Romans 14, But why dost thou
judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not thy
brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Paul's question, why do we judge our brethren? Why are we so quick
to criticize our brethren? If someone falls into this attitude,
this habit of criticizing their brother, I think it's a good
question, is who made you the judge of your brother? Christ
is the judge. He's been given all judgment
by the Father. He's the judge. And the reason
that human beings, like you and me, become so quick to judge
our brethren, other people, is we think we're on a higher spiritual
plane than they are. So that makes us qualified to
judge them. The reason that we're so quick
to criticize our brethren is we become puffed up with pride
about how much more we know than they do, how much more we've
grown in grace than they have, and that makes us qualified to
judge them. But when we have that attitude, you know what
that really reveals? How little we really have grown in grace
and how little of a knowledge of Christ we really have. That's
what that reveals. And we just need to realize how
important it is to avoid this critical attitude. Don't be so
quick to be critical of your brother. Now, the writers that
I assume know what they're talking about when they write about how
this is written in the original language, they say that the way
this is written with the emphasis in this verse is on brother,
on your brother. Think about who it is that you're
criticizing. How important your brother is
to you. Why are you so quick to censure
your brother and put a divide between you and your brother?
Think about who it is that you're putting a divide between you
now. This is your brother we're talking about. Even if you do
have more grace than he does, even if you do have more knowledge
than he does, you don't want a divide between you. You're
supposed to be joined together, united, not having some division
between you. Now, just like last week, Paul's
on the same subject. I want to be clear here. We're
not talking about making a judgment about the foundational truths
of the gospel, how men or women's made righteous. We're not talking
about a difference of opinion on the blood of Christ, what
his blood accomplishes for his people. We're not talking about
a difference of opinion of the glory of Christ, that all glory
belongs to him. We're talking about peripheral
issues, things like keeping the ceremonial law, the dietary law,
the Sabbath day, the feast days, fleshly activities of religion. We're talking about spiritual
things here. We're talking about fleshly activities. And we want to fall
into this attitude of judgment. Let's just remember Christ is
the judge and we'll all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
He's the Lord. He's the judge. Let's leave the
ordering of his kingdom to him. That's not our place. That's
His place. Our place is to serve Him. Now Paul goes on in verse
11. He says, for it's written, As
I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall confess to God. Now look over in Isaiah 45. Here's
where this is a quotation from. Isaiah 45. This is the Savior
speaking. This is the Savior to whom we
bow. Who is the judge? Isaiah 45 verse
20. Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together, ye that are escaped to the nations. They
have no knowledge that stood up the wood of their graven image,
and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? And who hath told it from
that time? Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me. a just God and a Savior, there
is none beside me. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall swear. This is our Savior. He is the
judge and everyone is going to bow to Him. None can compare
to Him. Certainly not me. Who am I to
take this place of judgment? None can compare to Him. There's
none beside Him. There's none greater than Him.
There's none even equal to Him. That's why He swore by Himself. And He says, look unto Me. I wish I had the ability to drive that
point home to the hearts of people that hear me preach. Look unto
Him. Look unto Him. Find in Him salvation. Find in Him righteousness. Find
in Him forgiveness of sins. Look unto Him. And as soon as we do, what we'll
do is we'll bow. We'll bow to Him as King. We'll
bow to Him as our Master, as our Lord and Savior. Now one
day, every creature is going to bow to Him. In judgment, that's
what he's talking about here. In judgment, as he sits in judgment,
every knee will bow to him. And that day, every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. One day, the one who men
despise will be the judge, will judge them. All judgment's been
given to the Son, and Christ will be the judge. It's not our
ideas about how our religious organization ought to be run
that's going to be what we're judged by. We're not going to
be judged by our creed, what we thought was so important.
We're not going to be judged by the code of conduct you and
me wrote down. It's Christ. We'll be judged by Him. So let's
just leave all judgment to Him, not just then, but now. And thankfully,
by God's grace, there are those that right now bow to Him. I'd
a whole lot rather bow to Him now than wait till then to be
forced to bow to me, but bow to Him now. We're his servants. Well, then let's conduct ourselves
like we bow to him willingly now, don't we? That we're his
servants. Well, then let's conduct ourselves like his servants and
serve him and not our own desires, not our own fleshly pride, but
serve him. And that's what Paul is talking
about here in these verses. He says in verse 12, so then
every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Judgment
Day. That's coming in the future is
a very real day. I don't know a lot about it.
I don't think scripture really tells us a lot about how that
day will be conducted, about, you know, what will take place,
how long it will take to judge every person that's ever lived.
I have no idea. But here's what I do know. Brother
Henry, I heard him say one time, so let's start with what we know.
Well, here's what I know. In that day. Every believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be found not guilty. Not guilty
because your sins have been put away. You've been washed in the
blood. You'll be there in the imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You'll be as righteous as the
judge himself. You'll be not guilty. I know
that about Judgment Day. I know how long it'll take, but
I know that, that a believer will be found not guilty. Now,
even though we know that in that great day, the believer will
be Not guilty. Forgiven in Christ. Every sin
you'll ever commit from now to the end of your time here on
earth is forgiven. That doesn't make you free to
sin, does it? That doesn't make you say, well, I can just go
sin all I want because I've got a blank check. No. When the Lord saves a man and
woman, He gives you a new nature that doesn't even desire to sin.
Now, you will, but you don't desire to. And we're free in
Christ. Yet there will be an accounting.
Scripture is plain. There will be an accounting for
our stewardship and our conduct. And the attitude of the believer
is we don't just love one another and do things for one another
and serve one another now because we're afraid of what will happen
when we give that account. We serve one another and love
one another because it's our desire now to please the Lord,
to serve him. I know one day we'll give him
the count, but your desire is not out of fear of having to
give him the count. Your desire is to give a good witness now,
to show forth the grace that God's had on you now. So he says
in verse 13, kind of summing up this thought, he 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. What Paul's saying in a word
here is get rid of this harsh attitude of criticizing our brethren. I've had enough of that attitude
to last the rest of my life. Let's get rid of it. Just put
it away. If that's the attitude we want
to have, I'm telling you it's not hard to find fault with one
another. We just don't have to look very
hard to find fault with one another. Things that we do and think and
say But Paul says if you're just bent on judging somebody, then
do this. Judge yourself. Not judge your
brother. Judge yourself. Have I done enough
to help my brother grow in grace? Have I done things that would
hinder my brother from growing in grace? Have I done things
that would hinder my brother from seeing the Lord? Have I
done enough to help edify and strengthen my brother Rather
than criticizing him for being weak, maybe I ought to judge
myself. Have I done enough to help strengthen him? To help
him grow? Help him grow up a little bit?
You know what we're commanded in Scripture to do? Judge ourselves. Make your calling an election,
sir. Not your brother's calling an
election, sir. Your calling an election, sir.
Examine yourself, whether you be in the faith. Before we partake
of the Lord's table, let every man examine himself and so let
him eat. That's rather than spend time
finding fault with one another. Why spend time examining ourselves
to see how can I help my brother? How can I help him learn? How
can I help him grow? How can I help it working? To
help all, each of us, enjoy the fellowship and unity that we
have with one another. To help one another joy in Christ
together. Paul says, just examine yourself
and make sure you don't put a stumbling block in front of your brother.
Last week I used the example of Jonah learning to walk. We
don't put something in front of him when he's learning to
walk to test him, see if he can steer around it, because we know
he can't. I got a new illustration last Sunday. We were all together
at the picnic, and I watched Chloe. A bunch of them were out
there playing volleyball, and her mom and daddy were out there
playing. She's going to be out there around them. She starts
walking around in the grass. Every two or three steps, she
falls down. The ground's not perfectly level, and she's not
watching where she's going. She's watching all this excitement.
And every two or three steps, she falls down. She couldn't
keep her feet. But she got over to the sidewalk where the concrete
was smooth, and she was steady sailing. She did really well.
I never saw her fall. She may have, but I never saw her fall
down. Because it was a whole lot easier for her to walk on
that smooth ground. Well, that's what Paul's saying
here. Put a little concrete down and smooth the way so your brethren
won't stumble. It's a whole lot easier to walk
on a paved path than it is a rocky path. So smooth it out for them. And if you want to judge something,
judge yourself in this matter. Have I smoothed the way out enough
for them? Rather than judging for falling, have I smoothed
the way for them? That's where our attitude and
our focus ought to be. Now verse 14, Paul says, I know,
and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing
unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be
unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved
with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him
with thy meat for whom Christ died. Now we know that sin is
not in something that we eat, or we drink, or we touch, or
we look at. We know that. Sin is in me. It's in that wicked heart that
I was born with. And that's not just my opinion.
That's not just our doctrine. That's the clear teaching of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over Mark 7. This is what
Paul is referring to. In Mark 7 verse 18, And he saith unto them, Are ye
so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into a man, it cannot defile him,
because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly,
and goeth out into the draught, purging all means? And he said,
That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For
from within, out of the heart of men, Precede evil thoughts. Adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, weakness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile the man. You didn't get those things in
you because you ate a piece of bacon. You got that because that's
the nature that you're born with. And it shows because it comes
out. Out of the heart. There's evil things. In the mature
belief, Understands that. Eating some pork or, you know,
drinking some alcohol in moderation with your meal or, you know,
doing some work around the house on Sunday. Those things do not
violate the law of God. We're free from the law in Christ. You understand you're not sinning
when you do those things. But the weaker believer may still
think those things are forbidden. He hadn't grown to learn that
yet. And if he does those things,
it's a sin to him. He feels just as guilty as if
those things really were forbidden. He feels like he's sinning. It
troubles him. And nothing troubles the heart
of a believer more than my own sin. And even though it's not
forbidden, if he feels like it, seeing it genuinely troubles
his spirit. And if those who are stronger,
we do those things in front of this weaker believer, we're destroying
his confidence. We're troubling him. We're troubling
his heart. We're hurting our brother's spirit by something
we're going to enjoy fleshly. See the difference? Those don't
compare. My fleshly enjoyment compared to his spiritual enjoyment?
They don't enjoy. They don't compare. You're not
breaking God's moral law when you do these things. But you've
broken the royal law of love that John preached about Wednesday
night. You're not walking in love. You've broken that royal
law of love, and that's much more important. And we all attack
loving. Love bears with the weaknesses
of the people that we love. If you really love somebody,
you'll bear with their weaknesses, even though, yes, you're perfectly
fine to do that. Yet, if he thinks it's sinful,
then just don't do it around him. We'll bear with his weakness.
And the burden Just like any time one of these situations
comes up in Scripture, the burden is put on the mature believer.
Yes, you are free to enjoy those things, but you can do without
it. So do without it if it'll hurt
your brother's conscience. That's what Paul's saying. Don't
put a stumbling block in his way now. Now, verse 16, he says,
let not then your good be evil spoken of. Now, everything in
Christ is good. Sin is forgiven in Him. That's
good. You have righteousness in Him.
You're born in Him. You're given a new nature. You've
been made free from the law. You're free from the form and
ceremony of religion. You're free to enjoy liberty
in Christ. But Paul says don't use that
goodness to hurt someone else. Don't use that goodness to cause
division between you and your brother. We know we're free. A believer is free from the condemnation
of sin. Even though that sin's paid for
and put away under the blood of Christ, that doesn't make
me free to sin. That's like I said a minute ago.
That would be using good for evil, wouldn't it? Perfectly
understandable. Well, using your freedom from
the law to enjoy these peripheral things, if it would hurt your
weaker brother, is exactly the same thing. Using your good for
evil. It'll be evil spoken of, evil
thought of by your brother. Now verse 17, Paul says, For
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things
serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Now the kingdom of God, salvation,
righteousness, the gospel, all these things fall under the kingdom
of God. They are not found in the fleshly motions of religion.
The kingdom of God is not do and don't do, touch not, taste
not, handle not. Salvation is in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness. The kingdom of
God is righteousness, and that's found in the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, whenever I go over
my lessons here, I always start with Fr. Henry's outline. In
his outline on this very verse, this is what he said, the kingdom
of God Righteousness is found in the imputed and the imparted
righteousness of Christ. It's righteousness. Peace with
God is found in Christ. And God's kingdom is a peaceable
kingdom. And you just mark this down.
Where there's no peace, God's not there. You just write it
down. Where there is a kingdom of God is a peaceable kingdom.
Where people are not at peace, that's a group of people that
are not in God's kingdom. That's all there is to it. Peace
has been purchased by Christ at Calvary. He made peace by
the blood of His cross and His people have it. Now you have
peace with God and peace with one another. And all those who
by God's grace have been made citizens of that kingdom live
in peace and joy. We live to enjoy the peace that
Christ has made for us with God and with each other. We have
joy of the Holy Spirit and we have joy of the fellowship with
one another. And we're taught in Scripture
to do those things that will promote peace with our brethren. You endeavor to have that peace. You endeavor to have that unity
together. That's how we serve Christ acceptably
in these things. And you serve Christ in those
things, you'll serve Christ acceptably, and you'll be approved to your
brethren. Whether they're the weaker or the stronger, you'll
be approved to both. They'll say, there's a man of
faith. Now, I read this this week. This will put all these
matters in perspective. I read this. This is good. And
that day of judgment, no one will be asking that day, well,
who ate me and who ate ours? Who worked on Sunday and who
rested on Sunday? Who drank alcohol and who was
a teetotaler? That question will never be asked. Here's the question. Who believed
God? Who believed Christ? Who trusted
in him? Who served him? Who served his
people? Who put a stumbling block in
the way of his people? That's the question that's going
to be asked. Who believed God? The rest of these matters suddenly
become pretty unimportant. I can do without those things.
Don't you think? The Christ-like attitude is to be concerned with
others and their well-being more than myself. Wasn't that the
attitude of our Lord? Well, that ought to be our attitude
too, shouldn't it? Well, verse 19, Paul goes on,
he says, let us therefore follow after things which make for peace,
and things wherewith one may edify one another. Now, the character
of a believer is to be peaceable, whenever it's possible to be
peaceable. Now, we must defend the gospel. We must defend the
truths of Scripture. We must defend the glory of our
Savior. But these are, what we're talking
about here is indifferent matters and we should be willing to give
those things up to promote peace. That's endeavoring to keep the
unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace that Paul talks about
in Ephesians. And look to do things that will
edify and strengthen and build up our brethren. Don't look to
do things that will tear them down and make them stumble. We
want to avoid those things. And Paul in verse 20 gives us
an example of what he's talking about. He says, for meat, destroy
not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but
it's evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is good neither
to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything, whereby thy brother
stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Now everything
God made is pure, is good, is to be enjoyed by his people.
But if your weaker brother thinks it's evil to do that, Paul says,
anything, whether it's to eat flesh or drink wine or anything,
whatever it is that thy brother thinks is evil, if you do it
anyway, you're offending your weaker brother. You're destroying
the work of God for your meat. Well, what's he talking about
here, the work of God? Well, it's your brother. He's the work
of God, the workmanship of God. God created him new. Don't make
him stumble and fall. That's the workmanship of God.
He's the creation of God. And just remember, the fellowship
of your brother is a whole lot more important than eating something. He's a whole lot more important.
Look over 1 Corinthians 8. Paul set the example here. In this very matter, 1 Corinthians
8. He says in verse 7, he says,
Howbeit, there is not in every man that knowledge. For some
with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered
unto an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled, because
they know their eating this meat has been offered to an idol.
But meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are
we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. But
take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours becomes
a stumbling block to them that are weak." Same thing he said
of the Romans, don't let your good be evil spoken of. For if
any man see thee which hast knowledge, set it meet in the idol's temple,
shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to
eat those things which are offered to idols? And through thy knowledge
shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died? When ye
sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience,
ye sin against Christ." This is a pretty serious matter now.
You sin against Christ. Now look what Paul says in verse
13. He says, Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I
will not eat flesh while the world standeth. As long as this
world goes, I won't eat any meat, if at all, if it will offend
my weaker brother, lest I make my brother to offend. Paul says,
I'm going to just err on the side of caution. I won't do it
if it's going to offend my brother till this world ends. I just
won't do it. That reminded me of a story. I think I have this
story right. Years and years ago, a bunch
of people at the church would go out to Grayson Lake swimming.
Henry and Doris would go with them. Everybody had a good time.
They fellowshiped. Just really, really enjoyed it.
Somebody got mad. I think if some woman got mad,
And Henry, I don't think she got mad at her, but that's just
Henry. Because you're a mixed baby. And the first thought that went
through my head is that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I mean,
honestly, that's the first thing that went through my head. But
you know what Henry said? I'll never go again. And he never
did. Rather than offend her, he just
gave it up. Won't do it, so she'd come listen
to him preach. Because what's more important?
Fleshly activity or the Gospel? There's no comparison, is there?
Even though that was a weaker brother, weaker sister, that's
the example you can do without for the good of your brother.
Now, verse 22. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself
before God. Happy is he that condemneth not
himself and that thing which he allowed. Now, the faith he's
talking about here is not saving faith in Christ. We make a full
public confession of that faith. You don't keep that private.
What he's talking about here is the belief, the understanding
that these indifferent matters, what you eat and what you drink
doesn't affect your righteousness. You're standing before God. Have
that kind of faith before God and before other brethren that
understand the same thing. And you'll be happy enjoying
those things because you're free to enjoy them in Christ. But
look at verse 23. And he that doubteth is damned
if he Because he eateth not of faith. For whatsoever is not
of faith is sin. See, your weaker brother, he
doesn't have that same understanding. So he has to walk in the light
that he's given. And he'd feel like he's under
the disapproval of God if he ate those things or drank those
things or did those things. So the stronger should just let
that weaker brother enjoy not eating those things so his conscience
is not condemned and you're both will be a whole lot better off.
You know, I thought this week, most of these issues that come
up, these indifferent issues, are man-made issues anyway. Really,
they're not matters of scripture now, they're man-made issues.
I'll give you a good example. Here where we live, in the Bible
Belt, alcohol is a sin. I mean, it's a sinful thing where
we live. You know, we have a vote to make
the county wet. 102% of the voters come out because
dead voters come vote. I mean, their people are so,
oh, about this thing, they want to make sure not all alcohol
is going to be sold in my county. And that's the culture that we
live in. But in other areas of this country, in the world, that's
not the issue. I'll give you a good example
of this. Several years ago, girls were little. I went to preach
in a northern city's group and just kind of come together, you
know, and they had the most legalistic background you can imagine. And
you just sit and talk to them and you just want to weep for
the bondage, the serious bondage they've been under for years.
I just, to this day, I feel so sad for them. But they'd come
out of that. They'd been listening to gospel.
And I went up there to preach and brought my family with me,
my wife. And they had a cookout to meet
the preacher and his family and ask questions. So here I sit,
answering their questions. And they were grilling and a
bunch of them sitting around me asking questions. And I mean,
it was questions. Janet took the children off the
play. Oh, my. And here, the cookout's about
ready, and they bring out this cooler, about four foot long,
full of beer. And people are just cracking
it open and enjoying it. I mean, it's a hot day and people
are enjoying it. As legalistic as the background
they've been under, that was not an issue to them. That's
not an issue in that area where, you know, people brew beer. I mean, you know, I don't know
where they could have worked at a brewery. For all I know, that
wasn't an issue to them. But boy, that would be an issue
in this area. But there's no spiritual significance in those
things. But listen, it could be significant
to your brother. So around him, just avoid him. Enjoy him when it won't offend
your brother. And leave him alone when it will.
Because the peace that we have together is a whole lot more
important than what you're going to eat. You can eat something
else. All right. Well, I hope God bless you.