On Sunday, we looked at the first
13 verses in this chapter, and I mentioned the fact that in
this chapter, the Apostle Paul is dealing with love and forbearance,
that is to be practiced among the members of a local church. Every local church, just like
the church at Rome, to whom he wrote this letter, is made up
of sinners saved by the grace of God. from various and different
backgrounds. We may not all have the same
understanding about things that I'm calling here things indifferent. In this church, the church at
Rome, it had to do with food and days. We believe that it
was food and days which were prohibited under the law of Moses
or under that old covenant And some in the church did not recognize
or realize that that covenant had passed away with all of those
dietary laws. It occurred to me in preparing
the message for tonight that an Old Testament example might
be good. And I thought of this, and I
want you to turn with me, keep your places here, but turn back
with me to Genesis chapter 45. Genesis chapter 45. Remember
the theme of the subject is love and forbearance, because we don't
all have the same understanding, the same light on things which
are indifferent. Here in Genesis chapter 45, and
let me set the stage, here are 11 brothers. all of them brothers
of Joseph, and he's sending them back to Canaan to get their families
and their father and to bring them into the land of Egypt. He is ruler over all of Egypt,
second only to the Pharaoh. He loads them down with good
things. I mean, he just piles good things
upon these eleven men to take back with them changes of raiment
and food and to his special brother Benjamin even pieces of silver. He loads them down with good
things for their journey to bring their families into Egypt and
they would know when they came back into Egypt that he would
supply them Every need and the best of the land would be theirs. But notice here is his advice
to them in verse 24. So he sent his brethren away,
and they departed. And he said unto them, here it
is, see that you fall not out in or by the way. You've got
everything, everything that you need. Everything to meet your
needs. Now see that you do not fall
out among yourselves in the way. A local church, here we are,
all brothers in Christ. If we're saved, we're all the
children of God. We all have the same father.
We all have the same elder brother who is in control of all things,
who has all authority in heaven and in earth. And we've been
loaded down with benefits. He's blessed us with all spiritual
benefits in heavenly places in Christ before the world began.
Now see that you fall not out in the way. Let love rule and
be forbearing one toward another. Now if you will, let's go back
to Romans 14. See that you fall not out by
the way. And I'm thankful today that I
can stand here tonight and bring this message and the Lord has
blessed our congregation with unity over many, many years. And I know there's been times
when everyone didn't see everything the same way, but rather than
falling out, love and forbearance has carried the day. And I give
God all the glory and the praise for that. Now first, I have two
points to the message. First, Paul's twofold knowledge
and persuasion. His twofold knowledge and persuasion
in verse 14. I know and I'm persuaded by the
Lord Jesus. Now this is his first first thing
that he has knowledge of and is persuaded. I know and am persuaded
by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself. Now we know tonight that the
Apostle Peter, who was a disciple of Christ, of course, before
Paul, but at first he didn't have this knowledge. Paul said,
I know. I know, I like those statements
by Paul, don't you? We know that all things work
together for good. I know whom I believed in and
am persuaded that he's, I love those knows, K-N-O-W, of the
Apostle Paul. We know. And Paul, he knew. He said, I know and am persuaded
of God. There's nothing unclean of itself. Peter didn't have that knowledge
at first. Look with me, if you will, to
Acts chapter 10. In Acts chapter 10, Peter was in
the house of a tanner and God had sent an angel to Cornelius
told him to send two men to Peter and he would come and tell him
what he must do. The scripture here says in verse
9 of chapter 10, on the morrow as they went on their journey
and drew nine to the city. Now those are the two messengers
of Cornelius, a Gentile. Peter went up upon the housetop
to pray about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry and
would have eaten, but while they made ready, he fell into a trance
and saw heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him as
it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down
to the earth. wherein were all manner of four-footed
beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things,
and fowls of the air. In other words, he saw in this
vision or trance this sheet let down from heaven, and in it there
were animals that had been prohibited for him to eat as a Jew under
that old covenant. He saw that coming down from
heaven. And then there was a voice, To him, rise, Peter, kill, and
eat. But Peter said, not so, Lord,
for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him
again the second time, what God hath cleansed, that call not
thou common. This was done thrice, and the
vessel was received up again into heaven. Now the Lord was
preparing Peter to go to the house of a Gentile and to take
the gospel there to him. But the point is, when Peter
at first saw this sheep come down with animals that he knew
the law forbade him to eat, He told the Lord, I've never eaten
anything common or unclean. Not so, Lord. What I'm saying
is, Paul, in our text tonight, he says, I know and am persuaded. Peter didn't have that knowledge
immediately. Paul, when you read in Galatians,
after reading Acts, when he was converted to Acts 9, we're all
familiar with that. picture of God's grace, and then
it says he preached that Jesus is the Christ immediately in
the synagogue. But we learn from the letter
of Galatians that he went into Arabia before he ever went up
to Jerusalem, before he ever met with any of the apostles
of the Lord, he went into Arabia. I seem to recall that he stayed
there for some time, I want to say two years. I don't know if
we know for certain about that time, but no doubt when he came
back, he had been taught, because you notice here in our text tonight,
it says, I know and am persuaded. How was he persuaded? How did
he know this? By the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus,
by His Spirit, teaches us. taught his apostles that they
might write the word of God, bring to remembrance. Remember,
our Lord promised them the Holy Spirit would come and bring to
their remembrance. The point is, Paul knew. How
did he know this? How did he become persuaded of
this? By the Lord Jesus. How do you know? How have you
become persuaded of the truth? Because you're smarter? Because
you're more intelligent than other people? No, no. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Our Lord said, no man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him. I was
reading a verse in the book of Hosea this past week. God draws us by the cards of
a man. He draws us. He uses men in preaching
the gospel to draw his people to Christ. That's my first point. That's
the first thing. Paul's two-fold knowledge and
persuasion. First of all, I know that there's
nothing unclean in itself. I know that. I'm persuaded. The
second, to him, he said, I know this and persuaded of this as
well. To him that esteemeth anything
to be unclean, to him it is unclean. The principle here is that it
is wrong for a man to violate, to act contrary to his conscience. If he believes that something
would be sin for him to do, then he should refrain from it. He
should not violate his conscience. Now the second part of the message,
Paul's teaching on Christian liberty. A child of God is not to give
up the liberty that he has in Christ. He's not to make something
sinful that he knows, like Paul, and is persuaded, is something
indifferent. He's not to do that. Our liberty
must be exercised, a Christian's liberty must be exercised in
a way that we do not injure other believers. And that's the point. We must not fall out in the way
over something indifferent. Now, I want to give us six things
to observe in this matter. And they're all negative things.
I like to be positive. And the reason I like to be positive
is because the gospel is positive. It's the most positive message
that has ever been heard in this world. It's positive. Sometimes the positive is illustrated
by contrasting it with the negative. So tonight, here's six negative
things to observe in this matter of Christian liberty. Number
one, we should not, we should not disregard the love a Christian
has for the brethren, which we would do if we only consider
ourselves and injure one for whom Christ died. Notice that
in verse 15. But if thy brother be grieved
with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Of course, that
word means lovingly, doesn't it? We should not disregard the
love a Christian has for the brethren, which we would do if
we only consider ourselves an injure one for whom Christ died. Now, you know the word destroy
here, but if thy brother be grieved with thy mate, Now walkest thou
not charitably? Destroy not him with thy meat
for whom Christ died. The word destroy here cannot
mean eternal destruction. It doesn't mean that. It's easy, I think, for a new
believer sometimes to read the scriptures and to misunderstand
what The Word of God is teaching us. It's certainly not telling
us that a believer, a child of God, can be destroyed over a
matter so indifferent, a matter so simple. A believer cannot
be destroyed, period. Period. One for whom Christ died
cannot be eternally destroyed. That would mean that God would
be unjust. If He first punished our surety,
and He did, we sang about it, He first punished the sins of
His elect, His chosen people, in their representative, in their
surety, then it would be unjust, we call it double jeopardy, it
would be unjust then for Him to punish one for whom Christ
has already bled and died. Those sins are gone. They're
gone. Never to be seen, just like that
scapegoat. Never to be seen again. Take
it out into an uninhabited land. Our sins are gone. They're gone
through the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. So the word destroy
here doesn't mean eternal destruction, you know that. What it does mean
is a believer who is offended over something that he sees another
believer do that he doesn't have that liberty to do, that his
peace, the peace in his heart, may be destroyed. He may be destroyed
in that sense. And remember, in this passage,
Paul is speaking of the weaker as those who do not have the
understanding that he had and that other believers had. And
what I'm saying here and what this verse tells us that if we
do it knowingly that we're going to hurt someone, we're going
to destroy a believer, a sister's peace by our action that we're
not walking in love. We're not walking in love. I want to say something. I hope
I don't embarrass this person, but David called upon him to
pray this morning before Sunday school, and he prayed, and as
soon as he prayed, we walked around. I said, I want to thank
you for that prayer. You know what he prayed? Lord,
help us to love one another. That's a good prayer, isn't it?
Help us to love one another. If there's any place in this
world where there must be and there should be love, it is among
God's children in a local church. All right, here's the second
negative. We should not disregard the testimony of the gospel that
believers are to maintain. This is what I believe is meant
here in verse 16. Let not then your good, what
good? The good news, the gospel. I bring you good news, the angel
said. I bring you good news of great
joy that shall be unto you and unto all people for this night
in the city of David is born a savior. Now that's not an exact
quote. That's what the word says. Someone
said I'm paraphrasing. You can look that up in Luke
chapter two. But the angel said it's good news, didn't it? Bring
you good news. That's what the apostle is saying
here. Let not your good be evil spoken
of. Here you profess to believe the
gospel, a local church, you profess to believe the gospel, a gospel
that is a demonstration of the love of God, for God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Now let not that
gospel be evil spoken of by your behavior, falling out, not forbearing,
not acting in love one toward the other. Number three, we should
not disregard the fact that the kingdom of God does not consist
in such things. Food and days. Notice that in
verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink. That's just not the kingdom of
God. Now these cults sometimes, they
get involved in stuff like that, don't they? You can't eat this,
you can't do this. comb your hair a certain way,
and they've got all kinds of rules and regulations. That's not the kingdom of God.
That's just not it. You just missed it, if you believe
that. No, the kingdom of God is, first
of all, righteousness. How it is that I, a sinner, may
be righteous with God. How it is that God who is so
righteous that even the heavens are not clean in His sight. A
God who is so holy that He charges even His ministers, His angels,
with folly. There's such a disparity, such
a difference between God and all of His creatures. And angels
are holy beings. But He's the thrice holy God.
And how can I be just with God? The kingdom of God is righteousness. It tells us how, and the only
way how. And that is by substitution. That sweet word, substitution. He sent His Son into this world,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and He took our place Bearing our sins,
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
and the chastisement of our peace fell upon him. We call that imputed
righteousness. I say we do, the scriptures speak
of imputed righteousness. That is the righteousness of
Christ, His perfect obedience, all of His life, His perfect
obedience, and then His sacrificial death. Dying in the sinner's
place, that that righteousness And he was declared to be righteous
when God raised him from the grave. He was justified, even
though he had taken the sins of all his people upon himself. Bearing our sins on the body,
the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. That
righteousness is imputed to every believer. so that that righteousness
is your righteousness if you are a believer and you are accepted
in the beloved. The kingdom of heaven is righteousness
and peace. How do we have peace with God? One of the charges in Romans
chapter three showing the depravity of man is the way of peace. They
have not known. We come into this world, we don't
know the way of peace. Almost all men without exception,
we believe that the way of peace is by our doing. We've got to
do something to please God to obtain peace with God. What Paul
say, therefore be justified by faith, we have peace with God. And the kingdom of God is joy
in the Holy Spirit. How may I live a life of joy
in a world of sinfulness, a world that is always changing? How
is it that I, that you, may have joy, rejoice, in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. You're not going to find it in
the things in this world, but in Christ, there's joy. Number
four, we should not disregard the need to promote peace and
edify one another. Verse 19, let us therefore follow
after the things which make for peace. and things wherewith one
may edify another. When God called Jeremiah... I looked at this again. When
He called Jeremiah... Jeremiah, he was not looking
for a job, was he? Most of these Old Testament prophets,
God put them in the ministry. He put them in the ministry.
And I tell young men sometimes, some of the young men I've known,
wait on the Lord. Don't try to push yourself out.
If God's calling you, He'll make it known, and He'll make a way
and a place for you. Jeremiah, and here's my point,
when he called Jeremiah, he told him this, he gave him this commission. You're going to pull down and
destroy and build up. When God saves a sinner and adds
him to one of His churches, He doesn't commission him to pull
down and destroy. He does commission all of us
to build up. We saw this exhortation last
Wednesday in Hebrews 10. The apostle said, consider one
another to provoke to love and good works, not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together. We are to build up one another.
Remember, wasn't it Cain who asked him, I'm a brother's keeper.
Do I have any responsibility to my brother? As a believer,
we sure do. We sure do. And we should be
engaged in building up, not tearing down, encouraging, not discouraging. And number five, we should not
disregard the truth that while something may be indifferent,
It may be best to forego it, if it may cause a brother to
stumble. Verses 20 and 21. We should not disregard the truth
that while something may be indifferent, you may have all the liberty
in the world to do this. But if it may cause a brother
to stumble, it'd be better to forego it. For meat destroy not
the work of God. All things indeed are pure, but
it is 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. We don't want to put a stumbling
block in front of a believer. And we sure don't want to be
a stumbling block to a brother. You ever thought about God's
law against putting a stumbling block in the way of the blind?
People have to be awfully depraved to need a law like that, don't
we? Can you imagine anything? I can
imagine some things worse, but you see a blind man coming down
the street and he's got that cane and you run over there and
put a block, you know he's going to stumble over it, and when
he falls down, you just hee-haw, laugh about it. How wicked are
we? How depraved are we? We need
a law like that. And yet you know it's true. There
is evil in this world. There's evil in the hearts of
all men. Thank God we have a Savior. And
number six, we should not disregard this truth that Paul is not teaching
that a believer must concede some principle or adopt some
error. He's not teaching that. Verses
22 and 23. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself
before God. Happy is he that condemneth not
himself in that thing which he alloweth, and he that doubteth
is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith. For whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. Paul is not teaching that a believer
must concede some principle or adopt some error. The strong
is not called to surrender his belief that there are things
which are indifferent. He knows that, just like Paul
did. He's not calling upon us to surrender that belief. He
knows, the stronger believer knows that there are things which
God has not called sinful, but at the same time, recognize that
not all have your faith. Not everyone has the same understanding. Then we should not do anything
that would encourage the weaker brother to violate his conscience. Love, love and forbearance. Amen. Let's sing a few verses
of a hymn.