The sermon you are about to hear was recorded at Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida. For additional sermons and more information, visit our website at truegraceofgod.org. As Don mentioned earlier this morning, we're going to return to our study of the book of Romans, and we are currently in the middle of chapter 14 of Romans. So I encourage you to get a copy of God's word and turn to Romans 14. Since it's been a while since we have looked at this particular book in this chapter, I want to take a few minutes and give a brief overview of the first nine verses of Romans 14. That's where we left off. And then this morning, we're going to zero in on verses 10 through 12. And Paul's in the middle of an argument here, an argument about why and how Christians are to accept one another, especially how we're to accept each other and not separate from one another whenever it comes to things that God has not commanded or has not forbidden. In this chapter, Paul is concerned to teach us about exercising Christian liberty, the freedom that we have in Christ. Specifically, how we're to relate to fellow Christians who exercise their liberty differently than we do. We're not to expect everybody to have the same opinions and preferences that we do when it comes to things that God hasn't commanded or God hasn't forbidden. There will be brothers and sisters who have opinions, preferences, different from your own. And that's okay. It shouldn't be contentious. It shouldn't be a big deal at all. It certainly should not be an opportunity or an occasion for us to separate from each other. Now, what Paul's talking about in this chapter is things that have been called indifferent things. Things that, again, God hasn't spoken directly to, He hasn't commanded, nor has He forbidden them. As Christians, we know that we're always to do what God commands. It's not up for debate. If God says it and He tells us to do it, then that's our duty. We also likewise know that we're never to do whatever God forbids. If He says, don't do it, thou shalt not, then we accept that. We know that that's our responsibility. And if we remember that, then that's going to settle a great deal of the ethical questions that come at us in life. We'll ask, has God commanded it? Okay, then that's what we're to do. Has God forbidden it? Okay, then we're not free to do that. This is why it's so important for us to know God's law. why it's important to know the Ten Commandments. We're teaching our children right now to memorize the Ten Commandments. And kids, you got one more week, I think, till Saturday when we're gonna have this big ice cream party for all the children that have memorized the Ten Commandments. If you need more information about that, you can see me or somebody else after the service, and we'll tell you more about it. But we're doing that not because we like ice cream so much, though that's fine. We're doing that because we want kids to know the commandments of God. We want them to know what God says we must do and what God forbids that we should ever do, that we must not do. As Christians, we were once condemned by those commandments. We once lived under the judgment of God's law because we don't measure up. We can't keep the commandments the way that God requires them to be kept. which is spotlessly, perfectly. And having felt the condemning power of the law, we were led by the Spirit of God to Jesus Christ, who has kept that law, who has done everything that God requires, who's never done anything that God forbids, and who did it so that everybody who trusts in Him might receive the benefits of His obedient life. Jesus, having kept God's law perfectly, voluntarily laid down His life under the curse of the law, as if He Himself had broken the commandments, though He never did. And He did that so that He might be a substitute for His people, for everybody, anybody who would say, I can't do it. I can't measure up and see Him as the one who has done it, who has measured up and bow in humility and receive Him as Lord. A Christian is somebody who's been saved by Christ, by His perfect life, by His sacrificial atoning death. And as those who have been rescued by the law-keeping Christ, we now want to keep God's commandments. We want to do what God says. We want to never do what He forbids. So, for example, Christians honor our fathers and mothers. Why? Because God says do that. And we don't steal. We don't murder. Why? Because God forbids that. But what about those things that God neither commands nor forbids? What about celebrating Christmas? What about drinking wine? What about wearing makeup? God doesn't command it. He doesn't forbid it. These are indifferent things. They're indifferent, not because they're necessarily unimportant. They're indifferent because God has left it to our Christian conscience to determine how we will conduct ourselves in these areas. Our consciences, informed by the principles of His Word, are to guide us in such questions. In other words, God leaves these things to our Christian liberty. You're free to celebrate Christmas or not to celebrate Christmas as long as you do it in keeping with the general teachings of God's Word and ultimately for His own glory. The particular issues that were creating problems in the church at Rome centered on diets and days, in different things that God had not specifically instructed about. There were some in that church who thought in order to be really spiritual, that you had to eat a vegetarian diet. And that you had to observe certain holidays as special days. These are people in verse 1 of chapter 14, as we'll hear in a moment. Paul calls weak in faith because they held these views that weren't exactly correct, but they bound their conscience by them. There are others who said. We can eat anything we want to, to the glory of God. And all days are the same, so we can celebrate holidays or not celebrate them, to the glory of God. And these are the people in chapter 15, verse 1, Paul calls the strong. And Paul's concern in this chapter is not to persuade people to start eating meat or to become vegetarians. He's not concerned to persuade people that they ought to honor certain holidays every year or that they ought to quit honoring certain holidays every year. After all, these are things that are matters of liberty. You can do them or not do them. Just do them to the glory of God. Paul's point in this chapter is to remind Christians that we must treat each other with love and respect when we disagree about such matters like diets and days. While we must never give up the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ, that is, we must never let anybody tell us we must do something that Christ has not commanded us to do. Or we must not do something that He's not forbidden us to do. Never give up your freedom in Christ. We should be willing to choose not to exercise our freedom in Christ at certain times, in certain ways. We should be willing always to accept one another, even when we disagree on things that are indifferent. Well, let's see how the Apostle Paul works this out in the first 12 verses of Romans 14. And again, we're just going to kind of do a summary of verses one through nine, where he gives us a couple of arguments and then zero in on verses 10 through 12, where we find that third argument as to why and how we are to accept each other. So I'm going to begin reading in verse one of Romans 14. If you're using one of the Bibles provided, you'll see this on page 948, 949. And I want you to follow along in your copy of the scriptures, get the words of the scripture in front of you so that as we work through them, verses 10 through 12 especially, you can see exactly what it is that God inspired the apostle Paul to write. So hear the word of God from Romans 14, beginning in verse one. As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes that he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. In the notice verses 10 through 12, this is where we're going to focus today. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or you? Why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. What Paul is saying in these last three verses is that Christians must accept each other because we are all going to face the judgment seat of God. And we must remember that as we deal with our relationships toward each other. Now this is the third reason that Paul gives us in this section of Romans for being charitable, being respectful toward brothers who disagree with us regarding things indifferent. The first reason that He gives us is stated in verse 3. We must welcome one another when we disagree about diets and days and Christmas and things like that, because God welcomes our brothers. And so we should too. Then in verses 5 through 9, if you look at that, you'll see the second reason that we must accept one another when we have differing preferences, differing opinions about these indifferent things, is because we all live under the Lordship of Christ. Our brothers are accountable to Christ just as we are. They are His servants just as we are. Now in verses 10, 11, and 12, Paul adds to those two reasons this third reasons as to why Christians ought to accept one another. What is it? It's because we all are facing the judgment seat of God. And he makes two points to underscore this third reason. That's what I want us to look at this morning. The first point is found in verses 10 and 11. He says there that both strong in faith and the weak in faith must remember the relationships that we have with one another. We're family. We're family. You notice how Paul uses that phrase, your brother, in those verses, he uses it twice. Your brother, this is the first time he's used that since chapter 12, verse 1. What's he doing here? He's reminding us that this is a family matter, that we belong to one another. The two rhetorical questions in verse 10 actually are echoing back from verse 3. In verse 3, we read about the strong and how they are not to despise the one who abstains. That's the weak in faith, the person who thinks, oh, I can't eat meat, otherwise I will be unspiritual. Paul says that's a weak conscience there. It needs to be informed, but the weak conscience is a conscience that belongs to a brother. And then he's the stronger not to despise the weak, but then the weaker not to pass judgment on the one who eats. And so here's a person who thinks he's being spiritual by not eating meat. And here's a brother eating meat. We're not to. Well, if he were spiritual like me, he wouldn't eat meat. Paul says, no, no, no. Stop that. In verse 10, Paul addresses the same groups. But he does it in reverse order. To the weak, he asks this question, Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Your brother. Your family. And then he asks of the strong, Are you, why do you despise your brother? Why do you look at them as just so backwards? So insignificant. They're your brother. The people with whom we disagree about these matters of indifference are spiritual family members. Brothers. This is a term of endearment. And it's used here in a way that's not limited to men. It's not just a brotherhood of men, but it's used of brothers and sisters. It's a family term. Christians are family. We all have God as our father. We all have Jesus Christ as our elder brother. We belong to one another. Paul says it in chapter 12. We're members of one another, just like the members of your hand belong to your body. So Christians belong to the family of God. Now, in the church at Rome, there were some Christians there who thought that it was best to eat only vegetables, while others thought that it was fine to eat anything. And there were members who thought that it would be best to observe certain holidays every year. And there are others who thought all the days are the same. It doesn't matter whether we observe holidays or not. In other words, there were differences, real differences, differences that affected schedules, that affected how you spend your money. Differences regarding diets and days, things about which the Bible does not give specific instructions. And the church was in danger of splitting over it. What's Paul do? Paul takes up that issue in this chapter and he says. Stop it. The people you disagree with, they're not your enemies. They're your brothers and sisters. They're family. Don't look at them as if they're a part of some kind of rival group in the church. Brothers and sisters, there's no end to the possible non-essential issues that could cause churches to divide up into various factions. I'm sure that in this church, we have people who have strong opinions about nuclear armament. Whether it's wise, proper for nations like ours to have a nuclear arsenal or to build up a nuclear arsenal. We could debate the best kind of cars to drive. Whether you should have a new car or a used car. Or whether you should have a car at all. There are people who have strong opinions about this who are faithful Christians. We could have debates whether or not it's proper to hunt. Or not to hunt. Or play golf. or not to play golf, or go to the beach, or not to go to the beach, or let your kids dress up like cowboys and go get candy next Monday night from houses in the neighborhood, or not do that. We can debate those things. There are opinions about those things, but those opinions are not to divide us. The way you hold those opinions will determine whether or not you will be moving toward division. We need to remember in all of our opinions about such matters that there are things far more important than opinions about things the Bible doesn't specifically address. And that more important thing is our relationship with fellow brothers and sisters. We are people of God. We are in Christ Jesus united to one another. We belong to one another. We are family. And as in any family, there will inevitably be differences of opinion. But those differences must never be allowed to separate us. When you see a Christian digging in his heels. over a matter that is biblically, morally indifferent and making that a hill on which he is prepared to die. You can be sure what you're witnessing there is spiritual immaturity. spiritual immaturity. If a Christian is willing to divide from fellow church members over something that God neither requires nor forbids, it is due to a superficial understanding of the nature and work of Jesus Christ in saving people from sin and uniting them together in Himself. I don't care who He is. I don't care how much understanding He pretends to have. He's got a superficial understanding of the work of Jesus Christ. Paul makes this point more explicit, as we will see in verse 15, where he gives more detailed instructions on how Christians are to exercise the freedom that we have in Christ. Look at verse 15. It's not in our text today, but we'll get to it, God willing. You see what he says there? By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. Do you see this? Why would you exercise your liberty in a way that's going to destroy somebody for whom Jesus shed his own blood? There's a there's a wrong mentality that he is going after here. How are we to regard fellow church members with whom we disagree regarding diets and days or hobbies or activities that are indifferent? We're to remember that our relationship to them in Christ is more important than the opinions that we disagree over. So before you dig your heels into the point of becoming contentious and divisive, remember that the person that you're contemplating separating from is someone for whom Jesus Christ shed his blood. Will you treat such a person thoughtlessly? Are you prepared to regard the unity that you have with such a person as less important than your opinion about things that are indifferent, things God's neither commanded nor forbidden. Don't pass judgment. Don't despise your brother over such things. Remember. He is your brother. And along with that, Paul goes on in verse 10 and into verse 11 and says, you, your brothers, your sisters will all be judged by God. We are all going to stand before the judgment seat of God. Look at verse 10 in the middle of that. He gives this kind of explanation for the admonition with the rhetorical questions he's asked, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. And then Paul quotes from Isaiah chapter 45, verse 23, when he writes, for it is written as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. The scripture teaches a coming universal judgment. A judgment that every one of you, me, everybody you know, will stand before God and give an account for his life on that day. Ecclesiastes 12.14 says this, God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. In 2 Corinthians 5.10, listen to the way Paul puts it there. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. He's already touched on this in chapter 2 of this very letter. If you just flip back a couple of pages, look at Romans 2. Verse four through 16, he deals with all of it, but just look at verse four. There he warns unbelievers not to presume on the riches of God's kindness and forbearance and patience because they fail to recognize that God's kindness is meant to lead them to repentance. And then he goes on in verse five. Look at verse five. He says that because of your heart and impenitent heart, you're storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. There's a day of judgment coming. All of us will stand to give an account to God on that day. And on that day, verse 11 says, everyone, everybody will bow to God as God. Look at that again. He quotes the prophet as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me. Every tongue shall confess to God. Everybody in this room is going to be in the same position on that day. Everybody will be bowing the knee. On bended knee before God. Every one of us will have the same confession on our tongues on that day. We will all confess that God alone is God. On that day, nobody's going to be in a position to judge another because of an opinion or a preference that they held that's different to your own. It's not going to be an issue on that day. And Paul is saying, just as sure as these things are going to be true on that day, Christians today should not stand in judgment on each other about things that are indifferent. That's the point of his rhetorical questions in verse 10. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? Because we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. So you don't want to own any guns, but your brother does. Don't judge him for that. Leave it to him and God. You occasionally drink a glass of wine with a meal, but your brother or your sister refused to do that. That's fine. Don't make that a point of contention. You want to get a college degree. You want your children to have a college education. Your brothers and sisters have no such aspirations. OK. Fine. That's nothing to become contentious about. Those differences should never become reasons for division in a church. Brothers and sisters, do you see Paul's argument here in this third reason that he's giving as to why we must always be accepting one another? We are not to usurp the place of God in judging or despising one another according to matters of indifference. Each one of us will stand before the judgment seat of God. He will take care of how we spend our time, how we spend our resources, what we did in those areas of Christian liberty. We're family. God's the only judge. Well, that's the first point that Paul makes to buttress this third reason as to why we are to accept each other in matters of indifference. Both the strong in faith and the weak in faith must remember our relationships. We are in Christ as brothers and sisters. Then in verse 12, Paul makes a second point, which is really just kind of a personal reiteration application of what he's just written. Each of us must give a personal account of our lives to God. Look at verse 12. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. The judgment that we face will not only be universal, it will be personal. It'll be personal. Each of us. Paul includes himself in this statement. And he underscores the inevitability of this judgment. Nobody's going to escape that day. Now, he writes it in this way because we are meant to apply this personally. And not primarily thinking about our neighbors. Each of us, you, me, all of us one day will stand and give an account before God and we will do so individually. Each of us will give an account of himself. Neither your judgment of me nor my judgment of you about how we dealt with things indifferent will have any bearing on what we face on that day. Each of us will give an account, but we'll give an account to God. We'll answer to Him. And the judgment that we face on that day will be based on how we lived here. What we did with every moment of every day, with every word that came across our lips. Paul says we will give an account. That phrase is sometimes used to speak of a financial reckoning, explaining financial records. The idea is that there will be an assessment. a reckoning of how we lived our lives, and each one of us will give an account of himself, that is, how he or she lived. Again, Paul has addressed this earlier in Romans chapter two, just listen to verses six, seven and eight of Romans two. When he speaks of God's judgment on that day, he says he will render to each one according to his works to those who, by patience and well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality. He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. Did you hear when Brother Don read earlier from Revelation chapter 20? The Apostle John, given a preview of that day. Part of that text says that another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And then so as to not be misunderstood, John reiterates it. They were judged, each one of them according to what they had done. Everybody's going to stand before the judgment seat of God. Brothers and sisters, you and I are not exempt because we have Jesus Christ as our advocate. We can face that day with confidence and with joy, knowing that everything Jesus has accomplished by his life, his death, his resurrection is sufficient to render us acceptable to God now and forever. So Christians have nothing to fear regarding the day of judgment. But. Those who have never trusted Christ never bowed the knee to Christ in this life. They have much to fear. Because that day for unbelievers will be a day of horror, a day of terror. As I mentioned, Paul says it in Romans 2 8, those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, that day will be a day of wrath and fury. Brothers and sisters, on the day of judgment, our lives, our works will be set before us to give an account for. God will judge us, not for our works, but he will judge us by our works. There's a massive difference in that. On that day, God's not going to call you to stand before Him and look over your life and say, OK, you did this, you did this, you didn't do that, you didn't do that. OK, good enough, I accept you. He's not going to look at your works that way. And He's not going to look at the unbeliever and say, OK, you did this, you did this, you didn't do that, you didn't do that. Oh, sorry, you didn't do enough. Wrath and fury for you. That's not the way the judgment of God works. He does not judge us for our works. He judges us by our works. No one can ever do enough works to be good enough for God. That's why Paul says what he does in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. That it is by grace that we are saved through faith. And that's not of ourselves. It's the gift of God. It's not a result of works. Otherwise, we would boast The only way that God saves sinners is by His grace that is received through faith. It's what He does that we receive and benefit from. This is why He freely, He graciously gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, to be the Savior of the world. There was no compulsion on God. There was no coercion that was exerted against Him so that He had to give up His Son. It was an act of free love and grace and mercy. And Jesus, having come into the world as God's only begotten son, is the one who alone has works accomplished that are good enough for God. He fulfilled the righteousness that God requires by keeping God's commandments perfectly. And then he laid down his life on the cross under the condemnation of God's law against sin. He did it as if he himself actually had sinned. He did it to pay the penalty of sin that his people owed so that anybody who turns from sin and trusts in him might receive him and all of the benefits of his life, death and resurrection. And when you receive Christ by faith, you are saved by grace. It's not your works. It's not because you're good. Not because you're less bad than somebody else. It's grace. Those who are saved by God's grace, who truly receive him through faith, live differently. Our lives change. We have a different orientation that comes upon us. Our lives begin to bear fruit of being saved by grace. And so we start obeying his commandments. That's why Jesus says in Matthew chapter seven toward the end of his sermon on the mount. By their fruits, you will know them. The fruit doesn't make the tree. The fruit proves the kind of tree that it is. It displays what kind of tree it is, and that's how God will judge us on the last day, not for our works. But by our works, this is the life that is marked by grace because it has this fruit. And this is the life that is not marked by grace because it has these evil fruits that aren't part and parcel of the work of the living God. So, brothers and sisters, we are not to despise each other or sit in judgment on each other because of the different ways that brothers and sisters. Choose to exercise their liberty before Christ. Rather, we must remember that whatever God's commanded, we're all obligated to do whatever God's forbidden. We're all obligated not to do. But what God has neither commanded nor forbidden, we're free to do or not do as long as we sincerely pursue his glory in the process. And we need to accept one another in Christ. Because we're all going to face the judgment seat of God. That reality should humble us and remind us that we, like every Christian, we're completely dependent upon Jesus Christ. And we will be depending upon Christ when we stand before God on that day. When it comes to the day of judgment, we will not be arguing for God to approve us because of what we did or didn't do. We will be looking to our advocate. We'll be looking to the Lord Jesus and we'll be pleading his life, his death, his resurrection, and we will put all of our hope in him. And because of him, we can be sure on that day, just as God has accepted us, he will forever accept us. So as a result, when it comes to things that God's neither commanded or forbidden in this life, let's each let's encourage each other to live as Christ's free people and to exercise our liberty in ways that will please him. Now, I realize that not everybody here is a Christian, not everybody here is. consciously, intentionally trusting Jesus Christ as Lord. And we want you to know we're delighted you're here. We're glad you're here. We hope you always will feel very welcome among us as we come to worship God and hear from his word. But if you're not a Christian this morning, I want to ask you a question. Has it ever occurred to you that though you have never bowed the knee to Christ. That you will. You will. One day. You will. This text says it. There are other texts that say it. The day's coming. It's already on God's calendar. When you will confess with your tongue that there's only one God and Jesus Christ is his son, the only savior this world has. Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah in verse 11 and making this point every knee. Every tongue. When you get to that day, God brings history to an end. And everybody is called to stand before his judgment seat and give an account. What argument will you make? What are you going to say on that day? Have you kind of assumed that you'd say, well, you know, I did the best I could. I'm not as bad as I once was or not as bad as those people. None of those arguments will hold up on that day of judgment. Because God has told us what he requires. And he doesn't make exceptions. He requires complete obedience to his commandments, complete righteousness that none of us, none of us can deliver. And friend, what you need on that day is not an argument. What you need is an advocate. You need somebody who's willing to step in your place and say, everything that you've required of Him, I've done. The obedience that you require of this image bearer, I performed. The payment for sin that this image bearer committed, I've secured here the scars. I've paid it all. You need an advocate. Children. Young people, do you believe that you realize that? Everyone's going to stand before God and give an account. There's an advocate. There's a savior. He's willing to save you. He saves everybody who confesses sin and renounces a way of trying to make themselves good enough for God and just receives the grace and mercy of God that is found in Jesus Christ. And my plea to you today is to trust Christ. Believe Christ. Receive Christ Jesus as Lord, because as you receive Him as Lord, you can be sure that in Christ, God accepts you. In Christ, God is for you. In Christ, God loves you. In Christ, God is your Father. In Christ, God will save you now and forever. So trust Christ. Receive Christ. Believe this incredibly good news that God saves sinners like you and me by sheer grace. And we receive it by simply taking him at his word and trusting Jesus Christ as Lord. Oh, may God help every one of us today. To believe this great message of salvation. Let's pray together. Our father, we thank you for the grace that you have for sinners in Christ. We thank you for such love. We thank you that you've not left us to ourselves. To think about this impending day of judgment that awaits us. But you've given us an advocate. We thank you for the oneness, the fellowship, the family that we have in Christ. And we ask that you would show us how to steward our relationships in Christ in such a way that we hold our opinions and our preferences about things that are indifferent with humility and joy and. Enable our brothers and sisters to do the same and not look for ways to be contentious about such matters. Please take the truth of your word, work it into our minds and our affections and cause us to remember Christ, to hope in Christ, to live for Christ from this day forward. We pray in his name. Amen.