The title of today's message is, Whatsoever is Not of Faith is Sin. Taken from Romans chapter 14 and verse 23. Now the striking, defining word of this sentence is the last word, sin. One of the greatest flaws in our culture always and in our church general today, is the absence of holy hatred of sin. The Bible calls sin evil and bitter, Jeremiah 2.19, but few people think of it that way. We people can tend to think of sin as a trifle. We may judge it by the opinion of the world, We may see so little criminality in sin, we persuade ourselves that a few good works will make full reparation for it. We are living in the conditions prophesied in the last days. The time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine. The impropriety of the day is charged to that judge or to this senator or that representative or these people of Hollywood. There's much to do, much ado about this impropriety, but I don't hear anybody calling it sin. First and foremost, the offense of any sin is that it's an offense against God. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. God speaks the sharpest metaphors to shock dead hearts into knowing the horrors of sin, sort of like a spiritual defibrillator, clear paths to try to get us to be alerted to how awful sin is and how horrified God's people should be of sin. Sin is like indented. stink of rising from an open grave. Sin is to have all the visual appeal to the righteous as do putrefying sores. Sin's progressive destruction as it takes over more and more of a soul's life is likened unto gangrene. Sin to the righteous should have all the revolting and repelling effect as dog vomit or dung The Scriptures tell us that sin defiles, sin deceives, sin damages, sin desensitizes, and sin demanded the suffering of our Savior. And so it's a serious thing when we're told here in this text, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. What does this statement mean, whatsoever is not of faith? Now we have a general definition of faith. Faith is believing God. More particularly, faith is believing and obeying God because true faith is shown by actions. Faith is believing and obeying God as is His will revealed in the Word of God. Faith is trusting God. But sometimes in the Scriptures, the word faith is used in a more limited and careful fashion. And I'd like to give you an example. One of the verses we often quote in these trying days is, When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? And we think that word faith there means generally the faith, the body of faith. the fundamentals of the faith, trusting in Christ for salvation faith. And I'm not saying that it is not that, but do you know the context in which that verse appears? Do you know where in the scriptures it is found? It's in Luke chapter 18. You might remember Luke chapter 18 begins with, and Jesus told a parable to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Then he goes on to tell a parable that there was this judge, that a widow, surely the needs of this poor widow would be met. But the judge, he doesn't care about people's needs. He's cold and indifferent and distant. But Jesus goes on to say, because the widow continued in pressing for an answer, the judge finally gives in and gets her out of the way. He answers and deals with her issue. Then Jesus goes on to say, now hear what the unjust judge did. And I tell you, won't God the Father do better? And the picture here is Jesus encouraging people to endure in prayer, and he's saying the means of enduring in prayer is having the right image of God. you're faltering in your prayer, disciples, as you're seeing God sort of like an unjust judge. Let's start with your image of who God is, as though He doesn't really care, as though He's distant, as though He is hesitant to respond, as though even if you have a great need, like a widow in need, He may not respond at all. I tell you, He will respond, and that right quickly. But when the Son of Man returns, shall he find faith on the earth? See, in context here, that faith means faith in who God truly is. As we approach the last days, people have differing ideas of who God is. He's easy on this. He doesn't find this to be an important issue. You can integrate this idea and that idea. Will anybody know with clarity what the Scriptures declare to be God? People will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. So there we have an illustration in Luke chapter 18 of faith being a little refined and must be understood in terms of context. And I'm saying the same is true here in our text, Romans chapter 14. We have to remember the context. Context here is similar to what we have in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 in that area. the inevitable differences you have when people from varying cultures get saved and join the same church. That's the context. Paul is writing to the Romans. You've got Gentiles, some of which coming out of no religious background, some coming out of pagan religion, some coming out through immorality, and then you have Jewish converts who are coming from a whole different area, different dietary laws, different perceptions as far as liberties and those sorts of things, and they're all brought into one bunch. Paul's having to address that. That's the context. What do you do with the inevitable differences between people as they get saved and join the church? Differences could be due to ethnic background. You think about Jews getting saved. Up until the time of their conversion, They probably have been taught, don't be defiled by eating with Gentiles. Don't be defiled and be declared unclean by going into a Gentile's house. Wash this way before you eat. Say this prayer and don't touch any unclean food. Don't eat catfish and don't eat pork. All of a sudden they get saved and much of that gets laid aside. Now they have liberty. The Gentiles are waiting and some Jews who have been Christians for some time are waiting. Come on now, liberate. You know, drop all that stuff. And then you look on the other side, Gentiles are bringing in their baggage. And those who were worshiping in idolatry and in temples with prostitution, to see what they're coming out of. They might think differently, dress differently, talk differently, have different moral backgrounds and all that. It's going to take a while for all this to work out, where one party doesn't offend another party for this or that reason. That's the context. Ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds, moral backgrounds, educational backgrounds, age, personalities, tastes, refinements, language, clothing, music, expectations, commitment levels, dietary differences, marriage and family values, besetting sins. All this gets brought in together. One might be tempted to say, well, That'll take care of itself. Just preach the word, save souls, all will fall into place. But that's not how Paul answers this question. Look, for example, in verse 15. You think this is small potatoes? You think, well, that's just minor stuff. They're going to have their little differences. They'll work it out. Look at the verbs that he uses to describe, if you don't handle this right, what happens? Verse 15. Thy brother be grieved with thy meat. Now walkest thou not charitably, that is, unlovingly. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Here's the context. You have people coming out of that temple idolatry, where there was prostitution, where there was all this devil worship. Somebody gets saved out of that. Well, they used to have feasts related to that worship. And sometimes they cooked more than people could eat. And so the next day in the market, you have all this stuff dropped there, buy it, 10 cents on a dollar, great food. Some people understood the liberty they had as believers now. Meat's just meat. There's nothing evil about it in itself. I'll save my money, buy good food, go home and eat. Maybe I'll bring it to potluck at church. But then you have people who just got saved out of that, extricated from that wickedness. And here they go to church and they see the very food that they used to imbibe in, and they know to whom it was dedicated. And they know the wickedness surrounding. Now you have on one side, people say, chill, it's just meat. The other side, they say, but my conscience, and there's our word, my conscience won't allow me. I'm not there. I have sensitivities. I remember one time in a chapel seminary, somebody brought in the world's music, but with Christian words. And one woman got up and ran out of the chapel. and was crying, because she said, my sensitivities, my conscience, this draws me right back into the bar where I used to go. Different levels, different types of sensitivities when you bring in that mixture of people. That's the context. And to handle it wrongly, again in verse 15 we see, you may destroy that person with the weaker conscience. That's a strong word in the Greek. It means utter destruction. So also in verse 20, for meat, destroy not... Just for meat? You can't go without that food? You can't not bring that? You can't not flaunt that in front of other people? Can you willingly take limitations upon your liberty? Might be biblical liberties. You may be totally theologically accurate. Nevertheless, for the sake of the weaker brother, would you not take some limitations rather than destroy? Look at the phrase, the work of God. God going into church, he might split it wide open. Or maybe it's speaking about an individual. I think of Philippians 1.6, being confident in this very thing, that he that hath begun a good work and you would continue it until the day of Jesus Christ. So, he's doing a good work in his soul, you may destroy that work if you don't deal with his or her sensitivities in an acceptable manner. So, twice that verb destroy occurs. And I'd like to turn your attention to 1 Corinthians 8, the parallel text. When you talk about a wicked city, Corinth, sailor city, great port, people coming in from all over, so you've got the sin de jure all about you. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 7, Albeit 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. But meat, granted, committeth 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, you understand your doctrine more deeply, Perhaps you've been a Christian longer, you've worked through your own little set of proclivities and limitations. Become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if many men see thee, which thou hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are awful unto idols? And through thy knowledge shall the weaker brother, what's the next word? Carry. for whom Christ died. Don't presume this is small potatoes. You can destroy, you can destroy, one can perish if the conscience issue is not handled gently and carefully. I'll never forget when I was early in my lay preaching. This goes back almost 40 years. I was in a small town Baptist church preaching and there was a fellow in the back row, and he barked out something about farmers working on Sunday. About this time of the year, and there was a fellow, he was a deacon in the church, who was harvesting on Sunday because winter blizzards were coming, and he did it. And this fellow in the back row, he was also a farmer, that was against his sensitivities that people would work on Sunday, whatever is coming, weather-wise. Now, to make this a little more complex of an issue, that fellow in the back row, I knew him very well. I was just a lay preacher. I was just coming in for this Sunday. He was just coming in, I think, to hear me. He wasn't normally there. But he was sitting there with another man's wife. Seriously, he was married to somebody, she was married to somebody, but those two had run off together. Now, he has no trouble in his conscience coming to church in that situation, and yet he has trouble with that fellow in that situation. You want to talk about trouble brewing? Destroy, destroy, and perish. Now, we're given a chapter of this in Romans, chapter in Corinthians because this is an important issue. So, faith in our text here has a more specific and limited sense than just believing and trusting God. In Luke 18, the issue of faith was having a correct image of God. In Romans 14, the issue of faith is respecting the conscience. You see, there are some things that are always wrong. And no believer should ever do them. They're wrong. Don't give the excuse, well, it's not affecting my conscience, I guess I got... If it's sin, it's sin. This is not the issue here. If there's things wrong, the Bible says it's wrong, don't do them. And then there are other things which are right, and Christians should always do them. Things that are wrong, things that are right. And in between, there may be some gray areas where one way may or may not be better than another, or someone has not yet been enlightened as to his ignorance, or maybe error, or maybe the liberty, main focus here, that is availed to him. Do you just push him through it, even though there's a sensitivity? No, you don't. Give him room, give him time. We all have these areas. When I was going to school one year in Vermillion. I rented a house from an elderly lady. This would be back in 1970, early 70s. And she was elderly then. She was born in the late 1800s. We had some friends over to this house, and the elderly lady was quite offended. We found out afterwards it was because some of the girls came with their hair down. She was brought up in a time and in a culture where you wear your hair up if you're a lady, and you only allow it to come down in your own home or before your husband. And this communicated something that really hit her wrong. That was her sensitivity. And I suppose head covering things, different churches, there's other applications of this and a number of other sorts of things. You don't get saved or not saved by where you stand on it. I'm just saying she was sensitive. So what do you do with that? It wasn't a church matter, it was a house matter. But that's the topic, respecting other people's conscience. Romans 14.23 sums up how to proceed in such cases. The word there in the King James is dam, and today's language, I think condemn would represent more closely what the Greek means there in verse 23. He that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. If your conscience condemns you, there may be, oh, you want to take food, we've mentioned this the other week. I don't know where I got the revulsion, maybe it's directly from the Lord, but I don't want to eat cat. I don't want to eat dog. I don't want to eat horse. I did eat dog once. I was in a little cafe in Italy, and we were enjoying this food, and we asked, what is this? And they said, somewhere like perro. And we understood it meant dog. And we stopped eating. But I don't know if those revulsions that some of us may have for certain kinds of food come from the Lord. Some of it's just cultural. But you can tell me all day long at lunchtime, look, you've got total liberty to eat this dog. I probably still wouldn't eat it. I'm just not interested. I have this liberty, I'll back it off to this far, because here's my comfort zone. Some people, they'll eat anything, it's okay, then they got that liberty. But this is what the issue is, liberty, not large-scale, all-encompassing, justifying faith being taught here, but faith, understanding that God has given you liberty to do something which previously perhaps you had some check in your soul about doing. Be faithful and care of your conscience meanwhile in the transition. Some Jews, they have been Christians long enough, they worship on Sunday, not on Saturday. They don't do ceremonial washings. They can enjoy some good bacon with their eggs. They've gotten that liberty, but it may have taken some time. Peter, he is a disciple for some time, the Lord has this cloth dropped down, it's got all these unclean things in there, and the Lord says, eat. And what does Peter say? Not so, Lord, not so. Three times we've got to go through this before Peter's impressed on this. Really? But the borders have changed. It takes a while to work through the sensitivity. So I looked up what some of the experts have said to define this faith in Romans 14, 23. Since our scripture today is whatsoever is not of faith is sin, sin, we're revolted by sin, don't want to sin. Well, then we need to understand what it means by whatsoever is not of faith. In areas, gray areas, practical areas, lifestyle areas in which we conflict with each other, given our varying backgrounds, age, education, ethnic groups, all these other things. The Greek scholar A.T. Robertson, concerning Romans 14.23, says, Faith here is subjective, one's strong conviction in the light of his relation to Christ and his enlightened conscience. To go against this combination is sin beyond a doubt. F.B. Meyer, Faith here is moral confidence as to what in general and under given circumstances is on the right Christian mode of action. John Wesley, whatever a man does without a full persuasion of its lawfulness, it is sin to him. Albert Barnes, a man should not do a thing doubting its correctness. He should have a strong conviction that what he does is right, and that if he has not this conviction, it is sinfulness. Now, may we rush to say, that doesn't mean, well, if you've got no problem in your conscience, you can just go ahead and do it, if it's sin. I had a friend, once he drove all the way down to Tennessee to go to Christian college, and then he decided not to, and he drove all the way back, and he said he sped all the way. And he said, I guess my conscience was just seared because it didn't bother me a bit. Well, that's not an excuse. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, the higher powers, the Bible says. to break the speed limit is to sin, whether you're sent in your conscience or not. What I'm saying is these definitions of conscience and how to deal with it do not justify sin. And if your conscience has been seared, woe to you! Let's see if God can heal that and give you sensitive conscience again. So our text today stresses the immense value of a clean conscience. the hands that formed the universe, formed a conscience, sort of like this harmonic balancer that he put inside you and said, now handle this with care, guard it carefully, don't abuse it, don't ruin it, don't sear it. By my Spirit working through my word, I will have you to be sensitive to right and wrong with your conscience. So we'll start now with a definition of conscience. Conscience is our internal sense of right and wrong. Conscience gives self-approval or condemnation for the choices we make in thought, word, and deed. You're familiar with Proverbs 20 and verse 27? The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly, means searching all the inner chambers of our inward being. The conscience, it's like a lantern. And we go and we tour all the chambers of our being. What's behind that door in that closet there? Let's go down to the cellar and see what is there. Let's walk through all the chambers of your being. That's what the conscience does. Shines a light. We read in Romans 2.15, one reason why people should believe in their Creator and confess their sin. We saw the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. That's what conscience does. And oh, the power of a conscience. Think of all the illustrations in the Bible. I wrote down a bunch. I'll just give you a couple. Genesis chapter 42. And verse 21, there's where the brothers of Joseph say one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we were not here. Therefore, in this distress is this distress come upon us. You know, that event occurred over 20 years earlier and still the conscience is bothering this brother. Just recently, I was down in Yankton having lunch with my mother in a grocery store restaurant. A fellow came up to the table and he asked me if that was my name. I said, yes. He said, remember me? And I did, though I hadn't seen him, I would say, for 35 years. And he wanted to apologize to me for something that had been bothering his conscience. 35 years, still on his conscience. Oh, that conscience is powerful. Oh, that conscience wants a man to make things right with his brothers, with his sisters, and with his God. We read in 2 Samuel 24 and verse 10, another illustration, David's heart smote him. After that, he had numbered the people. We read in Matthew 27, verses 3 and 4, even Judas, who betrayed Christ, When he saw that Christ was condemned, he repented, and he said, I have betrayed the innocent blood. His conscience bothered him. When Peter declared the gospel in Acts chapter 2 and verse 37, the godly responded. When they understood that they helped crucify the Savior, they were pricked in their heart. It said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Conscience is a gift from God. Everybody coming to church has them. Some are sort of seared or close to it. Some are somewhat defiled. Some are coming out of that and getting more and more healthy. Treat them with care. Don't force somebody to go past what they're understood liberty. Even though theologically you may be accurate, be careful. because you want that conscience to continue to grow in its vibrancy and its usefulness to guide a person to what is right and what is wrong. We read in Acts 24 and verse 16, Paul saying, herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. Does that represent your desire? You understand how you are being hobbled, rendered ineffectual, if you don't have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man? Not that we never do wrong, but that when we do wrong, we confess it. We make it right. Job says in Job 27.6, My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." It's all the value of a clean conscience. 2 Corinthians 1.12, For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience. that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 28, If any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake, but short it, and for conscience' sake. Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other. 1 Timothy 4, verses 1 and 2. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. That's what you can do to a conscience. Sear it, cauterize it, cauterizing the nerve endings so there's no feeling. That's the last day. That's the giving themselves to doctrines of demons, seducing spirits, speaking lies and hypocrisies. People lose feel, lose the calibration, have no sense of right or wrong. The Bible tells us about the adulteress, who can eat and wipe her mouth and say, I've done no wrong. We have a people in our culture today where terrible wrong is being done, but people don't know how to work through it, make resolution, settle it, declare with clarity how one should go from where he is to where he should be. We read in Titus 1.15, unto the pure all things are pure. Now that's a mature conscience, I believe. He's worked through and comprehends the standards of God, and how they play out in practical life. But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. I'd like to turn you to one more text, Hebrews 9. If you would turn there, please. I'd just like to say, we've covered a number of topics in Romans chapter 14. Can't leave that chapter without putting emphasis, we've discussed this sort of thing before, the importance of a clean conscience. I would say, first of all, if there are people here who are not yet saved, Conscience can be so overburdened with guilt, one may lose sense of what it is that weighs him down. Or you may be so used to being weighed down and sluggish and insensitive and unclear of what life is about and where to go and what to do, you just feel kind of a sullen and amorphous sadness. that you may be a conscience. Maybe a conscience that's been defiled so many times, has been abused so many times, so much wrong done without reconciliation taking place, that depression hangs in you like a dead animal. Here's a verse to address that. Hebrews 9 and verse 14. See, there was a time in the ritual preceding the coming of Christ where people could confess all that guilt on the head of a substitute. And then they watched that substitute be slain, all their sin being judged in a substitute. But that was a goat or that was a bull or something else. And there was some relief by faith. But here we read in Hebrews 9.14, how much more shall the blood, not of a goat, not of a lamb, not of a cow, but of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. God can make you entirely and completely and wonderfully free and clean, whiter than snow. Amen? We have a fellowship here of people who hopefully have experienced that. And if not, come today. And for those who have experienced it, let's be sensitive as we can to our own conscience, be alert to God's directing us through the Scriptures to the conscience, and be mindful, sensitive, loving, patient in working with those who haven't achieved in the same level, who are back here some, who cannot do some things because of their conscience. Give them time. Give God's grace time. and pray one for another that harmony not only be maintained, but improve and grow in a loving, sensitive church. Amen. Father, to be delivered from a burdened conscience is one of the greatest joys a human soul can experience. Surely we will sing endlessly in glory. Oh, the weight has been lifted, the darkness has been removed. I am clean, I am reconciled to God, not by my works, not by my merit, but by the merit of another who died in my place. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me, washing me, making me whiter than snow. Father, bring every person within the range of my voice to a full understanding of what is availed to them, what is to be achieved through the blood of Christ. For the glory of God, for the blessing of others, and for our own soul's stability. May we love and be patient and be sensitive toward the consciences of others. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. it.