Romans 14. I shall read verses 13 through 23 of Romans chapter 14, and then we shall turn to a portion in Corinthians. Romans 14 and verse 13. Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more. But judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way, or an occasion of falling. I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself, save that to him who accounts anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of meat your brother is grieved, You no longer are walking in love. Do not destroy with your meat him for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that herein serves Christ is well pleasing to God and approved of men. So then, let us follow after the things which make for peace, and the things whereby we may edify or build up one another. Do not overthrow for meat's sake the work of God. All things indeed are clean, albeit it is evil for that man who eats with offense. It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have to yourself before God. Happy is he who judges not himself in that which he approves. But he that doubts is condemned if he eat, because he does not eat of faith, and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And now over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and I shall read beginning with verse 23 through the first verse of chapter 11. Coming to the conclusion of three chapters in which the general subject of Christian liberty has been dealt with by the apostle, he now writes, All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's good. whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake. For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If one of them that believe not bid you go to a feast, and you are disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake. But if any man say unto you, This has been offered in sacrifice, do not eat, for his sake that showed it and for conscience sake. Conscience, I say, not your own, but the others. For why is my liberty judged by another's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Whether, therefore, you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, Do all to the glory of God. Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews or to Greeks or to the Church of God, even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ." Now, brethren, let us ask again for the help of God's Holy Spirit as we come to take up further dimensions of the truth contained in these passages, which in many ways are an exercise in spiritual neurosurgery. These are areas where many have dashed themselves upon the rocks of a legalistic spirit on the one hand and on the shoals of a libertine spirit on the other, and how much we need the Spirit of God that I may speak these truths accurately, that we may understand them accurately. And more than that, if we do have grace to understand them, then we need tons of grace to implement them with all our hearts. So let us pray. to the God of all grace that He will help us. Our Father, we thank You for meeting with us in this place this morning. We thank You for drawing out our hearts to delight in You, the living God, to find delight in the reading of Your Word and the hearing of that Word, in the singing of Your praises, And now is your people bound to you by covenant love, purchased by blood to be the bond slaves of Christ. We pray that you would give us copious measures of your Holy Spirit. Particularly may we know His presence and ministry as the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of yourself. We do not ask that he will be present primarily to give us felt spiritual ecstasies, though we know he often does in part the same to us. But we pray that we may know his ministry as the spirit of illumination and the spirit of grace, enabling us to embrace from the heart that which we come to understand with our minds. Hear us and meet with us, we plead, in Jesus' name, Amen. We began several weeks ago our studies on the subject, The Christian and Christmas in the Light of the Word of God. Our consideration of the theme this morning will be our sixth installment in this series that I have likened to a seamless robe, a series in which each part is inseparably joined to all of the other parts. And in a very real sense, the things we shall consider this morning, and again, God willing, this evening, find us coming very much near the armholes and the area of the upper part of the robe. And it is vital for any who may be visiting with us that you not assume that the part that we seek to weave on this loom, constructing this seamless robe, is the whole of the robe. Now the previous messages are available on tape in the Trinity pulpit, and if you are concerned to see the whole robe, I would urge you to get hold of those tapes. However, I can't go back and pick up all of the strands that have gone into the construction of that robe simply to underscore that we began with several practical observations and exhortations And then I sought to establish that the matter of any kind of religious or social celebration of December 25th and surrounding days is a matter of Christian liberty. This being so, then we should turn to such portions as Romans 14, because it is the watershed passage dealing with the subject of Christian liberty. Christian liberty being the term we use to describe those practices whether of the eating of foods, the drinking of certain beverages, the keeping of certain days, anything that comes within the category of that which is not forbidden by God or commanded by God, that which is a matter of moral and ethical indifference, which the Christian is either free to indulge in or not to indulge in, it is in that area of concern that we use the term Christian liberty to give some identification to it. Now, by placing the matter of Christmas in the category of Christian liberty, I am not taking a novel or bizarre position. In some of my extended reading this week, it was interesting that when I came to the comments of Albert Barnes on verse 5 of Romans chapter 14, he wrote, This is the general principle on which Christians are called to act in relation to festival days and fasts in the church. If some Christians deem them to be for their edification and suppose that their piety will be promoted by observing the days which commemorate the birth and death and temptations of the Lord Jesus, they are not to be reproached or opposed in their celebration, nor are they to attempt to impose them on others as a matter of conscience or to reproach others because they do not observe them. Well, having set this issue of the Christian and Christmas in the light of the Word of God in the general category of Christian liberty, we have been rooting around in Romans 14 seeking to discover the major principles by which our consciences are to be regulated with reference to such issues, including to celebrate or not to celebrate and how to celebrate such a day. Thus far we've discovered and sought to open up and apply three of the major principles. The first We must unreservedly receive one another with our differing perspectives and practices in matters of Christian liberty. Romans 14 verses 1 and 2 and Romans 15 and verse 7. Here is the divine imperative to receive one another. fully acknowledging that we have differing perspectives and practices, we are to receive one another not with a view to getting the one received close enough to dispute and to change his perspectives, but to receive one another as God and as Christ have received us. Secondly, we must neither despise, look down our snout at one another, nor judge, condemn one another in the light of our differing perspectives and practices in matters of Christian liberty. And this is the emphasis of verses 3 and 4 of the chapter, verses 10 through 13a. And then last Lord's Day morning we saw the third vital principle, and it is this. We must determine to maintain a good conscience under the Lordship of Christ in matters pertaining to Christian liberty. Verses 5 through 9. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. but not fully assured out of the stuff of his own inclinations and appetites and desires, but with reference to the Lordship of Christ, which is emphasized again and again through verse 9 of the chapter. Now we come today to the fourth major principle. It is the principle that presupposes the implementation of the previous three. but without which the previous three would, on the one hand, leave us vulnerable to spiritual havoc in our corporate life and to spiritual ruin in our own individual Christian experience. It is the principle which receives the most extensive treatment in Romans 14 and in the parallel passages on Christian liberty in 1 Corinthians chapters 8, 9, and 10. Of the four major principles that are to enlighten and regulate the conscience of a Christian with reference to matters of Christian liberty, including, shall I or shall I not celebrate the Christmas holiday, and how shall I celebrate it? This, I say, receives the most extensive treatment. Let me state the principle identify the three areas in which we will attempt to open it up, and then we will settle down upon the first strand of that principle. Here is the principle. We must be committed to regulate the exercise of our Christian liberty within three categories of enlightened and principled Christian love. Now, dear people, please don't just write that off as a bunch of preacher's blow. It represents hours of attempting to distill large portions of the Word of God in a way that accurately reflects the mind of God. I'm not asking you to memorize it, but I am asking you to listen carefully to what I've stated. The fourth major principle found in this passage, Romans 14, and in the parallel passages is this. We must be committed. We're talking about a matter of our wills, not simply inclined. At times we may not even desire, but we must be committed to regulate. the exercise of our Christian liberty within three categories, not of general mush and call it love, but of enlightened and principled love. That is the fourth major principle. Now, immediately, I must underscore a crucial distinction which undergirds this principle. I've stated that we must be committed to the exercise of our Christian liberty within certain categories. Now, such language is meant to highlight the fact that our understanding and appreciation of our blood-bought liberties in Christ is one thing, and our actual expression of that understanding is quite another. Our appreciation of our liberty in Christ is an internal, intellectual, spiritual reality. Our practice of our liberties is an external, observable exercise in what we do, not what we think or what we believe. And if we do not understand that distinction and realize that a man, a woman, may in his heart be as free in his conscience as the blood of Christ ever intended to make him, and yet live in such a way that if you did not know what God knows about the depths of His appreciation of His freedom in Christ, You might look at the pattern of his life and say for sure he must be the worst of legalists in bondage to the most over scrupulous conscience imaginable. And that's where you err. You do not judge what a man knows and experiences in his heart of his liberty in Christ by how strict he may relinquish the exercise of those liberties in his life before men. That distinction is absolutely crucial. Listen to the words of one commentator who has expressed it far more pointedly and sharply than I can express it In his masterful commentary on Galatians, John Brown, commenting on the exhortation of Paul in Galatians 5.13 and following, that we are not to use our liberty in order to fulfill and indulge the lust of the flesh, but through love to serve one another, to so understand our liberty in Christ that we're free from self-seeking and can serve one another. Listen to the comments of John Brown. From the apostles urging the Galatians to mutual love and cautioning them against biting and devouring one another, it seems probable that the particular abuse of Christian liberty which he had in view was the ostentatious and untimely display of their freedom from the Mosaic law, in a way calculated to offend those of their brethren who, though they did not depend on the law for justification, yet conscientiously, though mistakenly, yielded obedience to its injunctions as an unrepealed divine institution. The apostles' advice seems equivalent to this. Do not let pride and vanity or any other fleshly principle induce you to make uncalled-for displays of your Christian liberty, which may hurt the feelings and disturb the peace of some of your Christian brethren. It is a very important observation of a judicious commentator, and in this remaining part of the sentence John Brown quotes John Calvin, There is a great difference between Christian liberty and the use of Christian liberty. Christian liberty is an internal thing. John Brown now writing again. It belongs to the mind and to the conscience and has a direct reference to God. Christian liberty is an internal thing, belongs to the mind and conscience, has a direct reference to God. The use of Christian liberty is an external thing. It belongs to the conduct and has reference to man. No consideration should prevail on us for a moment to give up our liberty. No consideration. should cause us for a moment to relinquish what is ours in mind and heart in the presence of God, because that's been bought by the blood of the Son of God. But many, many a consideration should induce us to forego the practical assertion or display of our liberty. Do you see the distinction? How many of you see the distinction? Would you raise your hands, please? I don't mean to treat you in a demeaning or condescending way, brethren, but if you don't see that distinction, I don't know how to make it any more plain except to use the silly illustration again of my brother with his steak, his Idaho potato, and his glass of wine, and his brother with his bowl of veggies. The brother, with his steak, his potato, and his glass of wine, may look upon each of those objects as objects that before God he is free to partake of with thankfulness and with joy and eat in the presence of God. But he may choose not to bring out his steak and his Idaho potato and his glass of wine and for compelling reasons he may choose to give thanks and share a bowl of veggies with his brother who cannot eat meat with a good conscience, without inwardly giving up one ten-thousandth of a gram of his blood-bought liberty in Christ. For his liberty is a matter of the mind and the heart and the conscience before God. The exercise of his liberty is a matter of his conduct and activity outwardly before man. Now, you see, apply that to the whole subject of Christmas. I may be fully persuaded that in Christ I have the liberty to give significance to December 25th. to use the day and to keep it as unto the Lord in such a way that I can come to the end of the day with a good conscience, looking the law of God straight in the eye and looking all the principles of the Word of God straight in the eye and say, I could give thanks to God for that day and for all of the joys and privileges I might know were I to keep it as I believe I have liberty to keep it before Christ. and before my Father. But whether I exercise that liberty or not will be dependent upon three basic categories of enlightened, principled, Christian love. And for anyone who simply makes a leap from the understanding of his liberty in Christ to the full, inconsiderate exercise of that liberty is to destroy the biblical doctrine of Christian liberty. Because that doctrine comes to us in Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8, 9 and 10 with an umbilical cord of living attachment to this fourth principle, namely, that we as God's people must be committed to regulate the exercise of our Christian liberty within three categories of enlightened, principled, Christian love. And what are those three categories? Love to the brethren is the dominant one, love to the unsaved, and love to my own soul, love to the brethren, enlightened, principled love to the brethren, love to the unsaved, enlightened, principled love towards them, and love to my own soul. Now, for the remainder of our time this morning, we can only focus on the first of those categories, the duty to regulate the exercise of our Christian liberty within the constraints of an enlightened and principled love to our brethren. Please turn to Romans 14, verses 13 to 21. The way we'll think our way through the dominant emphases of the passage is to ask it some questions and let it speak to us. And as we turn to the passage, question number one is this, what is the heart of this passage? And the answer is, it is the directive of 13b. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore. That's the final summary statement of the second great principle. We are neither to despise nor to judge one another. sinfully pass sentence on someone in an area where God does not condemn him for his actions. Let us therefore not judge one another in this sinful way anymore, but using the same verb, but in a different form, But judge this rather, an Aorist imperative, come to a decisive, definitive judgment of mind and commitment of will. Judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way or an occasion of falling. Now that's the heart of this entire passage as it treats this fourth principle. that the exercise of my liberty is to be within the constraints of an enlightened and principled love to the brethren. The apostle says, judge this. Come to a decided, definitive understanding of mind and commitment of will that in the exercise of your liberties you will not Put a stumbling block in your brother's way or an occasion of falling. Here the apostle uses two words in the original, one far more serious than the other. The first word, translated stumbling block, is a prokama. It refers to something placed in the path over which someone may trip and fall hopefully to rise again. It's the standard word used when it speaks of our Lord Jesus being a stone of stumbling over which the Jewish nation by and large stumbled and fell. They could not abide a Messiah who came in lowliness and humility and who ended up immolated upon an instrument of Roman execution. This Christ was a stumbling block to them But then the second word translated in the 1901, occasion of falling, is skandalon. And it refers to the stick that would be the trap stick in a snare. The thing which if the bird sat on to take the food that was next to it, it would spring the snare and the bird would be snared. to be killed, captured for other reasons. It would be the stick that would trip the gate that would fall down and imprison an animal or a man. And throughout the scriptures it speaks of a falling that leads to apostasy or can lead to apostasy. a falling into a pattern of sin and a pattern of declension from God that can be eternally tragic in its results. And so the central duty that is laid upon us in this passage is, every single one of is to come to a sober, definitive judgment and commitment that we are determined not to put a stumbling block or an occasion of stumbling or falling in our brother's way. That must be the commitment of our heart. Now then, second question, why am I under this obligation to exercise my liberty in such a way as not to cause stumbling or falling? What places me under that obligation? If Christ bought my liberties at such a dear price, There must be something very compelling that says, I'm not free simply to exercise my liberties before men as I please and as I'm inclined to. Why must I have a fastidious concern born of an intelligent, volitional commitment never to do anything that will cause a brother to stumble or to fall? Well, the answer is that the failure to do this, failure to have this mentality, indicates that I'm not walking in love. Look at verse 15. Having stated his own personal persuasion, that there is nothing unclean of itself, that is, nothing in the realm of Christian liberty. Paul is not saying that fornication is not unclean, that lying is not unclean, idolatry. No, the context is things indifferent. There is no food that is unclean of itself, no meat that is unclean of itself, save to him who accounts anything to be unclean. To him it is unclean, for if because of meat your brother is grieved, And that grief there does not mean the grief that he can't understand how you can eat it, because remember, he's already been told not to judge you if you eat the meat. So this is not the grief that comes when someone says, well, it bothers me that you can do that. That grieves me, so stop it. In the context, this grief is connected with stumbling, falling, and being destroyed. For if because of your meat your brother is grieved, you no longer walk in love, destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died. This is the grief that will come to a man who turns out of the way of professed adherence to Christ, who not only stumbles but falls, and whose fall brings him into a grievously backslidden state, into a grieved spirit because he has a bloodied conscience. And Paul says, if through my influence A man is thus grieved by being caused to stumble or to fall. What does it manifest? Verse 15, you are no longer walking in love. If you must exercise your liberty at the price of your brother stumbling, falling, and being grieved, you are not walking in love. You are walking in self-centeredness. For love seeks not her own. And you say, what's the big deal if I'm not walking in love? Well, you read 1 John chapter 4. He that loves not knows not God, for God is love. And if the indulgence of your liberty is more important than the spiritual stability of your brother, you better question whether you know anything of the love of God in your own heart. Because the Scripture says, if He so loved us, we ought also to love one another. And then John gives a concrete example of how that love will work. He that sees his brother in need and shuts up the bowels of his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Brethren, he says, we should have a principle of martyrdom in our hearts one to another. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. And he argues from the greater to the lesser and says, if martyrdom is in principle in the heart of every true Christian on behalf of his brother, if it were necessary, Surely, if that kind of love is in him, he's going to part with a few shekels, part with his second or third jacket or coat, whatever it is. And therefore, if he doesn't do the lesser, how can he prove that the greater principle is in him or the principle that would do the greater if necessary? Well, bring that over into this area. We're not even talking about giving something to your brother. We're simply talking about refraining from eating certain foods. refraining from drinking certain beverages, refraining from going to certain places, refraining from certain activities. We're not even talking about partying with a dime or a nickel. The Apostle says, if you're prepared to cause stumbling or falling, and the grief attendant upon them, you are no longer walking in love. That is why I am under obligation to exercise my liberty in a way that does not cause stumbling or falling, because this and this alone is the practical manifestation of genuine love to my brethren, which is an indispensable evidence of being in the state of grace. Paul had said earlier in chapter 13, verse 10, Love works no ill to his neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. When I am seeking independence upon Christ and out of love for Christ in the power of the Spirit of Christ to obey the law of Christ, what is it that fills up the contours of the precepts of the law to the brim? It is this Spirit-wrought love, that love that refuses to work ill to my neighbor. Therefore, though I may be utterly free in Christ, to partake of a certain food or drink to celebrate a certain day. I am committed, as one who loves my brethren, to judge this as a settled, definitive, intelligent, spiritual commitment. I will not, by the grace of God, indulge in any liberty that will cause my brother to stumble, to fall, or to be grieved, for to do so would prove that I'm not walking in love. Third question, how can I identify what is to be a stumbling block or an occasion of falling in the exercise of my Christian liberty? That's a vital question, isn't it? If you've come along thus far, then that's a question that's burning in your gut. How can I know what may cause my brother to stumble, to fall, and to be grieved? I do want to walk in love. I am prepared to relinquish any liberty. How can I know? Well, here I would turn you to 1 Corinthians 8 for a concrete and specific case study of that very question, and it's here that The parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 8 gives us a more definitive answer to that question than Romans 14 does. Now here's the question we're wrestling with. How can I identify what is to be a stumbling block and an occasion of falling in the exercise of my liberty? Now put on your thinking cap and follow as we make a quick trip through 1 Corinthians 8. What's the subject? Paul tells us. Now concerning things, sacrifice to idols. That's his subject matter. Now, in introducing it, he states a general principle. Here it is. We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. He uses a play on words. Now, as we address the subject of things sacrificed to idols, it's a question that was being agitated among the Corinthians. And Paul, as he has his shopping list of pastoral issues to address, he says, now we take up the next one. On this matter of things offered to idols, where there at Corinth you have some who can buy a piece of meat that's been offered to an idol, who can even sit in a cafe next to the temple or in the temple precincts where it's served up as a bargain meal, and they can do so with a good conscience. They know that a piece of meat was a piece of meat before it was offered to an idol, An idol is nothing, therefore, when you can have a bargain piece of meat or a bargain meal, it's just a piece of meat. A piece of meat it was, a piece of meat it is. A piece of meat, nothing more than that. He said, now we all have knowledge. However, there's something more important than mere knowledge of reality, and that is to be actuated by a spirit of love that is committed to the building up. of the Brethren. Mere knowledge, particularly in matters of Christian liberty, without the constraints of love, makes puffed-up libertine windbags over which other believers constantly stumble. But the knowledge inherent in true Christian liberty, when enveloped under the dynamics of love, means here's a free brother or sister in Christ whose life is continually building up his brethren. Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. All right? And then he goes on to make some statements to be a sort of a prod to these people that boasted in their knowledge. If any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows not yet as he ought to know. If any man loves God, the same is known by him. Now he comes back concerning, therefore, the eating of things sacrificed to idols. Now he's back to his subject. And the first principle he establishes is this. that there is no God but the true and living God. And therefore, when anything has been offered to an idol, it's been offered to a nothing. And therefore, it's still a piece of meat. That's reality. And Paul says, I know that. And many of you Corinthians know that. But there's a problem. Verse seven. How be it? There is not in all men that knowledge. And what's the result? But some, being accustomed until now to the idol, in their whole experience from infancy up, the eating of a piece of meat that had been offered to an idol was inseparably joined to idol worship. That was part and parcel of their whole upbringing. It was woven into the texture of their very psyche. To eat that meat was to be indulging and participating in the worship of the idol. Now, Paul's describing such people, he said, now some being accustomed till now to the idol eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled. He said these people, they cannot separate the meat from the idol to which it was offered. And in eating the meat, which was part of the idolatrous religious ceremonies, in their consciences, they are still reverting to a participation in idol worship. Now Paul says, they really aren't, but in the theater of their conscience, they are. Do you see the point? He says, now we know that an idol is nothing. And we know, therefore, that a piece of meat offered to an idol is a piece of meat before, piece of meat when, piece of meat after. But there is not in all men this knowledge. And because they are defective in their knowledge, in their understanding, to eat that meat is to partake in that which God forbids, namely, idolatry. And then Paul says, in the light of this, we must recognize, verse 8, food will not commend us to God, neither if we eat not are we the worse, nor if we eat are we the better. In other words, as far as our relationship to God is concerned, in the light of truth, eating the meat or not eating the meat doesn't enter in. Our relationship to God is established on the basis of the work of Christ, not whether we eat a certain piece of meat or don't. Now, speaking to those who know this, here's the exhortation. Verse 9, But take heed, pay constant, close attention. The onus is on you, brethren, who know your liberty in Christ. The onus is on you to be fastidious. Take heed, lest by any means, in any way, This liberty of yours, this authority, this power of yours to eat meat that's been offered to an idol because it's just a hunk of meat. It was before, during and after. But be constantly concerned lest this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak, to the one who doesn't understand what you understand. And now he describes how it will actually happen. And everything I've said now in giving this brief overview of the passage leads to this. For if a man see you who have knowledge, now notice, he doesn't say if a man see you who are defective in your understanding. No, he said you have knowledge of reality sitting at meat in an idol's temple. And it was clearly in a way, whatever this meant in an idol's temple, he was not actually partaking in idol worship because in this very book he says flee from idolatry. So it was some association whether there was, and there are different opinions among the commentators, and because it means reconstructing something 2,000 years ago, there's uncertainty. But now notice what he says. If a man see you who have knowledge sitting at meet in an idol's temple, and he doesn't condemn the fact that they were sitting, having a meal, In proximity to, within the precincts of this idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? He looks at you and says, well, you know, that man's a mature Christian. He'd been in the church for 15 years. If he can go up, then I saw him. He went up. When the waiter came by, he ordered his meal there in the temple precincts, whatever it was. And I saw him bow his head and give thanks to God. Well, he's been a Christian for 15 years, a part of the church. He can do that? Well, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to do that. He's a strong Christian. He's a knowledgeable Christian. I'm going to do it because he did it. Now, notice what happens. For through your knowledge, he that is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died, and thus sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak. You sin against Christ. What happens? The man follows the example, trampling over the screaming of his own conscience. You see, he's taking the knowledge of his brother and making that regulative for his actions, which he should never do. You say, he should know better. Bible says, keep a good conscience to God and man at all times, Acts 24, 16. Why in the world did the brother not obey his own conscience and when he had reservations? But you see, Paul doesn't lay the blame on him. He lays the responsibility on the mature Christian who knows his liberty, but who exercised it with indifference to the weak conscience of his brother. I didn't put the emphasis there the Holy Ghost does. Sure, we could get that weak brother and sit him down and say, brother, don't you understand? If tying the shoelaces on your right foot before your left violates your conscience because you think that goes back to a custom among the pagan gods in which the gods always tied their right shoelace before the left, brother, don't ever do it until your conscience tells you you can Tie your shoelace on the left on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and your first one on the right Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and it won't matter a hoot to God as long as your conscience screams when you tie your shoe, the left shoe first. Don't do it. Don't do it! Don't do it! Because when you violate conscience, you're making a moral choice of that which to you is sin. And whatsoever of not a faith is sin. So Paul says in this way, by our participation in an activity which we are free to participate in before God, with a freedom purchased by the blood of Christ, if we do not make it our business to know where our brethren are in their understanding of their liberty, and therefore, where their consciences are speaking, the onuses on us take heed. lest by any means this liberty of yours, it is your liberty. Paul says, I do not question that it's your liberty. And if anyone would try to take from you that liberty by a legalistic pry bar, I would stand against him. However, he says, if you're walking in love, you'll be aware that there's a younger brother out there. And when you see him pass by the temple precincts, though you may have just sat down to have your meal and given thanks for it and paid for it, you'll excuse yourself, get up, and walk away from the table. And go put your arm around the brother and say, my brother, I understand that in your judgment that there is an inseparable association between the meat one can buy and eat here and the idol to which it is offered, and that you in your own mind cannot separate the two unless you be emboldened to practice that which would violate your conscience, I've left my meat on the table." You say, what a miserable bondage. Oh, no, my friend. That's glorious liberty. Because before God, whether I eat the meat or not, I'm no better. My position before God is grounded on the work of Christ, not whether I prove my liberty to God, men, and angels by my actions. It is a matter of the heart. How can I identify, then, what is to be a stumbling block in an occasion of falling in the exercise of my Christian liberty? Well, obviously, I am to be sensitive to my brethren. I am to be sensitive to the realities that exist amongst the people of God. And if I fail to be when that poorly instructed man follows the example of the well-instructed at the price of a good conscience, I'm guilty of sin. Against the brother, verse 12, and thus sinning against the brethren. You see, it doesn't talk about him sinning by violating his conscience, though that's true. Romans 14 has already established that. But you see, Paul bypasses even the sin of that brother, and he puts the onus on the one practicing his liberty, thus sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak. God, help us to take this to heart. You sin against Christ. What a travesty! Under the guise of exercising a liberty purchased by Christ, I sin against the very Christ who purchased that liberty. Do you feel something of the weight of that? I not only sin against my brother, but since he is joined to Christ, I sin against Christ And if showing my liberty means so much to me that I won't walk away having paid for my piece of meat and having given thanks for it for the sake of my brother, I put little value upon my brethren and upon the Christ to whom they are joined, all of my professed love to Christ notwithstanding." Fourth question. What am I to do so that I may not be guilty of such a gross violation of love to my brethren? We follow the progression now of the questions. Question number one was the question, what is the heart and soul of the injunction? And the heart of the injunction laid upon us as the people of God is that we need to have a settled definitive commitment not to put a stumbling block or a cause of falling or cause grief to our brethren by the injudicious exercise of our liberty. Question number two, Why am I under such an obligation? It's the demands of love. Question number three, how can I identify what is a stumbling block? We looked at the case history described in 1 Corinthians 8. Now question number four, what am I to do so that I may not be guilty of such a gross violation of love to my brethren? And I hope by now everyone who is a true child of God sees this is a burning question. I want to walk in love. Nothing is more precious to me than pleasing my Lord and being a means of building up my brothers and sisters who are joined to Him. What am I to do so that I may not be guilty of such a gross violation of love to my brethren? Let me give you three parts to that answer. Number one, face the fact that not all Christians have a clear understanding of their blood-bought liberties. face the fact that not all Christians have a clear understanding of their blood-bought liberties. Not everyone can say, as Paul did in Romans 14, 14, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself. There are many Christians who have not come to that place. To them, certain things which are not clearly condemned by God or commanded by God have the force of moral precepts. Their consciences register. That's a moral issue. And as long as their conscience registers, their actions must be according to the present light of conscience. And we've got to face the fact that not all Christians have a clear understanding of their blood-bought liberties. Not everyone can say, I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, nothing unclean of itself. Not everyone can say, in the words of 1 Corinthians 8 that we looked at, neither if we eat are we the better, if we don't eat are we the worse. It's a matter of indifference whether we eat that meat that's been offered unto an idol. In and of itself, it is a purely innocent, morally neutral act. Or 1 Corinthians 10, 23a, all things are lawful. There are some believers who can't say that. There are matters where God is not spoken, but in their conscience, it's right in the same category as one of the Ten Commandments. That's reality. You say, it shouldn't be that way. No, it's in the perfect world. We ain't in heaven yet. Well, then let's get a list. No, don't you do that either. Go into the wretched checklist morality of fundamentalism. But we're going to say this is sin and that's it. And we usurp the place of God. You say, but pastor, if you don't do that, you're going to have differing convictions. That's right. And that's exactly what they had at Rome and they had at Corinth. And Paul did not say, hey, fellas, I'll solve all your problems. I'm coming in three months with a nice checklist and you can all have a uniform perspective in your conscience. That is not the answer. And God have mercy on anyone who tries to sneak their own list into this place. Christ's cross stands to oppose you. For freedom did Christ set us free. And to impose any checklist morality is to confront Christ's cross. You say, but then we're going to... That's right. Face the fact that until we get to heaven, we're going to have brothers and sisters with differing understanding of their blood-bought liberties. Face that. Secondly, embrace the clear directives which call us to the regulation of the exercise of our liberties in the interest of our brothers' well-being. Embrace the clear directives which call us to the regulation of the exercise of our liberties, not the understanding and appreciation of our liberties which is inward. But the exercise of our liberties, which is outward, embrace the clear directives that call us to the exercise of our liberties in the interest of our brother's spiritual well-being. All things lawful, not all things expedient. All things lawful, but not all things edify. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 9, Very clearly, this is the injunction that Paul comes to. Take heed, pay close attention, be alert, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block. Chapter 10, verses 23 and 4. All things lawful, but not all things expedient. All things lawful, not all things build up. Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's good. In Romans 14, 13, 15, 19, and 21, the emphasis comes through clearly. 14, 13, the key text. Judge this rather. No man put a stumbling block in his brother's way or an occasion of falling. Verse 15. If because of your meat your brothers grieve, you no longer walk in love, don't destroy with your meat him for whom Christ died. Verse 19, so then let's follow for the things that make for peace and the things whereby we may build up one another. Verse 21, it's good not to eat flesh or drink wine nor do anything whereby thy brother stumbles. Stumbles. Stumbles means he's emboldened to do what I do against his conscience. That's what stumbling is. Now, if you've got a brother who hasn't taken hold of the second principle, and he's going to make his weak conscience a law for everyone else, you ought to flog your liberty in his face until he's humbled. As Calvin said, I have no scruples about offending hypocrites, nor did the Lord Jesus. They'd added to God's fourth commandment all their stinking rules and regulations about the Sabbath, and the Lord just loved to rub it under their nose. He healed. He knew they were sitting there with their squint eyes. Is he going to break our Sabbath? The Lord knew what the fourth commandment meant. He gave it. And so he deliberately calls a man into his presence and heals him on that day. You see, if we've got people that want to say, my weak conscience is going to rule everybody around here. Are you unspiritual? No way, Jose. We're not to bend to such a person. We're to look him straight in the eye and say, you go down on your knees before God with your Bible and take heed to what it says. Let not him who eats not judge him who eats. Stop judging me and all my brethren. Who made you God? And quaff down your glass of wine with joy right under his nose. And say, now, I'm going to give thanks to God for my glass of wine. Oh, Father, thank You that among Your gifts of oil that makes the face to shine is wine that makes glad the heart of man. I now drink this glass of wine to Your praise and to Your glory. Lord Jesus, who gladdened the feast at Cana of Galilee with the best of last, I honor You as I drink this wine to Your glory. And let the brother sit there and stew in his hypocritical, judgmental spirit. But, he says, well, since you can do it and you're spiritual, in my mind, that's to put my feet in the path of a drunkard. That's to associate myself with the carousing world. But since you're strong and you can do it, I'm going to do it because you do it. You say, uh-uh, my brother. No, no, no, no, no. Don't you dare do that. If that's your disposition, in your presence, in your company, you'll never see me touch a drop of wine. That's liberty. That's being sensitive to our brethren. Face the fact that all do not have a clear understanding of their blood-watt liberties. Embrace the clear directives that call us to regulate those liberties in the interest of our brothers' well-being. And the third part of the answer to this fourth question is this. I'm under solemn obligation to follow the example of the Apostle Paul which reflects the very disposition of the Lord Jesus in these things. I'm under solemn obligation not only to lay to heart the exhortations, but to follow the example of the apostle which reflects the disposition of our Lord Jesus. Very quickly now, look at Romans 15, 1-3. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good unto edifying for. Christ also pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell upon me. What a travesty to claim to be saved by a self-giving Christ and to be so self-serving that I'll not relinquish a liberty for the sake of the weak conscience of a brother. You see, that's the emphasis. If you have knowledge, and in that sense your conscience is strong by its light from the Word of God and the given practice, good! Be strong enough then in the strength of Christ to please not yourself, but your neighbor. And relinquish your liberty as Christ relinquished His liberties and secured our salvation. The reproaches of them that reproached the living God, He never brought them. They were ours, but He took them upon Himself. 1 Corinthians 8.13 Again, the Apostle says, If I am in a position where I know that there is a brother with a weak conscience, wherefore, if meat causes my brother to stumble, remember now what stumble means. He violates his conscience. It doesn't mean he's a Pharisee trying to impose his man-made rules on everything and everybody that breathes and walks. He's a sincere brother seeking to please Christ, but he's emboldened to do something against the dictates of his conscience in its present light and understanding. That's what it means to cause him to stumble. And Paul says, if my eating meat would cause him to stumble, I'll eat no flesh forevermore. that I cause not my brother to stumble. Yes, it's rhetorical exaggeration, but the principle is, Paul said, in my heart I'm prepared, if necessary, never to touch another piece of meat that in any way could be construed as coming out of the context of an idol worship. To me, the most precious thing is not that juicy steak. It's to see my brother walking with Christ with a good conscience. I can forego the taste and even the nourishment of a hunk of meat. But I could not forego seeing a brother bloody his conscience and be put into the way of apostasy for my twenty minutes culinary pleasure. I proved myself to be a self-centered, self-indulgent wretch and very unlike my Savior. And it's interesting that in chapter 10, and that's why I read the first verse of 11, he ends on that very note, give no occasion of stumbling either to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved, not only initially saved, but persevere. And he says, be imitators of me. as I am of Christ, who did not seek His own things. What more powerful motive can be brought home to our hearts? Well, my time is gone, and all I know to do, since this is a seamless robe, I had hoped to address one very frequent objection to what we've considered and then give you one practical illustration in its application to Christmas, but we'll just have to leave that. I've gone an hour, and I think you've got enough to meditate upon and reflect upon, but we'll take up that objection tonight, God willing, and take up the illustration, and then hopefully move to the second category of Christian love, namely love to the souls of men. Pray that God will guide me in trying to patchwork this part of the seamless robe, because you've been very, very attentive. This has not been easy. I clue you it hadn't been easy to study these passages in the original, consult the best and trusted commentators, and try to sort it all out and structure it in a way that would at least be reasonably easy to follow. But, dear people, there's so much at stake, or God wouldn't have said so much about these May God help us and by His grace bring us to the place where Christ is so precious in His self-giving love to us that we'll be prepared to relinquish any liberty purchased by His blood that any brother or sister purchased by the same blood will make his way more safely to heaven because of the way I exercise my Christian liberty. Let's pray. Our Father, we never cease to marvel at the richness, the fullness of your Word. Thank you for these portions that we've been privileged to examine this morning. And to the extent that you've helped your servant rightly to expound them, seal them to our hearts. Whatever's been skewed by his own limited understanding or misconception, blow upon it and bring it to naught. But, O God with all our hearts, we confess to You that the thought that we would wound the conscience of a true child of Yours and sing against Him and against our Savior is a frightening thought to us. We therefore pray that You would have mercy upon us, that in the exercise of our Christian liberty We may know the constraints of love to our brethren, love to the unsaved, and love to our own souls. We thank You for our liberty in Christ, that You have freed us from every man-made rule and regulation that would bind our consciences in food and drink, in the keeping of days and celebrations. Lord, we rejoice that we are free in Christ from all of these things, and yet by Your grace we would make ourselves the slaves of all, that we might win them and that we might never be the occasion of causing any to stumble. Deliver us from the crass, cursed self-preoccupation of our age that would make such a lifestyle something undesired and unsought. Oh, help us, Lord. Have mercy upon us. Cleanse us from all of our careless indulgence of our liberties. Purge us of the sin of insensitivity to our brethren. Seal your word to our hearts and dismiss us with your blessing. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.