Tonight, I want you to open your
Bibles to the book of Romans. I've been reading for a couple
of days in the book of Romans, and I have chosen for our Bible
study tonight Romans 14. Now, it's not possible for me to cover
the entire 14th chapter of Romans in this meeting tonight, in the time
we have together. So I want to begin at verse 12. Begin our study at verse 12.
Now the title of this message, and I feel that it's a very important
message for us, for me, for you. The title of this message is,
Walking in Love. walking in love. Beginning with
verse, let's go back to verse 11. Begin with verse 11. This is a quotation from Isaiah
45. It says in verse 11, it is written,
for it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, our Lord Jesus
Christ, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall
confess to God. As I live, saith the Lord Jesus,
every knee in heaven, earth, and under the earth shall bow
to me, and every tongue shall confess to the glory of God that
I am the Lord." Now, this is not a threat. This is not an
unpleasant experience. This is the best news that a
sinner can hear. that Christ gets all the glory
and the praise and the adoration. Let's go back to that reference
here in Isaiah 45. Isaiah chapter 45. It says it's
written, so Paul is quoting Isaiah here when he wrote in Isaiah
45 verse 22, He said back in verse 21, I'm
a just God and a Savior. A just God and a Savior. There's
none beside me, so look to me and be you saved. Look to me
and be you saved. All the ends of there, Jew, Gentile,
old, young, rich, poor, all the ends of there, every tribe, kindred,
nation, throng, look to me and be saved. I'm God. And there's none else. Now listen,
I've sworn by myself the words gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess. And surely shall one say in the
Lord have I righteousness. That's good news. That's not
an unpleasant experience. You know, a lot of times, sometimes
preachers inclined to use verses like in my text, well, every
knee's going to bow. Every tongue's going to confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's no threat. That's good
news. He is Lord. He's my Lord. He's your Lord. And I'm glad
He's our Lord, aren't you? Because in Him I'm saved. Now
look at verse 24. In Him I have righteousness.
In Him I have strength. Even to him shall men come."
He's the fountain of life. All that are incensed against
him will be ashamed, but I'm not going to be ashamed. I'm
coming with a need, with a hungry heart, with a willing spirit.
Look to me and be saved. Look to me and have righteousness.
Look at verse 25, "...and in the Lord," and only in the Lord,
who is Lord, shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall
glory. The Father judgeth no man, he
has committed all judgment to the Son. That all men should
honor the Son as they honor the Father. Christ is the soul, King, Master,
and Judge. And that's what it says here
in our text. In Romans 14, 11, as I live, saith the Lord, unto me every knee shall bow,
and every tongue shall confess that I am Lord. And I am glad,
and I rejoice. All judgments in the hands of
the Son were glory. That's wonderful. He loves me
and gave Himself for me. I want all judgment to be in
His hands. In His hands are the keys of
hell and death. Well, glory! My times are in
His hands. My Lord, I want them back. The
Father hath committed all judgment to the Son. Well, glory! He that
believeth on the Son hath life and shall not come into judgment.
So this is not a threat. This is not an unpleasant experience. This is not something I'm forced
to do. This is something in which I
rejoice and rejoice to do. Every knee shall bow to me. And every tongue confess that
I'm the Lord. I rejoice in that, don't you?
That's good news. That's no threat. That's the
best news that we can hear. Our mediator is the judge. Our advocate, our high priest
is the king. All things have been turned over
to him. He's on my side. And if he'd
be for me, who can be against me? Oh, I look at verse 12. So then, so then, now follow
this train of thought. So then, every one of us, who's
us there? That's believers. Every one of
us. That's to us. Every one of us shall give an
account of himself to the Lord. Every believer is accountable
to his master. He's the Lord. So we're accountable
to our Lord. He loved us. He chose us. He
called us. He redeemed us. Every one of
us. is accountable to our Lord, not
only at the judgment, but right now. Now and then, every day,
we're accountable to our... He's our master. He's the one
before whom we bow. And no man can serve two masters.
If the Lord Jesus Christ is my master, then I bow to Him. And I'm accountable to Him. I'm
accountable to my master, now and at the judgment. in all things
were answerable to our Master. Look back in chapter 14 at verse
4. Listen here to verse 4 in chapter
14. Who art thou that judgeth another
man's servant? To his own Master he standeth
or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand. This is what solitarsis, said
on the road to Damascus, Lord, what would you have me to do?
Lord, you're my master. You're my king. I'm your servant,
your bond slave. Now, what would you have me to
do? I'm accountable to you. That's
the reason he said, if I please men, I'm not the servant of Christ.
No man can have two masters. He'll love one and despise the
other one, serve this one and turn from that one, but you can't
have too much of them. And this is what it's saying
about believers, and we rejoice in this. As I live, saith the
Lord, every child of mine is going to bow to me and confess,
going to bow to Christ, submit to His Lordship, confess that
Christ is Lord, willingly, lovingly, and glad to do it. Then, in everything,
we're accountable to Him. Accountable to Him. Every one
of us give an account to our Master, our Lord, day by day. Day by day. Now, not only to
judgment, that's not something reserved for way out yonder somewhere.
Right now, accountable, right now to Christ. And only to Christ. Now, what's this next verse?
You see how it follows, it says, He's the Lord, God's made Him
Lord. He's Lord by decree. He's Lord by decree. The Father,
it pleased God that in Him should all fullness dwell. The Father
has exalted the Son and given all things in His hands. He's
Lord by design in the everlasting covenant. And He's Lord by death. He died that He might be Lord
of the dead and the living. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. You're redeemed by the blood
of Christ. And He is our Lord. And we bow. We confess that He's
Lord. And He's our Master, and so we're
accountable to Him in all that we do. Accountable. Now look
at the next verse. Therefore, therefore, let us
not therefore judge one another any more. I'm not your master
here. You're not my master here. Let
us not set ourselves up as critics of other people, other servants
of the law, judges of other servants of the law, critics and judges
of their conduct or their lives, or this, that, or the other.
Let's not, therefore, judge one another anymore. Let us not spend
our time finding fault with one another, picking out weaknesses,
differences of opinion, of practice. They're His servants. They're
His servants. They're accountable to Him, not
to me. To Him. Isn't that right? That's what
He said, therefore. But I'll tell you what, He goes
on, He said, but I'll tell you rather what you can do. I'll
tell you what you can do. Judge this. Be careful about
this, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall
in his brother's way. Rather do this. Don't be critical
of one another. And try to make one another just
like ourselves, because we're different. We have the same master,
but they're different servants. But I tell you what we can give
attention to, not being a critic or judge of other men, but a
critic of ourselves, and a judge of ourselves, of our own conduct,
of our own conversation, of our own lifestyle, of our own habits
and ways and daily walk, and be sure that we're not offending someone. Don't look in them for an offense,
but look in ourselves and see if we're offending. Be sure that we're not offending
another believer or causing another believer, a weak believer, a
young believer, a babe in Christ, to stumble or to go astray. In other words, let me examine
my life and be sure that my life and my influence is spiritually
beneficial to those whose lives I touch. Am I spiritually benefiting? People know I'm His servant.
People know you're His child. People know you believe His Bible. People know you confess and profess
His gospel. People know that you are a child
of the Lord, and I am. Now then, is my life spiritually
beneficial to them, or is my life spiritually detrimental? Am I doing things and saying
things, or do I have such an attitude and such a neglectful
spirit and selfish spirit that I'm causing someone to stumble, and someone to question the power
of Christ to save, or to redeem, or to keep, or to glorify His
name. That's, oh, it's written. He's the Lord. He's the Master. He's the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. He reigns and rules in His kingdom. In His kingdom,
everybody glorifies Him, bows to Him, confesses that He's Lord. And I'm His servant, I'm accountable
unto Him. Therefore, let me not be measuring
His other servants to see if they're doing what they ought
to do, or being what they ought to be, or saying what they ought
to say, or living like they ought to live, but rather do this. Be sure that
you're not, and I'm not, putting something in the way of a child
of God, causing him to stumble. And then Paul says in verse 14,
now I know he said, and here's, people are quick to come back
with this. Not what you put in your mouth
that defiles you is what comes out. Paul said, I know that.
I know that. He said in verse 14, I know,
and I not only know, but the Scriptures I'm persuaded by the
Lord, that nothing material or physical is unclean in itself. I've said that so many times,
there ain't no sin in a bottle. No sin in material things. It's
what people do with them. Our Lord told the Pharisees that
they were They were arguing with his disciples about not washing
their hands before they ate. Because that was a religious
tradition. A religious tradition. Purifying,
they called it. And the disciples ate without
washing their hands. Oh, you didn't wash your hands.
And our Lord said, it's not what a man puts in his mouth that
defiles him, what comes out of his heart. Out of his heart proceeds
murders and adulteries and evil thoughts stealing and blasphemy
and all this. So Paul said, I know there's
nothing, there's nothing, there's no sin in material and physical
matters. No, nothing is unclean, unholy
and forbidden in itself. But, watch this now, but, hold
it, hold it, to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him
it's unclean. For example, those old Jews,
they were brought up from the time they was a foot and a half
high. It is wrong to eat a certain
kind of meat, ham and pork, according to the hoof of the beast. And Peter was now fifty years
old, still having to fight with that. The Lord told him to go down
to Gentiles. First He told him to
rise, kill, and eat. And he said, I've never eaten
anything unclean. It was a sin. He couldn't do it. Peter could
not eat that. It was wrong. To him it was wrong. Now Paul said, I know there's
no sin in that. Cow, cat, liver, beef, ham, chicken,
pork, fish, what? It's just meat. also associating
with the Gentiles. Peter was an apostle down there
in Galatia. Was it Galatia? And he was eating
with those Gentiles, and certain fellows came down from Jerusalem,
and he got up and skedaddled out of there. A bunch of people
went with him. Didn't want to be seen eating with those Gentiles. See, these people were brought
up in this. They were brought up in circumcision. Paul had one man circumcised
because he was going to preach to the Jews. But another fellow, he wouldn't
let him be circumcised because they were making that a test
of salvation. But they wouldn't hear anybody
hadn't been circumcised, some of them. And some of the vows, the Nazarite
vows, Paul helped some fellows get out from under those vows
one time. Sabbath day? Paul kept the Sabbath day after
he met the Lord. I guarantee you he did. He didn't
go to the temple, didn't do that, but he didn't get out and flaunt
his liberty on the Sabbath day. But there wasn't any sin in taking a trip on the Sabbath
day, but to them it was. Keep on talking. Now in this
day, let me tell you something. In this day, right here in this
congregation, here's one that was raised a certain way. I was
raised in a church. And I was taught some things
that still are in here, haven't you? That still, they were implanted,
implanted. I'll tell you some of them. Wine,
any kind of alcoholic beverage. I know the Scripture teaches
temperance, but we were taught total abstinence. And to see anybody drink a glass
of wine or a bottle of beer, they are lost. L-O-S-T, lost. That's all there is to it. I
was raised that way. Some of you were too. And a lot
of your friends out here were. A lot of the people you worked
with were. Some sincere people. Cards. We weren't even allowed to play
Old Maids, let alone Berry Bridge, or let alone cards, or let alone
poker. We were raised that way, and
your friends were. Gambling. A pool hall was a den
of iniquity. I learned to shoot pool in the
Navy if I felt guilty the whole time I did. It's just that thing
in my head was wrong. You know what I'm talking about? Sunday, we went up to Grand Rapids, Michigan
to preach. I used to go up there and preach,
and I took my children one time. My boys went out to shoot some
basketball out in the driveway of the house, and I thought the
man of the house was just going to have a heart attack and die
right there in the living room when he saw them out there shooting
basketball. He just ran out there. Don't let the neighbors see you
doing this on Sunday. But now, wait a minute. Some
of us was raised that way. And some of your friends out
there were. Some of the people you're around. I'm telling you
now. And care about appearance. And men dressed like men. Women
dressed like women. First time my boys started wearing
long hair, I thought I was going to die. And earrings. I sure thought I was going to
die. And tattoos. Oh, I've always associated a
tattoo with a drunk, a Navy drunk. You get drunk on leave and get
a tattoo. I tried. Dressing decently. Bathing suits
you see on the beach, they're just unheard of. Unheard of. public dancing. I know the kids go to proms and
see if there's anything wrong with that, but a dance hall? And this is what he's talking
about here. He's talking about being careful. See, we've got
a master. We want to please him and do
his will, glorify his name and reach people with his gospel
like he prayed while ago. But I need to, if I'm going to
be His servant, His master. I need to put a watch on my mouth,
on my behavior, on my lifestyle, on the things I do, so that I
don't offend needlessly someone who's sincere. And they're sincere. Some of them are sincere. That's
the way they're brought up. Those Jews were sincere. Don't you
think Peter was sincere about eating that meat? You're dead
right he was sincere. He did right. And here in verse
15, listen, "...but if a brother be greed with your meat," nothing
wrong with meat. There's no sin in material, physical
things. But if your brother, a true believer,
is greed with your meat, "...now walkest thou not charitably,"
you're not walking in love. So you just don't have to do
that. I don't have to do that in his presence. I don't have
to go there. I don't have to dress like that.
I don't have to act like that. I don't have to do these things
to avoid giving offense. And that's exactly what he said.
Isn't that what he's saying? To avoid giving offense. And you're not walking in love,
you're walking selfishly. I'm walking selfishly because
I don't have to eat that. I don't have to go there. I don't
have to do that. I don't have to dress like that.
I don't have to do that. I don't have to. It's not going
to benefit me one way or the other. And it says here, don't
destroy him with your meat for whom Christ died. Now the word
destroy there is offend. Don't offend him. It's my business." No, it's his
business. That's the way Doris and I have
conducted our lives through living here in this town, pastoring
this church, trying to be as careful as we could not to give
offense to people who don't know the gospel of grace. But there's
a good possibility some of them know the Lord. That's right. Trying to know
him or want to know him and I don't want to put something in the
way that keep me from preaching to me He may be one for whom
I've you saying a man be saved not though the gospel grace.
No But a man can be one of God's children who's gonna be saved
And if I shut the door for him and he doesn't come to hear the
gospel because he's offended Say I've shut the door on him
That's what he's talking about. It's like, for example, I was
in a Bible conference one time down in Arkansas years ago. And after the service, people
were there from everywhere. People were there from the north
and the south and all around, different places. And in some
places they called what they have what's called geographical
sanctification. uh... in this country you can
break why i know the place you came from breaking go swimming
from breaking it came from a do they have to do that do they
have been template you can't but after the service one night
we all want to pay for her i guess there was thirty or forty
bible conference people over at that pizza hut and i have
to sit down beside to palace on my right for people over here
and uh... This one on my right said, well,
we always get a bottle of beer with our pizza. I said, don't do that. He said,
what? I said, don't order a bottle
of beer. He said, why not? I said, the
people here, to them, that's a great offense. A great offense. And you don't need it. And you
can do without it for their sake. Nobody's going to tell me what
I'm going to drink and eat. You're not walking in love. See
what I'm saying? That's what he's saying here. Don't offend someone needlessly
and carelessly. That's the reason if you go out
to a restaurant here You don't have to order pre-meal wine or
something. There's somebody sitting right
over there. To them, it's very offensive. You follow what I'm
saying? You just don't need to do it.
Drink it at home if you want to. But when you're out in public,
you're his servant, his child, his spokesman, his messenger,
his ambassador. And they're people of all walks
of life. Now, that's what Paul is saying here. Let's just look
at it again. Verse 14, I know and am persuaded by the Lord
Jesus there's nothing unclean of itself. I know that, Paul
said. But to him that esteemeth anything
unclean, to him it's unclean till he learns better, till he
grows in grace, or maybe it'll stay unclean to him. And if your brother begreed with
your meat, you're not walking in love. So don't offend him
and hurt him with your meat for whom Christ died. In other words,
let not your good be evil spoken of. Now listen, it's good to
avoid Phariseeism. It's good to have liberty in
Christ. It's good to be set free from
all of this bondage, rules, and regulations, but be careful. to use your liberty in such a
way that it does not offend a sincere believer or cause division in
the family of God. Because it's not worth it. It's
not worth it. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Now hold that right there and
let me read Romans 14, the next verse, and then we'll go to 1
Timothy 4. Just hold it right there. Hold 1 Timothy 4. Now go back and read verse 17. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. The kingdom of God is not socializing. It's not conforming everybody
to a certain rule, pattern, or tradition. But the kingdom of
God is righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit. Now let's
go to 1 Timothy 4. Now the Spirit speaketh especially
that in latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits and doctrine of devils, speaking
lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meat which God
hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe
and know the truth. Every creature of God is good,
nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. It's
sanctified by the Word of God in prayer. Now, if you put the
brethren in remembrance of these things, that the kingdom of God
is not meat and drink and traditions and rules and regulations and
laws and duties and deeds and tithes and going to church and
these things, it's righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
If you put men in remembrance of these things, you're a good
minister of Jesus Christ. and nourished up in the words
of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained."
But now go back to the text, Romans 14. Kingdom of God, not meat and
drink, but righteousness, that's the imputed righteousness of
Christ, the imparted righteousness of Christ. Peace, peace with
God, peace in the heart, peace with one another, and joy in
the Holy Ghost. A happy relationship with Christ
and with His people. Joy in the kingdom of God. For
he that in these things, in what? Righteousness, peace, and joy. He that in these things serves Christ, he is acceptable
to God and approved of men. So therefore, verse 19, let us
follow therefore after those things that make for peace. and
things whereby wherewith one may edify another." Follow after
the things that bring peace and harmony and unity among believers.
Follow after that which edifies other people. I don't need anything
in my life that will cause division and strife. Verse 20, "...for me, materialism, physical things, those things
which the flesh reaches for, desires and caters to. For those
things don't destroy the work of God. Don't destroy the work of God.
Don't offend the people of God. Don't split the church of God.
Don't drive people away from the house of God. It's not worth
it. It's not worth it. Just sit down
and determine that it's not worth it to defend
my liberty or defend my wants and wishes, to offend some sincere
person. It's not worth it. It's not worth
it. All things indeed are pure. But
it's evil for that man who eateth with offense. It's still evil
to him. He's been taught that way and
brought up that way. So then, here's the conclusion.
It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, or to go to some place or do
some thing whereby your brother stumbles, whereby he's offended. Bye-bye, he's made weak. Isn't
that a good summarization? Therefore, it's a good thing.
I'll tell you a good thing. While there's no harm in eating
flesh, there's no harm in drinking wine, there's no harm in many
of the things that people have condemned through the years. Some of the old writers, you
know, like Isaac Watts, And John Newton and Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was a strong Sabbatarian,
keeping the Sundays a Sabbath day. Spurgeon used to condemn
two things in half his message. You wouldn't believe it. Sabbath
breakers and theater goers. That was two of his pet condemnations. You bunch of Sabbath breakers
and theater goers, You're headed for the judgment, he'd say. But I can do without the theater
then, if I'm going to offend. You have faith, verse 22. You
have liberty. You have a clear conscience in
a lot of things. Sure, I do preach it. Well, have
it to yourself before God. Have it to yourself. He that condemneth not himself
in that thing which he allowed. Now that's got some limits, you
know. I'm talking about things indifferent.
He's talking about things indifferent, things which the Word does not
specifically condemn. It's like one of the men here
in the church was at the plant one day, two fellas standing
by a coke machine, and they flip to see who pays, you know, and
boy, somebody just got all upset. But buy the drink. Pay for it. Pay for it. See, that's what
I'm talking about. Buy it and pay for it. If you're not condemned
to those things, happy are you. But he that, this man that doubts, he's damned if he eats. He's
not damned in Eternity and hell, anything like it. He's broken. He's destroyed. He's devastated. He's offended. Because he doesn't
eat in faith. Whoever is not of faith is sin.
Now, let's look just for a moment at the next chapter. Just triple
verses. It goes together. We that are
strong. And we're not strong in ourselves.
We're strong in Christ and we're elders and we're older. We're
to bear the infirmities of the weak. We say, a fellow ought
not feel that way. I know. But that's weakness. That's weakness. He confesses they're weak. We're
to bear with their infirmities and put up with their weakness
and not please ourselves. Let every one of us please his
neighbor for his good edification. Don't compromise the gospel for
anybody. But these are things that have
nothing to do with the gospel. These are indifferent things.
For even our Lord pleased not himself, as it is written, the
reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. For whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
these things are for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience
and comfort grant you to be like-minded one toward another according
to Christ Jesus. that ye may with one mind and
one mouth glorify God, even the Father, my Lord Jesus Christ.
Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us. I
hope that's a blessing. I hope it's a blessing. I hope
it gets a good hearing.