Let's turn tonight to Romans
chapter 14. Romans chapter 14 and verses
1 through 13. Him that is weak in the faith,
receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth
that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge
him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who art thou that
judges 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. One man esteemeth one day above
another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth
it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the
Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the
Lord, for he giveth God thanks. He that eateth not, to the Lord
he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth
to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live,
we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to
this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might
be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge
thy brother? Why dost thou set it not, thy
brother? For we shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, as I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall
confess to God. So then every one of us shall
give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one
another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling
block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. The passage
that I just read and that we are looking at tonight continues
in this practical part of the letter of Romans, and it deals
with Christian love and forbearance. Christian love and forbearance. In Ephesians chapter 4, where
the practical part begins, the apostle Paul wrote, I therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, as he did in Romans 12 and
verse 1 that began the practical part of this letter. In Ephesians,
he said, I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation,
the calling wherewith You are called with all lowliness and
meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace. The church at Rome, as we gather
from the names In the 16th chapter, the church at Rome was made up
of Christians who were saved out of Judaism as well as Gentilism. Their backgrounds were different
in many ways to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace. There must be love and forbearance. This is true, as it was true
in the church at Rome, this is true in every local church. Three things, or I divide our
thoughts tonight into three divisions. First, not everyone in this church
had the same light about things indifferent. That's the first
thing I want us to consider. Not everyone in the church in
Rome and not everyone in our church, not everyone has the
same light about things indifferent. Now, we must assume that they
all had the same knowledge, the same light concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ and his finished work, that salvation is fully
by grace through faith apart from the works of the law of
Moses. If they made, if any of them made things indifferent
to be a test of salvation, then the Apostle Paul would never
have written, receive you, receive you. If any of these things that
we look at as indifferent, if any of these people made these
things as test of salvation, whether a person was saved or
not saved, Then Paul would not have written, receive ye. Look with me, keep your places
here, but turn over a few pages to Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter four and verses 10 and 11. You observe days and months and
times and years. I'm afraid of you. Now he's writing
to believers in the churches of Galatia who had received false
teachers, who came in teaching that a man, yes, you have faith
in Christ, but also you must observe the law of Moses. And so that's the reason here
the apostle says, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed
upon you labor in vain. And look also in Colossians chapter
two with me, Colossians chapter two, and beginning in verse 13. And
you, He's writing to believers in
the church at Colossae. And you, this is a condition
of all of them and all of us before the Lord saves us. Being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us. and took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new
moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things
to come. But the body is Christ. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, from which all the
body by joints and bands having nourishment ministereth, and
knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore,
if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, if
you have a marginal reading, you see before that word rudiments,
the elements of the world. Why, as though living in the
world, are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle
not, which all are to perish with the using, after the commandments
and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom
in will worship, not God's will, but man's will, in will worship
and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to
the satisfying of the flesh. You notice that word rudiments
of the world, elements of the world. What does this have reference
to? Remember the old covenant had
a worldly sanctuary. Remember that? The tabernacle
and then the temple. And there were ordinances, there
were rites and ceremonies that went along with and they included
things that we eat or do not eat and certain days upon which
we worship God. elements of the world. Those
things were, according to the Word of God, things that we see
now as just being shadows of the body. The body is Christ. For you to have a shadow, there
must be a body. And the body of all of those
shadows, they all pictured, they were all types in some way or
the other of the Lord Jesus Christ and His work of redemption. Now back in our text, the things,
but the point I want to make is this, that if these, that
he refers to here as weak, weak brothers, and he admonishes the
church to receive, If they made these things a test of salvation,
the apostle Paul would never have said, receive them. Because
you remember how concerning Timothy, the apostle circumcised him. But when it
came to Titus, who was a Gentile, he would not circumcise him. And he even said, nor give place
for an hour. He wouldn't give place for an
hour to these false brethren who continued to teach that a
man or woman needed more than Christ, that he had also to be
subject to that old covenant law with all of its regulations
and rules. If you look down here in our
text in Romans chapter 14 to verse 17, this pretty well sums
it all up. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. The things which they did not
all have the same light on were things which are indifferent. He mentions food and days. We can only assume that the food
that some would not eat was food which was prohibited by the law
of Moses. The law of Moses allowed the
eating of some meat, but some meat it did not allow. And you
notice here in the text, he says, for one believeth that he may
eat, verse two, all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. So
it's possible that some of these Christians were from a group
that is known as the Essenes, and they were very strict. and these dietary laws, even
more strict than the law of Moses, because they only would eat herbs. They wouldn't eat any meat. And
so it's possible that some in this church, they were not only
saved out of Judaism, but they were saved out of Gentilism. And they also came from this
sect, mainly of Jews, but they were known as the Essenes. Or it could have been food that
had been offered to an idol, or wine that had been poured
out to an idol. That these in the church here,
that he refers to as weak brethren, they didn't have the light on
these things. And so they would not eat certain
meat. And then the days, the days that
some esteemed and others didn't, were probably feast days. Remember the various feasts that
they had in Israel and the law commanded these feasts. They
had the Feast of Tabernacles when they would go up to Jerusalem
and make them a booth, camp out for a week. Feast of Tabernacles
to remind them of their 40 years in the wilderness and how God
had provided food for them all those years, how God had sustained
them. They had a number of feast days,
and every month, evidently, there was a new moon, a new moon every
month, so a feast day was the first day of the new moon. And there were other feasts,
you know, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of, of the Passover
feast, several different feasts in the Old Testament. And some
of these no doubt believe, well, those are holy days. We've got
to observe those days. Not for salvation, but they felt
that a person needed to do those things for whatever reason, and
some didn't. Now, it'd be easy to find fault,
one with the other. No, it's love and forbearance.
The churches, from what we know from the Scriptures, and this
is what we have for our faith and our practice, the Word of
God. We don't have creeds and things
like that. We have the Bible. That's all
we need, the Word of God. And it tells us what we are to
believe and how we are to live, what we are to practice. And
that's what we see in this passage of Scripture. But we see in the
New Testament that the first day of the week, which is Sunday,
the believers began to meet on the first day of the week. We
know they assembled on that day because Paul told them to take
up the collection on the first day of the week. There's no place
in the scripture that teaches that the Jewish Sabbath was changed
to Sunday. and call it the Christian Sabbath.
There's no place in the word of God that says that. Christ
is the believer's Sabbath. Sabbath means rest. He said,
come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. That's the believer's rest. So
that's the first thing. Not everyone in this church had
the same light about things indifferent. Well second, here are four truths
concerning weaker brethren. And we'll go through these quickly.
First of all, a Christian, a real Christian, a true believer, a
child of God, he may be weak in the faith on these points,
but still be in the faith. He may be weak in the faith,
but still in the faith. And you see that in verse 3. Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge
him that eateth, for God hath received him. I try to remind
us quite often here in this congregation that when a person is saved,
he's born into the family of God and as a newborn babe. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. A believer, a child of God, is
not born spiritually full grown. We grow by the grace of God. If we have life, everything that
has life grows. If something doesn't grow, it's
dead. So a Christian may be weak in the faith on these points
that we've mentioned here, that he mentions rather, but still
be in the faith. Number two, a Christian has no
right to judge another. It is to his own master he stands
or falls. Notice that in verse four. Who
art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master
he standeth or falleth. We never have the right to judge
another, because it is to his own master that he stands or
falls. And number three, a Christian,
though weak, is safe. Safe in the arms of Jesus. Right? He may be weak in the faith,
but he's still safe He's still under his father's care. The
last part of verse 4. Yea, he shall be holding up. He's weak, but he's got a heavenly
father who's strong. He shall be holding up, for God
is able to make him stand. I know we all love this verse
of scripture. I'm going to quote that I believe
goes along with that. It's Jude, verse 24. Now unto
him that is able to keep you from falling, weak, yeah, a strong
God, but unto him that is able to keep you from falling and
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy. He's able. He is our strength. You have,
both of you men, you have small babies in your family right now,
but they're still part of your family. They're weak, they're
helpless in many ways, but they're still part of your family. And God has some weak children,
but they're still in the faith, they're still part of the family.
And fourth, A Christian should live according to this principle.
This principle that is outlined or given to us in verses six
through nine. No man lives to himself or dies unto
himself. And whether he lives or dies
belongs to God. The man who eats He's got the
liberty to eat pork. Oh, I like that bacon. Bacon's
good. Man that eats sits down at the
table in the morning and he has bacon and eggs and he bows his
head and he thanks God, recognizes God is the one who provided and
supplied his food. Other man, he doesn't have that
liberty. He wouldn't dare eat that bacon. But he sets down to table a meal
of herbs, but he bows his head and gives thanks unto God. Both
men realize that everything they have comes from God, that he
is the disposer of life and death and all the blessings that we
enjoy. Both give thanks unto the Lord. And they both, both weaker and
stronger in this context, they all know and believe that Jesus
Christ is Lord. He's not going to be Lord. He
is Lord. You're not going to make him
your Lord. He is your Lord. What does the apostle here tell
us here? He tells us to this end, Christ
both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both. of the dead and the living. The third part of my message,
the apostle tells us that we all, every believer, every child
of God, we all shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Notice that in verse 10, 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. When a person dies, we're taught
from the word of God that a saved person goes immediately to be
with the Lord. The apostle Paul, concerning
himself, recognized to desire, he had a desire to depart and
to be with Christ, which is far better. Immediately, immediately,
when a believer dies, he opens his eyes. in the presence of
his Lord. We also know that the lost, those
who die, never having been reconciled unto God, that they go immediately
to hell. The Lord said this about that
rich man in Luke chapter 16. The rich man also died. Lazarus
died. The angels carried him to the
bosom of Abraham. He went immediately into the
presence of the Lord. And our Lord said the rich man
also died and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes. The Bible nowhere teaches soul
sleep. The Bible speaks of the death
of believers in the New Testament as sleep. I remember the words
So comforting words, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about Lazarus. He said, our friend Lazarus sleepeth. No one is afraid to go to sleep. The New Testament speaks of the
death of a believer as sleeping. But that doesn't mean that the
soul sleeps. Nowhere in the scripture are
we ever told that the soul sleeps. The body sleeps in the grave,
goes back to the dust. But not the soul. And nowhere
in the scriptures do they teach there's a place that some people
refer to as purgatory. that people go there and you
know the false teaching how that you've got to say, go through
whatever the church says you've got to go through to get those
souls out of purgatory so they'll go on to heaven. That's just
a money-making operation of a false church. That's all that ever
has been. The Bible doesn't teach soul
sleep. It doesn't teach purgatory. When a person dies, as the tree
falls, that's the way it's going to remain. He that is righteous,
let him be righteous still. And he that is wicked, let him
be wicked still. Now, we might look upon that,
what happens at death, as a judgment. And in a sense, it is. But it doesn't take away from
the fact, from the truth, that the Bible teaches there's going
to be a final judgment. A judgment at which all men shall
stand, even as this verse of Scripture tells us, that all
men shall stand before the Lord Jesus to whom all judgment is
committed. If we had no other proof that
Jesus Christ is God, it would be simply that would be enough. That all judgment is committed
unto Him. And to be the judge of all men,
He has to be omniscient. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man before whom all men will stand in that final judgment. The Apostle Paul preaching in
Athens in Acts chapter 17 said, God hath appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men. No one should doubt
the judgment God has given assurance unto all men. and that he hath
raised him, who Christ raised him from the dead. Now, in light
of this truth, that men will go to their places at death,
some think, well, a final judgment is not necessary. And to you
and I, it may appear unnecessary, but Beloved, it's not our place
to question what God has revealed. And he has revealed that there
is going to be a final judgment at which all men who have ever
lived are going to appear. John Dagg gives what he calls
some important advantages which may arise from a final judgment. Let me just give you these quickly.
The final judgment will publicly and impressively vindicate the
ways of God in the view of all intelligent beings. The mystery
of the divine administration will then be fully unfolded.
The wisdom and righteousness of all God's dispensations will
then be made apparent. The justice of the sentences
then pronounced will be rendered perfectly clear. And listen to
this. And be perfectly clear on every
creature as he leaves the tribunal, every man lost or saved, as he
leaves the judgment seat, to go to the place assigned him
with the impression that made upon him, which will last throughout
eternity." Will last throughout eternity. The impression made
upon him at that judgment seat. Yes, I'm condemned to eternity
in hell, and that's exactly what I deserve. That's exactly what
I deserve. a person who is to go to be with
the Lord for eternity. That's exactly what I've received
by grace. Number two, the final judgment
will be honorable to Jesus Christ. It is called the day of Christ.
Remember when he was here, he stood before his judges, charged
as a blasphemer, maligned as an imposter, But now he's the
judge of all. There comes Pilate, there comes
Herod, there comes the Caesars, all standing before the Lord
Jesus Christ, the judge of all. And it is now that every tongue
confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Number three, the final judgment
will include the body as well as the soul. There's a resurrection
of the body and joined to the soul standing before the Lord. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body. It's only right that this body
appear with our souls at this judgment. According to that he
hath done, whether it be good or bad. And number four, lastly,
the final judgment will mark Christ's final victory over all
God's enemies. Remember, the last enemy is death,
and that shall be destroyed. The enemies have already been
defeated, but they're still active. We know that. The final judgment will mark
His second coming. The Lord Jesus Christ shall come
again. Here's a question. Let me close
with this. Here's a question that is sometimes
asked. Will the believer's sins be brought
up in this judgment? The believer's going to be here,
as well as the unbeliever. But will the believer's sins
be brought up in this judgment? And I would just answer that
by this question, how can they if they are gone? If they're
cast in the sea of God's forgetfulness, how can they be brought up? Another
question is how many judgments shall there be? And I would answer
that question with these questions, how many last trumps can there
be? Think about it. How many last
trumps, if there's the last trump, that's the last trump. There's
not another last trump and another last trump. And another question
along with that, how many last days can there be? If this is
the last day, then there cannot be another last day and another
last day. How many judgments shall there
be? And some people ask, what about
the Christians' rewards? I was just recently asked about
this. What about the Christians' rewards?
Don't you believe that believers are going to be judged and they're
going to receive rewards for their works? Whether they were
good, whether they were worthy of rewards, and people are going
to be differentiated in heaven by their works, by their rewards? What about that? I just say this, the words that
Christ spoke to Abram, who is the father of all believers. He said, Abram, fear not. I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. Isn't Christ enough? Isn't Christ
enough? If he is the believer's reward,
and he is, isn't that sufficient? That whole teaching about rewards,
and I know something about that. I know something about studying
that teaching. But I tell you, it flies in the
face of grace. Salvation by grace. And everyone
who stands in heaven and enjoys God forever is all going to give
all the praise and all the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is our reward. Well, I pray that God will bless
this word to all of us here tonight, David, if you will.