. He sought what was best for his people first. That's
the Word of God. Verse 5, let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He wasn't
robbing God of any of his glory to say he's equal with God, because
he is. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Christ
the Savior sacrificed himself, his whole self, for the good
of his people. Don't you think we can sacrifice
something for our brethren? The best motivation for doing
that is thinking of the sacrifice of Christ. Verse 9, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the
earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now the Father is highly
exalted Christ because of his finished work of redemption.
Then let's bow, every knee's going to bow. Every tongue's
going to confess. Then brethren, let's do it right
now. Let's bow together now. Let's use our one tongue to confess
now and worship Him now. And don't let something that
doesn't matter ever interfere with that. Ever. Follow the example of our Savior.
If we could, forgive every wrong. If we could, overlook every weakness
in our brethren. If we could do all that, it would
just be a drop in the ocean. This next time you go on vacation,
get you an eyedropper. Put a drop in the ocean. Get
a water from the sink. Fresh water. Put a drop of in
the ocean. How much did you dilute it? Drop
in the ocean compared to what God's forgiven me. What he's
overlooked and more. That's the motivation to not
please ourselves, to follow the example of our Savior. Fifthly,
we don't please ourselves but seek to please our brethren because
we're one body with Christ as the head. Verse 6, that you may
with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. My responsibility is always to
the body of Christ. It's to the body of Christ first,
not me first. It's what's good for the body,
not what's good for me. My first responsibility is always
to promote your good first, not mine. And that's true for every
believer here. The responsibility of this congregation
is to have one message, just one message. We've got one voice
and that voice all says Christ. He's our message. Our responsibility
is to have one goal and one purpose is to promote Christ, not ourselves. Our responsibility is to have
unity and fellowship with each other under Christ our head.
And let all these things that are indifferent just pass on
by. Just let them just pass on by
so we don't get taken up with those other things and get our
attention off of Christ because that will harm the whole body.
If something happens that we've got to take some time to take
our attention off of Christ and deal with something, what a waste
of time. God forbid that it be my fault. God forbid. You just imagine. There's going to come a day,
I've come to the house of the Lord for the last time. There's
going to come that day. I want that day to be a day that
the gospel is preached. For Christ is exalted. Right?
Look to Him. Cling to Him, don't you? God forbid somebody come here
for the last time and we deal with something because somebody's
flesh. God forbid that be my fault. All right. Sixthly, seek to please your brethren,
not yourself, because we're to receive one another as Christ
has received us. Verse seven, wherefore receive
ye Because Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now, how did God receive you?
If He received you, He received you in Christ. He didn't receive
you brethren in Christ. For Christ's sake. God received
His people freely. They didn't have to meet any
conditions, did they? Not one. Because Christ met them all.
They received your brethren the exact same way. They didn't have
to meet any conditions. Christ met every condition for
them. God's received His people in love. In spite of all of our
sin, in spite of all of our weakness, He's received His people in love. His love's covered a multitude
of sins, hasn't it? Then love your brethren the same
way. Don't let their sin, their weakness, stop you from loving
them because Christ put their sin away. Receive the one another
because Christ has received you. And then lastly, What's the believer's
motivation? To not please ourselves, but
to please our brethren first. It's the glory of God. At the
end of verse 7, Paul says, to the glory of God. Now the glory
of God is the purpose that we do everything we do here. It's
for the glory of God. It's not for our glory. It's
not so we get a reputation. No, it's not so we get a name.
It's so Christ's name is glorified. His name gets a reputation. And
God is glorified when the perfections of His nature are recognized
and praised. Not something we're doing is
praised. God is glorified when His work is praised. Not our
works, but His work. His work of redemption. His work
in providence, how He does all things well. When we recognize
that, God's being praised. God is glorified when His mercy
and His grace for sinners is magnified. If we're magnifying
God's mercy and God's grace, we're sure going to be ignoring
our actions, aren't we? Because salvation is by mercy,
by grace, not by our actions. God is glorified when man is
put in the dust as nothing. Well, if we're all in the dust
as nothing, then these other things we're doing are different,
aren't they? God is glorified when men are put in the dust
where they belong as nothing, and Christ is exalted as everything. Well, if Christ is exalted, if
he really is everything now, then why would we bother and
judge one another on these matters that are indifferent? And then
God's glorified when his people worship him in unity. God's glorified,
he is, when his people worship him in unity, then God forbid
I'd do something to put a crack in that. See, our goal is not
that we get glory by saying, oh, look how much more knowledge
I've got than somebody else. If that's what you want, to say,
look how much more knowledge I have than somebody else, all
you're doing is revealing your ignorance. Really? We know nothing that
we ought to know. The best we know is through,
the best we see is through glass darkened. Our goal is that Christ
be glorified. He's our wisdom. Not something
we've memorized. He's our wisdom. Christ is the
wisdom of God, now learn Him. Learn of Him, learn from Him.
Our goal is not that we get recognition while I've grown more in grace
than some other, this poor little baby in Christ. If that's what
I'm interested in, showing you how much more I've grown in grace
than you, if that's what I'm interested in, all I'm doing is showing
I haven't grown in grace at all. That promotes division, doesn't
it? It promotes division of the flesh,
not unity of the Spirit. Our goal should be this. Our
goal is Christ, the glory of Christ, that all of his people
have a place where they can come, where they've got the opportunity
to hear the gospel, so they grow in grace and knowledge of Christ
the Savior as he's glorified. And if we do those things, follow
those motivations, we will promote unity in Christ. God help us
to do it. God help this to always be a
place where as people meet together in peace, in love, in One accord,
one heart, one purpose, seeking to worship our Lord Jesus Christ.
All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Word that reveals Christ the Savior. Oh, how we thank
You for His compassion. How He pitied His people. He humbled Himself so far to
not please Himself. but to please His Father, to
please His people, saving their souls, receiving them freely,
receiving them in His love, in His mercy, in His grace, holding
them up in His power, never letting their weakness cause Him to cast
them away. Father, how we thank you for
a full, free salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a Savior,
what a King, what a Master. Father, we pray for the grace
that we might as individuals and as a body look to Him, not
get our attention ever taken off on a tangent, but to focus
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let His name always be glorified
and magnified. And this morning, Father, we
pray that you glorify your grace in revealing Christ to each heart
here, that we would leave here this morning joying, and glorying,
and reveling.